Boston Bruins Have a Date With Destiny

I’m putting the Red Sox on the back burner for one moment to focus on another Boston team, the Boston Bruins.  Tonight the Bruins will begin their final chapter in pursuit of the Stanley Cup.  Before Curt Schilling proclaimed that he was coming to Boston to break an 86 year old curse, before Tom Brady brought the Patriots to the promised land, and before Larry Bird, Robert Parrish and Kevin McHale were the original big three, the Boston Bruins were the most popular team in New England.  Growing up I had three idols, Brooks Robinson, Muhammad Ali and Bobby Orr.

Bobby Orr and the big bad Bruins last won the Stanley Cup way back in 1972.  Jim Donaldson, sports writer for the Providence Journal, wrote an excellent article previewing the upcoming series against Vancouver and reminisced about the Bruins of the 70’s. One of the things Donaldson wrote about was a bumper sticker that you would see on almost every car in New England, “Jesus saves and Espo scores on the rebound.”  How true that bumper sticker was.  Phil Esposito was a force at center,  but the Boston Bruins were, and always will be, Bobby Orr’s team.  Honestly, l have only watched a handful of hockey games since Orr retired.  I never watched Wayne Gretzky play and I don’t regret it.  After Orr, everyone else is a far second, in my book.   If you were a teenager in the early 70’s like I was, there were two posters required on your bedroom walls.  On one wall there was the poster of Farrah Fawcett in her now infamous red bathing suit, and on the other side the poster was Bobby Orr flying through the air after his winning overtime goal.

This Bruins team first caught my attention with their double overtime victory over their arch rivals, Montreal Canadians.  The equivalent of the Red Sox beating the hated Yankees in an extra inning walk off win.   I can only name a few players on this current Bruins team,  but, that doesn’t matter to me.  The only thing that does matter is for at least one week, the Bruins will once again be New England’s favorite team.

Both the Patriots and the Celtics fell short this year, which leaves championship hopes in the hands of the Red Sox and Bruins.  First the Bruins will hoist the Cup and then see you in October.

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