Belfour, Gilmour Head NHL Hall of Fame Class

No Pat Burns this year in the NHL Hall of Fame but one lucky goalie got in on his first time. Former Blackhawk star Eddie Belfour stated he was “flabbergasted” when he heard that the newest class of NHL Hall of Fame members would include the man known affectionately as “Crazy Eddie.”

I’ll always know him as “Eddie the Eagle” and I remember growing up that he came out of nowhere (seemingly) to be the hottest goalie in the league.  More importantly, I still have his rookie card which makes me just feel old now.  Sigh….

1990...wasn't that long ago was it...?

Belfour has the goods for the Hall of Fame, stats-wise. He’s third in the NHL in career wins (484), fourth in games played (963) and minutes (55,695). His save percentage (.906) and goals-against average (2.50) are top 30.

He won the Stanley Cup in 1999. He won the Calder in 1991. He was nominated for the Hart in 1991. He’s got Vezina Trophies in 1991 and 1993 as the best goalie in the NHL, and four Jennings Trophies (91, 93, 95 and 99) for the fewest goals allowed by a goaltending tandem.
[via]

But Crazy Eddie is in good company now. The former Dallas Star is joining his teammate Joe Nieuwendyk with the new class. Also in the mix is Doug Gilmour, who practically played for every team but the Stars. And the fourth member of the group is Mark Howe, the son of legendary Gordie Howe.

Howe played for over two decades in the NHL and WHA but will best be known as one of the best two-way defensemen of the Philadelphia Flyers in the 80s.  So congrats to all the members of the newest class of the NHL Hall of Fame.  Enjoy some highlight videos below of each of the four guys and try not to reflect on how old it makes you feel.  I’ll try not to as well…

Eddie Belfour – The best glove save you will ever see

Don Cherry in awe of Doug Gilmour’s puck wizardy.

Joe Nieuwendyk Dallas Star Highlights

Flyers Mark Howe Hall of Fame vs North Stars

NHL Icons Marchant, Kariya Retire

1195 games is a lot. After 18 years one veteran is hanging up his skates after reaching that level. Todd Marchant, currently with the Anaheim Ducks, began his career with the New York Rangers as the 164th overall pick in the 7th round of the 1993 NHL Entry Draft.

In that time he also spent time with Edmonton and Columbus but the bulk of his time was spent with the Oilers.

Playing with the Oilers from 1994-2003, where I will always remember him, Marchant scored a career high 20 goals in 2003 but it was his defensive skills and speed that he was known for. Marchant will stay on with the Ducks as the director of player development.

Some of the older die-hard hockey fans might remember Marchant as the guy who sent the Dallas Stars packing in the 1997 playoffs. After the great Cujo save to keep the game alive, Marchant nailed a game-winning OT goal in this game seven. You can definitely see his speed in this clip below.

The 18-year veteran spent the last six years with Anaheim, including its 2007 Stanley Cup winning team. He leaves the Ducks as their franchise leader in short-handed goals (eight), eighth in post-season appearances (52) and ninth in regular season games played (421).

“I’d like to personally thank Todd for his invaluable contributions to this organization over the last six years,” said Ducks executive vice president/general manager Bob Murray. “His character and presence in our locker room will be missed, but we’re extremely grateful that he has agreed to join the front office as director of player development. Congratulations to Todd and his family on a wonderful career.”
[via TSN.ca]

Another (former) Duck has announced his retirement. One of the best little men to play the game, Paul Kariya, is officially retiring from the league. If you’re think that Paul already retired it might be because he’s been sitting out for a while.

Kariya was suffering from post-concussion syndrome and not too happy with how the NHL was dealing with the situation. He sat out the 2010-11 season and is very critical toward how the NHL handles concussions, namely in the case of Pittsburgh Penguins superstar Sidney Crosby.

He took last season off to heal and hoped to play again — perhaps in Anaheim — but told the Globe and Mail newspaper Wednesday the risks were too great. He left with scathing words for the NHL’s weak punishment of blows to the head.

“The thing that I worry about is that you’ll get a guy who is playing with a concussion, and he gets hit, and he dies at center ice,” he said. “Can you imagine what would happen to the league if a guy dies at center ice?”

