OT: Stanley Cup Playoffs

[RC Agent]

The Vancouver Canucks will be without Aaron Rome for the rest of the Stanley Cup Final.

The defenseman was been suspended for four games for delivering a late hit to Boston Bruins forward Nathan Horton in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final, the National Hockey League announced Tuesday afternoon.

[Patrick]

Ouch!

Boston defeated Vancouver by a converted touchdown in a 8-1 embarrassment. The less said about this game the better.

The Canucks still lead the Stanley Cup finals over the Bruins 2-1. Game 4 in Boston on Wednesday.

[Patrick]

I thought the suspension might be for one game...

The Vancouver Canucks will be without Aaron Rome for the rest of the Stanley Cup Final.

The defenseman was been suspended for four games for delivering a late hit to Boston Bruins forward Nathan Horton in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final...

With the severity of the unfortunate injury to Horton, I suspected a suspension to Rome would be coming, but I was surprised it was four games.

Yes, it was a late hit, but it was not a "dirty" hit. Middle of the ice, no charging (heck, I don't think Rome was even moving forward), no elbow, no stick. It was Horton who skated full speed into Rome while he was admiring a pass to a linemate. Horton's chest thumped into Rome's shoulder, Horton went flying from the impact, and then Horton's head hit the ice on the way down. His helmet remained in place.

Rome has no history of hurting other players, he's never been disciplined by the league previously. It looks like the league decided to throw the book at Rome because they deemed it to be a "head" shot during the Stanley Cup finals and wanted to make an example of him. So he's now finished for the duration of the playoffs.

Now that they've gone this route, let's see some damn consistency with the referee's calls and with league suspensions. Lack of consistency is what ticks off both the players and the fans.

It goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway... I certainly hope that Nathan Horton has a full and complete recovery from this concussion. You don't want to see anyone getting seriously injured out on the ice.

[Haig]

Now that they've gone this route, let's see some damn consistency with the referee's calls and with league suspensions. Lack of consistency is what ticks off both the players and the fans.

Agreed consistency is the key but as long as the Boston connection is still in power up there, I doubt there will be any consistency when the Bruins are involved.

I also don't agree on their basis where they took the outcome as a factor. This in itself shows that there will be inconsistencies.

[Patrick]

Bush league justice

I also don't agree on their basis where they took the outcome as a factor. This in itself shows that there will be inconsistencies.

Yeah, a "goon" could premeditate a dirty vicious hit to try and purposely hurt someone, and if he simply fails to seriously injure his targeted opponent, he could conceivably get nothing in regards to penalties and/or suspensions. Well, let's be honest, it happens all the time in the NHL.

It's unfortunate that Horton got hurt on the play, but it's also unfortunate that the league has decided to throw Rome (an honest journeyman with a clean record) out of the playoffs for what amounted to be a shoulder check at the blue line.

It's all politics.

How the heck did Zdeno Chara of the Bruins avoid getting suspended for what he did to Max Pacioretty of the Canadiens? We all know the reason... Chara is a "star" player.

[Haig]

How the heck did Zdeno Chara of the Bruins avoid getting suspended for what he did to Max Pacioretty of the Canadiens? We all know the reason... Chara is a "star" player.

Here's a few that I remember not getting a suspension this season:

- Chara on Pacioretty
- Lucic cross-checking Moore in the face
- Lucic sucker-punching Freddy Meyer of the NYI, who was already engaged by another player and a linesman (note that Jody Shelley of the Flyers did receive 2 games for a sucker punch in a separate incident within a few days of this, I believe)
- Chara third man in on Pacioretty in the 8-6 loss brawl
- Campbell using his elbow pad as a weapon to repeatedly deal blows to Pyatt's face
- Chara's two hits from behind in the same game on Grabovski (that likely left him with a concussion)
- Chara's instigator penalty in the last 5 min of a game against the Sabres, that was wiped off the record by the league
- Michael Ryder's blindside headshot on Blair Jones
- Andrew Ference blindside headshot on Halpern

I hope Shanahan can make a difference and bring consistency with every team but with the Bruins owner, a Bruin's father, and a Bruin's cousin up there, I doubt it anything harsh will be done when the B's are involved.

[Patrick]

Kind of disturbing

Here's a few that I remember not getting a suspension this season...

