BOSTON BRUINS - 2011 STANLEY CUP CHAMPIONS

After 39 years without a championship, the Boston Bruins ripped the Stanley Cup—and several thousand hearts—out of a Canadian city that had waited four decades itself for one sip.

Flint, Michigan native Tim Thomas made 37 saves in the second shutout of his landmark Finals performance, and Patrice Bergeron & rookie Brad Marchand scored two goals apiece as the Bruins beat the Vancouver Canucks, 4-0 to win their first Stanley Cup since 1972.



The Bruins leaped over the boards and headed straight for Thomas at the final buzzer, mobbing the goalie who carried them through long stretches of this postseason. The Bruins are the first team in NHL history to win a Game 7 three times in the same postseason, with Thomas posting shutouts in the decisive game of the Eastern Conference Finals and the Stanley Cup Finals.

Thomas, who limited the Canucks to eight goals in seven spectacular games in the finals, blanked Vancouver in two of the last four, thus earning the right to be named the Finals MVP. Boston dropped the first two games in Vancouver, but became just the third team since 1966 to overcome that deficit.



Captain Zdeno Chara nearly slipped when he skated away from Commissioner Gary Bettman with the Stanley Cup. And the oversized trophy eventually got a lift from Nathan Horton, the injured Boston forward whose Game 3 concussion on a late hit irrevocably swung the series’ momentum to Boston.

Bergeron quieted the crowd with the first goal, scoring the eventual game-winner in the first period. He added a short-handed score in the second to keep the Cup away from the Canucks, who have never won it in nearly 41 years of existence.

Congratulations to the Boston Bruins on becoming the new Stanley Cup Champions of the NHL. And there's no doubt that Bobby Orr, Cup winner of 1970 & 1972 with the Bruins, is very proud.