Lucic backs up Chara's story that Canucks practiced lifting the Cup in 2011
In August 2011, Milan Lucic brought the Stanley Cup to the top of Grouse Mountain after he and the Boston Bruins defeated the Vancouver Canucks in the Stanley Cup Final.
But during the series in Boston, however, he recalls seeing members of the Canucks practicing lifting the Cup during their pre-game skate at the TD Gardens, something former Bruins captain Zdeno Chara also spoke of in 2022.
âWe used to be able to watch the other team pre-game skate as we were eating pre-game meal,â Lucic told the John Scott-hosted Dropping the Gloves Podcast. âBefore that Game 6, I donât even know if the Canucks skated or not, but somebody went out and started doing something like [lifting the Cup].â
Although the two 2011 Stanley Cup winners might have matching rings, their stories are slightly different, with Chara recalling the Canucks practicing lifting the Cup after going up 2-0 in the series on the back of games in Vancouver.
âAfter losing two games in Vancouver, we saw players from Vancouver coming on the ice in the Garden, and they were actually practising how they would be lifting the Cup and handing off the Cup to each other,â Chara said on an episode of the Games with Names Podcast, hosted by former NFL star Julian Edelman and comedian Sam Morril. âAnd we found out about these things, and we were like, âFuck this, we are not going to allow this to happen.â It just fuelled us.â
đ Game 6 âą 2011 Stanley Cup Finals
Milan Lucic with a huge goal against the Vancouver Canucks giving the #NHLBruins a 2-0 lead đ„đ„đ„
Lucic scored five goals during the Stanley Cup run in â11 đ
— Short Handed Takes: Bruins đ żïžodcast đ (@ShortHandedTks) February 5, 2022
Former Canucks defenceman Kevin Bieksa denied the story live on Hockey Night in Canada.
Despite that, it continues to arise, with Lucic suggesting it could have been Vancouverâs black aces rehearsing the hockey clubâs first Stanley Cup.
âIt mightâve been black aces or something like that, and maybe they were just screwing around,â Lucic said. â[But] it led to [Bruins defenceman Andrew Ference] writing on our whiteboard, ânobody raises the Cup in our cityâ and that kind of obviously fired us up.â
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Lucic and Ference both scored early in Game 6, as the Bruins potted four goals in the first 10 minutes, vaulting them to a 5-2 win over Vancouver before they clinched the Stanley Cup at Rogers Arena in Game 7.
âIt did enough to fire us up,â Lucic said. âWe walk in, and Ference has that written up, and we were just like, âalright, letâs do this.ââ
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