Wow, that's quite a list. Being on the west coast, I haven't seen the Bruins play too many times this year (prior to the series with the Canucks of course).

Another "connection" to Boston I'm wondering about is Mike Milbury. After listening to a few of his idiotic off-the-wall comments on TV after the games I'm convinced he's still on the Bruins payroll.

[Patrick]

Well, this is starting to suck...

Boston again embarrassed Vancouver by shutting out the Canucks 4-0 in game 4. The series, tied 2-2, returns to Vancouver on Friday for game 5.

If the Canucks don't get their much vaunted powerplay going, they're done. The larger Bruins will simply pound, punch, slash, hack the Canucks into submission if they don't end up having to pay while shorthanded.

I haven't given up on the Canucks, not at all, but they obviously need to bounce back big-time after these last two games.

[Patrick]

Back on track

After being shell-shocked for 12 goals in two games in Boston, Roberto Luongo and the rest of the Canucks turned their game around and shut out the Bruins 1-0 in game 5 in Vancouver. The game was hard hitting, especially by the Canucks, but devoid of most of the chippiness evident in the previous couple of games.

An excited Maxim Lapierre celebrates after scoring the game's lone goal...



The Canucks now lead the Bruins 3-2 in the series with game 6 to be played in Boston on Monday.

One more victory to go. Yes, one more victory to go.

[Patrick]

It's all come down to one game...

In what has to be one of the weirdest Stanley Cup finals ever, the Boston Bruins defeated the Vancouver Canucks 5-2 in game 6 to tie the series 3-3. Game 7 will be in Vancouver on Wednesday.

Each team has won all their home games in the series. The Bruins have humiliated the Canucks in Boston, outscoring them about 100 to 3, while the Canucks have shut out the Bruins in two of the three games in Vancouver. Thank gawd the final game is in Vancouver. The Canucks still have an opportunity of pulling this series out of the fire.

I gotta say though, I have not enjoyed all the hacking and slashing going on by both teams before, during, and after every whistle. What the hell are the refs looking at? It's cheapening the sport and I'm ashamed of how it's portraying the game of hockey. It's supposed to be a game of speed and finesse and yes, grit. However, it's not about punching the league's top scorer in the head at least half a dozen times when the game is all but over while the ref stands there and makes no call. Bush league crap.

Anyway, it all wraps up tomorrow. Will Luongo be a sieve... or will he be a world class goalie? Game 7 could very well make or break his career, or at the very least, determine his future in Vancouver.

It's all come down to one game, one last game to determine the Stanley Cup champions for 2011. The Canucks demonstrated during the regular season that they were the number one team in the NHL. The reward for doing so was getting home ice advantage in the playoffs. In what has to be the greatest understatement of this entire thread, tomorrow would be an excellent time for the Vancouver Canucks to make the best use of that earned advantage.

[Mehen]

Looking back at the past winners over the last decade, if Vancouver wins, and it seems likely they will, I think I would consider them THE WORST Stanley Cup championship team in recent memory. They aren't playing near the level of hockey past winners have had to play to win it all.

[Tjalfe]

with a score of 3-0 to Boston at the end of 2nd period, I am thinking Vancouver may not pull this off. Oh well, time for bed

[Elie]

Congrats Boston, Thomas was amazing!!!

[RC Agent]

Ugh, Vancouver vandalism. http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Pho...699/story.html

[Patrick]

Bad ending, for both the Canucks and the city

The Boston Bruins defeated the Vancouver Canucks 4-0 in game 7 to win the Stanley Cup for 2010-2011. Boston was full value for the victory, not only in this game, but in the series as well. Congrats to the Bruins, Stanley Cup champs.

After the game I watched the news for the next three hours as rampaging punks swarmed the downtown core of Vancouver leaving a path of destruction. Overturned cars burned in the streets, and smashed and looted stores were left in the wake of this disgusting demonstration of criminal activity. These were not simply disappointed hockey fans.

I can't believe the city would think it was a good idea to invite 100,000 people to watch the game downtown on giant screens without a heavy police presence. Gawd damn ridiculous.

I watched the game on TV at my dad's place which is a few miles from where the game was played. I took the following picture from his high-rise suite. You can see the haze over the downtown core from the burning cars. Bloody embarrassing for the world to see this freakin' nonsense.