He also said to end illegal hits to the head, “I’m a believer that you don’t go after the employees, you go after the employers. … If you start at 10-game suspensions and go to 20, that sends a message to the players. But if you start fining the owners and suspending the coach, then it’s out of the game.”
[via L.A. Times]

Kariya spent the bulk of his years with the Anaheim Mighty Ducks before wandering around the NHL for a bit. He spent a year in Colorado, two in Nashville and then found a home in St. Louis.  Over those years, Kariya took a pounding due to his small stature.

At only 5′ 10″ and 180 lbs, Kariya was no match for some huge hits by the like of the Devils Scott Stevens.

Kariya will finish his NHL career with 989 points in 989 games. He was a two-time winner of the Lady Byng Trophy for gentlemanly conduct and sportsmanship, and was selected to the NHL’s first all-star team three times (1996, 1997 and 1999) and the second team twice (2000, 2003). Kariya played for Canada in the 1994 and 2002 Olympics, and was chosen to play in 1998, but couldn’t compete after suffering a head injury on a crosscheck from the Chicago Blackhawks’ Suter just days before he was supposed to head overseas.

One could argue that Kariya’s most memorable NHL moment came in the 2003 Stanley Cup final between the Anaheim Ducks and the New Jersey Devils when the Devils’ Scott Stevens laid him out with a crushing hit, leaving him motionless on the ice for several minutes with what was undoubtedly an undiagnosed concussion. Kariya returned to play after a short absence and later scored the decisive goal that permitted Anaheim to force a seventh game in a series that was ultimately won by New Jersey. It was the closest he ever came to winning the Stanley Cup.

“I feel very fortunate for the 15 years I spent in the NHL,” said Kariya. “At some point, whether you play 10 or five or 20 years, you have to retire eventually – and no matter what you do afterward, you need your brain to be functioning.”
[via Globe and Mail]

NHL Realignment and You: What to Expect From the Future of the League

With the official relocation of the Atlanta Thrashers north of the border to Winnipeg, the NHL finds itself in a serious geographical predicament. The Winnipeg Jets will remain in the Southeast division for this season, but that is not something that can continue long-term. With travel times/expenses/exhaustion the league must find a solution for teams like the Jets and other clubs with similar issues. Thus, we have a proposition for realignment – not only of divisions but of the entire league.

Right now what’s flying around the rumor mill is a plan for four divisions – two with eight teams and two with seven – which would split up in a way to alleviate the pressures of travel while still maintaining divisional rivalries and (hopefully) the split of the western and eastern conferences.

The top four teams from each division will make the playoffs, and round one will be a divisional round with teams re-seeding into their conferences for the following playoff rounds.

There are already multiple scenarios of how the divisions should be split and I don’t believe there is one true answer. Consider Dallas’ geographical positioning – it makes it almost impossible for it to fit nicely into one division as opposed to another because of its distance from other NHL cities.

I’ve decided to try to split up the teams into four divisions in a way that seems best to keep rivalries intact as well as allow the teams some easier travel routes.

1. Pacific Division – 8 teams:

Vancouver Canucks

Edmonton Oilers

Calgary Flames

San Jose Sharks

Colorado Avalanche

Phoenix Coyotes

Anaheim Ducks

L.A. Kings

This one is a bit of a no-brainer. It consists of every team in the western half of North America, and includes eight of the 10 teams in the current Northwest and Pacific divisions. It seems fitting that these teams should be grouped together and both Dallas and Minnesota should be excluded (considering they are in the middle of the country and not nearly as west as the others). This grouping keeps the California teams as well as the three western-Canada teams together as divisional rivals.

2. North Division – 7 teams:

Toronto Maple Leafs

Montreal Canadiens

Buffalo Sabres

Ottawa Senators

Winnipeg Jets

Minnesota Wild

Chicago Blackhawks

With the serious cluster of teams in the northeast area of America/Canada this division could be split up in a few ways. First of all, it is completely impossible not to put Toronto and Montreal in the same division, and Buffalo and Ottawa must be included because of sheer geographical reasons. Winnipeg and Minnesota are too far east to be considered for the Pacific division, but too far west and north for any other division. The real question is the Detroit/Chicago divide. I like taking Chicago in this group to provide some star power, but I excluded Detroit in order to split the Original Six teams into two divisions. Plus I think the recent Detroit-Pittsburgh rivalry is very exciting. Which brings us to the next division…

3. Atlantic Division – 8 teams:

Boston Bruins

New York Rangers

New York Islanders

New Jersey Devils

Philadelphia Flyers

Washington Capitals

Detroit Red Wings

Pittsburgh Penguins

This is one heck of a division. Just the history and recent successes of this division make realignment worthwhile. 12 of the last 20 Stanley Cups have been won by teams in this division – and seven of the losing teams over that span are also featured in this grouping. There is a ton of star talent, plus plenty of new and old rivalries that could make this the greatest division the NHL has ever known.

