Six Reasons to Watch the Bruins
by Kristen Merrill

Now that the Patriots have dashed our hopes, many of us are bereft, longing, and sad. We feel adrift without a gridiron grudge-fest to tune into every Sunday. The wounds of 2007 continue to fester. So what the hell are we supposed to do with ourselves until training camp opens again in August? Sure, there will be baseball. But snow on the ground and subzero wind chills don’t put one in the mind of lazy summer days at Fenway. There’s always the Celtics but – frankly – they’re not hurting for fans or airtime. But what winter in New England is really all about – once the Patriots take their ball and go home – is hockey. Old-fashioned, hardnosed, down-and-dirty Bruins hockey.

You should be watching it. Why? I'll tell you why.

1. Original six hockey is the best hockey. When the NHL was founded in 1942, the Boston Bruins were one of the original teams. Along with the Chicago Blackhawks, New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers, Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs, the Bruins were there at the beginning. And they still are. There are few things people in this town like better than tradition. The Bruins have tradition by the net-load. It’s cute and all that they’ve put NHL teams in Phoenix and Tampa Bay, but New Englanders know that’s not real hockey. The Bruins were there first. And the first hockey is the best hockey.

2. Local flavor. The bleachers at Fenway used to be a goldmine for sheet-metal workers from Southie named Butch and bus drivers from Revere who go by Sully. But in recent years, Fenway has been overtaken by drunken frat boys and their pink hat-wearing sorority girlfriends. Nowadays it’s just as likely that you’ll sit next to a BU Beer Pong Champion than it is that you’ll sit next to an actual fan. The Bruins, by contrast, have kept it real. Not once have I attended a Bruins game and found myself more than five rows from a Pee Wee team from Billerica or a pair of MBTA workers from Quincy lamenting the fact that no one hits anymore. For my money, nothing adds to the atmosphere like a slightly intoxicated guy named Mikey imploring Bruins captain Zdeno Chara to “Hit someone, fer crissakes, Chara, you’re fuckin’ nine-feet-tall!” 

3. Seriously, Chara will hurt you. And so will the rest of the team. The Slovakian captain is actually six-foot-nine. Add three inches of skate to that and he clears seven feet. The man is a planet. And as a defenseman, his job is to hit people – and make sure they don’t get up – and to keep them from scoring. He’s very good at his job. And he’s not the only gifted guy on the team with an interesting story. Goalie Tim Thomas, nicknamed “The Tank,” is from Flint, Michigan – which just might be the most depressing place in the country. He hunts black bear with a bow in his spare time. Is that a dude you’d want to mess with? Thomas has made two All-Star teams; he won the 2009 Vezina Trophy as the league's best goaltender; and he’ll represent the US in Vancouver in the 2010 Winter Olympics. Alongside Chara and Thomas are young stars like Marc Savard, Patrice Bergeron (playing for Canada in the Olympics) and Milan Lucic. Lucic, in particular, has spawned a legion of followers who show up at every game wearing #17 Ass Kicker t-shirts. He may be a mere toddler (21-years-old), but he will kick your ass. Also? He’s really good at hockey.

4. Shhhhh, the Bruins are playoff sleepers. Hockey is the only sport where a team can lose half its games and make the playoffs (thanks to the convoluted system of awarding points for overtime losses). And while the Bruins are second in the Northeast Division and fifth in the East, they’re better than that. They’re dealing with injuries (Savard, Bergeron) but the best part about that – if injuries have a best part – is that none of them is long-term. All of which means that when the homestretch starts, Savard and Bergeron should be back, rested and healthy. Also, the NHL will break for two weeks in mid-February for the Olympics. Such an extended break might be just what Savard needs. (Bergeron, of course, will be participating in the Olympics, health permitting.) Still, when the Bruins take the ice as a team again March 2, they’ll be rested, hungry and ready to rack up points in the standings. 

5. Age-old rivalries. Around here, it’s Red Sox vs. Yankees all the time. Occasionally we toss in some Patriots vs. Jets (or Steelers, or Colts). We sometimes forget that Bruins vs. Canadiens is one of the oldest and most storied rivalries in sports. Sure, it’s traditionally one-sided: The Canadiens hold 24 Stanley Cup Championships to the Bruins’ five. But the Red Sox and Yankees aren’t exactly even in that respect either. And you don’t see that dampening the feud. The Bruins and Canadiens do not like each other and never have. Both teams are original six franchises. Both play in the Northeast Division, which forces them to compete for the same slice of playoff pie. Add to that the fact that hockey is an inherently violent game and there are sure to be some explosions. In recent years, the teams have been evenly matched, trading playoff victories and beating up on each other in the regular season. If we’re lucky, that will continue. 

6. The Stanley Cup eats all other sports trophies for breakfast. There is only one Stanley Cup. There are no duplicates. If you win it, you get your name engraved on it and it lives there forever. The winning team gets to keep the Cup for a year. Players have done everything from using it as a baptismal font for a newborn daughter (Colorado’s Sylvain Lefebvre in 1996) to taking it to strip clubs in Edmonton. It’s even ended up at the bottom of both Mario Lemieux’s and Patrick Roy’s swimming pools. And after all that, players would still kill for a chance to drink champagne from its dented and tarnished bowl. Sports’ most famous trophy and hockey’s ultimate prize is perhaps the best reason to watch hockey. And the Bruins certainly have a chance to bring it home. Just imagine what Tim Thomas would do with it.  

Kristen Merrill, a freelance writer, is a 2002 graduate of Emerson College. She lives in Cambridge with her New York sports fan boyfriend, not to mention several dust bunnies and bobbleheads. Her column appears daily at NESN.com (www.nesn.com/kristen-merrill/). She also runs the popular sports blog “Basegirl” (www.basegirl.blogspot.com). She’s a sucker for Boston sports teams, straight tequila, and power ballads. Particularly Journey.