It doesn't get any better then this.
If you are a Canucks fan, it could have been. If you are a Bruins follower, it definitely couldn't get better then this.
The Holy Grail of hockey is going to get awarded tonight, whether anyone actually cares or not is up for debate. But if you are from here and you care even the slightest bit about professional hockey it doesn't get any better then this.
What Game 7 means is the winner takes all. For both teams, whether you care who wins or not, this is what hockey players dream of.
According to TSN analysts during Monday night's broadcast from the TD Garden in Boston, MA., tonight's finale is the 16th time that the National Hockey League championships have required a seventh and deciding game to determine the best team on the planet. Whether or not you agree that this year's finale is really a matchup of the best out there, is up to oneself, but knowing that the Stanley Cup will be awarded tonight should be enough to make you want to get home from work asap, pop some nachos in the oven topped with cheese and salsa and enjoy the last NHL broadcast until next season. As Boston Bruin forward Brad Marchand said in a post-game interview following Monday's crucial 5-2 over the Canucks, "If you need any extra motivation for this (Game 7), there's something wrong."
Regardless whether or not you care who wins this game, this Boston/Vancouver series has been so hard to watch. The home team so far has won every game. Vancouver sucks in Boston, Boston can barely even score in Vancouver, there's two goalies who are both into their 30s and they can't stop taking cheap shots at each other but this series has been the most exciting, and the most boring series I have ever seen. Vancouver wins every game on home ice yet their Olympic-champion keeper can't stop a beach ball unless he is playing at home, and the two Sedins (who were called 'women' by commentator Mike Milbury), neither can get their act together on pro hockey's greatest stage.
Daniel Sedin was punched in the face six times by Boston's Marchand. So far in this series, Vancouver has won all three games at Rogers Arena by a combined score of 5-2. Boston has won all three games at TD Garden by a combined score of 17-3.
This is the closest that a Canadian team has come to winning the Cup. This year it could even happen on Canadian soil.
The last 7-0 home series was 2003, when New Jersey beat Anaheim in the most boring Cup finals of the past two decades.
Regardless who wins the Stanley Cup tonight, the only thing that's probably a done deal is Tim Thomas is a lock for the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP. His performance in this series has been stellar in Vancouver and Boston, unlike Luongo of course. The only bright side for the Canuck fans out there coming Monday night was league MVP Henrik Sedin finally scored a goal.
A Vancouver win tonight is their first as a franchise; a Boston win will be their first league title since 1972. Boston lost their last five trips to the finals, none went to Game 7.