4. South Division – 7 teams:

Columbus Blue Jackets

St. Louis Blues

Nashville Predators

Tampa Bay Lightning

Florida Panthers

Dallas Stars

Carolina Hurricanes

Unfortunately, these teams will still be fairly spread out even with the new divisional groupings. However, the popularity of the NHL in already established northeastern cities is the only thing to blame for this widespread group. The South division could be very exciting to watch with the mix of established clubs like Dallas and St. Louis, with young and successful ones like Carolina and Tampa Bay. These teams know each other well and could make for some great hockey.

There you have it. With the league proposing that each team will play in every arena throughout the year, plus the added excitement of intense divisional rivalries, realignment could be just what the doctor ordered.

Draft Day Trade as Sharks deal Setoguchi to Wild for All Star Burns

The San Jose Sharks came close last year to making an appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals but fell apart against the Vancouver Canucks to finish off their year in disappointing style. And no one knows that more than Sharks GM Doug Wilson who did not waste any time in making moves to help fix his team.

The aging Sharks made things interesting at Friday’s 2011 Entry Draft at the Xcel Energy Center by making a 5 person trade with Minnesota. The Sharks will send forward Devin Setoguchi, prospect Charlie Coyle and a 2011 first-round pick to the host Minnesota Wild for defenseman Brent Burns and a second-round pick in next year’s draft.

It’s a tough loss for Minnesota to depart with the All Star Burns but good news for Wild fans as now they might have someone who knows who to score a goal.

Wilson said he believes he owed it to his aging team, which reached the Western Conference Finals this season only to lose to Vancouver in six games, to address the need for a top-four defenseman. He contends the 26-year-old Burns is just that guy.

When Burns became available, Wilson paid a steep price, but one he considers fair, for the 6-foot-5, 220-pound puck-moving defenseman who flirted with 20 goals and 50 points for the Wild, a team with far fewer offensive players than the Sharks.

“The two hardest things to acquire in this business are center men and defensemen, and we’re fortunate to be very strong down the middle,” Wilson said minutes after the trade was announced. “We’ve been looking for a while to add defensemen. When this type of guy does become available, it comes at a cost, and you don’t want to fill one hole and create another. We feel we’re a better hockey team today.”

“There’s such a shortage of high-end defensemen in this league,” general manager Doug Wilson said. “That’s why you better move quickly because other people are lined up and involved. There’s just not enough good defensemen and centermen around in this league. When they do become available, if you hesitate you don’t get them.”
[via NHL.com]

Is it too little, too late for the Sharks?

The Sharks paid a huge price to get Burns, who is 26-years old, but believe they have their man and quickly signed the soon-to-be free agent to a 3 year/ $9 million contract.

Draft picks aside, the price of giving up 24-year-old Setoguchi and last year’s first-round pick Charlie Coyle is tough.  Setoguchi could become a stud on the offensive end and that may come back and bite the Sharks in the tail.  But it’s a gutsy move by Wilson to address the immediate need to win and that’s something that needs to be fixed now.  I’m not sure if the Sharks have but a few more years of postseason play with this group.

Now Boarding! Winnipeg Jets Are Back!

The Winnipeg fan base is having a good week. This week the NHL officially approved the move of the Atlanta Thrashers franchise to True North Sports and Entertainment, the Winnipeg-based group looking to bring the NHL back to Manitoba. That approval came after the city presold 13,000 tickets in a matter of days a few weeks back.

The official name of the team was being left up in the air as management pondered whether or not to keep the Jets name or choose another. The old Jets team moved to Phoenix and turned into the Coyotes. Although that franchise kept the records and player stats of the old Jets franchise, the NHL did give True North the option of using the old name.

Other names tossed up in the air were using the already established, and popular, minor league team name of the Manitoba Moose. With the new NHL team in town, the Moose closed up shop and move east to St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador.

