Stanley Cup

Well, it's been a week since I last posted, and man, what a week. Things got started on Monday night where I took my last trip to the Garden of the season, win or lose, but it didn't take too long to realize that it was gonna be a win. The Bruins continued where they left off in games 3 and 4 and took it to Luongo and even set a record by scoring 4 goals in 4 minutes and 14 seconds:

You may have noticed that the 4th goal was scored on Corey Schneider, that's cause Roberto Luongo was pulled after the 3rd goal. Which brings up an interesting point, in game 3, Cam Neely was the honorary fan banner captain, which by the way was on 6/6 which is his birthday and the 25th anniversary of when he was traded from Vancouver to Boston:

The Bruins then went out and scored 8 goals on Luongo, which was Cam's number. Then before game 4, they brought out Number 4, Bobby Orr:

Nice touch with him waving Horton's flag, and then the Bruins went out and scored 4 more goals on Luongo. So, what to do before game 6, well, they brought out the man who has been with the Bruins organization one way or another forever pretty much Milt Schmidt:

Well, Milt Schmidt's number was 15, and while the Bruins didn't score 15 goals in game 6, they only scored 5, but they scored 3 on Luongo, which resulted in a 3 game total of 15 goals scored on Luongo. Well, the rest of the game played out pretty good, not great, Bruins let up a couple goals, but also scored another for a final of 5-2, and put an end to my season at the Garden. The Stanley Cup was there somewhere, but like I said before, it was only there taking a look at where it was gonna be on Thursday, but before that, the Bruins had to head back to Vancouver for a game 7.

Now, not gonna lie, was a little worried headed into Game 7, Bruins had yet to play in Vancouver the way the had in Boston, and Luongo had looked pretty good in that building, so it was not gonna be easy, but I knew that if they could come out, get a quick goal on Luongo, or really just the first goal, then they would be in good shape and have an excellent chance at pulling out the W and winning the Cup. The game started pretty much the same as all the other games in Vancouver had gone, but then with 5:23 left Patrice Bergeron got the scoring started thanks to an awesome play by Brad Marchand:

That would end up being the Stanley Cup Winning Goal, but the scoring wasn't done there, in the 2nd period Marchand made another great play and this time he got the goal:

Things were all great though, Bruins got called for a rare penalty in a game 7, but it didn't matter, Bruins had already scored some Shorthanded goals in this series, so why not in game 7, and Patrice Bergeron was at it again:

There was still more than a period to go and I've seen the Bruins blow bigger leads in less time, but you could just see that Vancouver didn't have it, Luongo certainly didn't have it, not that he was really ever challenged again in the game, but it was now just about riding out the clock, and why not Brad Marchand put the cherry on top with an empty netter, which honestly was just about as good at Luongo at this point:

and the celebration was on:

Ok, but no seriously, the celebration was on:



Interesting if you notice right as the game ends, and I missed this live, but Tim Thomas makes a save right after the time runs out. He's just about to celebrate and still makes the save on a shot the wouldn't have counted. Well, that's why he won the Conn Smythe trophy:

Right before Zdeno Chara was handed the Stanley Cup:

Then the usual Locker room hi-jinx including Tim Thomas:

Apparently Tim Thomas was getting doused with beer in High School, good to know.Meanwhile outside the building, Vancouver was being destroyed by some hooligans, although for some reason among the chaos, this was going on:

Talk about your inappropriate displays of affection, hey our team just lost, people are being beaten and stabbed, there are police in riot gear all over the place, there is cars on fire, lets make out in the middle of this dirty street. Not sure if you have seen the followup picture though:

Guys just like, wait, what's going on? Should we not be here, is this not cool. Anyway, Bruins returned to Boston with the cup on Thursday, which was the same day that I finally shaved off my playoff beard, had been over 2 months and well, here's a picutre to show you what was on my face:

Then on Friday some Bruins took the Cup to New York City:

To be on the Today Show:

Then they came back to Boston to have a parade, which I attended. Tried to take some pictures, but it was kinda tough, all I have is my phone, which doesn't have a great camera, plus I wasn't right up close so they are kinda far away, plus I was just kinda pointing and clicking and I had to hold it up high, but I did get a few good ones. Like this one of Chara with the Cup:

 Then this one of Thomas with the Cup:

The Confetti filling the Air:

The Ice Girls along with Blades, who I'm pretty sure is about to eat a small child in this picture, I mean, he is a bear, bears eat people, it happens:

 Nathan Horton:

Milan Lucic:

That right there is the other Bear that Makes the Rules and enforces them, he's looking a little upset that while Blades got to eat a small child, he hasn't eaten anyone yet, I'm sure as the parade went along he eventually got his hands on someone.

Adam McQuaid:

and his mullet:

Andy Brickley and Jack Edwards:

Kinda hard to see in this next photo, but Tuukka Rask was still wearing Nathan Horton's helmet, which he was wearing during the celebration in the Locker Room.

Brad Marchand:

This was fresh off performing his rendition of Black and Yellow, which is technically a Pittsburgh song cause that's their colors, Bruins are actually Black and Gold, but you tell Marshmont that as he's up there singing:

Patrice Bergeron was getting the crown pumped with his We Got the Cup Chant:

Seidenberg and Boychuk were bringing up the rear:

Then the cleanup began:

Even the Street Sweepers were the right colors.

After the Parade I went over to Charlestown to have some lunch, and then on my way back to North Station, I see a bunch of cops walking to me escorting some guy, at first I thought someone was causing trouble and was getting arrested, but as I got closer, I realized it was Tuukka Rask, so that was pretty cool, If I had been aware of what was going on I could have snapped a picture, but I wasn't so there you go. They said that this was the biggest Championship parade that they have ever had, and while the only other one that would have been close would have been the Red Sox in 2004, cause that was the only other one that wasn't in the middle of the week, but if I remember correctly, it was like 40 degrees and raining for that one, as opposed to this time where it was 80 degrees and sunny, despite the original reports of it supposed to rain.

Anyway, Bruins brought the Cup to Fenway today, then who knows what they are gonna do next, but they got less then 3 months until preseason starts, and less then that for training camp, so they better not be celebrating too much, and get ready to defend that thing so we can do this all again next year. The Draft is next week and they have the 9th pick thanks to Toronto, then free agency starts, there's not a ton of stuff that they need to do, only Kaberle, Recchi and Ryder are up, Recchi is retiring, I do not see Kaberle or Ryder coming back, so we will need to replace those guys, but we have some guys in the system that could potentially do that. Marchand is a restricted free agent, and I'm sure they will lock him up for a few more years. Horton and Savard could be interesting just cause with the concussions, who knows what they'll be like, more concerned with Savard at this point then Horton, but still.

Ok, well, that is all for today, I'll be back next time and we can dive into 1996, which for Bruins fans was not a good year, after moving over from the old Boston Garden to the Fleet Center in the fall of 1995, the Bruins made the playoffs for the last time in their streak of 29 years, they would go on to have their worst year ever in 1996-97 and lead to them getting the Number 1 pick, which turned out to be Joe Thornton, but getting back to 1996, the lost in the first round 4-1 to Florida, but the biggest lost came earlier in the year as on February 7th, Cam Neely would play what would be his last game in a 2-1 overtime loss to Buffalo. He would announce his retirement right before the start of the 96-97 season, but that would lead to one of the best commercials of all time for ESPNEWS:

Alright folks, you enjoy the rest of the day, Happy Father's Day to the Fathers out there. Next time out I'll tell you all Where It's All.