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Bruins Win!!!

By Aaron Goldstein on 6.15.11 @ 11:45PM

Tonight, the Boston Bruins have won the Stanley Cup for the first time since 1972.

They did so with a 4-0 victory over the Vancouver Canucks in Game 7. The previous six games had been won by the home team. Remarkably, the Bruins had been down two games to none.

Bruins goalie Tim Thomas was named the Conn Smythe Trophy Winner. Thomas is apparently a supporter of the Tea Party. He is also something of a late bloomer. Thomas played his first NHL game at the age of 28 and didn't get regular playing time until he was 31. Now at the age of 37 he holds his head and the Conn Smythe Trophy up high.

It was the third time the Bruins had won a seven game series during the NHL playoffs previously triumphing over the Montreal Canadiens and the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The Canucks will be long remembered for their dirty play most notably with Alex Burrows biting Patrice Bergeron's finger in Game 1 and Nathan Horton (who had scored the game winning goal in Game 7 against both the Canadiens and the Lightning) sustaining a concussion at the hands of Aaron Rome in Game 3. Horton was unable to play for the duration of the series. Yet the Bruins managed to rise above it all under the low key stewardship of Claude Julien.

In the space of less than ten years, all four Boston professional sports franchises have won at least one championship. Personally, I don't think this is as big as when the Red Sox won the World Series in 2004 (much less when the Sox came back from being down three games to none against the Yankees in the 2004 ALCS). But it is certainly significant.

Shortly before I came to Boston in 2000, the Bruins traded Ray Bourque to Colorado so he would have a chance to win a Stanley Cup which he would do with the Avalanche the following year. Bourque had been with the Bruins for twenty seasons before the trade.

Right now, all is quiet in Jamaica Plain. Of course, if I were still living in the Fenway I would probably be out on the street joining the reverie. But, at this point, I am content to attend the Stanley Cup Parade. As of this writing, it hasn't been announced when it will take place. But I hope it will be on Saturday so I can take the time to really enjoy it. After all, you never know when it will come around again.

UPDATE: Unfortunately, rioting has broken out in Vancouver. I shouldn't be surprised. This is what happened when the Canucks fell to the New York Rangers back in 1994.

UPDATE II: I get my wish. The parade takes place Saturday morning.

View all comments (3) | Leave a comment

maximumrandb| 6.16.11 @ 11:07AM

It's been a great run for Boston and New England this past decade. Being a transplanted Bostonian now living and working in NY/NJ has made it all the sweeter.

Frankl Tavos| 6.16.11 @ 2:10PM

AG:

"The Canucks will be long remembered for their dirty play!!!!!" Are you joking? Do you even watch hockey?

The Bruins are consistently one of the dirtiest teams in the NHL, year in year out. The way the Bruins treated the Sedin Twins in this series is a disgrace to the game. Do you actually think that Aaron Rome's mid-ice hit on Horton is dirty in comparison to Zdeno Chara's attempt near the end of the regular season to murder Max Pacioretty of the Habs by intentionally steering his head into a stanchion at full speed? Gimme a break!

Only a former NDP'er would cheer for the Bruins. You should be forced to renounce your Canadian citizenship for such ill-informed comments.

Andrew Smillie| 6.16.11 @ 2:45PM

Or what about Boychuk putting the can opener move on the Canucks Mason Raymond and breaking his back. And then there is Marchand punching one of the Sedins in the face multiple times and after the game when asked why he did it he said "i just felt like it".