2013 STANLEY CUP FINAL has Arrived

Well after 65 games for the Chicago Blackhawks and 66 games overall for the Boston Bruins it comes down to 7 more games possibly to decide the 2013 NHL Stanley Cup Champions. Both sides have gone through the pain barrier and pushed themselves to get the chance to hold aloft Lord Stanley Cup once again as the two teams from the Eastern and Western Conference respectively meet for Game One at the United Center in Downtown Chicago on Wednesday evening.

This however will not be a new experience for the two teams and clubs as both have played in recent Stanley Cup finals, Chicago Blackhawks won the Cup back in 2010 when they beat the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 6 of a very physical series as the battle between Chris Pronger and Dustin Byfuglien was a highlight as both gave as good as they got.

chicago in 2010

It also ended in bizarre fashion as Patrick Kane shot from a tight angle and led Kane to throw his helmet, gloves and stick in the air along with his team mate to celebrate the goal. Problem was no one saw it go in apart from Kane himself who skated the whole length of the ice to celebrate with Antti Niemi , who himself looked very confused over the events. Play was reviewed and shown it did go but lodged it`s self under the padding in the nets. Chicago had broken the curse of 49 years and finally brought the cup back to Chicago.

For the Black and Gold of the Boston Bruins it was 2011 that saw them lift the Cup as they beat the Vancouver Canucks in a deciding Game 7 which was a bad tempered final to be fair, As we had the Canucks forward Alex Burrows alleged to have a bite on Patrice Bergeron finger in Game 2 and Game 3 when a scrum by the nets happens Milan Lucic then stuck his glove near Burrows mouth to try and wind him up over the incident and Burrows laughed it off as you could say he didn`t "bite"!

In the same game Aaron Rome of Vancouver was given a game misconduct as he levelled Nathan Horton at mid ice and gave the Bruins forward a severe concussion to which he didn`t play another game in the series after the hit to the head. Even though the Welland Ontario native was ruled out of the playoffs, that didn`t mean he wasn`t going to be involved somehow in these finals and so when reach Game 7 in Vancouver. He was given a bottle of water that was some of the ice from Boston arena melted into water and emptied the contents on to the ice as a way of trying to use it as a way of playing on home ice when away.

boston in 2011

That hit he received Horton, swung the series in Boston favour as they seemed energised and focused more from then on, and so they took it a game 7 and went on to win 4-0 at the Rogers Center in Vancouver after a 21 year cup drought they had won it. Also it was contrast of emotions as while the players celebrated inside the arena, outside saw the arena saw a massive scale Riot in Vancouver as they failed to win the Cup once again.

This shortened season has seen the Hawks look incredible and the stats back it up with them being ranked first in the NHL overall as they were superior in all departments on the ice and they carried that form into the playoffs too as they overcome a spirited Minnesota Wild team as beat them in the first 4 - 1 in the best of Seven series. As Minnesota netminder Josh Harding was the story of the series as the goaltender had been told five minutes before game 1 he was playing , as the Regina Saskatchewan native has been dealing with M.S (Multiple Sclerosis) and missed lot of the season over it but he played excellently all series.

Boston was took all the way by their fellow North Eastern Division rival the Toronto Maple Leafs as they went to a Seven game series with them pulling off one of the most dramatic comebacks in Playoffs history, as they were 4-1 down in the final period and looked dead and buried till 10 minutes from the end Nathan Horton started the recovery off with further goals by Milan Lucic and Patrice Bergeron tying the game with 51 seconds to go. It was left to Bergeron to score the goal that took the Bruins through as he scored the Overtime winner to send the Bruins through to the Eastern Semi finals against the New York Rangers.

As we moved to the Semi finals stages, Boston saw off the challenge of the New York Rangers winning the series 4-1 as the Rangers were out played all series as they were bullied and were controlled by the Bruins as Rangers Forwards struggled to find any firepower especially Rick Nash, so when they did they found netminder Tuukka Rask in the Boston nets in miserly mood.  It took Game 4 for the Rangers to get a glimmer of hope in the series as they won at Madison Square Garden 4-3 in Overtime to get to a game 5.

