• Kings rule! LA powers way to first Stanley Cup

    Mark J. Terrill / AP

    Los Angeles Kings captain Dustin Brown kisses the Stanley Cup after the Kings beat the New Jersey Devils on Monday night.

    AP reports: The Los Angeles Kings' 45-year Stanley Cup quest ended in a triumphant flourish of blood, sweat and power-play goals. After missing two chances to claim the title last week, the long-suffering Kings are NHL champions for the first time.

    Jeff Carter and Trevor Lewis scored two goals apiece, playoff MVP Jonathan Quick made 17 saves in his latest stellar performance, and the Kings beat the New Jersey Devils 6-1 Monday night in Game 6 of the finals, becoming the first eighth-seeded playoff team to win the league title.  Continue reading the full story.

     

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  • Bruce Bennett / Getty Images

    Travis Zajac of the New Jersey Devils celebrates his goal in the third period against the Florida Panthers in Game Four of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals during the 2012 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Prudential Center on April 19.

    New Jersey Devil Travis Zajac celebrates goal

    The New Jersey Devils defeated the Florida Panthers 4-0, tying their first-round series of the Stanley Cup quarterfinals at 2-all.

    Travis Zajac made it a three-goal game from between the circles at 3:35 and Kovalchuk closed out the scoring on a power-play shot from the left circle.

    Related Links:

  • Explore Vancouver hockey riots in 360-degree video

    By Meredith Birkett

    More than 100 people were injured and dozens arrested when rioters swept through downtown Vancouver after the Vancouver Canucks lost to the Boston Bruins in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final on June 15.

    Ryan Whitehead and his colleague Eamon Sallam from northstudio360 were in the crowd to capture 360-degree video. In late May, they had captured a celebratory crowd during the western conference finals against the San Jose Sharks, so they wanted to capitalize on that viral success during the Stanley Cup finals. But it was a very different experience. “We got some stuff when Vancouver was in a good mood. Then things got really weird,” Whitehead said. 

    Courtesy of Ryan Whitehead / northStudio360

    Cameraman Eamon Sallam navigates the rioting crowd in Vancouver, B.C., with a 360 video camera, after the Canucks lost the Stanley Cup Finals to the Boston Bruins.

    Whitehead won’t give many details about the camera setup in the 360 rig. But there are five video cameras, each recording a different angle. Having done 360 video for couple years, they are constantly changing and experimenting with the device. To steady the camera, they are using a monopod with weights at the bottom. They have five FireWire cables hooked to a laptop in a backpack, recording the video streams simultaneously. Back in the office, they stitch the streams together to create the interactive, 360 experience.

    To navigate through the crowd, Whitehead and Sallam kept the camera low and walked into the center of the scene, then elevated the rig to capture video for a few minutes. When they started getting looks from the crowd around them, they’d move on. Whitehead said people were “kind of like moths to a fire. Everyone wants to come up and talk.” Whitehead helped cameraman Sallam by keeping the crowd at bay. “I was pretty much like a bouncer for a bar,” Whitehead said. Explore the video they captured, below.

    The mob mentality turned dark for the duo when a few people started saying the two were with a Boston news crew, and aggressively asking if they were sharing the video with the cops. Suddenly, 10 to 20 people were staring at them, Whitehead said. The northstudio360 team left the scene quickly.

    Whitehead is getting attention for the video from media organizations around North America. It’s free advertising for his company, which typically does work in much quieter scenarios, such as aerial tours for real estate firms, or virtual tours for venues.

    See more Photoblogs from the Stanley Cup and riots:

    'Why destroy your own city?' Rioters run wild in Vancouver after Stanley Cup loss

    Scenes from Game 7 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals

    Amorous protestors, lost in the heat of Vancouver riots

  • A couple kisses while police walk in the streets during riots following the Stanley Cup finals in Vancouver, Canada, on Wednesday, June 15. Vancouver broke out in riots after their hockey team, the Vancouver Canucks, lost in Game Seven of the Stanley Cup Finals.

    Amorous protestors, lost in the heat of Vancouver riots

    By Jonathan Woods, msnbc.com

    When one of my colleagues alerted me to this image by retweeting it this morning, my gut instinct was to shout "No way! That's fake!" But minutes later we discovered that the image was shot by Getty Images photographer Rich Lam.

    I was beside myself.

    The "too-good-to-be-true" element of this photo is the juxtaposition of the riot cops and the couple who made a bed out of the littered street following last nights' Stanley Cup Playoffs in Vancouver.

    We've got an interview with Lam coming up around 2pm ET to find out just what was going on that led to this photo. Check back in a couple hours.

    UPDATE: 6/16/2011, 2:20pm ET -- I just had a conversation with Rich about this image.

    After shooting the final game for Getty Images, Rich Lam headed to the streets to photograph the protests.

    “We were in front of the bay where looting and burning was taking place,” he said. And that’s when it happened. From dogs to horses, tear gas to pepper spray, “it was just mayhem.”

