Lions MAUL Aussies to make History

 

British & Irish Lions  41 – 16 Australia 

After 16 years of Pain and hurt for the British & Irish Lions fans and players who have played since their last series victory back in 1997, After tours of promising starts, to only lose out in the end.

Saturday saw History made as not only did the Lions beat the Australians, but they destroyed them in their own back yard as the Rampant Lions mauled Australia 41-16 in the series decider at the ANZ Stadium in Sydney.

Australia had bolstered their side with the inclusion of Returnee George Smith to the Wallabies side after a 4 year absence from International Rugby and 2 years from Rugby, as he only returned to action in February and was seen as huge risk chosen by Australian Head Coach Robbie Deans.

For the Lions, Warren Gatland decided to take a massive risk himself as he dropped a major bombshell during midweek , when he announced that Ireland and Lions legend Brian O` Driscoll was dropped from the squad completely. That decision caused uproar from the media and Lions fans alike, as they wanted to see their hero win a Lions Series for the first time ever. He was prepared to risk the wrath of the fans from the home nations countries with his decision.

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Jamie Roberts and Alex Corbisiero was brought back into the starting 15, as they recovered from hamstring injuries sustained in the 1^st test match two weeks before, as they replaced Marko Vunipola and the Injured Lions captain Sam Warburton.  Alun Wyn Jones was chosen as the man to captain the Lions as he led them out for the Third test on the ANZ Stadium pitch.

So as Johnny Sexton kicked off the Final test and series decider, the Lions couldn`t have got off to the better start possible, when Will Genia normally so reliable with his catching ability knocked on after 3 seconds of the game gone.

So the Lions had great field positioning as they put into the scrum and from the resulting scrum the Australians were standing up in the scrum and Northern Hemisphere Referee Romain Poite from France awarded a free kick to the Lions, which was took quickly by Mike Philips and as he combined with Tommy Bowe down the blind-side, Bowe was brought down on the 5m line by the Wallabies defense and play was nearing the line and the captain Alun Wyn Jones went agonisingly close to the line but was held up inches from the line.

In the next phase of play it brought the Lions a try which saw Alex Corbisiero going over from close range to give the Lions a 5-0 lead and with Leigh Halfpenny scoring the conversion for a 7-0.

Australia came straight back with an attack of their own as they gained towards the try line and the move finished up with George Smith ,who was involved in a horrible clash of heads with Richard Hibbert. As they came together which saw Hibbert take the brunt of the smash, but come off better than Smith and who seemed to be groggy.

The Lions scrum was mauling the Australian pack as they dominated the Wallabies and was running them ragged.

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Things got even better for the Touring side as the Aussies gave away a penalty on the half way line for not releasing and gave Halfpenny a chance to exorcise his missed kick last week.

Halfpenny made no mistake this week as he put the Lions 10-0 up and at the restart saw the Aussies given a penalty due to the Lions obstructing the Aussie players and one that James Horwill the Wallabies captain chosen to kick at goal eventually after turning down 4 previous chances to kick at goal.

Kurtley Beale kicked over to put some points on the scoreboard for the Aussies, as he made it 10-3.

The Lions won yet another penalty at the scrum as the Australian were dealing so badly with the Lions pack and once again Halfpenny kicked over for a 13-3 lead. Minutes later saw them get another penalty as the Wallabies pack were caught standing up in the scrum and Poite awarded the Lions another penalty and warned the Wallabies Captain Horwill “any more repeats and it`s a yellow card for whoever”.

Leigh Halfpenny kicked the penalty and made it 16-3 after fifth teen minutes of play as the men in Red were dominating the Green & Gold`s and Australia looked powerless and stuck for answers in what to do.

Then in the 24^th minute Ben Alexander was shown the yellow card for collapsing in the scrum and gave Halfpenny another penalty and he extended the score as it became 19-3 then.

Johnny Sexton then made a great play as a long kick up field by O Connor, was picked up by the Irish player while his foot was on the dead ball line and picked it up while it rolled meaning play came back all the way back into the Wallabies half.

