In this season's BRHL2 cup finals two of the leagues powerhouse organizations locked horns in a close fought battle right down the the OT winner that sealed the deal for Atlanta..
In game one, the sellout crowd in Atlanta ready to try and help the team get the Cup again for a second straight year watch as the tone for a Ryan Miller show in the Cup Finals was set. Miller stopped all 20 shots fired at him. John Tavares notched the only goal of the game in the first period with 1:11 left. Miller then stop all 15 shots in the second and 3rd for the win.
In the second game on home ice in Atlanta the sellout crowd again tailgated overnight and came loud and proud selling out the building and icing the playing surface with a handful of hooligans throwing the now customary "dozen peaches" onto the ice during the national anthem. After the cleanup up the Thrashers fell behind on a quick PP goal by Jeff Carter on a cross ice one timer from Vaclav Prospal at 4:40 of the first. Mike Modano got a rare PP shift at 17:54 and made the most of it snapping a bullet top shelf, off the right wing on one foot like back in the hey day. Inspired by the veteran the Thrashers tallied a late goal at 19:12 as Matt Cullen pounced on a rebound off a Joe Corvo slapper. The second period saw the crowd go crazy as a leaked interview between former Hawks G.M Slats and current G.M Yee was put on the jumbo tron. They were seen at a bar laughing and saying "we've beat Atlanta in the finals before, they lost because their fans aren't hockey fans they don't even know when to cheer." At the 9:01 point of the second Mike Knuble tapped in a easy one off a beautiful rush by Erik Johnson. The third saw a similar theme as the Hawks couldn't get any kind of scoring chances and Hemsky iced the game at 18:53 on a goal assisted by Ovechkin and Corvo.
As the teams headed back to Chicago, the sellout crowd had Hawks D-man Doug Murray as after the first whistle he gave Rick Nash a two hander on the foot that the refs missed, Nash having none of it dropped his mitts and worked over Murray until Murray landed one into Nash's ribs that the judges somehow ruled a draw. The Hawks inspired by the "draw" took a dive and got a PP soon after the fight, Aucioin hammered a snapshot through a screened Miller at 3:08 of the first as the home town Hawks had the sellout crowd fired up early. At the 7:08 mark though Clarke Macarthur an original 5 year BRHL2 Thrasher tied the game up with a snipe off the wing after receiving a nice pass from Galiardi. The second period was the Ovechkin show as the Russian dynamo notched a natural Hat Trick and the hometown crowd left after the 2nd intermission and the Hawks players seemed defeated.
Game 4 saw the hometown Hawks head into the third period tied 1-1. After the teams exchanged goals early the Thrashers took the 3-2 lead on a goal by Ales Hemsky on the PP on a beautiful end to end rush with R.Miller getting an assist. After the goal the jumbo screen cut to G.M Shuck where he could be seen cutting a cigar. As it was a T.V timeout the Hawks players saw this and responded with two PP goals a minute apart at 9:18 and 10:14. Anderson held on from their and the Cigar was ripped in half by the angry Thrashers G.M.
Game 5 back in Atlanta saw the hometown crowd excited to celebrate a cup win on their home ice. After Ales Hemsky notched a PP goal at 12:27 in the second the Thrashers were up 3-0 and the hometown crowd was celebrating prematurely and it bite them in the ass as the Hawks fired in 3 unanswered goals and the game went to OT. In the extra period former Thrasher Jan Hejda stuck it to the hometown crowd with a dump in around the boards that R.Miller went to retrieve and it hit a part of the glass and ricochet into the net costing the crowd a chance to celebrate.
Game 6 back in Chicago was a battle that Ryan Miller wasn't willing to lose after the embarrassing OT goal in game 5. After an even first period on the shot chart 8-8 the teams went into the 2nd, Where again an even shot chart 6-6 saw the team go to the 3rd 0-0.. In the third the Thrashers got an early tally from Rick Nash as he tapped in a incredible saucer pass from Ales Hemsky. From that point the Hawks dominated at the 6:09 mark Goalie Ryan Miller got called for a cheesy slashing call on Jeff "boozy" Carter. On that PP the Hawks tied the game 1-1 as Doug Murray floated a seeing eye shot through 4 sets of legs and sticks and it hit the twine behind Miller. Angered by the call Miller went to the bench and screamed at his teammates to score "ONE MORE" and it would be enough. The Hawks continued to apply pressure outshooting the Thrashers 11-3 in the third period. The game went to OT where after a early PP by the Hawks was stopped by Miller the Thrashers Mike Modano lost face-off in the the Thrashers zone but Rick Nash gained the back puck and dropped it to Ales Hemsky behind his own net where Hemsky yelled at Miller "GAME OVER" from the 5 year Original Thrasher spun his way around two Hawks in his own zone, blew around "Boozy" at the red line then dangled a defensively inept Mike Green at the Hawks blue line, with only Doug Murray left he avoided the big Swede with a spin-o-rama at the top of the circles and was in alone on Craig Anderson where he went to the "peter forsberg" for the OT and Stanley Cup winning finisher!
With commissioner Eric Dolegowski on the Mic and everyone Booing loudly for the job he does running the league, we aren't exactly sure but we think this is what we made out from the ceremony amongst the boo's, " I would like to thank the Hawks and the Hawks fans for a great series and season, but I'm out hear to announce a second straight victory for the Atlanta Thrashers and their great management staff headed by Kirk Shuck and the job he has done running the Thrashers.. His commitment and dedication have been inspiring for me as the commissioner. With that I'd like to call up the Thrashers Captain Ales Hemsky to receive the Stanley Cup!"
With that the Thrashers grabbed the cup and headed around and around the united centre. (the Conn smythe wasn't voted on yet as new policy the writers left in a safety precaution of a repeat of the now famous vancouver riot)
At the press conference many hours later back at the teams hotel across town the writers met up with the 5 spear heads on the Thrashers team Ryan Miller, Ales Hemsky, Alex Ovechkin, Zdeno Chara, Rick Nash. As the players came to the podium it was clear they were well on their way to a fun night on the plane home. With Ales grabbing the mic to talk first saying, "We won last year, it feel good, I want to win again this year, yah know get that same good feeling. I try really hard to help my team win always and I think I proved the G.M in L.A I see blogging about how I soft that I infect not soft. Rumpy who names their child Rumpy?"
Chara then spoked up and said something in slovakian before passing out facedown on table.. Hemsky piped up, "He say he tired" the other four all broke out laughing. Miller then chimed in "Maybe was that bottle of whiskey he drank straight down in the dressing room" They all broke out again.
With that Ovechkin finally said, "I had one good game that all in finals, my goalie carried me, he best I ever play with, do any you have floats vodka?"
Nash then ended the presser with this, "you see these 4 beauty's? were all under contract and going to 3 peat!"
They then drug Zdeno outside to the team bus as they took off to head back to celebrate in Atlanta.
