Bruins Leave Fans with More Questions than Answers

I’ve always tried as hard as I can to subscribe to the notion of a game being a “good loss.” To me, sports are simple one team wins and another loses. Sports are cut and dry to me and if you are looking for “sentimental victories” your team is too far away from the championship level to be all that relevant. I realize such a stance is a somewhat harsh one so I try and try to look “for the bright side” in defeat and cling on to what might bring promise for the next game or season.

Which brings me to the 2007-2008 Bruins. Admittedly, I am not nor have I ever been the biggest hockey fan. Growing up in the hotbed of hockey that Massachusetts is and attending the college hockey power-house that Boston College has become I’ve always been at an arm’s length of being an avid hockey fan and at times a bit closer.
Saturday night’s game six victory over the Montreal Canadians was without a doubt the most exciting hockey game I’ve ever attended live. I’d even say it was one of the top two or three sports events I’ve attended at the new Boston Garden.

From the moment I arrived at North Station approximately one and a half hour before the game, Bruins fans and Canadians fans alike were packed into the area and carrying on with a game time-like-intensity. This intensity carried through the opening face-off and right through the end of the game.

The third period of Saturday’s game that saw the Bruins score four goals and battle back to hang on for victory was a thing of beauty to be a part of. With seemingly every fan on their feet for the duration of the last period the Garden was rocking and it brought up memories of hearing stories of when hockey ruled supreme in Beantown and the so-named “gallery Gods” ruled the Old Garden in a way that those of us growing up watching hockey in the past generation cannot relate to.

But on the heels of a crushing 5-0 defeat last night to the Canadians came the end to an exciting, albeit short, playoffs for the Bruins. And still there are many questions left unanswered by Boston’s NHL entry. Is this the start of a new generation of exciting new Bruins that will bring hart-stopping playoff action for years to come? Or is this a blip on a seemingly blank radar that the Bruins have not been able to register on since Raymond Bourque traded his Bruins uniform for Stanley Cup glory in Colorado?

All that is for certain now is that for one week the Bruins became more than just another tenant at the Boston Garden. They like the 2007 – 2008 Celtics dusted off years of mostly irrelevant play to grip the imagination of an oversaturated Boston sport’s scene. But if the Bruins hope to stay relevant they must do more than simply force a game seven opening round playoff. Their pivotal victories in the future must include not only games but series. If they accomplish this than maybe, just maybe, they can reclaim their stature as piers with the other professionals in town.