Chicago had a tough second round series as they came up against an "Original 6" side in the rejuvenated Detroit Red Wings. The Red Wings had only just qualified for these playoffs having had to secure their spot on the final week of the regular season, so the series kicked off in Chicago and the Blackhawks made a good start as they took game 1 at the United Center 4-1 as Detroit looked outclassed by their Central Division rival.

Detroit though, struck back with a 4-1 win of their own in Game 2 and with further wins coming at home in games 3 & 4 for the Red Wings that saw them move to within one win of the Conference finals, it was also Game 4 that was the turning point in ther series as well.

As after the Blackhawks were blanked by the Red Wings 2-0 at the Joe Louis Arena, It meant the Hawks mentality had to change and it did. As they came out for game 5 a different side for the rest of the series.

With them overturning a 3-1 deficit ,as they came back to win the series in a game 7 decider with Brent Seabrook scoring the Overtime series winner and dumped the Red Wings out of the playoffs ,after it looked nailed on for Detroit to sail through.

The Conference finals saw both Stanley Cup finalist have relatively easy passages to the big dance.

COREY CRAWFORD

As Chicago faced the reigning and Defending Stanley Cup Champions the Los Angeles Kings, in was proved to be a series with the spotlight on the net minders. As Corey Crawford put in a great performance for the Blackhawks while at the other end of the ice, LA Kings goaltender Jonathon Quick had a series and if honest a playoffs he`d like to forget. He was far from the confidence goalie of last season where Quick was their go to guy a lot last year ,This year he has a poor run of form in the playoffs and error strewn one too, even though he was ranked in the top 5 net minders of the playoffs. 

PATRICK KANE

Chicago controlled the series from game 1,as their fast attacking play brought them their rewards after they took a 2-0 series lead at home and although they dropped game 3 in LA, they made up for it taking the next 2 games including the clinching game 5 where it went to double overtime and saw Patrick Kane score a hat trick to put his Chicago Blackhawks side back in the Stanley Cup finals with a quick one time release past Quick for a 4-3 victory.

In the Eastern conference e finals, Boston faced the daunting task of taking on the Second seeded Pittsburgh Penguins, where it was predicted that Pittsburgh was far too strong for the Bruins and they`d knock them off in 5 games maybe.

However “NO ONE”! could have predicted the outcome of this series at all, as Game 1 and 2 in Pittsburgh was won by an organised, hard working and efficient Boston side, as they restricted the Penguins shots and was making the most of their chances that the Bruins had made ,as they took Game 1 with a shutout of the Pens in their own barn.

Game 2 saw the Bruins crushed the home side with a stunning 6-1 victory at the Consol Energy Center , as they took a commanding 2-0 series lead back to TD Gardens in Boston.

TUUKKA RASK

As the series moved to Boston the series was all but ended when Boston won a thrilling and exciting Game 3 in Double Overtime to see off the Penguins 2-1 and so made Pittsburgh lose heart .

It was now all but left to put the final nail in the coffin in game 4 as they swept this attacking Penguins side and with the forwards they had capable of firing goals in like Jerome Iginla, Kris Letang, Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby, All these forwards were kept quiet by Zdeno Chara and back checking forwards and not forgetting Tuukka Rask , who was a revelation in the nets for the Bruins and his run in these playoffs has been a mirror image to Tim Thomas performances back in their Cup winning season.

ZDENO CHARA

This upcoming STANLEY CUP FINALS will see “Speed v Strength”. As Chicago will use their quickness to try and frustrate the Bruins, while Boston will use their physical play to stop Chicago fast play and rely on Rask and the forwards to do their duty and hope their power play can click too. 

Chicago had their points spread around the team in these playoffs , while Boston had David Krejci lead the Offensive leaders in these playoffs with 21 Points and 9 goals, along with team mate Nathan Horton scoring 7. The Blackhawks had Patrick Sharp and Bryan Bickell joint top for Chicago on 8 goals apiece. 

So this should be a very entertaining and intriguing series to say to the least, all we need now is for the puck to drop as we await the countdown to the series start now.