Vancouver forward Raffi Torres finished off a broken play with just 18.5 seconds left in the game to give the Canucks a 1-0 win and a 1-0 lead On a play that was close to off-side as time was running out, Torres broke in on a 2-on-1and  took a pass from Jannik Hansen and beat Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas on the stick side. His third goal of the playoffs brought a tremendous roar from the crowd at Rogers Arena.

It was a spectacular finish to a sometimes mean opener that saw bodies flying. The Bruins and the Canucks carried on the momentum of this marvellous post-season with a game that had some bite to it – literally.

The first controversy of the final came as Canucks winger Alex Burrows appeared to bite the right index finger of Boston forward Patrice Bergeron during a scrum as time expired at the end of the first period. Bergeron was pushing his gloved hand in Burrows’ face when it looked like Burrows chomped down on the finger.

Burrows could face some supplemental discipline. The Canucks also have concern when it comes to defenceman Dan Hamuis, who played in their top pair, after he left the game and did not return after suffering what looked to be a leg injury. He was hurt when he delivered a spectacular hip check on big Bruins forward Milan Lucic, which saw him go up and over and get tangled up with Hamuis. It was one of a number of big hits.

Canucks coach Alain Vigneault said Hamuis was day-to-day, but with two days between Games 1 and 2, the Canucks will benefit from the extra rest.

The two goaltenders played up to their status as finalists for the Vezina Trophy with Thomas making the harder stops, including a trio of great saves early in the third period to keep the game scoreless. Canuck goaltender Roberto Luongo made 36 saves and opened a series with a shutout for the third time these playoffs. Thomas ended the night with 33 saves.

The Bruins were blanked on the power play again, going 0-for-6 and are now 5-for-67 in the playoffs.

Now we have to hope the series can feed off the energy and emotion of Game 1. It has been 18 years since a Canadian team won the cup but if history repeats itself, Vancouver could be looking good. After both Montreal and Calgary hosted the Olympic games, the following year their teams brought home the Stanley Cup.

Game two of the best-of-seven series will be played Saturday at Rogers Arena.

Alex Burrows got the Canucks on the board at 8:02 of the first.  Daniel Sedin sent a pass between the legs pass to brother Henrik, who tipped it to a waiting Burrows in front of the net.

Midway through the second period, Ryan Kesler headed to the Canuck’s dressing room favouring his left leg.  Seconds later, Patrick Marleau deflected a shot off Kevin Bieksa’s hand, to tie the game.  Kesler later returned to the ice, but did not appear to be skating well.

San Jose took the lead twenty-four seconds into period 3 with a 2-on-1 situation.  Coming out of the net, Luongo missed in his attempt to make a diving swipe at the puck, and gave  Devin Setoguchi a wide open net to shoot at.

With 14 seconds left in regulation, Kesler deflected the puck into the net and forced overtime.

The first overtime period ended with the teams still tied.

About ten minutes into the second overtime period, one of the strangest goals in Cup history began with Mason Raymond firing the puck off the right wing boards in an attempt to send it around the back of the net.  Instead it quickly bounced back towards Kevin Bieksa the blue line.  Players on both sides were confused as they turned and moved towards the back of the net.  Bieksa, sent a weak shot at Antti Niemi who was facing the wrong way, made no attempt to stop it.

“It was an ugly one, but one I will take” Bieksa said.

As the red light went on and confetti fell to the ice, officials discussed the goal, but could find nothing illegal in the play.

Interestingly enough, the last time the Canucks succeeded in getting to the finals, they did it on May 24th, in double overtime.

Captain Henrik Sedin raised his arms and cheered as he accepted the Campbell Conference trophy, but did not touch the cup.  When previous captains raised the cup, the final series ended in defeat.  Fearing a possible jinx, the cup was ‘hands-off’.

Three stars:  Roberto Luongo, Kevin Bieksa, Joe Thornton

The Canucks will play the winner of the Eastern Conference final between Boston and Tampa Bay.

