I went into the Stanley Cup Finals with a sense of apathy and came out of it with big thanx that the Bruins defeated the 'Nucks.
Although it wasn't do-or-die with every puck-possession like it would be rooting for the Sabres, or rooting against an arch-villain like the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals, I really wanted to see the Canucks go down.
Poetic justice was served in this series, just like in the NBA with the Mavericks winning the title over "the Chosen" Heat. The Vancouver Canucks, after winning the first two games on home ice, took their hubris to another level with the flattening of B's forward Nathan Horton by Nuck's d-man Aaron Rome early in Game 3. From thence the sleeping bear was awoken.Vancouver would proceed to drop that game and three of the next four games by a total combined score of 21-4, including two by shutouts.
Total dominance by the Bruins.
The Rome on Horton hit wasn't the only thing that bothered me about the Canucks, they skated throughout the series with a sense of entitlement, like the series had destiny written all over it, I mean, didn't goalie Roberto Luongo win the Olympic Gold Medal on that very same ice a year ago?
Forward Alex Burrows was a jerk throughout the first four games until he was humbled and it was too late, and as the B's got stronger and more physical, the Canucks wilted.
Kinda reminiscent of the Buffalo Sabres from 2007 to 2010, always skating with a sense of entitlement and folding when the going got rough.
"I want to keep not only statistically good players, but winners, gritty players," proclaimed new Sabres owner Terry Pegula.
Players that are like the Boston Bruins, not the Vancouver Canucks.
The Canucks, btw, won the President's Trophy for best record in the NHL last season. They also scored the most goals and had the best goals against average, but when it came to crunch-time, they folded, and showed that they were merely "statistically good players."
Boston, on the other hand, had "winners, gritty players," and those two of Pegula's three, were the keys to a dominant Bruins victory over the Canucks.
I really hope that the Sabres upper-management takes full notice. The Buffalo Sabres team that GM Darcy Regier built is very similar to the Vancouver Canucks. In fact you could make a case that Regier dismantled a tough, gritty team like the B's--the 1999 "hardest working team in hockey,"--in favor of a "soft, but skilled" team like the 2011 'Nucks.
The "new-NHL" is gone. Playoff hockey is a tough, grind-out style hockey where statistics come from hard work and the hero's keep their ego's in check for the team. Where the perimeter is for also-ran's and any hit taken for the team is a badge of honor. That's the reason that the Stanley Cup is the "hardest trophy in all of sports to win." Will and self-sacrifice over skill and self-adulation.
The type of hockey that the Bruins displayed to hoist the cup--when it comes to the Sabres--is "anti-core," and anti-Regier when it comes to his "two of the top 20 centers in the NHL" thought process.
The win by the Bruins is just another nail in Regier's coffin. And that's why Boston winning the Cup is a good thing for this Sabres fan.
Addendum: from Puckdaddy, the Vancouver Canucks "eulogy" written by Sam Fels of Second City Hockey. My sentiments, exactly.
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