It was the Lions enjoying a long spell of possession in the Wallabies 22m zone where they went through 20 plus phases of play, before Sexton went for the drop goal and saw his attempt just go wide of the uprights.

Australia were desperate to find any kind of spark within their side to get them going as a Jesse Mogg made a break away from the Lions and was ankle tapped by Geoff Parling to stop the run.

With the last run of play before half time , Australia scored a Try through James O`Connor as he battled past the Lions defense to score for the Wallabies and with Lealiifano kicking the extras he made it 19-10 with them slowly gaining ground on the Britain & Irish  Lions.

Second half saw the Aussies come out strong and win a penalty as the Lions were penalized for not rolling away at the breakdown, which gave Lealiifano the chance to kick the Australians closer to the Lions score as they made it 13-19.

Momentum seemed to switch towards the home side now, as the Aussies started to get the rub of the green in the game now, as a mark called by Johnny Sexton missed by the touch judge which gave them advantage at the 5m line.

Australia won a penalty as the Lions were adjudged to have come in at the side of the maul and gave Lealiifano a chance to kick over for a 16-19 score line.

Then the Lions got back to basics as they won a penalty from the scrum and Halfpenny kicked it to make it a 6 point lead now.

Then came a huge moment in the game, as a good passing move by the Lions went towards the left flank and then Jonathon Davies and Leigh Halfpenny combined to set up Johnny Sexton, who couldn`t contain his emotion as he went over the line jubilant and put the ball down for a try for 30-16 score line after Halfpenny kicked the 2 extra points over.

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Australia put the tourists in trouble as a Mogg kick found touch by the 5 metre line deep in Lions half and despite possession for the Wallabies, the try gave the Lions belief and seemed to take the wind out of their sails. Australia pushed hard for the try line though they just couldn`t find a breakthrough.

Then the back breaker for the Australians came as Leigh Halfpenny broke through the Wallabies defense and pulled the full back out of position before feeding George North and he grabbed a try for the Lions to make it 34-16, Halfpenny unfortunately couldn`t kick the conversion over.

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The Lions then completed the thrashing when from their poorest set piece on this tour the Line-out, they managed to get it to work as they worked the rolling maul from it and after Murray fed Jamie Roberts, the Welshman dashed through the hapless Australian defense, scoring a try that broke the 16 year hoodoo and wrote this 2013 side into Lions folklore as they celebrated the try.

Lions players on the bench and management team hugged and congratulated each other during the final stages and as the whistle blew History was made and the Lions won the series 2-1 and the fans and players alike celebrated victory, tears of joy were shed by Roberts and FINALLY O`Driscoll could have Lions series winner added on his C.V and this now shows the Lions are back and back with a vengeance.

Wallabies edge The Lions in another thriller!

 Second Test:

AUSTRALIA  16 - 15 BRITISH & IRISH LIONS

(SERIES LEVEL 1-1)

It was like a mirror image of the First Test as a missed Penalty kick saw the team lose out twice in two games as this time the team to face the heartbreak of a missed kick came from the British &Irish Lions kicker Leigh Halfpenny, as the last kick of the game saw the Wallabies even up the series, as the Hosts beat the Lions 16-15 at the Etihad Stadium in Melbourne to set up a decider in Sydney next weekend.

The Lions were missing England prop Alex Corbisiero with a hamstring injury he picked up and along himself on the injury side was Ireland`s Paul O Connell who fractured his arm in the First Test also in Brisbane last weekend.

So in came Marko Vunipola for Corbisiero and Geoff Parling coming in to replace Paul O Connell, as they looked to win the Second test in Melbourne and win the series for the Tourists ,for the first time since 1989 when they last won 2-1 in Australia.

Australia were glad to have Captain James Horwill available for selection , after the Lock was cleared by an Independent board for a “Stamp”, but the decision was later scrapped as the IRB (International Rugby Board) wanted to review the incident themselves as they felt there may have been more to it then seemed.

So Horwill played with a cloud over him as the incident was still in the news up to kick off time among the rugby media.