Alex Burrows got the Canucks on the board at 8:02 of the first.  Daniel Sedin sent a pass between the legs pass to brother Henrik, who tipped it to a waiting Burrows in front of the net.

Midway through the second period, Ryan Kesler headed to the Canuck’s dressing room favouring his left leg.  Seconds later, Patrick Marleau deflected a shot off Kevin Bieksa’s hand, to tie the game.  Kesler later returned to the ice, but did not appear to be skating well.

San Jose took the lead twenty-four seconds into period 3 with a 2-on-1 situation.  Coming out of the net, Luongo missed in his attempt to make a diving swipe at the puck, and gave  Devin Setoguchi a wide open net to shoot at.

With 14 seconds left in regulation, Kesler deflected the puck into the net and forced overtime.

The first overtime period ended with the teams still tied.

About ten minutes into the second overtime period, one of the strangest goals in Cup history began with Mason Raymond firing the puck off the right wing boards in an attempt to send it around the back of the net.  Instead it quickly bounced back towards Kevin Bieksa the blue line.  Players on both sides were confused as they turned and moved towards the back of the net.  Bieksa, sent a weak shot at Antti Niemi who was facing the wrong way, made no attempt to stop it.

“It was an ugly one, but one I will take” Bieksa said.

As the red light went on and confetti fell to the ice, officials discussed the goal, but could find nothing illegal in the play.

Interestingly enough, the last time the Canucks succeeded in getting to the finals, they did it on May 24th, in double overtime.

Captain Henrik Sedin raised his arms and cheered as he accepted the Campbell Conference trophy, but did not touch the cup.  When previous captains raised the cup, the final series ended in defeat.  Fearing a possible jinx, the cup was ‘hands-off’.

Three stars:  Roberto Luongo, Kevin Bieksa, Joe Thornton

The Canucks will play the winner of the Eastern Conference final between Boston and Tampa Bay.

Scoreless during the first period, the Canucks gave San Jose three separate power plays beginning at the 26 second mark of the game.  A penalty on Raffi Torres gave the Sharks a fourth power play to start the second period.

The floodgates opened about midway through the second as Vancouver got their first power play.  Dan Heatley was in the box for high-sticking when Torrey Mitchell got a hooking call giving the Canucks a 5-on-3.  Ten seconds later a one timer by Ryan Kesler found its way to the back of the net.

Less than a minute and a half later, San Jose was caught with too many men on the ice, giving Vancouver their second 5-on-3 advantage.  Sixteen seconds later, Henrik Sedin passed to Sami Salo who was just inside the blue line.  Salo blasted the puck past Shark goalie Annti Niemi for Vancouver’s second goal.

After the faceoff, Shark defenseman Douglas Murray was given a delay of game call for sending the puck over the glass.  Shark fans were stunned when 10 seconds later, Salo fired a shot past Niemi from between the circles, to the Canucks up by three.

Vancouver protected their lead through much of the third period.  Henrik Sedin set up Alex Burrows who tapped the puck through goalie Niemi’s legs.  Sedin also assisted on the previous three goals, setting a franchise record for assists in a game.

“When you give Henrik that much open time, he’s going to find a way to make plays,” said Burrows.  “We have great shooters on that power play and it’s nice to see them.  He’s a magical player the way he’s able to hold on to that puck and make plays.”

San Jose wouldn’t go down without a fight though.  Andrew Desjardins and Ryan Clowe both scored, putting the Sharks within 2 of tying.  Joe Thornton took a wicked hit from Torres midway through the third and did not return to the game.  His status for Game 5 is unknown.

The Sharks outshot the Canucks 35-13.

Three star selection:  Henrick Sedin, Sami Salo, Daniel Sedin.

Game 5 of the series is set for Tuesday at 6pm in Vancouver, where the Cauncks hope to clinch the series.

San Jose took advantage of a couple of early power plays. Maxim Lapierre got two minutes for roughing when his feet left the ice during a check to Ian White.  Joe Thornton sent a perfect pass from behind the net, and Patrick Marleau poked the puck through Roberto Luongo’s pads, getting San Jose off to a good start.

