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So This Is How It Ends? Heartbreaking Truly An Understatement For Game 7 |
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It was a blur I'll never forget....
Rebound. Walker. Red light. Tim Thomas dashing away.
It all happened in a flash, just like that....it was over. The dream season died in the blink of an eye. I sat with my chin pressed firmly into my notebook and blankly stared out for a few minutes, unable to come to grips with a major part of my life being so abruptly yanked away from me as the Carolina Hurricanes celebrated their 3-2 OT victory.
And in a way, I'm still there up on level 9 at the TD Banknorth Garden, wallowing in my own personal silence, wondering where it all went wrong. I'm still locked onto the frozen scoreboard and the 1:14 remaining in overtime that we'll never see, wondering not just what could've been, but what should've.
We're always so quick to throw out labels, generalizations: call the team you root for great and you're a homer, voice displeasure for how someone plays the game and you're a hater. You can back it up with fact after fact, but it's simply irrelevant to the masses who are intent on quickly categorizing you.
Where am I going with this? Well, here:
The Boston Bruins are a superior team to the Carolina Hurricanes. I know that now, I will know that tomorrow, I will know that until the day I die. You can flame away, telling me that the Hurricanes played better, fought harder and got the job done when it mattered most. I know this full well. It is not my point.
I tip my hat to the Hurricanes, I really do. They beat the Bruins in the race to win four games. They were the better team in these seven games, and they are moving on to the Eastern Conference Finals with a chance to go even further, and capture their second Stanley Cup in four years. Tremendous props to every player and member of the organization.
But, I can't help but feel that the B's lost this series more than the Canes won it. Where was the hunger, that playoff tenacity in games 2-4 and in periods 1 and 2 tonight? Why weren't adjustments made sooner rather than later? Why did the offense repeatedly go on hiatus, disappearing for absurdly long stretches? How did the Bruins manage to finally figure out how to cleanly break out of their zone, only to forget the recipe for success again?
Question, after question after question.
Entering the season, a step further in the long, uphill battle to glory would've been viewed as a success. Had you told a Bruins fan that the team would reach OT of game 7 in the second round, following a sweep of the Montreal Canadiens, I doubt they would view 2008-09 as a disappointment.
But, had they known how utterly dominant this team was capable of playing, and seemingly elected not to for multiple games in that 2nd round series, bowing out as the conference's top seed WITHOUT leaving everything on the table....I'm willing to bet they'd be a little bummed out. Unfortunately, that's precisely how things unfolded.
Things came easy for the Bruins for majority of the season, especially in their first five playoff matchups which they won without playing their A-game. Unfortunately the Hurricanes adapted quickly, and the Bruins were in for a battle they may have not been fully prepared for. Their sense of urgency showed no sign of life until game 5, and in the end, the B's finally began playing playoff-like hockey a wee bit too late.
Now, we enter the offseason with key RFAs Phil Kessel, the team's leading goal scorer, and David Krejci, the skillful blossoming center, on 29 other teams' collective radar. Defenseman Matt Hunwick and winger Byron Bitz find themselves in the same contractual situation as well. How it will all play out is truly anyone's guess.
But hey, fear not, for we are supposed to keep our heads high, and look forward to next season where we will be even better than before. As possible as that may be, as optimistic as I wish I was, that doesn't always hold true. Sometimes instead of progression there is regression. Sometimes survivable injuries one season give way to crippling ones the next. Sometimes the almighty dollar speaks louder than team loyalty, and future stars set up shop elsewhere.
Unfortunately potential is just a word and hope is just a sensation in our hearts and minds. Maybe next year will in fact be this organization's best chance to capture it's first championship since 1972. For now, we haven't a clue. But what we do know, and as a realist I am willing to admit, was that this team just squandered it's best chance to do something special in my cognizant lifetime.
I was just five years old when the B's last appeared in the finals in 1990. Forgive me for not having any first hand accounts of the Oilers thumping us twice in three years, the lights at the Garden going out, or Glen Wesley missing a wide open net. They are names and stories I cherish, events I've certainly taken the time to familiarize myself with, but slightly premature of when the die-hard hockey fan within me was born.
I grew up on names like Oates, Heinze, Allison, Stumpel, Dafoe and all of the other players to dawn the spoked-B from the mid '90s on. I faithfully cheered for the likes of Shawn Bates, Don Sweeney, Brian Rolston, Sean O'Donnell, Joe Thornton, Sergei Samsonov. I rooted for anyone who wore black and gold, always have and always will. But I know that, beyond a doubt, all of the aforementioned names have one thing in common: they never had as good of a chance at winning it all as the 2008-09 Bruins did.
Sure they had talent, a helluva lot at times too. But they never had the total package: the sound defense, the goal scoring depth, the stellar goaltending and a coach who could get the job done, and implement a rock-solid system for the players to follow. Sure they had bits and pieces along the way, but never quite like this.
And so that essentially tells the tale of my immeasurable disappointment this evening. I am so very, very proud to have been a part of this exciting ride. I really am. This year was certainly the most fun I've ever had as a fan of the Boston Bruins. But, the time for thank yous and all that hoopla must be put on hold for now.
In about five hours I will wake up and get punched square in the face by reality, when it reminds me that this season is over and done with. It pains me to know the joy of watching and attending games this season is over, and that there's not a damn thing I can do about it, as much as I wish I could. It kills me to not know if this will prove to be the Bruins' best chance to go the distance for quite some time now.
I could've stayed up on level nine as long as I wanted, staring at that ominously frozen clock 'til every silent, disheartened fan exited the TD Banknorth Garden. I could've tried my hardest to will that 1:14 to tick away just a single second, for everyone to reappear on the ice, and for Tim Thomas to cover up the rebound before Scott Walker could rip everyone's heart out. Unfortunately I have no heroic superpowers at my disposal, and elected to file into a silent elevator and make the trip down to the somber Bruins' locker room.
I had dreams of seeing the cup with my own two eyes. I had visions of Zdeno Chara hoisting the holy grail above his head at center ice. I imagined what the jubilation of finally witnessing the Hub of Hockey celebrate a championship season would feel like. Now I have nothing, nothing but the feeling of emptiness and disappointment, forever forced to ponder what might have been.
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I'll be back in the coming days with.....
* A full look back at the 2008-2009 season
* Grades for every player's performance in the regular season and playoffs
* A lengthy list of thank yous to everyone involved in my first full season as a member of the Hockeybuzz family
JC
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