The teams took to the field as the British & Irish Lions were led out by Captain Sam Warburton as he carried the traditional Stuffed Lion onto the pitch and dropped it on the pitch as the roar from the red shirts in the crowd which was estimated to be 25,000-30,000 of them greeted the Tourists on, in front of a crowd of 53,000 at the Etihad Stadium.

Twelve years ago, the Lions had lost at the same venue back in 2001 going down 35-14 to the Wallabies, as the home side have a record of winning 10 out of 12 Test Matches at this ground.

It was Kurtley Beale who kicked us off as he hoped to shake off the memories of last weekend, as it was his missed kick in the last seconds that saw his Australian side edged out by the Lions 23-21 in Brisbane.

So what would be in store for us in this Second Test Match, It was the Lions that came out firing as they put the heavy hitting on the home side early on, as the Tourists were really up for this Second Test match as they had they went in search for a series victory.

The Lions won an early penalty as Warburton won a penalty at the breakdown for the Lions,which gave Leigh Halfpenny the chance to give the Tourists into an early lead from just inside the Wallabies half. Halfpenny penalty unluckily saw his kick struck the bar and bounced the wrong side which denied them an early lead.

In the opening 9 minutes , the Lions had dominated play and the Wallabies were struggling to get to grips with their Opponents.  It was mainly rolling mauls that had the home team in trouble as the Lions ploughed up field and moved up towards the Australian line and had the Aussies forced to conceded another penalty, as this time Halfpenny successfully converted the kick to make it 3-0 to the Lions.

That kick seemed to wake up the Wallabies as they came into the game a bit more now and even more so in the scrimmaging department.

The Lions were conceding penalties or namely Mako Vunipola was, as the Loose head Prop wasn`t binding correctly and so was putting his side under pressure as he gave away penalty after penalty in the scrums.

Eventually the constant sight of the Scrums going down from involving Vunipola struggling to deal with his opposite number, meant that the South African official gave Australia a penalty and let Christian Leali’ifano draw level, as this was his full debut after he lasted just 45 seconds in his original debut in the First Test.

Leali’ifano kicked over to make the score 3-3 after 16 minutes of play and made it a level game now, as Australia were certainly the aggressors in this game now as the Lions had lacked the threat they posed in the opening quarter of the game.

Fans of the Lion’s fans tried their best to get their side going again as they blasted out renditions of "Bread of Heaven" & "Swing low sweet chariots" as the Lions were under the cosh for a while.

Australia were dominating play from now as they had the Lions in trouble and after we witnessed scrum upon scrum collapsing with the two packs,

Referee Joubert then awarded the Wallabies yet another penalty and Leali`ifano stepped up to kick the Penalty over for the first lead in the match as he made it 6-3 for the Green & Gold`s.

From the restart Australia went straight on the attack , as they built up a good passing move from deep in their own half. Will Genia then punted down field deep inside the Lions 22m to which was run back in a good move by Johnny Sexton, the returning Tommy Bowe and Tom Youngs, but the move came to an end when Vunipola who wasn’t covering himself in glory in the game up to this point, knocked on and so a scrum took place.

The following scrum saw Vunipola redeem himself , as he won the Lions back a penalty and Leigh Halfpenny kicked over for the score to make it 6-6 after 26 minutes.

Some more good play in the scrum saw the Lions awarded another penalty and Halfpenny made no mistake,  as he kicked over for the Lions to go ahead once again in the tense contest.

Australia was given a penalty almost immediately after ,when the Lions strayed offside from a ruck after the home side had won the line out. After the advantage came to nothing for the Wallabies, play was brought back to where the penalty was given and Joubert gave the home side a penalty, to which Christian Leali`ifano then kept his 100% record up as he kicked over to make it 9-9.

After sides traded high kicks between each other, it was the Lions that had their best attack for some time, when the Aussie backline was being tested as the play was switched to the other side of the field where a Wallabies player tried to pinch the ball from the ruck and in doing so was penalized, which gave the Lions a penalty in the last minute of the first half.

Halfpenny kicked the penalty over just outside the Australian 22m line to give the lead beat to the Lions as they led at the break 12-9.

Lions scrummaging in this test match was far below how they played in the opening test, as they weren`t winning the battles in the pack as the Australians as they had the week before and the home were playing fantastic as a unit in the scrum.

