Bruins Blackhawks Cup Final Set to commence Wednesday: Stanley Cup Finals Preview

David Krejci or Patrick Kane? Milan Luchic or Brian Bickel? Patrice Bergeron or Johnathon Towes? All tributary like questions stemming from one far greater inquiry. Who is the better team: the Boston Bruins or the Chicago Blackhawks? Who will win the 2013 Stanley Cup Finals?

A few simple questions that on a good year pose near impossible for anyone to answer, all regardless of what has happened before hand. But this year is different. From day one, this playoff season was vast with upsets as you find it hard not to remember that if it weren't for Patrice Bergeron's goal with 52 seconds left in the Bruins, Leafs game seven back in round one Boston would have been eliminated before they even got to their semifinal match-up with the Rangers. Then in the semi finals series between the Hawks and Redwings, you remember that the 7th seed Redwings once harbored a 3-1 series lead over Presidents Trophy winning Blackhawks and in order for the Hawks to make it to their conference finals date with the Kings they had to do something that has only been done 25 times in NHL history: come back from a 3-1 deficit to win a series.

Yet it was in the Boston, Pittsburgh series where perhaps the biggest of these upsets was born. Coming into the series the Penguins averaged over 4 goals a game while the Bruins just managed about 3.4. The tables were inevitably turned in Pittsburgh's favor yet  Boston shut them out twice and outscored the cup favorites 12 to 2 all on their way to preforming just the 4th conference finals sweep since 1983.

So long story short this playoff season has been one of upsets, thrilling finishes and unexpected heroes, looking at you David Krejci and Tory Krug. But unbelievably that is not the only factor that hinders anyone's idea of how this cup final will go. You see normally in a Stanley Cup match-up, since each team plays each other at least once a year, you normally have a measuring stick of how the two teams match up against one another. Yet due to the lockout shortened the season one of the fatalities of that lockout was the loss of inter conference play meaning that the last time the Hawks and B's played was in the 2011 2012 season and goodness grascios a lot has changed since then.

Eastern Conference teams score in regular season game	Western Conference teams score ins regular season game	Stanley Cup finals score (in games)
Devils: 3	Kings: 0	Kings win in six games
Bruins: 3	Chanuks: 1	Bruins win in seven games
Flyers: 3	Blackhawks: 2	Blackhawks win in six games

Above is a table of the last three Stanley cup match-ups and the result of their regular season meeting

Nevertheless, with what these two rosters have produced thus far and the history of physical play that these two teams have exhibited over the last few years may give us a clue.

As it is, it seems like a running theme in this series will inevitably be the ongoing battle between hard hitting guys like Milan Luchic and Zedeno Chara for Boston and Brian Bickel and Brent Seabrook for Chicago. Between the four of them they have connected on a combined total of 233 hits and 43 penalty minutes. Yet amidst all this vicious animosity and violent slews of bone crushing hits, the Hawks have not dropped the gloves at all this postseason while in the Pittsburgh series alone, Boston threw down with three different brawls in just four games and an unexpected scrap between Evgeni Malkin and Patrice Bergeron.

Turning instead to the scoring portion of these two team's respective roads to the cup, through the first three rounds of the playoffs the Bruins have scored 50 times as opposed to Chicago's slightly smaller total of 47 goals. In addition to that as you look through the list of guys who have scored for these two teams Boston seems to have an edge. They come at you from all angles, D-men jumping into plays (The Bruins defense has combined for 15 goals through 6 different goal scorers), key offensive zone face-off wins (aside from one game in Pittsburgh, Patrice Bergeron and his accompanying center men have been stellar at the dot),  clutch goal scoring and an ability to stay calm during a storm. (the Bruins are 4-1 in overtime this playoff season one of those wins coming in double overtime and another coming to finish that dramatic game seven comeback against the Leafs.) After all its goal scoring and the timeliness of that goal scoring that wins games and after all it only takes four victories to win a Cup and while both the Bruins and Blackhawks are the same number of wins away from clenching the ultimate prize, it is Boston that holds the edge in goals scored and that will inevitably prove a big factor in this upcoming series.

For so many years Boston hockey well stunk. Yet since Claude Julian came into the organisation 6 years ago the Bruins have turned it around, they have won a cup, they have harbored a Norris Trophy winner in Zedeno Chara and have, without a doubt, become one of the best goal-tending teams in the NHL. Yet above all else one fact reigns supreme. In just three days the Bruins will be in the Stanley Cup Finals for the second time in just 3 NHL seasons and they better win. Nothing more must be said.

