Top 10 moments of Stanley Cup Final

BOSTON -- The Stanley Cup Final is over, and a party 51 years in the making in St. Louis is in full rage.
The St. Louis Blues are Stanley Cup champions following a 4-1 win against the Boston Bruins in Game 7 at TD Garden on Wednesday, and they and their fans will have memories to cherish forever.

RELATED: [Complete Stanley Cup Final coverage]
"It's amazing," said Blues forward Pat Maroon, who grew up just outside St. Louis in Oakville, Missouri. "Being from St. Louis, and signing in St. Louis, and winning the Stanley Cup and bringing it home and being with my family and friends, I can't wait for these next few days."
Here are 10 of the most memorable moments from the Stanley Cup Final:

1. Bettman to Pietrangelo to Bouwmeester

Blues captain Alex Pietrangelo took the Stanley Cup from NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, skated it toward his teammates, raised it above his head, and shortly after handed it over to defenseman Jay Bouwmeester.
Bouwmeester was the third-longest-tenured player in the NHL without a Stanley Cup championship (1,184 career games) behind Patrick Marleau (1,657) and Joe Thornton (1,566) before the Blues won Game 7.
"I can't even describe how much respect I have for that guy," Pietrangelo said of Bouwmeester. "I wouldn't be the player I am without him. I learned a lot from him. He deserves it."

2. Laila kisses the Cup

Blues defenseman Colton Parayko got the Stanley Cup on the ice shortly after Game 7 with 11-year-old Laila Anderson, arguably the biggest Blues fan on the planet, by his side.
Parayko bent down to one knee, allowing Anderson to put her right hand on the Cup. They raised it up and down together. Parayko then kissed the Cup. Then Anderson kissed it. They posed for pictures. What a moment.
Laila has been the Blues' inspiration. She has hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis, a severe systemic inflammatory syndrome that can be fatal, but there she was the on the ice at TD Garden hoisting and kissing the Cup.

3. Maroon to Maroon

Pat Maroon had the Cup in his hands, his son, Anthony, next to him, the celebration going on around them.
Dad had a message.
"Kiss it," Maroon said.
Pat's fiancee, Francesca Vangel, told Anthony not to even touch it because it means he'll never win it.
Anthony clearly didn't care. Neither did his dad.
Pat lowered the Cup to Anthony's lips. Smooch.
"These are memories I'll never forget," Maroon said. "This will be something than me and him can … talk about for the rest of our lives."

4. Ovation for Chara

The big question before Game 5 was whether Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara would be in the lineup after sustaining facial injuries in Game 4. Not only was Boston's captain in the lineup, the fans at TD Garden greeted him with an ovation for the ages.
It was so loud in the building when Chara was announced in the starting lineup and shown on the video board above center ice that you could barely hear public address announcer Jim Martin say his name.
The crowd kept roaring, so Martin paused. He waited 18 seconds after announcing Chara before he moved on to announce right wing David Pastrnak. By comparison, Martin paused for three seconds between announcing Patrice Bergeron and starting to announce Boston's captain.

5. Bergeron's pregame pump-up speech

Bergeron used the time in the visitors' locker room before Game 6 in St. Louis to deliver a speech that helped make a difference in Boston forcing Game 7.
There were no cameras, but the accounts from the Bruins players and Bergeron himself painted the picture of a legendary moment from a legendary player.
Defenseman Charlie McAvoy said Bergeron talked about the childhood dream of winning the Stanley Cup and how it would be a shame if they let it slip away.
"It was just an element of savoring this moment and not letting it end," McAvoy said after Game 6. "It was exactly what we needed. He stepped up. When he talks, you listen."
Left wing Jake DeBrusk said Bergeron kept the speech clean, no bad words, but spoke from the heart.
"To see him set the tone that way made us want to run through a wall," DeBrusk said.

6. Gunnarsson's OT goal

Blues defenseman Carl Gunnarsson's first career goal in the Stanley Cup Playoffs mattered in a massive way. He scored at 3:51 of overtime in Game 2 to give the Blues a 3-2 win that evened the best-of-7 series.
Gunnarsson's first in his 57th playoff game was the difference in the Blues getting the first Cup Final win in their history. He scored it on a one-timer high on goalie Tuukka Rask's blocker side from the right point off a pass from center Ryan O'Reilly.
The Blues dominated the overtime, outshooting Bruins 4-0 and maintaining possession for nearly the entire 3:51.

7. Krug's hit in Game 1

Bruins defenseman Torey Krug provided the biggest highlight in Game 1 when he laid out Blues forward Robert Thomas with a massive hit in the St. Louis zone at 9:41 of the third period, when Boston was leading 3-2 in its 4-2 win.
Krug was battling with Blues forward David Perron in front of Rask as the play went down the ice. When Krug finally got up, he didn't have his helmet on anymore; Perron had ripped it off.
It appeared that Krug was making a beeline to hit Perron, but he turned when he saw the puck coming up the wall just down from the Blues bench. Thomas reached for the puck, opening himself up, and a helmetless Krug, hair pinned back because of how fast he was going, laid into him with a clean hit to the right arm and shoulder.
Krug's momentum carried him up off the ice horizontally airborne. The hit became a talking point in the series and images of Krug in the air brought about comparisons to Bobby Orr after he scored his Stanley Cup-clinching overtime goal against the Blues in 1970.
Krug called those comparisons "ridiculous."

8. Last anthem

Charles Glenn, the longtime anthem singer for Blues home games, promised to leave every note on the ice before Game 6 at Enterprise Center. It was the last time the 64-year-old, who has multiple sclerosis, would sing "The Star-Spangled Banner" at a Blues home game, something he had done for 19 years.
Glenn delivered a sterling performance, worthy of acclaim on the night the Tony Awards were handed out in New York. His team didn't do its part, losing 5-1, but the show went on to Game 7.
Glenn's show ended in Game 6. He brought the house down.

9. The Golden Brett makes an appearance

The Blues handed a microphone to Hockey Hall of Famer Brett Hull and let him pump up an already amped-up crowd before the opening face-off in Game 4.
Hull walked out onto the ice to a roaring ovation and screamed, "HEY, ARE YOU READY?"
He paused as the crowd got louder and he looked around, mouth open.
"LET'S GO BLUES," Hull screamed.
He then put up his right arm, fist clenched, for one final pump.
St. Louis won 4-2.
Hull and former Blues players Bernie Federko and Chris Pronger did the same thing together before Game 6. The Blues lost 5-1.

10. Perron's goal in Game 5

Perron gave St. Louis a 2-0 lead with 9:24 remaining in the third period of Game 5 when he scored with a shot off the inside of Rask's right pad after his initial pass attempt across the slot to Tyler Bozak was blocked and the puck came right back to him.
The Bruins thought a penalty should have been called on Bozak for tripping Noel Acciari along the wall seconds before the goal. There was no whistle, and soon enough the Blues doubled their lead on Perron's goal, just enough to give them a 2-1 win and a 3-2 lead in the series.