Reviewing every HNIC video from the 2011 Stanley Cup Final against Vancouver

Apparently, on Saturday night, Don Cherry said some bad things about Tim Thompson, who famously used to make all of the HNIC montages. They're great. And with all of the 2011 feelings generated by Alain Vigneault last weekend, I figured it was time to take a stroll down memory lane. Specifically, the 2011 Stanley Cup Final HNIC montages. Grab a tissue box, because this could get messy.

Game 1: June 1, 2011. Boston @ Vancouver

Music: Adele - Rolling in the Deep

Okay, so it starts out with some typical Here Are The Players and Here's What Happened stuff. Highlights:

• Bruins beating Montreal
• Nathan Horton smiling so wide after scoring in OT oh god I'm crying, this is too early
• CAAAAAAAAREEEEEEEY
• Sad Flyers (lol)
• Remember when the Bruins played a bond villain's team in 2011?
• San Jose made the WCF. Imagine Thornton vs. Boston?
• Oh my god MARTIN ST. LOUIS, CRYING, HUGGING TIM THOMAS IN THE LINE I was not ready for this

Game 2: June 4, 2011 Bruins (0) @ Vancouver (1)

Music: Bryan Adams - Cuts Like a Knife

We open on a sky view of Vancouver. Pretty normal stuff. Highlights:

• Wow, crazy car, guy.
• Apparently game one got a little feisty
• Why is Bergeron showing off his finger? OH YEAH CUZ BURROWS LITERALLY BIT HIM WITH HIS TEETH
• Are all of the songs gonna be this slow?
• Mikey Ryder's got some serious flow
• Oh right this is the one where Vancouver wins and then the whole city is happy. Jerks.

Game 3: June 6, 2011:

Music: Boston - Long Time

• Gimme more Boston skyline. You're so pretty, Boston. Work it.
• Finally, a peppy song.
• "The British Columbians are coming!"
• Vancouver lost the SCF in the 80s, lol
• Bobby Orr BOBBY ORR BOBBY ORR gracefully gliding around the ice
• Ryder knocks Luongo's mask off
• Sad Neely hugging Sad Bourque. Siiiiiiiigh.
• Mark Messier is literally the devil.
• BOBBY ORR MAKES IT ALL BETTER
• Derek Sanderson, Honorary Captain. That was pretty cool.
• I didn't need to see that goal again.

Game 4: June 8, 2011:

Music: The Black Keys - Howling for You

• Chara holding court in the locker room. I assume it's like Valhalla.
• Manny Malhotra's back, neat
• Statues in Boston dressed up for Sports
• oooh, the Aaron Rome hit. Nasty nasty shit.
• Ference is UNHAPPY
• Timmy records a hit and smiles about it. God, that was awesome.
• Everybody scores!
• Brad Marchand jumping after his goal, best part?
• Everybody is fighting and punching and pushing and shoving and crunching and smashing!
• Thornton gets tossed, it looks like?
• Did Seidenberg really fight Ryan Kesler? Huh, yes he did. Seidenberg pushed Kesler over and never threw a punch.
• Oh shit, maybe the David Krejci "Are you not entertained?" is better than the Brad Marchand one. Hmmm. Tough to choose.
• Luongo, lying on his back in the net, after watching the puck trickle in. Could this be more fun?
• Spoiler alert: Bruins won game 3

Game 5: June 10, 2011

Music: Matthew Good - Weapon

Let's recap game 4, then, shall we?

• Games in Vancouver have much sadder, slower music. Weird.
• Luongo making a save
• Rich Peverley! GUYS! RICH PEVERLEY SCORED A GOAL
• Oh, so did Brad Marchand
• Brief break for BOBBY ORR HONORARY CAPTAIN
• Honestly, this was an odd move. I mean, who could they possibly bring in that's meant more to the Bruins than Bobby Orr? (The answer is obviously Milt Schmidt, and if you didn't know that uh welcome to the blog and I hope you enjoy your time here.)
• There was a lot of hitting in this series. It was the best.
• Oh, Vancouver. So full of hope.
• SMUG TIMMY
• Brief montage of Sad Canucks and Angry Bruins
• Luongo needed a lot of seawall walks after this. A LOT of seawall walks. He looks so dour.

Game 6: June 13, 2011 - Vancouver 3 @ Bruins 2

Music: The Tragically Hip - Blow at High Dough

LET'S DO THIS

• More Boston scenes, hooray
• Bobby!
• Big outdoor Vancouver crowd here
• Tomas Kaberle Glamor Shot Alert
• Fuck you, Max Lapierre.
• The outdoor crowds going nuts does seem pretty neat. I wonder how they'd be if things didn't go right...heh.
• This is definitely gearing up to be the last game of the series. It's more of a general recap than what happened in Game 5.
• Stanley Cup sitting in the net is very appropriate.

Game 7: June 15, 2011 - Boston 3 @ Vancouver 3

Music: City and Colour - Fragile Bird

• Uptempo sad song. Good compromise here.
• The Cup Is In The Building
• Juxtapositions: Luongo and Timmy, Sedins and Shawn Thornton. Odd choice, but whatever.
• No really, the Cup Is In The Building
• Goals against Luongo are great goals.
• I think Lucic just said a bad word.
• MARK RECCHI
• GUYS DID YOU KNOW MARK RECCHI WON THE CUP TWICE BEFORE (He did. I think he'd said he was probably retiring after this? We all knew this was his last game if they won.)
• Oh my god Nathan Horton I AM CRYING AGAIN
• The Cup Is In The Building
• Luc Bourdon, RIP. Taken too soon. I sort of hate Burrows, but I can't be against that tribute.
• That little kid covering his ears in the front row is adorable. Hope he's too young to remember how the game went...heh.
• Remember when all those guys won the cup? It's gonna happen again tonight. The Cup Is In The Building!

This all ended quite well for us, so I'm just going to leave you with the Closing montage.

2011 Stanley Cup Final End Montage

Music: U2 - One