 

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Jason Collins Marches in Boston Pride Parade: Why his heroic actions are so much greater than anything, anyone could do on a basketball court

I sit on a curb, the weight of blue, purple, green and gold beads weigh heavy around my lightly sunburned neck. On my wrist are three of those rubber bracelets. "Boston Strong" reads one of them and well the other two have the word Walgreen's scrawled across them. Nonetheless as I look away from the shawg I am now wearing, I hear a loud forthcoming of jubilant exclamation. I crane my neck and slowly but surely the smiling figure of a tall dark skinned man comes into view. I smile. Why? Because this gleeful man is a hero, a true epitome of bravery and courage and a driving light of how every now and then when sports a politics collide our great games turn into something far more than a game. They turn into a part of the nations culture and the true part of life that they began as.

Who was this man? Where was I? This man was Jason Collins and this well attended event of thrill and self expression was the Boston Pride Parade. The gleeful cheers and the ear to ear grins of those crowding around the edges of those Boston streets was the wonderful by product of the collision of two cultural pieces in America's historic fabric.

Joining the national spotlight back on the 29th of April, Collins became famous when he and a collection of sports writers published an 8 page article in the weekly magazine Sports Illustrated. The article was centered around one opening quote; "I'm a 34-year-old NBA center. I'm black. And I'm gay." 

For the first time in pro sports history an openly gay man was on a team's roster. And for an entire national community of gay men and women, that picture of Jason Paul Collins waving to a crowd of cheering parade attendees with the words #BETRUE scrawled across his chest, ought to feel pretty good.  

Jason Collins is a figure, a beacon of hope for a nation of gay athletes and sports fans. A little over a month ago he proved to a version of the USA often livid with far harsher examples of oppression than we would chose to believe exist, that he was not willing to remain silent. He connected with people and even if Collins never hits the court again and even though he only averaged 9 minutes of playing time last year what he has done is something far greater than any achievement  he could bring to his team during a game. Jason Collins is a hero, Jason Collins is a marcher Jason Collins is an activist, and Jason Collins is a 34 year old NBA center, he is black and he is gay. 

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Bruins advance to cup finals: Top reasons for the Boston sweep

Fact is, when this series with Pittsburgh began 7 days ago, I think you would have been hard pressed to find anyone who could even imagine a Bruins win. I mean, how on earth could a 5th seed that needed an absolute miracle to make it out of the first round  manage to lop off a number one seed that at one point won 15 consecutive games. Nevertheless as unthinkable we thought it to be, that unthinkable truth became a reality last night and goodness gracious, I'm not complaining.

For the second time in three short years, the Boston Bruins are going to the Stanley Cup Finals. Here's why.

1) Tuukka Rask



2 Shutouts, 134 saves on 136 shots. And they were all against Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. Tuukka Rask saved the show for Boston and if they are to win the cup he will be a strong candidate for Con Smyth.

2) Bruins Net Front Defense



I noticed it almost right off the bat. Why? Because it was something the Bruins had failed to do all season long. Limit the Penguins shots on net by clearing the rebounds allowed by Tuukka Rask out and away from the net. Fact is Boston did a great job destroying any chance Pittsburgh had at blasting a second chance opportunity on the Bruins goal and that was most likely the biggest part of Boston's limiting their conference final opponent to just 2 goals through 4 games.

3) Sidney Crosby looses concentration



He is the greatest player in the world, no doubt about it but nevertheless Boston was able to shut him down and that was a huge reason for the Bruins win. Beginning after the conclusion of the second period of game two, Crosby seemed to loose it, going after Tuukka Rask before finding himself at the foot of an angry mount Chara. From that point on Sidney Crosby never got it back and well I'm really not upset about that.

The Boston Bruins are going to the Cup Finals! The Boston Bruins are going to the Cup Finals! Heck yeah!!

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Campbell Out for reminder of Playoffs: How it will effect the Bruins and who will be the replacement

"When you see a guy go down like Greg did, its normal for guys to wanna rally around him" ~ Claude Jullian: Bruins head coach  

"Its not just playoffs, Soupy always plays like that, he is an incredible player" ~ Shawn Thornton: Bruins 4th line winger

Puck + leg = ouch.

I'm gonna say this now. Please comment below if you believe you could have your leg broken by a puck and continue to play an additional 1 minute of hockey. I certainly couldn't.

Nonetheless, midway through Wednesday's game three with Pittsburgh and with Boston on the penalty kill, Bruin tough guy center Gregory Campbell suck in front of a Evgeni Malkin shot tacking it hard to the lower calf. Almost immediately you knew something was wrong as Campball was literally hobbling on just 1 good leg. Yet even with his lower tibia then in shards, no whistle came meaning that the Bruin forward , obviously in a considerable amount of pain, was confined to the ice. For 45 seconds after the blocked shot, Campbell was never freed from the ice and with the pure heroics of that nearly endless sequence now completely profiled by nearly every annalist in the world of pro hockey, a much more imminent question has now been posed. Who to replace him.

