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Your Boston Bruins-Vancouver Canucks 2011 Stanley Cup Finals Game 7 primer

APTOPIX Stanley Cup Canucks Bruins Hockey

Boston Bruins right wing Shawn Thornton, left, and center Tyler Seguin, right, sandwich Vancouver Canucks defenseman Kevin Bieksa, center, during the third period in Game 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals in Boston, Monday, June 13, 2011. The Bruins won 5-2 to send the series to Game 7 Wednesday night in Vancouver, British Columbia. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

AP

This is it, ladies and gentlemen. At this point, you’ve heard all the cliches about boyhood dreams of heroic imaginary moments carried out in backyard rinks and the streets of various burbs. Tonight’s game is for all the marbles and every other go-to description for a single contest that decides an annual NHL champion.

The hockey world couldn’t ask for a much more peculiar and entertaining first six games, either. The first three games in Vancouver were tense, nail-biting affairs. A couple bad bounces against the Canucks might have stripped their chances of even getting this far (or at least changed the makeup of this series). Meanwhile, it’s likely that you already know about the jaw-dropping 17-3 disparity in goals for the Bruins in their games in Boston.

Of course, Game 7’s tend to throw out the rulebook (and not just because officials rarely use their whistles). Tonight’s game could go either way, so it should make for some fascinating TV.

Boston @ Vancouver (NBC) - 8 p.m. ET; Series tied 3-3

Despite the numerous storylines buzzing around this strange and captivating series, it seems like it always comes back to Tim Thomas vs. Roberto Luongo.

As you’ve heard before, Thomas probably has the Conn Smythe Trophy locked up already, but there might be a subset of people out there who won’t give his odd style full credit unless he wins The Big One. It might be an honorable group, but Thomas probably doesn’t want to get heaped in the “great in defeat” bin with Ron Hextall and Jean-Sebastien Giguere.

That’s still an enviable position compared to the pressure heaped upon Luongo right now; even a great performance in defeat probably won’t wipe away the stain of his three awful games in Beantown. It’s unfair to downplay all of his career accomplishments because of a handful of bad nights, but it’s no doubt that is how most people will feel if he loses Game 7.

Want more Game 7 meat to chew on? Devour these clips from PHT.