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Rodgers arena in Vancouver hosted the visiting Boston Bruins and put the Vancouver Canucks in their own building for what had become the last game of the year!

The Bruins had an extra motivation because of two players, injured Nathan Horton, and 43, year-old Mark Recchi, playing in the real last game of his career! The Canucks had a chance to play for their beleagured goalie, Roberto Luongo and injured forward, Mason Raymond. The fans raced forward to lead the hometown Canucks.

Henrik Sedin had the best opportunity for the hometown Canucks at 15:55 with a nifty move in front of the net but once again Tim Thomas played great and confidently!

The Bruins on two separate occasions had tried to jam it on in deep with Luongo but to no avail!Tim Thomas makes another brilliant save on Henrik Sedin, reaching back before the puck crosses the line.

A great moment had Mason Raymond waving to the crowd through a special brace for his broken veterbrae! The crowd acknowledged the young man wonderfully!

Shortly after the mid point of the first period both teams tried to out do each other in the offensive zones. The amount of skating and hitting in the first period was electrifying! The highest level of hockey was definitely apparent at the Rodgers Center where many contributiors to the already magical night were the fans! Patrice Bergeon, potted the first goal of a snap shot in front of the net with a great pass by Brad Marchand and a tap by Mark Recchi! The vaunted crowd, crowed less!

Barely seconds later, Vancouver managed a half breakaway with Henrik Sedin and again Tim Thomas stoned him!

With less than a minute left in the period, Christpopher Higgins hit Zdeno Chara behind the play, almost by accident, which shook the Captain of the Bruins up!

At the end of the first period, the Bruins lead on Bergeron’s goal, 1-0!

In the series, the team that had scored first won all the games!

In the first minute of the second period Vancouver iced the puck twice. Brad Marchand used a nice dipsy-do move and had the seventh man holding their breath as he hit the post. The Canucks received a boost of energy and Tim Thomas came up again!

Ryan Kessler ripped a wrist shot from high above the circles and Thomas grabbed it for the Bruins! With the shots 16-5 in the game for Vancouver, a pattern developed, Thomas any and all the time!

Zdeno Chara, making one of the outstanding plays of the series, risked bodily harm by diving to block a Vancouver shot! With the lack of Boston offense, the Vancouver crowd was getting back into the game!

Brad Marchand finally slammed home a crazy play off goaltender Roberto Luongo on a wrap around attempt! The key play was that Marchand never stopped skating and never gave up with his hunting for the net!

Mark Recchi came close to making it 3-0 with a great move around Venouver’s Erhoff!

The crowd quieted itself but the Bruins were doing their fair share of making the plays to keep it that way. Every time the Canucks flurried Thomas began to stand tall.

At, 3:51 of the period, Vancouver had a power play when O’Halloran’s leg were kicked out from under him by Zdeno Chara. Lightening struck when Bergeron was halled down by Erhoff of Vancouver on a short handed breakaway and then a shorthanded goal! The Boston club leads 3-0 at the end of the second period.

The Boston Bruins, at the end of the second period wwere exhirting each other on the bench and Vancouver knew they had a long walk back to the lockerroom!

At the beginning of the third period there was a 21-13 shots advantage to Vancouver and a 39-25 hits advantage to the Canucks too! Eric Biexa had seven hits for the Canucks!

Third period began, with sloppy ice and sloppy play! The Bruins decided to play a casual, yet fierce forecheck! With four guys dropping back, and one guy fiercely trying to take away passing lanes!

The quiet Rodgers Center was like an aircraft hanger, loud and raucous at the beginning but now sensing impending doom!

Jannick Hansen, took a bad penalty against Andrew Ference at 14:65 of the period when retaliating against the smaller player after a missed high stick against Zdeno Chara!

Daniel Sedin had a nice backhanded attempt but like the rest of the night, Tim Thomas just sealed the shooting lane off!

The Bruins played a collapsing defense and stacked the blueline with one whirling dervish of a forward! To break the defense, Vancouver pinches their defense in and presses the Biston shell!

With 8:26 left in regulation, Milan Lucic of the Bruins gets a hooking call on Henrik Sedin! Denis Seidenberg levelled Alex Burrows of the Canucks with about 8:21 left.

Brad Marchand, punched in the fourth Boston goal with Luongo pulled! It was Marchand’s second goal of the game. For the first time since 1972, the Bruins won the Stanley cup! Hugs and laughter dominated the celebration and Vancouver players, winners of the Presidents Cup for most points in a season waited like gentlemen for the ritual handshake. The final score was 4-0, Boston!

Tim Thomas, received the Conn Smythe Trophy! It signified the Stanley Cup Play-offs MVP.

Mike Maloni