As of last night, Claude Jullian was still to make a decision on who would fill the role of his befallen forward  yet as time progressed, it has begun to seem as if center Kaspers Daugavans will be in line to take the ice for the team this evening. Nevertheless nothing has been set in stone and two major candidates remain. Carl Soderberg and Jay Pandalfo. Joining the team earlier this year, mainly to serve as a replacement for an underachieving Chris Bourque, Pandalfo played 18 games for Boston  but failed to hit the back of the net (despite notching 11 shots on goal for the club). Yet even through his lack of production, Pandalfo is a big guy with a long stick that could at least partially fill some of the even strength time on ice taken up by Campbell.

Daugavins on the other hand is almost the complete opposite of Pandalfo. Over a decade younger than Pandalfo, Daugavins is a speed guy, with the style of a goal scorer yet can never seem to hit the back of the net.

Finally we have arrived at Carl Soderburg, an interesting story yet one that at this point in time seems to be going down the wrong track. Born in October of 1985, the high scoring center played 10 season of SEL hockey notching 422 starts and putting up 143 goals before being traded to the Bruins back in mid April. Through his 6 starts for Boston, the team went 2-4 and Soderburg smacked together just 2 assists on just over 88 minutes of total ice time.

At this point in time, it has been at least unofficially announced that Kaspers Daugavins will be donning the black and gold tonight and while there still is a possibility that coach Claude will go back on that call it seems that Daugavins is probably the best way to go.

Nevertheless nobody can replace Gregory Campbell, they can only hope to slightly lessen the effect of his absence and, if all goes to plan, give Boston the series sweep that they can and hopefully will pull off later tonight.

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Red Sox Check in: David Ortiz, a famous guy

The Red Sox series with Texas wrapped up last night and it seemed only fitting that that the rubber match of the three game set came down to a game of inches. Kicking off back on Tuesday, the then 35 and 23 Sox were in prime position to take sole position of the division lead, a feat they hadn't held since the start of May.

As said before beginning last Tuesday, the Sox and Rangers began hurling with Ryan Dempster for Boston and Justin Grimm for Texas. With neither guy really pitching spectacular baseball it was evident that this was going to be a game of who could hit the ball harder and farther: and Boston did just that. Putting up 19 hits, the Sox crossed the plate 17 times for a season high in scoring and a decisive 17 to 5 win.

"It's just fun to be a part of that," said Daniel Nava, who, like countless others on the Sox roster was solid out of the batters box. "The dugout was in a good mood." 

One day later, the boys were back at it and less than 24 hours after seeing the ball fly off the Sox bats like a tennis ball off a racket, the Texas bullpen locked down guys like Ortiz, Pedroia and Napoli and allowed the Rangers to clench a nail biting 3-2 win. 

 "He's always trying to get on top of hitters, so I was trying to stay focused and look for my pitch." said Nelson Andrews a former teammate of Sox closer Koji Uehara following the game. Nonetheless with the series knotted at 1 a piece and the Sox still having outscored the Rangers 19 to 8 on we went to game three. 

With Andrew Bailey on the mound for the Sox, Boston battled back late in the game to tie the contest in the bottom of the 7th inning thus skillfully setting up a crucial ninth frame.

Now this is where things get interesting. For some strange reason, the Texas Rangers elected to intentionally walk Dustin Pedrioa. Thus putting two men on base and sending David Ortiz to bat. 

"Nope"  Ortiz said in response to a reporter asking if he expected the Rangers to put Pedroia on. 
"You don't wake up a monster like that." 

Nonetheless no matter how unexpected the move was, Ortiz was ready. Swinging on the fist pitch he was, thrown Ortiz got all of it: and even with the ball just barely sailing into the bullpen, it was obvious that, before Papi even left the batters box, this game was over. 

Fenway roared, Papi rounded the bases yet as his teammates ripped off his white and red jersey a seemingly custom made tee shirt beneath was unveiled. "Famous as F***" it read and you know what, that is completely and utterly true.  

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Down with Pittsburgh: Is David Krejci an elite player

Dear Penguins fans and players. You may argue all you want but this fact remains unchanged. Through the first 3 rounds of this 2013 NHL playoff season, no player (including Malkin and Crosby) has played better than Boston's own David Krejci.

Debuting back in the 06, 07 season, Krejci played 6 games keeping his stat line livid with goose eggs yet did begin to pave a heartfelt road to a now prosperous NHL career. After returning to Providence the next season, Krejci was once again called up to Boston this time notching 56 NHL games and lighting the lamp on six occasions. From that point on Krejci was the rock that drove Boston's second line as he unlikely evolved into one of Boston's top centers. (a pretty decent feat seeing as he played for a team with Patrice Bergeron on it). Over the next few seasons, whenever Krejci's regular season scoring touch came under question, he would answer with a near perfect postseason.