The game was a scrappy one with both sides wanting to try and control the game in there favour, yet it was littered with knock-on`s and nerves getting to the players on both sets of teams.

The Lions were dealt a blow when Prop Adam Jones was forced off with an injury and was replaced with Dan Cole, Jones was one of the best performers on the pitch for the tourists and it seemed to hurt the Lions in the forward line. 

We then had the incredible sight of George North running forward and Israel Folau trying to tackle him, but instead was fireman`s carried on North`s shoulders as the Welshman shown his brute strength as he held off along with two more Aussie players, before dumping Folau on his backside and also ended up hurting himself too as he seemed to land on top of his head. 

A scrum was given to the Lions and on this occasion the Lions roared back in the pack, as they ploughed the Australians backwards and dismantled them the scrum, only for Joubert to award the Lions a penalty and allowed Halfpenny to step up and kick over for a 15-9 lead.

Australia was now doing what they dreaded, they were chasing the game now and were looking a tad frustrated too. Things for the Lions weren`t getting better on the injury front either, as two of the star players were down hurt with Johnny Sexton  and a few yards away Captain Sam Warburton was down, and it didn`t look good. Warburton was helped off the pitch by the medical staff as he had pulled his Hamstring and it meant for all the defending the Lions were doing , the tiredness and injury list was piling up more so now, as With Jones and Warburton down the Lions were getting a reversal of fortunes from their hosts of last week.

British & Irish Lions fans were looking at the clock wanting it to quickly tick over ,while the Wallabies felt time was ticking away too fast.

Australia gained yards and was in terrific position to score as they were right near the line and the Lions needed to hold on and keep them out. Sadly, they couldn`t hold out as play was switched after a slow build up and the home side quickly put a move together , which saw Adam Ashley-Cooper rush over the line for a try and break  Lions hearts late in the game , as they took the lead 16-15 with a Leali`ifano kick too converted.

The Lions had a chance with two minutes to go as the Lions kicked for touch from a penalty and knew if they could win their own line out then the Visitors would be in with a great chance to go for a drop goal. However the line out was lost and the Wallabies cleared away from their half.

As the hooter sounded the Lions had the ball deep in their half and needed to keep play alive to have a chance, as it turned out they won a penalty and was played quickly. The Lions dashed up field where they gained another and put them just inside their own half as the Lions had one more chance and gave Leigh Halfpenny the task to kick the penalty which was the most pressurized kick in this series.

As if he succeeded the Lions would be victorious and if he missed it would set up a decider in Sydney next weekend.

Halfpenny took his time and tried to compose himself, the Welshman then struck the ball and just like Beale last weekend the ball missed the posts and was picked up behind the posts by the Wallabies and kicked out of play to give the home side victory and set up a Winner takes all clash next weekend.

Halfpenny looked dejected and was comforted by his team mates as a complete reversal of last weekend match in injuries and last minute drama occured.

This means we go into next weekend all level at 1-1 with the Lions hoping to make history and win a series since 1997, But may well look back and think they may have blown it.

Blackhawks down the Bruins to become STANLEY CUP CHAMPIONS

CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS  WIN SERIES  4 - 2 BOSTON BRUINS 

pic from: zimbo

2013 was the years of the Hawks, Blackhawks that is! As Chicago won their 2nd Stanley Cup championship in 4 years as they beat a gritty & physical Boston Bruins side,  in 6 games to hold aloft Sir Stanley`s Cup once again since 2010.

The Blackhawks defeated the Bruins on foreign ice much like in 2010 when they beat Philadelphia Flyers on the road in 6 games just like they did this season . Chicago produced a comeback equal to what Boston produced to beat Toronto in the First Round at TD Gardens, as the Hawks looked down and out and destined to go back to Chicago for the Winner takes all game seven.

That was till the Hawks pulled Corey Crawford for the extra skater and Bryan Bickell equalized for the away side with 1:16 left in the 3rd Period to tie the game up, now we looked like heading to overtime but, there was still a twist in the game left.