So would the team go with the old, established name or try to make a fresh start with a new name and identity?

True North announced they would reveal the name during this week’s NHL Draft and here’s the special moment. It’s a great thing to see the franchise back. Now, let the riots begin!

A grand total of 15 seasons after the Winnipeg Jets left for the desert, the team and the name are back after the official announcement came down just before the franchise made the seventh selection at the 2011 NHL Entry Draft at the Xcel Energy Center.

Jets co-owner Mark Chipman revealed the name before general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff made the seventh overall selection.

“That’s how we got into this (hockey) business in the first place, to keep the Jets in Winnipeg,” said Chipman. “We thought about lots of ways to doing this but we just kept coming back to Jets. It became clear to me that it was absolutely the right thing to do.”

This wasn’t a decision Chipman and the folks at True North took lightly.

“We just wanted to be as absolutely certain and thoughtful as we could about it,” said Chipman, noting the final decision only came a few days ago. “We listened to a lot of people. We listened to the fans, that was obvious. I was overwhelmed by the unsolicited suggestions that were good and thought we should go in a different direction. We considered a lot of names (including Manitoba Jets) and we felt strongly about Manitoba. We’ve carried that name the past 15 years and we’re very proud of the success we’ve had with the Moose.
[via Winnipeg Sun]

2011 NHL Draft Kicks Off

The NHL Draft kicked off this weekend and the picks themselves were pretty much what we expected. What did catch us by surprise is the crazy trades as teams swapped big names through the week and the frenzy continued through the Draft.

As expected, the Edmonton Oilers used the #1 overall pick to nab center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins of the Western Hockey League’s Red Deer Rebels. I’m not a big fan of hyphenated names, they’re a big pain in the ass to deal with, so we’ll just call him RNH for now.

A lot of critics wonder when RNH will be able to play as he might need some working out in the minors before he’s able to play at an NHL level. But being the #1 pick means they won’t keep him down there long as he develops. At 6’1″, he’s only 170 lbs and that’s with putting a lot of weight on recently. For comparisons sake, the #2 pick of Gabriel Landeskog is the same height and almost 40 lbs. heavier.

RNH joins the quick Taylor Hall for the rebuilding Oilers. The second pick of the draft went to Colorado who picked up left wing Gabriel Landeskog, a Swede who played for Kitchener of the Ontario Hockey League. Here’s a look at the first round of picks for day one. The following rounds will finish up this weekend.

