What a Game 7! What a series! It was the 9th time the two teams had met in a game 7, as well it was the 34th time that the franchises have met in the playoffs. Those numbers speak for themselves, when Boston and Montreal play it is more than a game – I believe that you have the best rivalry in all of professional sports. This rivalry goes all the way back to the first meeting of the two teams in 1924 (Montreal won the first game 4-3) and this rivalry which is now enhanced by TV and Social Media continues real strong today.
I cannot remember the 2nd round being so competitive, 3 of the 4 rounds went to a game 7 scenario - interesting fact was that the 2 road teams won the game! You can bet that the coaching staff of the Anaheim Ducks will make this point in their preparation for their game against LA on Friday evening.
The TD Gardens was sold out on Wednesday night for the big game BUT so was the Bell Centre in Montreal. The team decided to open the doors to the public to come in and watch the game on the jumbotron, they had 21,000+ fans purchase all of the tickets for the game.
The TV coverage up here kept showing the atmosphere around the building. It would have been a lot of fun to be there. The Montreal city council voted a few weeks back to allow the bars to stay open until 6am (not sure why) you can be sure that many Montreal hockey fans took advantage of it.
The Boston Bruins won the Presidents Trophy this year. They were supposed to win the Eastern Conference or at least get to the Eastern final. The big question being asked is not so much how did Montreal win but how come or why did Boston lose?
Were the Bruins too old? Were they too young? Too tired? How many players from the Bruins played at the Olympics? I know that Chara looked very tired at times. I also know that their goal scorers did not score nor was their overall team defence up to par.
Carey Price maybe now will get the recognition that he deserves as the best goaltender in the world – he really did outplay Rask. I’ll leave the analyse up to the experts, they can dissect the games, the players and the positions that will need upgraded or addressed in the off season.
So what was the real reason why the Montreal Canadians beat the Boston Bruins? In my opinion, it comes down to respect. Boston did not respect their opponent, which is golden rule in all of sports whether you are a professional, an amateur athlete or even a house league player – you always respect your opponent.
Too many times, the Bruins gave Montreal added inspiration to “dig deeper… or to “go to the well… or for someone in the dressing room to stand up and give the infamous rally cry that we hear about so often. In this case they not only did they inspire a team but they inspired a very talented team - steeped in tradition and steeped in pride.
Basically, the thought was that nobody can do this to us – yes they can beat us but they cannot disrespect us. To me, one of the turning points in the series was the infamous water bottler squirt involving PK Subban – it wasn’t so much that it happened but the laugh or smirk on the face of Shawn Thornton afterwards was very disrespectful. Rally cry!!
Not only did this incident inspire the team, the players it also inspired a city and a province. Not that the Montreal Canadian hockey fan needs to be inspired or woken up but it brought to life one of the best and certainly most passionate group of fans to a whole new level.
Game 6 was over at the drop of the puck for the opening faceoff. Yes one could say that the Bruins defenseman gave away the puck that led to the first goal but really watch the start of that game or the first period again and Boston did not have a chance.
So on to game 7 who had the edge? I have written about this in previous blogs and when it comes right down to it – no one does. But I will finish with this, in this case I believe the team that won played the most inspired hockey and that in the end will triumph over talent, systems and a game plan.
The big question that remains for me now is who will I cheer for in the Eastern Final? New York or Montreal, yikes. To be totally honest, I can't stand either team for reasons that go back to my upbringing and my playing days. But as a native Canadian, I guess I will pull for the Canada-based team.