17 seconds later they scored again to complete a crazy turnaround in the game and saw Chicago take a 3-2 lead and it was a lead they would hold onto and win the series 4-2 in Boston.

It was really "Crazy" series from Game 1 in Chicago to Game 6 in Boston, Here is a look back at this incredible series.

This 2013 STANLEY CUP FINAL series got off to an exciting start, as fans and pundits in Hockey were hoping the clash between recent Stanley Cup champions would be an absolute cracker and it didn`t disappoint either.

Game 1 started off at the United Center in Chicago, where the Western Conference champions the Chicago Blackhawks played hosts to the Eastern Conference champions the Boston Bruins in a barn burner of a game.

It was the Bruins that came out the most attacking of the two sides as they outshot the home side 11-8 in the opening period. Corey Crawford between the pipes for the Blackhawks had to be alert in goal, as he flashed the glove at Brad Marchand`s effort as he robbed the Boston forward of a goal.

The B`s took the lead though at 13:11 in the first period thanks to Milan Lucic, as thanks to David Krejic who played a huge part on the goal, as the Czech Republic native chased a loose puck behind the Hawks net and took a hard from Niklas Hjalmarsson against the boards, but still managed to make a play directing it to Nathan Horton whose center pass found an unmarked Lucic and he fired past Crawford to make it 1-0.

Boston continued their play into the 2nd period as they took a two goal advantage via a Milan Lucic Slapshot ,that beat Crawford high over the shoulder for a 2-0 lead and Boston silenced the Chicago crowd with that second goal as the Bruins were in charge.

Chicago responded at 3:08 into the period as they cut the lead in half, when Brandon Saad wristed one past Tuuka Rask in the Bruins net for a 2-1 score line. This then started a end to end game as the Blackhawks took over , on the shots on goal, with 16 attempts to 6 on their opponents.

The third period was the same , with the home side out shooting their visitors but it was the away side that stretched their lead again.

As Boston scored a power play goal when Patrice Bergeron one timed it off a pass by Seguin and his effort dinged off the metal to make it a 3-1 game at 46:09.

Chicago once again responded shortly after the Bruins goal, as David Bolland stopped the puck going up ice and waited for Shaw to get onside. He then played it to Shaw who passed cross ice for Bolland who one timed it past Rask ,as the Finn was pulled out of position on the play at 48:00.

The Blackhawks tied the game up, when Michael Frolik and good board play by Marcus Kruger passed to the blue line for Johnny Oduya, whose blast deflected in off Andrew Ference and deceived Rask making it 3-3 to tie the game up.

So we went to Overtime yet again and Crawford made a double save in the overtime period, as first off he stopped Shawn Thornton and then spread in front of the goals to block it, before Bolland cleared near the line to stop the Bruins from winning the game.

He was called upon once again as Boston came into the Blackhawks zone on a 2 on 1 before, Peverley found space and tried to fire it in only to be denied by Crawford.

pic from: baltimore press

In the Second period of Overtime, the Bruins cut through mid ice with a straight through pass that saw Seguin connected on it and as he skated on goal his effort couldn`t find a way past Crawford.

Boston thought they`d won it with 9.2 to go in the period, when a Zdeno Chara blast from the blue line struck the foot of the post and went across the crease away from any Bruins players.

So we then entered a Third Overtime period in this opening game of the series, Boston was coming closer and closer and got even nearer this time around too.

As Taylor Seguin was found by David Krejic and when Seguin fed Daugavins who was free at the side of the net, the Bruins players got in that much of a tangle that he tried to back hand his effort but didn`t have a lot of purchase on it.

Then with 12:08 gone in period 3 of Overtime we got a winner finally , as Andrew Shaw scored thanks to a couple of deflections, Firstly a Martin Rozsival shot from the blue line was deflected off Bolland stick and Shaw got a second deflection to divert the puck home and make it a real "MADHOUSE on Madison" as they took it 4-3 in Triple Overtime to give the Blackhawks a 1-0 series lead. Shots on goal for the game were an incredible 63-54 in favour of Chicago.

GAME 2 saw the players come back to the United Center 2 days after the energy draining Triple overtime game on Wednesday evening.

