What a game last night! Tim Thomas was sensational and the Bruins proved to have more heart and to be much much tougher. I couldn't believe how soft the Sedin Twins were after watching this series. Time and time again Henrik Sedin (the captain and center on the top line) would seem to have a Bruins defenseman lined up against the boards for a big hit and just slow up and attack the puck rather than punish the player and set the tone for the shift. On the other side of that, Patrice Bergeron, Shawn Thornton and Milan Lucic combined for 14 hits while the Sedins registered 1. You may not think this is very relevant to the game overall, but with the lack of physicality shown by the top liners for the Canucks, they were on the ice for all 4 Bruins goals last night (even the empty-netter). In the Stanley Cup Finals Daniel Sedin registered 1 goal, 3 assists, +/- of -5, and 1 power-play point on the top power-play unit in the league. Brother Henrik fared even worse if that was possible, registering 1 goal, 0 assists, a +/- of -7 and 1 power-play point on the same line as Daniel. Bruins top performers were the usual suspects in David Krejci who registered 2 goals, 4 assists, and a +/- of +8, Patrice Bergeron who registered 2 goals, 3 assists, and a +/- of +6, and one unusual suspect in rookie Brad Marchand who registered 5 goals, 2 assists and a +/- of +6. A few goaltending stats before I wrap up, 37 year old Tim Thomas won the Calder Trophy for most outstanding player in the Finals and finished the postseason with records in amount of saves in the whole postseason and Finals with 798 and 238 respectively. These were after he set the NHL record for save percentage in a regular season at .938. He had 4 shutouts along the way, 2 in the Finals including Game 7 and stopped an amazing .967% of the shots in the Finals. Roberto Luongo ended a great year as well on a down-note, he is up for the Vezina trophy for Best Goaltender just like Thomas is, and although he was more memorably known for choking and being chased from games, he still ended the postseason with 4 shutouts and a .916 save percentage. (2 shutouts in the Finals but only a .896 save percentage) So enough with the stats, celebrate the end of a 39 year drought by winning the Stanley Cup. Congratulations again Bruins, well deserved!
Apparently the people who read my blog don't seem to have many opinions of their own so I guess I will have to argue with myself. My Mike Stanton on the All-Star team pick looked foolish yesterday after he went 0 for 8 with 1 walk and 3 strike outs in a doubleheader against the Phillies yesterday. Who would be a better replacement? I'd say Matt Kemp, Ryan Braun or Michael Bourn. I'd love to know you picks so please post or tweet them to me here or at RamPower2010.
Biggest Winner of the Night: Tim Thomas- 37 year old goaltender of the Boston Bruins had yet another shutout and added hardware to his collection that is sure to keep growing by claiming the Calder Trophy and Lord Stanley's Cup last night in the 4-0 win over Vancouver in Vancouver.
Biggest Loser of the Night: Canadian hockey fans... there are two ways to go with this, the were rioting and destroying their beautiful city for losing a championship but still some seem to make time for love. So they lose the Cup but still have time to make out in the streets... interesting but still makes you the biggest loser of the night Vancouver.
(via Twitter/Everyone) 
mmanmail32,
ReplyDeleteI can't argue your Winner of the day, Thomas was amazing. I have to give a very close second place to Josh Beckett who came so close to a no hitter it wasn't funny. Honorable mention goes to Roberto Luongo, no I haven't bumped my head, stay with me here. He was super lucky last night on two counts: 1. Despite playing like he'd never seen ice before he's still got an 11 year contract to keep him warm while he plays minor league up in northern Newfoundland and 2. he lost at home which menas he got to drive home alone rather than having to suffer the 6 hour flight back from Beantown with 50 pissed off Canucks carrying sticks.
Now for my Loser of the day. Alain Vigneault, coach of the Canucks. He's a loser because he didn't have either the brains or the stones to bench Luongo for game 7. Luongo was totally psyched out after getting shelled in game 6. I am totally against any forms of rioting or looting, but if the Vancouver fans were to burn coach Vigneault in effigy I wouldn't blame them a bit.
Cheers, MW
I love it, I mean Alain Vigneault even sounds like an villain. Luongo definitely should have been benched but as you said that 11 year contract is tough to just throw to the side. Had he benched Luongo and went with Schneider and still lost 4-0 would it have been worse for Vigneault? On the Beckett side, has an amazing Boston sports performance been more overshadowed by another amazing Boston sports performance like this before? Truly amazing.
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