Have a story idea? Contact us at sports @theotherpress.ca @ Sports — COMMICKS COLMES — — Suck it, Boston! Canucks beat Bruins 4-3 > By Josh Martin, Sports Editor he game was marked on [Te calendar since the NHL schedule was released; a game between two teams that absolutely hate each other. A game full of fights, goals, game misconducts, injuries, drama, and—of course—emotion. A game between the reigning Stanley Cup champs and the runners-up: the Canucks versus the Bruins last Saturday January 7. It was evident from the get-go that these two teams have some history. Within two minutes of the first period, the fans that filled the Bruins’ stadium were chanting “Luon- go, Luongo”—who surprisingly didn’t get the start—with a mocking “welcome back, you’re not even playing in this game’ sort of tone. Yes, it was quite a way to start off a great game. Goaltender Tim Thomas was featured between the Boston pipes. Tim Thomas. Hmm, that name sounds familiar... who’s that guy again? Oh yes! How could I forget? He’s the guy who single- handedly destroyed Vancouver’s hopes and dreams of winning the Holy Grail after allowing only eight goals against and recording two shutouts in the seven game 2011 Stanley Cup final series. Thomas was nearly impossible to score on last spring—but this time around, the Canucks found a way. Ryan Kesler opened the scoring with a power play goal when the puck perfectly ricocheted right to his stick— after a Sami Salo slapper was blocked—to make it 1-0. Almost too good to be true, and before they knew it, the Bruins demonstrated exactly why power play. With the score 3-2 in favour of the Canucks after two periods, and an evenly matched battle between the two juggernaut teams, it was hard to say how the end result would turn out. And it went right down to the wire. Hodgson put home his 10th goal of the season on a beautiful play where he skated up the ice and absolutely unloaded on “Thomas was nearly impossible to score on last spring—but this time around, the Canucks found a way.’ they have a 2011 Stanley Cup Championship banner in their rafters—scoring two goals to answer to Vancouver’s one. However it was nothing to worry about too much as Cody Hodgson—who has been instrumental as of late—took the bull by the horns and set up Alex Burrows to tie the game at two goals apiece. Henrik Sedin then finished off the second period on a high note with a goal of his own on a picture-perfect Sedin-edition slap pass from Alex Edler, who was manning the point on the Thomas with a perfect slapshot right under the bar. Thomas took a second look at Hodgson’s number wondering, “where the heck did this guy come from’? Just 42 seconds later, the Bruins answered with a David Krejci backhand goal to bring the score within one at 4-3. However the Canucks prevailed—despite numerous scoring chances throughout the rest of the third period—thanks to goaltender Cory Schneider, who stood on his head with a total of 36 saves on 39 shots. With all goals aside, there was some drama as well. A line brawl ensued with a notable brouhaha between Canuck fourth-liner Dale Weise and Bruins pest Nathan Horton. The fight seemed to go on forever while shoving and pushing were exchanged between the rest of the bunch that were on the ice. At one point Milan Lucic jumped his bench just to get his hands on the pesky Burrows—a move for which the former Vancouver Giant was booted out of the game. Nice job, bud. Brad Marchand was the villain of the afternoon with his cheap-shot, low-blow hit on defensemen Salo (who left the game favouring his right shoulder). Salo was not only in pain but was evidently angry, throwing his stick at the glass in disgust. An unfortunate event for the blue-liner who has developed the name over the years as the “man made of glass’ due to all of his nagging injuries... he just can’t seem to get a break. With that said, the Canucks begin their road trip on a buzz with a 4-3 win over the Bruins in the first and only game that they will face each other this season. It was one helluva’ game.