Chicago buoyed obviously from the victory on home ice saw the home side come out on fire, as the Bruins side looked like a side drained and out of ideas completely in the first period of play.

Patrick Sharp grabbed a deserved lead for the home team as a mad scramble in front of the net with nearly every player around the Bruins net saw  the puck come loose and then Sharp spun round and aimed it on goal as it found a way in for a 1-0 score line.

Boston tied things up in the second period when Chris Kelly scored for the Bruins when Danny Paille skated in on goal and then Kelly popped up and lifted it over Crawford for 1-1 at 34:58, as the Bruins made it more of a contest as they recovered from a poor opening period.

Game two went the same way as game one as we went to Overtime, This time thought it was the Bruins to inflict late pain on their hosts.

At 15:58 in the Overtime period Daniel Paille scored the winning goal as a great pass by Chara found Paille and he rifled it home passed Crawford to make it 2-1 and to draw the series level at 1-1.

pic from: zimbo

GAME 3 saw the series shift to Boston`s TD Gardens and the Bruins made full use of home advantage, as the B`s took game 3 with a shutout of the Blackhawks on home ice.

 It took the second period for the scoring to start as Paille dispossessed the puck off a Chicago defenseman and scored for a 1-0 lead much to the delight of the Bruins army.

Boston then doubled their lead on the power play, when Chara passed towards Jaromir Jagr and as he passed across ice, he found Patrice Bergeron who was waiting and blasted home from the back post to make it 2-0 and the Bruins were in full control of the game now.

pic from: zimbo

Chicago pulled the goalie in trying to find a goal but instead of a goal, a scuffle broke out between Andrew Shaw and Brad Marchand who rolled around on the ice till the linesman separated them both, as they departed to their respective locker rooms. Time ran out and Boston took a 2-1 lead in this interesting series.

GAME 4 witnessed Chicago get right back in the series as they beat the Boston Bruins 6-5 in a high scoring game in Overtime.

Boston had control of the Blackhawks in the last couple of games, losing in game 2 and out playing their opponents and then in Game 3 they shut them out.

So the Bruins hoped to take a step closer to the Stanley Cup by taking a 3-1 series lead.

pic from: zimbo

They were caught on the break by Chicago, as Saad dispossessed the Bruins by the blue line in their own zone and he then led the attack , as Michael Hanzus joined in  on the attack for an outnumbered play as it was 2-on-3 for the Hawks.

Saad passed to mid ice towards Handzus and he fired past Rask for a 1-0 lead at 6:48 in the period.

The Bruins replied though through Rich Peverley , who capitalised on a Saad mistake as he lost control of the puck and Peverley snapped one past Crawford for a level contest at 14:43.

The Blackhawks then looked to take control as they scored two goals in the space of 2:12 in the second period.

Firstly Jonathon Toews scored with a tip in from Rozisval slap shot coming from the blue line as his redirect effort beat Rask for a 2-1 game.

Then his partner in crime Patrick Kane made it 3-1 as a scrum near the net caused the puck to bounce loose and Bickell moved it in the direction of Kane and the forward back handed the puck to the far side of net past a despairing Tuuka Rask diving trying to stop it.

Milan Lucic pulled a goal back for Boston, as Zdeno Chara passed from the side boards to Lucic in front of the nets and after his first effort was blocked he managed to back handed the rebound for a 3-2 scoreline.

Chicago once again pulled away as Marcus Kruger scored just.. as Bolland and Frolik broke away up ice and when Frolik passed across ice to Kruger, Kruger stick handled past Rask ,but his original effort didn`t reach the line but he still had balance to tuck home from on the line for a 4-2 score before a defenseman could clear.

Patrice Bergeron made it 4-3, as he scored from close range to put home after a Chara blast had been blocked and once the puck came back down on the ice Bergeron then put home team down by a goal at 35:32.

In the third Bergeron again scored to tie things up for a 4-4 game, when Jagr played around the boards and passed to Bergeron who blasted home for a tie game.

