Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Pre-Game 7 Stanley Cup Finals Roundup

Some stories about tonight's game 7 Stanley Cup Finals that caught my eye.

So Canada has a longer Stanley Cup drought than the Rangers. Get in line. No wonder the ticket prices for game 7 in Vancouver are through the roof. A sad footnote on this talk of ticket prices in Canada is how the mighty have fallen, because in June 1993 a Canadian dollar was worth around 78¢ U.S., today a Canadian dollar buys $1.03 U.S. I think I would bequest a few more Cups to Canada if we could keep the folks in Washington from screwing our currency.

Bloomberg:
Stanley Cup Tickets Top $5,000, More Than Super Bowl --

Hockey fever in Vancouver has pushed average ticket prices for tonight’s Stanley Cup Final decider between the Canucks and Boston Bruins to more than $5,000 on the secondary market.

The average price exceeds the $4,300 for last year’s Olympic gold medal hockey game between Canada and the U.S., which was also played in Vancouver. It also tops the $4,500 resale price for this year’s Super Bowl, according to FanSnap.com, an Internet search engine that finds seats on about 50 ticket-reselling Web sites.

The Canucks host Game 7 tonight at Rogers Arena with a chance to win the National Hockey League championship for the first time in their 41-year history. They’re also seeking to become the first Canadian team to win the title since the Montreal Canadiens in 1993...
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The Bruins are on their own 39 year Stanley Cup drought. So either Boston or Vancouver will be in a world of hurt tomorrow.

Boston.com
Fevered city awash in the spirit of ’72 --
With the Bruins a victory away from a Stanley Cup for the first time in nearly four decades, a sports-crazed city that had all but forgotten its once beloved hockey team is clearly once again in the grip of fever.

Across the city yesterday, with anticipation surging for tonight’s climactic Game 7 against Vancouver, fans wore every piece of Bruins clothing they owned and eagerly snatched up new ones at crowded kiosks. Cafes hung Bruins placards in their windows, a tobacconist sold Bruins cigars, and Melrose-Wakefield Hospital dressed newborns with tiny Bruins hats...
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The Red Sox "won't rest 'til the Stanley Cup is back in Boston!"

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Is this a good luck or bad luck move? Isn't there a commandment that says: "thou shalt not worship false idols"?

Canucks fan Neil Evans hoists an inflatable Stanley Cup at the start of a game.

Vancouver Sun:
Editorial: The most important game in Canucks history --
This is it, hockey fans: the all-important, momentous, decisive Game 7 that will determine the home of the Stanley Cup until next year.

The Vancouver Canucks face a formidable opponent tonight at Rogers Arena. The team has suffered difficult losses at the hands of the Boston Bruins, but has retained its composure with the philosophy that a loss is a loss, notwithstanding Game 3’s 8-1 pounding, the second-worst loss in the history of the Cup final. It’s worth noting that even then, the Canucks outshot the Bruins 41-38...
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Those crazy "custodians of the cord cottage" = the wildcard.

Bruce McCurdy / The Cult of Hockey:
Roberto’s masterpiece
--
Among current custodians of the cord cottage, one of the more quixotic characters is Roberto Luongo, goaltender of record for the Stanley Cup finalist Vancouver Canucks. The man they call LUUUUUUU has achieved some major highlights tending the twine for Team Canada over the years, but frequently seems on the verge of buckling at key moments. Even his biggest fans don’t entirely trust him, because one can never be sure whether one will see the Good Lu or Bad Bobby...

Luongo sports what may be the most remarkable home/road splits I’ve ever seen. Heading into Game Seven, he sports goals-against averages of 0.67 in Vancouver and 8.05 in Boston. That’s a factor of TWELVE in a department usually measured in fractions. Wow...



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