In 2009, Krejci tallied just 17 goals in 79 games yet light it up in the playoffs scoring 4 times in 9 games including a 2 goal night in game six of Boston's first round 2009 series with Buffalo. One year later, Krejci caught fire once again. Scoring 5 times in the first 2 rounds Krejci went on to double that total in the conference finals, (3 of those additional 5 goals came in a game six hat trick)   and see his team to their first Stanley Cup Championship in 39 years.

Yet while that playoff record was admirable, the heroic performance of David Krejci in this years tournament has been truly magical. Through the first three rounds of playoff action, Krejci has played not only Henrik Lundquvist but also a Penguins team that allowed just 119 goals during the regular season making them one of the best defensive teams in the NHL. Nonetheless, Krejci didn't care. He scored 5 goals in the Toronto series, that including a game 4 hat trick that ended with an OT winner for the center. Then in the Rangers series, Krejci did not score at all but did tally 4 assists in five games to bump his postseason total up to 12 assists and 17 points. Yet perhaps the best performance of all has been that of Krejci in this conference final match up with Pittsburgh. Through the first three games, Krejci has never gone without a goal lighting the lamp 4 times on just 13 shots and netting his second game winning goal of the playoffs.

Say what you will about Crosby, say what you will about Malkin, but it has been proven. When Sidney Crosby gets beaten down, he stays down, when David Krejci gets beaten down he hops back to his feat, skates down the ice and gives his team a chance to win. When he is doubted he answer questions not with words but by a flood of goals and offensive prosperity. David Krejci is an athlete, a goal scorer and that: that is the definition of an elite player.

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Matt Cooke has changed, yeah....NO!

  

Cooke delivering a brutal hit from behind on Adam McQuaid during last night's game with Pittsburgh

 Going into last night's game win between the Bruins and Penguins I was fully convinced that win or loose, I would spend this Sunday morning writing a run of the mill recap of the game. Early in the 2nd period, my plans were changed.

Say what you will but, the analogy I came up with while writing this post, was a school teacher writing a letter to the parents of a kid who just punched his friend. I mean we all wish Matt Cooke had it in him to stop taking guys out of games and ending their careers yet still he goes on ripping players apart and maintaining his reputation as one of the dirtiest players in the entire NHL.

Born in September of 1978, Cooke achieved near eternal fame as he entered Boston's book of sports lore with one of the most costly hits in recent Bruins history. On March 7th while a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins Cooke came across the blue line targeting the head of Mark Savard and bringing the Bruin star too the ice in a heap of blood and unconsciousness. Yet even while escaping that incident without a suspension, Cooke's dirty style of play would earn him 4 more suspensions over the next 2 years as well as a near annihilation of any credibility he had with any fans outside of Pittsburgh. Nonetheless, after that 4th suspension, one that cost him 17 games the Penguins enforcer was given a considerable amount of time to reflect on his career and string of career changing hits.

"I realize and understand, more so now than ever, that I need to change," Cooke said in apology to Anton Anisimov the on the reviving end of the hit that warranted that 4th suspension. 

But when you look at Cooke's track record, he has not got much better. Even while making it through this season suspension free, Cooke was not far from controversy as, as early as February 13th, an errant Cooke skate blade caught reigning Norris trophy winner Eric Karalson in the calf rupturing his achilles tendon and taking the star out for the reminder of the season. Yet in the mind of Bruins fans no 2013 Cooke hit was more brutal than the one delivered to hard nosed D-man Adam McQuaid less than 24 hours ago. 

With the puck at the blue line and the pressure of the Bruins defense forcing a decision,  Cooke poked the puck back in towards Tuukka Rask's net. Seeing this, McQuaid pealed back to play the puck and had his back turned as Cooke pushed his away around Bruin Torey Krug. Now just a few feet away from the boards, Cooke continued in towards McQuaid, finishing his check and causing his target to fall limply to the ice.  

You see two things were wrong about this play, and you know both of them involved history. The dirty history of Matt Cooke vs the concussion riddled past of less than pathetic McQuaid. For Cooke its the string of reckless hits and questionable altercations yet for McQuaid it was the fact that he has definitely been on the receiving end of quite a few hits like the one last night. 

If Matt Cooke has in fact changed, his actions last night sure begged to proclaim otherwise. If Matt Cooke has changed, then many hockey fans across the globe have been proven wrong. Nonetheless, to quote a tweet made using the Matt Cooke hash-tag,  "I hope I don't run into Matt Cooke on the street..... for his sake"

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