Patrick Sharp then made the score 5-4 when passing between Marian Hossa and Duncan Keith near the point, which led to Hossa blasting one goal wards and his shot was deflected into the path of Sharp, who dinked it over Rask for the lead. Johnny Boychuk then made it all square again, as his slap shot flew by Corey Crawford for a 5-5 tie score line and with no more scoring we went to a 3rd game in this series going to overtime.

In the overtime period it was down to Chicago`s designated overtime game winner Brent Seabrook, As Seabrook scored the O.T winner for the Blackhawks and made it 6-5 at 9:51 in the overtime period and made the series level at 2-2 as well.

GAME 5: Saw the Blackhawks rejuvenated after beating the Bruins in Boston 6-5 a couple days before and so came home to their adoring public and tried to put on a show for their fans, as they looked to take a series lead in the Stanley Cup final once again.

Chicago was the dominating side and yet they just couldn`t beat Tuuka Rask .

It felt like he was a one man team from the Hawks side of things, eventually they broke his defences down as Patrick Kane scored following a Oduya shot taking a bounce and falling to the feet of Kane, who then slipped it in at the near post for a 1-0 lead at 17:26 in the first.

Kane struck again for the Blackhawks in the second period as Bickell moved into the Boston zone and played a one two with Toews, before Bickell tried to go near post but was stopped and yet still controlled the puck and played out towards Kane at the front of the net and Kane dispatched it high up in Rask goals for a 2-0 lead.

pic from: yahoo

Bruins Captain Zdeno Chara then cut the lead to one, as a one timer blast beat the Blackhawks netminder all ends up and so it was 2-1 with 16:20 left in the game. Boston tried to get back in but they were being snuffed out by the Blackhawks now, as Chicago were doing to Boston what they had done to them as the home side grew more confident. Boston tried to pull their netminder fpr the extra attacker, but Chicago were in mid attack , so he had to stay on and manage to deny them extending the score as well.

They couldn`t stop the Hawks scoring again, as they scored an Empty net goal thanks to Dave Bolland from the benches as he threw it goal wards and went in for a 3-1 score line ,moving the Blackhawks to within one game away of lifting the Cup again.

GAME 6:  Saw this Crazy historic series end, as David Bolland scored the Cup winning goal that gave Chicago their second Stanley Cup Championship in 4 years. As an incredible turnaround in the last 2 minutes of the game saw the Blackhawks go from down and out to Cup Champions.

It was Boston that got off to the best start, as Chris Kelly scored thanks to quick thinking from Taylor Seguin as he caught the puck in the mid air and quickly dropped and passed across for Kelly to put home and make it 1-0 to the B`s, as they were hoping to take it to a game 7.

The Blackhawks tied it up at 4:24 in the second period when Jonathon Toews poked the puck away from the Bruins faceoff man and Toews himself skated down the wing and then shot five-hole through Rask to make it 1-1 and set up a final period of tension and drama.

The third period was incredible, Milan Lucic thought he`d scored the game winner with 7:49 left in regulation. Crawford tried to play the puck behind his own net but once he lost control of it, David Krejci then took possession of the puck leading to him finding Lucic in front of the net in space and with his second attempt he scored to put the Bruins 2-1 up.

Chicago pulled Crawford for the extra skater with 1:27 left in the game and after some quick passing between Duncan Keith and Jonathon Toews , Toews then fed Bickell at the far post and he stuck it home to tie the game up at 2-2 and it looked like we would head for an incredible 4th game in this series to go to overtime.

But Chicago thought differently and 17 seconds after they scored the tying goal they then got the go ahead goal .

Johnny Oduya then ripped one from the blue line and after Frolik deflected it on goal it came to Dave Bolland who put home the rebound as he lost his stick and glove in the aftermath for a 3-2 lead in the game with 59 seconds remaining.

pic from: zimbo

The Seconds ticked down and after Patrick Kane tried to score an empty net goal the puck was pushed further up ice and gave no chance for the Bruins to make any chance of scoring and so cue the traditional gloves, helmets and sticks flying up in the air as the players celebrated the victory and meant the Chicago Blackhawks became the 2013 Stanley Cup Champions!

pic from: zimbo

PATRICK Kane was awarded the Most Valuable player over the series as he was one main reason the Blackhawks won the cup.