    Police started pushing everyone out of the streets. At one point Lam looked back and saw the scene above — two people on the ground. His initial instinct was that they were hurt.

    “I looked back and thought someone was injured and I shot that. I framed it up, juxtaposed with the policemen.”

    Lam didn’t realize what he had captured. He turned his images in to the photo editors who were processing the volumes of photos chronicling the events of the night.

    A little while later another photographer from the Getty team came up to him and said “nice picture of the couple kissing.” Unsure of what he was referring to, he returned to the editing room.

    “Oh my God – they’re making out!” Lam said.

    In retrospect Lam said “it was just crazy – for them to do something like that. I don’t understand why people riot to begin with.”

    Some others have their suspicions, and with good reason. Comments like those from Jess, below, give me reason to think the couple are performers of some kind:

    I saw the same couple make out in the middle of the road (on the divider between oncoming traffic in Yaletown a week ago. Pacific and Homer to be exact. It looks like they like the thrill of making out in public with people watching.

    A photo that appears to have been taken at the same location makes it look even less organic. CNBC's Darren Rovell along with Steve Poller and Sara Lauch questioned whether the two intentionally staged themselves there.

    UPDATE: 6/17/2011, 12:00pm ET --

    nineMSN.com has uncovered the identity of the male in the photo, after an interview with immediate relatives. The website says that Hannah Jones, from Perth, told them that the man is her brother, Scott Jones, 29, who lives and works in Vancouver.

    Late yesterday Getty Images reached out to Lam, who provided his employer with the entire series of images.
    You can see them here: http://bit.ly/kwz2JD

    UPDATE: 6/20/2011, 9:00am ET --

    This morning the couple in the widely-seen photo appeared on the today show. Scott Jones and Alex Thomas address accusations that the photo was faked. "I was just trying to calm her down. It seemed like the thing to do," Jones said. Continue reading...

    Related content:
    More photos: Stanley cup finals
    More photos: Riots break out after the finals
    Amusing "Dear Vancouver" tweets out there.

  • 'Why destroy your own city?' Rioters run wild in Vancouver after Stanley Cup loss

    The AP reports from Vancouver, British Columbia:

    Angry, drunken fans ran wild Wednesday night after the Vancouver Canucks' 4-0 loss to the Boston Bruins in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals, setting cars and garbage cans ablaze, smashing windows, showering giant TV screens with beer bottles and dancing atop overturned vehicles.

    The violence appeared to start when fans set fire to a stuffed bear decorated to symbolize the Bruins.

    Anthony Bolante / Reuters

    Some 100,000 Vancouver Canucks fans gather at the corner of Georgia Street and Hamilton Street in downtown Vancouver, British Columbia under a giant jumbotron television to watch Game-7 of the Stanley Cup NHL Playoffs on June 15.

    Jonathan Hayward / The Canadian Press via AP

    A police car burns during a riot in downtown Vancouver on June 15 following the Canucks' 4-0 loss to the Boston Bruins.

    Geoff Howe / The Canadian Press via AP

    Police confront rioters.

    Darryl Dyck / The Canadian Press via AP

    Police officers pursue rioters.

    Rich Lam / Getty Images

    Riot police in front of a burning vehicle.

    Darryl Dyck / The Canadian Press via AP

    A police officer walks amid debris following the riot.

    "What I've seen is a complete disgrace," said Beth Hope, 28, who is originally from England but has lived in Vancouver for two years. "I'm a Canucks fan, but my jersey's in my bag. I'm ashamed to be a fan right now."

    Hope said she saw a parkade on fire and cars ablaze.

    "It's insane, it's absolutely insane," she said. "What's the point? Our team lost. Why destroy your own city? I'm afraid."

    Read the full story and see images from Game 7 in an earlier post on PhotoBlog.

  • Nathan Weber

    Fans line Michigan Ave. downtown Chicago during the ticker tape parade for the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday, June 11.

    Nathan Weber

    Tens of thousands of fans turned out for the parade, standing on any structure available to see the parade as it passed. Here, fans stand atop the parking structure entrance to the Chicago Cultural Center.

    Nathan Weber

    The Stanley Cup rests on Michigan Ave. as the Chicago Blackhawks wait to be introduced at the victory rally.

    More from the ticker tape parade...

    By Jonathan Woods, msnbc.com

    Chicago resident and trusted friend, Nathan Weber, shot the ticker tape parade Friday, June 11, following the Blackhawks victory in the Stanley Cup Finals.

    At one point, he was so close to the team he touched the Stanley Cup. Having covered both the parade and the celebration following the victory, he likened the parade to a family event.

    "It was peaceful, everyone was civil," Weber said, which is a stark contrast "compared to Wednesday night when there were mobs of drunk and disorderly fans lobbing bottles, raising hell... not quite flipping over cars, but close. It was borderline out of control."

    I'm sure most would agree.

    Now if we could just get those Cubbies some of the luck the Blackhawks had this season...

    Feel free to check out Nathan's slideshow HERE