1. Edmonton Oilers: Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Center (Red Deer, WHL)

2. Colorado Avalanche: Gabriel Landeskog, Left Wing (Kitchener, OHL)

3. Florida Panthers: Jonathan Huberdeau, Center (Saint John, QMJHL)

4. New Jersey Devils: Adam Larsson, Defense (Skelleftea, Sweden)

5. New York Islanders: Ryan Strome, Center (Niagara, OHL)

6. Ottawa Senators: Mika Zibanejad, Center (Djurgarden, Sweden)

7. Winnipeg Jets: Mark Scheifele, Center (Barrie, OHL)

8. Philadelphia Flyers (from CBJ): Sean Couturier, Center (Drummondville, QMJHL)

9. Boston Bruins (from TOR): Dougie Hamilton, Defense (Niagara, OHL)

10. Minnesota Wild: Jonas Brodin, Defense (Farjestad, Sweden)

11. Colorado Avalanche (from STL): Duncan Siemens, Defense (Saskatoon, WHL)

12. Carolina Hurricanes: Ryan Murphy, Defense (Kitchener, OHL)

13. Calgary Flames: Sven Bartschi, Left Wing (Portland, WHL)

14. Dallas Stars: Jamie Oleksiak, Defense (Northeastern, H-East)

15. New York Rangers: J.T. Miller, Center (U.S. Under-18)

16. Buffalo Sabres: Joel Armia, Right Wing (Assat, Finland)

17. Montreal Canadiens: Nathan Beaulieu, Defense (Saint John, QMJHL)

18. Chicago Blackhawks: Mark McNeill, Center (Prince Albert, WHL)

19. Edmonton Oilers (from LA): Oscar Klefbom, Defense (Farjestad, Sweden)

20. Phoenix Coyotes: Connor Murphy, Defense (Kitchener, OHL)

21. Ottawa Senators (from NSH): Stefan Noeson, Right Wing (Plymouth, OHL)

22. Toronto Maple Leafs (from ANA): Tyler Biggs, Right Wing (U.S. Under-18)

23. Pittsburgh Penguins: Joe Morrow, Defense (Portland, WHL)

24. Ottawa Senators (from DET): Matt Puempel, Left Wing (Peterborough, OHL)

25. Toronto Maple Leafs (from PHI): Stuart Percy, Defense (Mississauga, OHL)

26. Chicago Blackhawks (from WASH): Phillip Danault, Left Wing, (Victoriaville, QMJHL)

27. Tampa Bay Lightning: Ladislav Namestnikov, Center (London, OHL)

28. Minnesota Wild (from SJ): Zack Phillips, Center (Saint John, QMJHL)

29. Vancouver Canucks: Nicklas Jensen, Left Wing (Oshawa, OHL)

30. Anaheim Ducks (from BOS, then TOR): Rikard Rakell, Right Wing (Plymouth, OHL)

Puckdoctors Links Getting Ready For NHL Draft

Predators come up empty at NHL Awards

The NHL Awards were handed out on Wednesday afternoon in Las Vegas. The Nashville Predators were nominated for four awards this season, but came up empty.

Nick Lidstrom just edged Predators captain Shea Weber for the Norris Award give to the League’s best defenseman. The 9 point difference, 736 to 727 points, was the closest race for the Norris since 1996. That year, Chicago’s Chris Chelios beat out the Bruins Ray Bourque by only five points.

Lucy Pinder Hot New Commercial Is Awesome

Thomas wins 2nd Vezina Trophy as NHL’s best goalie

Tim Thomas has a second Vezina Trophy to go with his recent Stanley Cup title. The Boston Bruins goalie earned top NHL honors on Wednesday after a stellar season that culminated in the championship.

Thomas set an NHL record for save percentage when he finished at .938, surpassing Dominik Hasek’s .937 set in the 1998-89 season. He also had a league-low 2.00 goals-against average and nine shutouts.

Inside Brett Favre’s Brain

There is good news of the NFL Lockout as this week we hear rumors of owners disagreeing amongst themselves about the labor issue with only a handful of owners still in favor of the lockout. At this point I’m feeling confident that the two sides can work their issues out.

The bad news is that it’s almost August. That’s the time of year, like Groundhog’s Day, when a fuzzy creature sticks his head out of the whole to see if he will play football. Retired, or not, we have to face the fact that there will be a Brett Favre issue this fall.

Martin St. Louis picked as NHL’s most gentlemanly player

Martin St. Louis has been picked as the NHL’s most gentlemanly player for the second straight year.

The Tampa Bay forward won the Lady Byng Trophy on Wednesday, in ballotting by the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association, over Detroit’s Nicklas Lidstrom and Dallas’ Loui Eriksson. St. Louis topped Detroit’s Pavel Datsyuk in 2010, ending the Red Wings forward’s four-year run as the award winner.

Guy Kicked In Face By Girl, Out Cold

The Voices of the Transformers Movie

It’s that time of year when Michael Bay and his endless supply of napalm visit the movie theater with the latest installment of the popular “Transformers” movie. This time around we will see that Megan Fox will have to see the movie for herself when she buys a ticket like the rest of us chumps as director Michael Bay booted her after she went to the press to talk about how bad it was to work with him.

Bay and executive producer Steven Spielberg took care of that problem and now the role of “hot chick who can’t act and wouldn’t be here if she didn’t have nice boobs and a tight butt” goes to Victoria’s Secret model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley.

Upstream Wakeboarding Looks Awesome

Bored with wakeboarding in a lake behind a boat or wakeskating at your community pool? It’s time to head down to your swift-moving neighborhood creek, attach the same type of motorized, ariel tow lines they use in wakeskating, and wake upstream against the current, brah. Here we have footage from last week’s 2011 Red Bull UpStream in Slovakia’s Bratislava, Cunovo. We’ve never heard of any of the winners of this bizarre, foreign water sport, but it looks quite, quite fun.

Showering With Girls

Tim Thomas and Goalie Dominance of the Conn Smythe Trophy

After his stellar performance throughout the entire 2011 NHL playoffs, Tim Thomas was the runaway favorite for the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP. That fact would not have even changed with a loss in game seven.

