Prior to reading the preview of tomorrow night's do or die Stanley Cup final, I wanted to think back to how these teams got to this point. On one hand you have the Presidents Trophy Canucks battling through Chicago, Nashville and San Jose on route to their first final since 1994. The Canucks entire organization and fan base needs this victory more than anything, but they don't have me convinced as champions just yet. There in the way stands those Boston Bruins, those bruising, bashing warriors led by Big Z and Timmy Thomas. This organization has been through so much in between their last win of the Stanley Cup (1972), and they will throw everything they have at Vancouver tomorrow night. It is going to be a game for the ages. Now on to my topic for tonight, Boston Bruins forward Brad Marchand and what it means to be the unsung hero in the playoffs.
Brad Marchand:
Every year around this time, the name always floats around about an unsung playoff hero that defies his career at the most important time. In recent years, players such as Maxime Talbot (Penguins 2009), Samuel Pahlsson (Ducks 2007) and Ruslan Fedetenko (Lightning 2004) have thrived in the playoffs and the finals in particular, with both Talbot and Fedetenko scoring both goals in 2-1 game 7 wins respectively. However, when a rookie steps up into this role you can only sit back and enjoy how ,much a special player like that does for a team. We saw it last year with rookie goalie Antii Niemi leading the Hawks to a cup, but they had an amazing forward and defence core that played outstanding as a team. Brad Marchand does everything you ask for and so much more for Head Coach Claude Julien; the pesky forward who never quits on a play, always finishes his check, and most importantly scores clutch goals. Take game 6 for example, Henrik Sedin could have scored on that first shot and I don't think the game would have gone the same way, but in response Brad Marchand led the charge. The rookie winger took a feed from the ageless Mark Recchi and roofed a wrist-shot short side right over Luongo's glove. Once again Marchand found a way to beat Luongo, as the rookie has 9 goals this playoffs (tying a Boston record). Even when Marchand isn't scoring or making dazzling moves, he is killing penalties, throwing aggressive and clean body checks and most importantly getting in the Sedin's head. I compare this straight to the 2007 finals, where the Sens came in relying on their first line of Jason Spezza, Daniel Alfredsson and Dany Heatley, but it was the checking line of Anaheim (Travis Moen, Rob Niedermayer and Samuel Pahlsson) who stifled them and arguably won the Ducks the series. Brad Marchand may be disliked by many people, but when it comes down to it you must see the game that he brings to the table. Game 7 could go so many different ways, and it is so difficult to predict what will happen because this is the biggest game of all these players career. There is so much pressure on both teams that it will be a very close, defensive game. Who will be the hero of Game 7, and help their team win the best trophy in pro sports? My only prediction (if you call it that) is that I hope Brad Marchand becomes the hero and the Bruins finally win the cup again.
To conclude, I saw an article about Brad Marchand on yahoosports and I wrote my own article before I read that, because I have been supporting Marchand since game 1 of these playoffs. I will also post the article from yahoo sports, but if you are reading this thanks for the time.
Joel Forman - Colorado Avalanche News (Stanley Cup Addition)
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