Boston Wins, Vancouver Riots And The NHL Season Wraps Up

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Well, as this week comes to an end so did the 2010-11 NHL season. It has been a tumultuous season, my Blackhawks raised their first Stanley Cup Banner in almost 50 years but were not able to retain the Stanley Cup (but I still get a warm feeling when I think about last June). The Atlanta Thrashers brought in some exciting young players, like Dustin Byfuglien and Andrew Ladd form the The Cup champs, but (as explained in previous blogs) is now on the move to Winnipeg. So, the season ended much the same way highs and lows.

There was the high when the Boston Bruins won the Stanley Cup over the Vancouver Canucks in a great but weird seven game series. The series went the distance but if you look at the numbers it is strange to see how. The Bruins won their four games by a combined score of 21-3, but in their three losses the total was 2-5. That means in the series Vancouver scored 8 goals, but gave up an astonishing 23 tallies. Lets be honest Boston could have easily have swept the series and the Canucks were lucky to get to a game seven.

Oh, a shout out goes to Tim Thomas because unlike his goalie counterpart, Roberto Luongo, Thomas took the long road to the Conn Smythe Trophy (playoff MVP). College hockey at Vermont, ECHL and Europe, Thomas just stayed with it and will now get his name on The Cup, way to go Timmy!

I just want to add that I went two for two picking the NBA and NHL Finals. While unlike the NBA were I get the number of game right (I had Dallas in 6 games) and did pick the Bruins in six games, well I still picked the winner.

Well, on to the low and that would be the riots that took place in Vancouver after the Canucks flamed out. While I am not going to go into the details (for more go here: http://news.nationalpost.com/tag/vancouver-riots/) I just want to comment about a number of reports I have heard since the fires burned out. I have seen the narrative presented that it was “professional rioters” in black with masks who caused all the trouble. Well, from most of the video and photos I have seen (see below) it looks like most of the guys are wearing Canucks jerseys. Maybe some “professional rioters” jumped in but I think the heart of this was disgruntled Canucks fans (one was even an Olympic athlete: http://offthebench.nbcsports.com/2011/06/18/vancouver-rioter-outed-as-junior-national-water-polo-player/). It begs the question what do fans in Vancouver have to riot about? I mean Vancouver has always been described as one of North America’s most beautiful cities. Maybe they realized they are stuck with the Leagues most overrated goalie in Luongo for the next 11 seasons, that might make me riot.

Finally little more about the Thrashers move to Winnipeg. So speaking before the Chamber of Commerce in Winnipeg, True North Sports and Entertainment (TNSE) chairman, Mark Chipman, laid out (see these links for more: http://atlanta.sbnation.com/atlanta-thrashers/2011/6/17/2229025/chipman-press-conference-thrashers-winnipeg-sale-move & http://www.examiner.com/atlanta-thrashers-in-atlanta/chipman-potential-purchases-of-thrashers-and-coyotes-ran-on-parallel-tracks) how he brought the NHL back to Manitoba. In his address he talks about parallel tracks on acquiring the Phoenix Coyotes and wait for it…the Thrashers. Interesting, because according to the clowns that make up the Atlanta Spirit Group (ASG) there was no contact about selling the Thrashers to TNSE until after the Coyotes got more hand outs from the City of Glendale. So either Chipman is lying or ASG is? I know where my money is going…that is on ASG. These clowns have lied to Atlanta hockey fans since the day they purchased the Thrashers (here is more: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/712210-franchise-assassins-how-the-atlanta-sprit-group-killed-the-thrashers).

While we have known for a while when ASG tells the truth it will be the first time, the League can’t squirm off the hook either. By some of the information that is slowly coming to light it seems Gary Bettman and the NHL suits were secretly shopping the Thrashers for ASG to TNSE and not looking for local investors to keep the team in Atlanta like they claimed. It seems the League basically promised Chipman a team and felt they had to deliver. ASG on the other hand, IMHO, never tried to find local owners and purposely sabotaged in efforts to keep the team here.