Boston Sports Then and Now

Bruins' fans wanted Old Time Hockey justice.

I had to sleep on this putrid effort displayed by the Bruins against the Penguins. I went to bed mad, frustrated, and just disappointed being a life long fan of the Black and Gold.

Or should the Bruins be called the Slack And Fold?

The bout with Pittsburgh had been one of the most anticipated regular season games in recent memory.

It was time for payback.

Old West Justice.

It was time to make Matt Cooke “sleep with the fishes”.

This was the opportunity to avenge their fallen teammate and brother, Marc Savard. The Bruins star offensive player who still hasn’t shown much improvment since the concussion he sustained on March 7^th.

Cooke’s crime went unpunished by the Bruins during that game. Then to add insult to injury, NHL Director of Operations, Colin Campbell did not suspend Matt Cooke. His ruling was that the hit was legal this year but will be illegal next year(the rule had since been changed at the NHL GM meetings).

So now it was up to the Bruins to make things right!

Bruins talk was dominating the radio for almost two weeks.

The fans of the Black and Gold were in a feeding frenzy.

The NHL Brass was in town.

Security was increased at the TD Garden.

And for even more motivation, the 1970 Stanley Cup winning Bruins team was in town for their 40^th reunion.

The Bruins were poised to seize the moment!

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Matt Cooke should have been missing more teeth after his hit on Marc Savard.

Sean Connery’s character, Officer Malone, said it perfectly in the 1987 movie, “The Untouchables.”

“If they put one of yours in the hospital, you put one of theirs in the morgue!”

Granted Matt Cooke isn’t Al Capone, but the Bruins aren’t no Elliot Ness.

How can you not retaliate after your star offensive player, Marc Savard, was clocked by the notorious Matt Cooke?

Cooke, the player who has been suspended a multitude of time for cheat shots.

This isn’t your Daddy’s Big Bad Bruins.

If this happened in the days of Terry O’Reilly or even Lyndon Byers, Cooke would be holding his teeth in his hand.

Paging Milan Lucic.

Paging Shawn Thornton.

Paging Steve Begin.

Paging Claude Julien.

Why didn’t the Bruins coach send one of his “enforcers” to avenge the hit on one of their team leaders?

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The scoreboard at the Garden, told the whole story.

There aren’t too many words that excite Bruins fans like “I got FREE tickets to the game tonight! Want to go?”

Well maybe, “Boston Bruins 2009 Stanley Cup Champs”, would put more chills down your spine.

My friend scored free tickets to the game versus Pittsburgh on Tuesday night. I was pumped. It was my first game of the year.

Granted, I didn’t give the Bruins much of a chance because of their helter skelter play of late. They had a good game against Buffalo but that was with the Sabres star goaltender, Ryan Miller, on the bench.

The defending Stanley Cup Champions were in town or I what like to call them, “The OTHER Black and Gold team.”

I am still not happy that the Penguins stole the Bruins color scheme.

Can’t the Bruins copyright that or something?

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Can the Boston Bruins take the next step and win the Stanley Cup in 2010.

The start of the NHL season is a couple of weeks away and this is my attempt to evaluate what’s happened in the off-season and what it means for the new hockey year.

This is my look at the Eastern Conference. I’ve taken a look at each team in the order they finished last year and postulated how they’ll finish this year.

Eastern Conference

1. Boston Bruins (2) – The Bruins finished first over all in the east last year and swept the Montreal Canadiens in the first round. They took too long to get moving against the Hurricanes and didn’t start playing in earnest till they were down 3-1. They eventually lost in seven games as Eric Staal and Cam Ward willed their team past the Bruins.

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