Vancouver Canucks and Boston Bruins gear up for Stanley Cup Finals Game 1 –NHL Playoffs Preview
Boston Bruins and Vancouver Canucks are only a day away from one of the biggest showdowns in National Hockey League (NHL) history as Game 1 of the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals is all set to start on Wednesday, June 1st, at the Rogers Arena, Vancouver,
British Columbia.
Both teams, from the Western and Eastern Conference, have fought hard to get to where they are at the moment. They have proved that they are the best in their respective conferences which is why they deserve an opportunity to lift the glorious Stanley Cup.
Vancouver has been eyeing Lord Stanley’s Cup since the beginning of this season as they played their best season in its 40-year history as a NHL franchise.
Winning the Presidents’ Trophy and having an Art Ross Trophy winning player along with a Conn Smythe nominee, Canucks is an all-star team.
It is celebrating its 40th anniversary quite profoundly, eyeing the Stanley Cup, and wants to end it on a high note by finally winning the cup for the first time.
"We've had a lot of challenges along the way to get here, but he's the biggest one yet -- literally, I guess", said Henrik Sedin, talking about Boston captain Zdeno Chara. "It's going to be exciting to see what happens, because we haven't played each other
enough to know those guys very well. It's unpredictable".
Boston won the Stanley Cup back in 1972 and has not able to go anywhere near the finals after its last chance, 20 years ago in 1990, until now. The team’s management was hopeful of their deep penetration this season and so far things have played out accordingly.
Canucks’ fans are fanatic at their teams’ chances at winning the cup this season. Having had their last chance back in 1994, Vancouver residents along with almost the whole of Canada is ready to bring the cup back home where it belongs.
No Canadian team has been able to win the cup for over 18 years, which makes it all the more exciting.
"With the parity that is in the league, you've got to do a lot of things right for a long time," Canucks’ coach, Alain Vigneault, said while talking about Vancouver deserving the cup. "I do believe you've got to get some bounces, you get the bounces because
you've been doing things right for a long time. I believe that Vancouver is due for 40 years of good bounces".
Both teams have only met once during the 2010-2011 regular season, making this series even more unpredictable than it already is, as Vancouver is totally an offensive team and Boston plays defence extremely well.
It will be a clash of both ends which might bring out surprising results.
The Canadians and Americans, both, have secret weapons up their sleeves. These weapons are known as Roberto Luongo and Tim Thomas, two of the best goalies in the league currently.
Both are veteran goalies and possess immense postseason experience. These two goalkeepers will be the key for their teams’ victory and Stanley Cup glory.
Game 1 of the highly anticipated 2011 Stanley Cup Finals is scheduled to begin on Wednesday, June 1st, 8:00 PM ET, in Vancouver.
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