With Christian Ehrhoff serving a four minute double-minor for high-sticking Torrey Mitchell in the face, Ryane Clowe deflected a Dan Boyle shot from the point into the net.

The Sharks went up 3-0 when, after blocking Alxander Edler’s point shot, Marleau took a quick pass from Thorton & scored on the breakaway, beating Luongo on the glove side.

Antti Niemi, and a much improved penalty killing unit, kept the lead intact throughout the second, which saw both teams give the sin bin plenty of business.  When defending a four minute power play stretch that included 1:55 over two stints and a 5-on-3 advantage, Niemi faced only five shots, with none getting passed him.  He made a big save on Alex Burrows, and robbed Daniel Sedin.

Rallying in the third, the Canucks got their first goal courtesy of Burrows, just 1:09 in.  Five minutes later Boyle fired a blistering shot past Luongo, from just above the right circle.

Late in the third McGinn, slammed Aaron Rome face first into the boards, resulting in a five minute boarding major and a game misconduct.  After lying on the ice for a few minutes, trainers helped Rome to the locker room.  It’s currently unknown if he will play in Game 4.

Vancouver capitalized on the lengthy power play.  Dan Hamhuis gave the Canucks their second goal.  Bieksa scored, cutting the lead to 4-3 with 3:56 left in regulation time.

A penalty to Bieksa gave the Sharks their 10th power play, and Vancouver couldn’t get the equalizer.

For the first time in the series, San Jose outshot Vancouver 38-30

“We realize how important tonight was,” said Thornton.  “We realize what’s at stake.  The guys showed up and the fans were into it.  They gave us an extra boost.”

The game’s three stars were Joe Thornton, Partrick Marleau, and Douglas Murray.

Game 4 is set to start Sunday at noon PST in San Jose.

The only goal of the period came from Owen Sound’s Robby Mignardi, who got his team the board. with a one-timer from an Andrew Shaw pass at 16:46.

The Attack went up 2-0 at 3:30 of the second, with a wrist shot from right-winger Roman Berdnikov.  Shot from the top of the face-off circle, it fooled Lieuwen on the short side.   Kootenay turned up the heat, but Jordan Binnington closed the door on all 15 shots sent his way.

Although Kootenay took control of the second period with outstanding goaltending from Lieuwen, Mignardi got his second, putting Owen Sound up 3-0 at 12:29.

Attack star forward Joey Hishon took an elbow in the head from Kootenay captain  Brayden McNabb and left the game bloodied and wobbly.  McNabb was given a five-minute major as well as a misconduct.

“It was a very difficult situation, you have a player who is six-foot-four stepping up to make a hit on a player who is five-foot-10,” Kootenay coach Kris Knoblauch said. “Joey Hishon is an excellent hockey player and got his head up at the last minute and was trying to dodge that play so he lowers himself trying to get out of the way.

“So now you have a five-foot-10 player who is a little bit smaller than that and it was pretty tough for Brayden McNabb to get out of the way and finish that check.”

A decision on whether to suspend McNabb or not is expected on Sunday.

Andrew Fritsch put another in the net at 16:23, with Garrett Wilson putting another in a minute later, giving the Attack a 5-0 win.

“Throughout the playoffs we always played back-to-back and two of the four series we played we lost the first game and came back and played very well,” Knoblauch said.

“Throughout the regular season it was kind of comical, we were awful in the second game of back-to-back games but we got better as the year went on.

“In the playoffs we were outstanding the second night. You don’t win or lose this tournament on opening night. We’ve got a lot of time to rebound.”

The game’s first star went to Jordan Binnington, who stopped 29 shots for the shutout, with second and third stars going Owen Sound’s Jesse Blacker and Joey Hishon.

The Ice play the Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors Sunday, May 22nd, 7pm EST.

Ben Eager found himself with a rebound in the slot and fired a forehand off the post.  Three minutes later, Maxim Lapierre, Sami Salo and Alex Burrows all took shots on Antti Niemi within a minute of each other.  Niemi held on for a whistle, affording no rebounds.

