B's wonder: What were mouthy Canucks thinking?

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By Joe Haggerty
CSNNE.com Bruins InsiderFollow @hackswithhaggs
BOSTONThe Bruins finally came clean about some of the more oft-discussed things from the Stanley Cup Final with the mouthy, confusing Vancouver Canucks.

Several of the Canucks continually chirped the Bruins publicly and chose some very ill-timed moments to comment on things that the Bs were doing rather than putting their own Vancouver house in order. Everybody will go back to the Roberto Luongo verbal gaffe after Game 5 when he backhandedly criticized Tim Thomas for failing to save Maxim Lapierres goal in the 1-0 Boston loss, but there was also Kevin Bieksas disparaging comments about the 1980s Bruins Starter-style jacket purchased by Andrew Ference on EBay.

The jacket was passed from player to player over the final two months of the season and the playoffs, and awarded to the player of the game in victory that exemplified performance, teamwork and all of the things that make up the Bruins Way of doing things.

When Bieksa called the awarding of the jacket a Pee Wee hockey thing to do in the world of stone cold pro hockey, the Bruins took notice and stored the Vancouver defensemans comments in the back of their minds. The Pee Wee jacket took root along with the notion Tim Thomas wasnt pumping Roberto Luongos tires enough, and Boston derived all kinds of motivation and fire from the self-inflicted verbal wounds authored by the Canucks.

I know we got ripped on it a bit and people questioned itapparently it was a Pee Wee thing to dobut I really thought that jacket was something special that we did, said Chris Kelly. It was given to the guy that played hard and played for his teammates. I loved it. For us to raise that Cup the jacket had a lot to do with it.

While Ference claimed he wasnt really annoyed by Bieksa ripping on the jacket, he did openly wonder during the Stanley Cup Final what public relations Vancouver was running under while continuously tweaking their opponents in a public forum.

Needless to say it didnt work out for the Canucks, and instead added fuel to Bostons fire.

It didnt annoy me. It just surprised me that he would say that publicly, said Ference. How did that benefit them? You can think whatever you want and chirp us in your own locker room, but to say it publicly was more surprising than anything else.

It didnt hurt our feelings. We loved it, you know, and what it represents. Some of the decisions by the Canucks to say some things publicly was very surprising because it does no good for their team.

It will continue to be one of the great unsolved mysteries of the 2011 NHL playoff season: what were the Canucks thinking while self-destructing against a team that was their physical and emotional superior despite holding much less in the way of skill and skating ability.

Joe Haggerty can be reached at jhaggerty@comcastsportsnet.com. Follow Joe on Twitter at http:twitter.comHackswithHaggs

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