The Chicago Blackhawks defeated the defending champion Los Angeles Kings to win the Western Conference Championship. 

The Blackhawks will host the Boston Bruins at the United Center on Wednesday night in game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals.  The intriguing match up marks the first time since 1979 when the Montreal Canadians met the New York Rangers in the Finals that 2 of the original six teams will face one another for Lord Stanley's Cup.

There are so many aspects to this match up that could lead to a classic Stanley Cup championship battle.  To being with, both teams won the cup in the last few years, Boston in 2011, and Chicago in 2010.  The teams really don't have much of a postseason history, this will mark only the 7th time that they have ever faced one another in the playoffs.

This will make the series all the bit more challenging because both teams will really have to learn how to exploit each other's weaknesses, which will be difficult at first because the two teams really don't know each other that well.  The Blackhawks and Bruins didn't even meet during the regular season due to the shortened 48 game schedule.

Game Four of the Eastern Conference Final during the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs at TD Garden on June 7, 2013 in Boston.
Game Four of the Eastern Conference Final during the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs at TD Garden on June 7, 2013 in Boston.
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On paper these two teams are evenly matched in numerous aspects of their game.  Both squads have superior goaltenders, Crawford has been brilliant for Chicago, and Rask stopped 134 of 136 shots by the Penguins which is unheard of.  Both teams are solid defensively, the Bruins shut down the best scoring team in the NHL in the Penguins, and the Blackhawks stopped the Kings stellar offense in the Western Conference Finals.

One thing that the Blackhawks do much better than the Bruins is kill the power play,  during the regular season they were the best team in the NHL with an 87.2 percent rate at killing penalties.  Throughout the playoffs they have been even better at killing penalties.  Overall this should be a close competitive battle that could easily go 7 games.

The Iceman's prediction is that the Blackhawks will win in 6 games.  I think that Chicago has the edge at goalie, defensively with Duncan Keith, and they can score at will with the likes of Toews, Kane, Hossa, and Seabrook.  It should be an amazing Stanley Cup Finals math up, hopefully one for the ages.

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