Stanley Cup Final. (1)Chicago Blackhawks vs (4)Boston Bruins

[coldsquad2002]

I can not believe these two teams have never played each other in the finals before.
I love the Leafs but also like all the other original six teams.
I believe the Hawks will win but I also picked Pittsburg over da Bruins.
It should be a dandy. Hope to see some great stars from the past on hand.
Like the Hulls, the Espositos, Mitika, Orr etc.

[Loch]

Man this is like that old high-school game, "Who'd you rather?", when your idiot friends would compete to see who could throw out the most impossibly revolting choices.

I always thought that game was pointless but I see now that it was mere practice for the unappealing quagmire of self-loathing which I now face as a result of this Stanley Cup Final.


I'll go Hawks, just because they don't have Marchand.


... now I need a shower... and scotch

[bigbabybuda]

Blackhawks in 7. Not going to underestimate the bruins again! This should be a classic series.

[Atomic Wedgy]

I friggin HATE the Bruins, but I think they are peaking at the right time. Bruins in 6. I also hate the Hawks, but I hate the Bruins more... still think they will win. ****!

[hockeymanG23]

Bruins in 6. It'll be interesting to see though if the officials call penalties according to the same awful standard they've displayed so far and which team gets the biggest advantage from it.

[The Guvnah]

I'm terrified of the Bruins. But then again, I said the same thing about the Kings and it seemed the Hawks had their number. If the Bruins think they can manhandle the Hawks like they did the Pens, they'd better think again. On the other hand, if the Hawks think they're going to skate circles around the Bruins like they did to the Kings, they're dreaming. This will be an excellent series. Added bonus: 8pm starts across the board! No more going into work on 5 hours sleep! Hawks in seven.

[TheZamboniGuy]

Bruins are big, quick, strong and they score a lot of goals ! They stop Crosby and cie... I'm afraid Chicago cant score enough goal against tuuka ...

Bruins in 6 !

[Big Ev]

Unlike LA who was drained and beaten after having faced St.Louis and San Jose, Boston has had an easier time in their series and should be the much more physical team in this series. I'll take Boston in 7.

[Zorro]

Pretty sure the Bruins aren't too worried about facing a team just because they are from the Western Conference.. Just like they did with Pittsburgh: Murray, Niskanen, Engglend, and Orpik were exposed. Now its Rozival, Oduya, and Leddy's turn..

Detroit shouldn't even had one win in that series against the "mighty" Hawks.. LA was clearly hurt(Stoll, Richards, Brown, etc.) and battled the Blackhawks hard..

This is again Skill(CHI) vs. Determination(BOS)

Come on Bruins!!

[Shake]

Pretty sure the Bruins aren't too worried about facing a team just because they are from the Western Conference.. Just like they did with Pittsburgh: Murray, Niskanen, Engglend, and Orpik were exposed. Now its Rozival, Oduya, and Leddy's turn..

Detroit shouldn't even had one win in that series against the "mighty" Hawks.. LA was clearly hurt(Stoll, Richards, Brown, etc.) and battled the Blackhawks hard..

This is again Skill(CHI) vs. Determination(BOS)

Come on Bruins!!

LOL Zorro, the Hawks are determined as well. Don't make it this far if not determined

[Loch]

Detroit shouldn't even had one win in that series against the "mighty" Hawks..

I'm curious as to how many wins the Leafs should have had against the "mighty" Bruins...

[mister_mcgoo]

Boston is about to be introduced to the Western Conference. Chicago in 5.

where does this notion keep coming from exactly? I pointed this out in another thread but it bears repeating...the last 10 cup winners are an even 5-5 split between East and West, whatever superiority you are imagining is a myth. I will grant you that the West has better depth such that their 8 playoff teams this year were more talented than the 8 in the East but when you start looking at the top 3 teams in each conference it ceases to be a relevant argument any longer...besides, regardless of conference, 14 of those initial 16 teams are now on the golf course ;p

These teams are actually both very similar in many respects. They both faced heavy adversity earlier on in the playoffs but they fought back and overcame, and once they did they really hit their stride and began playing some dominant hockey. They're both getting great goaltending, they both have excellent defenders and they're both scoring lots of goals. They've also both won a cup in the last 3 years so the experience and leadership is their in spades... this has all the hallmarks of a series that will be hard fought and could go the distance

[CascadeFilly]

Hoping for Chicago in 7 (more games!), but I'm thinking Bruins in 6.

As others have noted, I think the Kings had very little left in the tank after two brutal series against STL and SJ. An easier path always seems to pay dividends come the final two rounds. Not to take anything away from the Hawks; they're obviously a phenomenal team, but I think Boston is better prepared to grind out a hard series win.

I hope I'm wrong, though. Go Hawks!

[doulos]

where does this notion keep coming from exactly? I pointed this out in another thread but it bears repeating...the last 10 cup winners are an even 5-5 split between East and West, whatever superiority you are imagining is a myth. I will grant you that the West has better depth such that their 8 playoff teams this year were more talented than the 8 in the East but when you start looking at the top 3 teams in each conference it ceases to be a relevant argument any longer...besides, regardless of conference, 14 of those initial 16 teams are now on the golf course ;p

These teams are actually both very similar in many respects. They both faced heavy adversity earlier on in the playoffs but they fought back and overcame, and once they did they really hit their stride and began playing some dominant hockey. They're both getting great goaltending, they both have excellent defenders and they're both scoring lots of goals. They've also both won a cup in the last 3 years so the experience and leadership is their in spades... this has all the hallmarks of a series that will be hard fought and could go the distance

Quite the rant.

However, this particular season the East and West never played a game together, hence they will be "introduced" to the West.

I just like the Blackhawks to win this, but really who knows what will happen. There are only a few series every year that are relatively easy to figure out ahead of time (Pens/Sens, Hawks/Wild are two examples this year) but this particular matchup is almost impossible to really know.

We're all just spitballing if we're honest.

[ShawneePanthers]

Rooting for Chicago because they don't have Marchand or Lucic