My childhood is complete. I was five years old when the Patriots defeated the Rams in Super Bowl 36. I don't really remember that game, but I do remember Super Bowl 38 when they defeated the Panthers vividly because I was there. I have seen the Patriots capture two championships before my eyes, I have witnessed the Red Sox reverse the curse and then win another and I was attending Game 6 when the Celtics blew out the Lakers to win their first championship since the mid-1980's. Now the Bruins, my second favorite sports team after the New England Patriots have won their first Stanley Cup. I had previously said that I wanted to see the Bruins win the Cup by the time I finished high school. Well they achieved that in my freshman year.What makes this Bruins championship so sweet is that this group of guys have endured so much together. They have endured losing for the past few years; they blew a 3-0 lead to Philadelphia last year, they lost Game 7 in overtime to Carolina the year before. If we go back even further back in the decade, we remember that they lost to Montreal after blowing a 3-1 series lead and as a number one seed, they lost to Montreal yet again. Also, this Bruins team isn't like one of those "manufactured" Yankee's championships or like the Celtics championship a few years ago. This Bruins team has been together for some time, and piece by piece they have been building a championship team. Each guy on the Bruins is fun to root for because they aren't thugs like some of the guys in the NBA or divas like there are in football or cheaters like there are in baseball. From the guys like Tim Thomas to Brad Marchand to Chris Kelly to Tyler Sequin, each player seems to have some kind of connection with the fans.
As I am writing this on the morning after the Game 7 victory, I still don't think it has "hit" me yet that they have won the Stanley Cup. I hopefully will attend the parade after I finish one of my final exams and then I think I will have the full realization of what they have just done. I think back all the way to mid- April and the I was walking out of the TD Garden with my dad after the Bruins were defeated soundly by Montreal 3-1. My dad was saying how the coffin was just about nailed shut but I still believed that the Bruins were unlike any other team in sports. The Bruins were the type of the team that would loose their first two home games to a longtime rival and then win the next four games, three of them coming on the road. Well the Bruins didn't quite win four in a row, but they won four out of five games to defeat Montreal in overtime. In the Philadelphia series, I knew that the Bruins were all in for extracting revenge on the Flyers (my least favorite hockey team). The Bruins sweep of the Flyers was very satisfying for everyone I think. Then, the Lightning series was unbelievably hard fought. I give all the credit in the world to Tampa because they played an unbelievable series and they will certainly be there when it matters in the future. Game 7 at the Garden was the loudest I have ever heard an arena, and I had been to the NBA Finals and Game 6 when the Celtics beat the Lakers. That celebration might have been the highlight of my season, even a little bit better than Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals because it was more of a regional atmosphere. But the new highlight of my season was last night. The Bruins were dominant throughout and even though the series went 7 games, the Bruins practically dominated the whole series, just getting a little unlucky like the Bruins always seem to do in a few of the games. But the luck was finally on the Bruins side for once. Now, I reflect on the great times I had in the Garden this post season watching the Bruins road to winning the Stanley Cup. I also believe that this won't be a one time thing because Tim Thomas still has a year or two left and the Bruins core is very young; Milan Lucic-22, Patrice Bergeron-25, Tyler Seguin-19, Brad Marchand-23, Nathan Horton, if healthy-25, David Kreji-27. The Bruins sparked the city of Boston which is and will always remain a hockey town. Now, the best part of Boston sports is that the attention turns to the next team, the Red Sox, as they attempt to head back to the World Series. Thank you, Bruins, you completed my childhood.
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