Vancouver tied the game at 9:39, on a power play goal by Daniel Sedin, who sent a one timer into the net under Niemi’s arm.  The Canucks took the lead 39 seconds later when Raffi Torres deflected a shot from Christian Erhoff.

Patrick Marleau was awarded a power play goal after Luongo pulled the puck to his body, and it slid under him to the back of the net.

Ian White took a puck to the face early in the second, but after receiving medical attention at the bench, returned to the game without missing a shift.

With just under 8 minutes left in the period, a cross ice pass from Christopher Higgins put Kevin Bieksa ona breakaway.  A shot through Niemi’s 5-hole put Vancouver up 3-2.

Ben Eager gave Vancouver another power play, and they capitalized when Higgins shot the puck through traffic to beat a screened Niemi.  The Sharks were called with having too many men on the ice, giving the Canucks their fourth power play, as Daniel Sedin got his second goal of the game.

Scoring the first playoff goal of his career, Aaron Rome picked up a rebound in front of the net as the Shark defence seemed to deflate.

San Jose’s frustration level rose during the last six minutes, resulting in Ryan Clowe getting a 10 minute misconduct and leaving the game.  Mason Raymond promptly made it 7-2 at 16:42, on Vancouver’s fifth power play.

The Shark’s last goal was scored at 17:27 by Eager, who knocked Luongo into the net in the process.  Eager then taunted Luongo and received an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for the act.

With 9 seconds left in the game, a skirmish resulted in Eager, Scot Nichol, Jannik Hansen, Rome and Lapierre all getting misconduct penalties.

The game’s three stars were Kevin Bieksa, Chris Higgins, and Henrik Sedin.

The Playoffs now shift to San Jose’s HP Pavilion, with Game 3 scheduled to start Friday at 6pm.

Making 35 saves, to Roberto Luongo’s 27, Niemi stopped 24 of 25 shots in the first 40 minutes and was peppered with 13 more in the third period.

“We kept pushing them back and getting in on the forecheck and we were going to get the goal and they were going to crack,” Alex Burrows said of outshooting the Sharks.  “We had all the emotions and were pushing with that emotion.

First period action saw Vancouver outshoot the San Jose 11-10.  The Sharks drew first blood at 18:47 of the first, when Roberto Luongo’s attempt to clear the puck from behind the net, inadvertently landed on Joe Thornton’s stick.  Thornton, who was in the right circle, fired at the net before Luongo could get back between the posts.

Early in the second period, Niemi shoveled the puck to the corner, but the Sharks were unable to control it. The puck was sent back behind the net where Jannik Hansen picked it up and centered it to as Maxim Lapierre was skating to the slot.  Lapierre shot it into the net to tie things up.

Seven minutes later, Mason Raymond was sent to the penalty box for holding Joe Pavelski in the offensive zone.  A minute after that, Patrick Marleau deflected a blue line shot from Dan Boyle that sailed high, beating Luongo on the glove side.

As the second period came to a close, the Canucks tested the Shark’s goalie with a mad scramble in front of the San Jose net.  Niemi made a number of saves, as Mason Raymond, Ryan Kesler, Chris Higgins, and Alex Edler all attempted to send the puck into the net.  Edler fired a backhander that defencemen  Marc-Edouard Vlasic blocked with his mid section.

The tying goal came at 7:02 of the third when Burrows chased down Henrik Sedin’s left wing dump.  Burrows passed cross ice to the right circle where Kevin Bieksa shot the puck high over Niemi’s shoulder, and into the net.

San Jose’s Dany Heatly elbowed Raffi Torres thirty-two seconds later, setting up a Vancouver power play.  Henrik Sedin cut to the slot from the left, took a pass from Christian Ehroff, and backhanded it into the net for the game winning goal.

Three star selection:  Henrik Sedin, Antti Niemi, Kevin Bieksa.

Game 2 is scheduled to start at 6pm at Roger’s Arena in Vancouver on Wednesday.

BC Interior News coverage provided by Jeanette Clement.