Thomas only surrendered eight goals in the seven game series, breaking the record of nine dating back to 1945. After such an amazing season, Thomas quieted any remaining doubters when he continued his hot play all the way through the playoffs. Four shutouts, highest save percentage, most shots faced, goals against average under two, and four penalty minutes to prove he’s tough.

Thomas had such a complete postseason and his play will go down as one of the best goaltending displays of all times and could very well be considered one of the all-time Bruins for being the main reason for ending their 39 year drought.

What shines most about Thomas’ postseason is how he proved the overwhelming value of having a solid goalie in the playoffs. Many goalies who started for their respective teams in these playoffs are above average in their overall skills yet could not do what Thomas did. Not very often is there an undisputed Conn Smythe candidate halfway through a seven game final series.

After watching Thomas over these past few weeks, I am reminded of other great goalie performances in the playoffs, most notably those of Patrick Roy. Arguably the best goaltender of all time, Roy is the only player EVER to win three Conn Smythe Trophies, including during his rookie season. Roy’s three wins are part of the 15 times that a goaltender has won the playoff MVP award. There have been 45 total Conn Smythe’s handed out and goalies have won a third of them.

What’s most significant about Thomas receiving this award is that there was no doubt that he would take home the MVP trophy even if the Bruins fell in game seven. His play set him apart from the rest as he was the single player on everyone’s minds when the words Conn Smythe were uttered. This fact also works into the Conn Smythe facts as the award has been given out to losing players five times and four of those have been goalies, most recently Jean Sebastian Giguere in 2003. Even when a team fails to complete their run to the Cup and fall in the Finals, their goalies have had such an impact to be considered the most valuable player.

Thomas winning the Conn Smythe also has an impact on the national level. He is only the second American to win the award (only five of the 45 winners have been non-Canadians) and considering the other winner is Brian Leetch, Thomas is the only American goaltender to win it. He has now earned another title besides Boston’s savior or the best goalie in the NHL. Thomas is a pioneer. The United States has not been known for producing Hall of Fame goaltenders, but Thomas is definitely making us forget about that. His play announced to the world that the goaltending position is no longer within the unreachable clutches of the French-Canadian netminders, but now it’s America’s turn.

This year truly belongs to Tim Thomas and he earned every accolade that comes his way. Vezina winner, All-Star, MVP, pioneer and now NHL Champion. Enjoy every minute of it, Timmy, keep setting that bar even higher.

Jeff’s One Man Boston Bruins Stanley Cup Victory Parade

I’m kinda at a loss of words for this one.

Jeff’s waited since he was 12 for Boston to win the cup again. Nobody believed that he would do this. He drove down Queen Street in Sault Ste Marie the same time that Boston was having their parade. Family & friends showed up to cheer him on.

Jumping on his lawn mower, Jeff goes out to celebrate. Go Bruins!

Crowd for Bruins Stanley Cup Parade Is Largest Ever in Boston

Boston Bruins fans have been yearning for a Stanley Cup for decades. Despite great runs in the past the team has not won the Cup since the days of Bobby Orr. Even Cam Neely never got his name etched on the trophy.

That is until this year. Cam is now the Bruins President and finally gets to enjoy the glory of the Cup, even if it’s from a suite. Almost 40 years of a Cup drought brought out the best in Boston as over 1,000,000 estimated fans lined the streets for the Stanley Cup Parade through Boston.

That number, estimated by the Boston police, makes it the biggest celebration ever in the city beating out any football or baseball event. Here’s Cam talking about the upcoming event and the ride to the Championship.

One lucky waiter at a Boston also got to live this moment. I wonder how much they tipped?

But one of the best images that popped up was this one of Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz. Although I’m not positive, I think it’s an unwritten rule you can touch the Cup but not lift it up over your head unless you’re a player on the winning team. Crap….the Bruins are jinxed for another 40 years.

The Boston Police Department says Saturday’s parade in honor of the Stanley Cup champion Bruins is the largest championship parade in city history.

Over one million fans have filled the streets from TD Garden to Copley Square as the players ride Duck Boats through the city. The parade began with a small rally reportedly attended by only about 1,000 people, but it has grown considerably along the route.

The great weather, the fact that this parade is being held on a Saturday, and general excitement for the team’s first Cup in 39 years are all possible reasons for the huge crowd.
[via NESN]

For those of you that couldn’t make it to Beantown for the parade here’s a video of the event.

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