* a trifle banged up, in the end -
as we all know now...
Well, Chris Wagner was not seen in a long while -
he has a broken arm! Several other Bruins played on
with a whole lot of nagging injuries bothering them... TRUE HEROES - I tell ya!
and a 4-2 decision in game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals)
before losing game 2 in overtime
- but fretting it not, they had come back
to win game 3 handily in a 7-2 rout of the
brutish Blues - *in* St-Louis!
And then... what happened?
A few days later, after multiple miscalls by the refs
and lots of dirty play from their opponents,
the Bruins were in a 3-2 deficit -
one that they courageously climbed out of
with another convincing road victory: 5-1, in game 6.
This set up a winner-take-all game 7,
just like they had done in 2011
against the heavily-favored Vancouver Canucks...
And we all know what happened then...
Alas... this time around... the tables got turned.
The favorites were the Bruins -
clearly the more talented team;
speedier, better in all aspects of the game...
SUPERIOR AT EVERY SINGLE POSITION
with greater depth, too, and better coaching!
The brutish black-eyed Blues
were only good at one thing:
the rough and tumble style
their coach (interim coach!)
had inculcated in them...
A loser bunch, they were LAST
IN THE LEAGUE... until they
started playing like that
in order to steal victory
from their superior quarry!
And let's face it:
EVERYBODY in the league
was better than the Blues!
Until they started doing their
impersonation of...
the Broad Street Bullies
or... the Big Bad Bruins.
THAT is the ONLY WAY
they actually managed to
squeak by playoff opponents
San Jose, Dallas and even
lowly, hapless Winnipeg...!
OTHERWISE...
The Jets would have taken
the Blues out - in 5!
IF THEY PLAYED FAIR,
WITHOUT HITTING
THEIR OPPONENT
EXCESSIVELY,
AT EVERY CHANCE THEY GET,
TRYING TO INJURE
RATHER THAN MERELY
"PLAYING PHYSICAL"...
THE ST-LOUIS BLUES
WOULD NOT BE ABLE
TO COMPETE
WITH ANYBODY
IN THE NHL!
How can we ever trust you again, DON? You start off the Hockey Night broadcast proclaiming you believe (...) Boston will win - then reveal, on Coach's Corner, that the damnable Binnington rookie goalie had told you, in the elevator before the game, that "we are gonna win the championship" --- oh, rrrrreally? This after this rag of a paper in St-Louis printed, ahead of game SIX, a letter from the Blues team prez (or whomever) stating that they had WON - already?!? AND THIS ISN'T FIXED??? Your DOG was named BLUE after all, DON... you're dead to me, CHERRY!
Game 7 saw the Boston Bruins
TOTALLY DOMINATE THE PLAY
in the first period:
but instead of leading 2-0 or 3-0,
the blasted Blues got the lucky bounces
and they got two pucks to tumble into
the net instead...
How discouraging and revolting
is that...
Alas, it was almost
- ALMOST -
a carbon copy of what the Bruins
had done to the Canucks in 2011:
with one BIG difference though...
In 2011, the Bruins dominated play
AGAIN: they deserved their 2-0 lead
and eventual 4-0 win
in the cup-clinching game.
In 2019, the Blues do NOT deserve
a lead here; they are being outplayed!
The only time the Blues turn things
around, is when they play rough...
And on June 12th, in a game 7,
you can believe that
the Boston Bruins
are tired of the rough stuff!
But the damned referees
do not call any penalties against
the excessively rough Blues;
and it goes on and on...
The Bruins are worn down.
AND YET - NEVER GIVE UP!
Even when a 3rd lucky goal trickles in
and a 4th dumb-luck bounce -
(off the stick of a former Boston fan,
nothing less; Sanford, Blues fourth-liner,
grew up in the area
and he sure was a fan - now a traitor...
Name eeriely close to Ranford, too...
WOW, eh?)
THE BRUINS STILL BATTLE ON!
For they know they can get it done:
no matter what the odds are!
They were trailing 4-1 in 2013's game 7
against the Toronto Maple Leafs -
THEY SCORED THREE GOALS TO TIE IT
AND THEN WON IT IN OVERTIME
WITHIN FIVE MINUTES...!
Patrice Bergeron was there for all of that;
he knows it can be done!
He inspired his team to rise
and take game 6 in St-Louis,
depriving that entire town
of the joy they thought a sure thing
of seeing their team win it all
on home ice - after 52 years of futility
where even dreaming of this
was futile in itself!
BOSTON PULLS THEIR GOALTENDER
WITH ABOUT 3 MINUTES LEFT!
THEY SCORE!
And it is Matt Grzelcyk who scores, too;
he who had been the victim of a vicious hit from behind
and had just spent most of the Finals in concussion protocol,
being cleared to play just hours, literally, before game 7...
HE is the one who SHOOTS A PERFECT SHOT
into the top corner - for the Bruins' first goal!
The Bruins' lone goal of this game 7...
... sadness ...
INJUSTICE ON ICE
I SAY!
But, just like Chris Wagner in the previous rounds
(and we never saw him in the Finals, after he got injured...)
Matt Grzelcyk impressed upon us all what heroes
these Boston Bruins truly are...
He was one in the making from the very beginning
And he will be one in Boston for quite some time now
And there are so many others like that, on that team:
Joakim Nordstrom, Sean Kuraly, Charlie McAvoy,
Danton Heinen, Brandon Carlo, Torey Krug,
Jake DeBrusk, Charlie Coyle...
it is, truly, from top to bottom here:
THIS IS THE TEAM!
Shades of 1993, really -
when the Boston Bruins knew
THEY HAD THE TEAM
to go all the way - and they were ripped off,
stripped of their chance, in THREE OVERTIMES
(those who know about it will get it;
everybody else - google it!)
by a heinously jealous team
of ruffians and misfits...
much like the black footed Blues here.
Know who else is dead to me - and to all of Boston, too?
That's right, bro: Jayson Tatum!
Oust him - tar and feather him on the way out...
Bring back Isaiah Thomas!
Tatum was never going to live up to the legend of Reggie Lewis anyway...
NEVER TRUST A JA(Y)SON!
I always said... (not even Momoa!)
Jason Terry sucked pretty bad, too...
In time, this bad dream will be forgotten...
Yes. In time.
Right now, though, it is still too enraging to deal with
for this is really... a nightmare alright.
Not even close to what happened in 1993...
THIS... IS WORSE.
Because the Bruins were only ONE WIN SHORT.
They had battled all the adversity there was;
vanquished, thus far, in splendid fashion
BOTH the NHL's poor officiating
(and obvious blue push, in the later rounds...)
AND the roughhouse, despicable
"whatever it takes" tactics
of a desperate to be relevant franchise
that had never won anything
in half a century...
But you know what? The Blues didn't win anything. They did not win it - THEY STOLE IT. With unnecessary roughness, palliating for their lack of skill... THAT IS NOT A NOBLE VICTORY; THAT IS NOT A VICTORY AT ALL! And these Bruins will be back - and they will be truly VICTORIOUS - with their resolve, with their heart and with their grit! FOR THEY ARE WITHOUT A SHADOW OF A DOUBT THE TRUE CHAMPIONS HERE!