Portland was first on the board at 2:26 with a goal from Tyler Wotherspoon, giving the sellout crowd reason to cheer.  The defenseman jumped into the crease, took a backhand pass out of the corner from Sven Bartschi, and put it in the net.   A minute later, Joey Leach took a tripping penalty, but Ice goalie Nathan Lieuwen shut the door.  For good.

Steele Boomer hit the Hawks crossbar behind Carruth at 15:47.  The puck bounced down on the ice past the goal-line, the red light went on, but the referee waived it off.  Play continued for about three minutes until the next whistle.  At that point a video review was done.  The overhead camera showed that the puck had indeed crossed the line, and the game was tied.  Time was then put back on the clock, so opening period was actually more than 22 minutes.

Both teams played cautiously throughout the second period.  With 44 seconds left, and Wotherspoon in the bin for a cross-checking penalty, Brayden McNabb faked a shot from the high slot and passed to an open Matt Fraser, who knocked in a one-timer.

Fraser got his second of the night at 14:16 of the third, with Jesse Ismond knocking in an empty netter at 19:19, clinching the Championship game.

“It’s unbelievable,” said Cody Eakin. “I’ve worked four years for this in this league, but really it’s something you dream of when you first put on skates as a kid.”

Kootenay had given five players and three draft picks to the struggling Swift Current Broncos for Eaken, a trade that paid off in spades. Eaken led the Ice with nine points in the series and had 27 points in 19 playoff games.

Finishing fourth in the Eastern Conference during the regular season, the Ice lost just three playoff games on the way to its first league title since 2002 — with 32-year-old rookie head coach Kris Knoblauch.

“I’m not sure we can top this,” said Knoblauch said. “We played well as a team. I don’t know if I’ll be able to coach a group of players like this ever again.”

Nathan Lieuwen, who stopped 26 shots was awarded the MVP, the sixth goalie to do so in the last 12 WHL final series.  Hawks goalie Mac Carruth made 36 saves on the night.

With the win, Kootney will  see their first Memorial Cup action against the OHL Champions or representative on Saturday. Gametime is 5PM Mountain time.

BC Interior News coverage provided by Jeanette Clement.

“I kind of blacked out during it. It was kind of a broken play by their defenceman,” Fraser said. “They tried to pass it up and I managed to glove it down and bring the puck into the zone. I heard (Max) Reinhart coming in there and he made a great move to get by the first defender and slid it to Izzy (Jesse Ismond) and he made one heck of a pass to find me back door and it was pretty easy from there.”

The Ice took the lead on the first shift of the game with Steele Boomer feeding Ismond who was coming down the right wing.  Ismond scored with a wrist shot short side on the glove side.  At 7:46, Cody Eakin deflect Joey Leach’s waist high slap shot from the point into the net, making the score 2-0.

Early in the second, the Winterhaws scored at the end of a power play.  Nino Niederreiter fed a wide-open Johansen who had an open net, for the goal.  Portland tied the game at  14:19  when Rutkowski’s shot from outside the Ice blue line changed direction and beat goalie Nathan Lieuwen high on his glove side.

The Ice took a 3-2 lead as Eakin chipped a pass to a streaking Ismond while both clubs were skating 4-on-4.  Ismond, who had a partial breakaway, deked a backhand and scored with a wrap-around on fallen goaltender Mac Carruth.

Kootenay’s fourth goal came in the third on another 4-on-4 situation.  Ismond passed to Eakin who scored from the top of the circle with a wrist shot high on the glove side.

After killing a penalty, Johansen stepped into a wrist shot from the top of the slot, beating Lieuwen high on the glove side, making it 4-3.  With 17 seconds remaining in regulation time, and Carruth on the bench, Portland forced overtime by winning a faceoff in the Ice zone. Ty Rattie sent a low shot into the net on the glove side.

Fraser’s winning goal came at 13:08.  With 8 straight playoff wins, the Ice have set a Franchise Record.

Game 5 is Friday in Portland, Oregon.

BC Interior News coverage provided by Jeanette Clement.