This is a little late, but here it is anyway...
I'm an "old school" Boston sport fan, the type that has an abundance of hope but a fatalistic attitude, the type that grew up never seeing a championship (other then the Celtics who don't really fit into the rest of the Boston sports world) but did see plenty of heartbreak, the type that believes in curses and won't say "I think we can win this" because the minute he does the game is lost. No matter what has happened over the last ten years, as much as we said it was going to change, these feelings and thoughts haven't left. The Red Sox and Patriots haven't changed the attitudes and hearts of us old curmudgeons, they've just made the future brighter for those that never saw the ball go through Buckner's legs or Tony Eason take a sack... or Montreal score a power play goal on a stupid penalty late in the game. So, when Bergeron's stick popped into the air and James Wisniewski's head flew back as if hit with a metal chair with only three minutes to go and the Bruins clinging to a one goal lead, I knew it was over. How could it not? We've seen it before. Too many men on the ice, anyone? Guy Lafleur ring any bells?
The thing is, this isn't the same Boston sports I grew up with. Something has changed. Boston teams aren't expected to lose this way anymore. We broke the curse or figured it out or whatever. So as devastating as it was for us "old school" fans to see P.K. Subban blast the tying goal over Thomas' shoulder, as loudly as we all yelled out, "here we go again," all hope wasn't lost. The new school fan had no problem watching overtime because they didn't know what we knew, they hadn't lived through what we lived through. They had no idea that life wasn't all championship wins and overcoming 3-0 deficits. And they certainly had no idea that this is what Montreal does, they crush Bruin fan's dreams. I'm sure none of them had the eternal "old school" debate with themselves, should I just turn the game off now or should I keep watching? A debate always won by the continue watching side because actually watching the painful collapse even though you know it's coming was what being a Boston sports fan was all about.
Of all people, Nathan Horton saved the day, the guy I've been blasting all series long for not being there. The "old school" Boston fan tends to search out goats. Who's going to disappear when we need them most? But this isn't the case anymore. People who haven't done anything for 60 minutes now step up in those final moments to get the job done. It's still hard for me to except this. I still want to defend all my comments about Horton. I mean, if the guy played like we know he can, like we pay him to, there wouldn't have been an overtime. But the fact of the matter is, twice in the series, when push came to shove, Horton was there in position, letting the shot go, scoring the goal when we needed him to. A "new school" fan wouldn't question that this will happen. They've seen it work out for the best more times then not.
I have to keep reminding myself, it's a new day and age in Boston sports. Just because the Canadian's tied the game on a cheap penalty in the closing minutes of the game does not mean it's over. In fact, it's just the opposite, it's a rallying point. Now the Bruins bear down and make sure the job gets done. The corpse may have stood up when we thought it was dead, but that doesn't mean we can't drive the steak a little deeper or just cut the head off. In this new day and age Boston sport teams can prevail, even against the Canadians and the Yankees of the world. And last night that is just what they did, prevail.
Next up is Philly, a team even the "new school" fan has to be a little leery of. It was just last year that the Bruins blew a 3-0 game lead to them. Somewhere in their DNA there has to be a small voice muttering "here we go again." I'd like to say that I'm eager for revenge, that I see this as the perfect storybook opportunity for the B's to redeem themselves, but I'm to "old school" for that. I'll wait for the corpse to be dead and buried before I start talking about redemption.
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