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It’s not exactly shocking when you hear people tell you that they hate the Boston Bruins.
By now, I’ve seen and heard everything. I’ve honestly lost count as to how many times somebody has emailed me the ‘Poke the bear’ video that manipulates footage from the Daily Show in order to make fun of the Bruins. I’m even more shocked when people seem to think that it’s a real thing, though. (Seriously, there are people out there that think that Jon Stewart spent 15 minutes of his satirical political talk show to talk about the Bruins, and even changed the clothes he was wearing in the monologue on several different occasions. This alone should blow your mind, really.)
But according to this interesting survey from Reddit, it seems like the entire world hates the Bruins. Well, unless you’re in Africa. ‘Cause that means you absolutely loathe the Winnipeg Jets.
Are the Bruins really that detestable? Well, at this point, it’s hard to dispute, no?
Let’s figure out why, though.
I’ll start with the easy one-- They’re the league’s bullies. They’ll poke, taunt, squirt, and batter you in every which way before you just snap. In Boston, it’s brilliant trolling that often leads into the other team feeding into it and ‘poking the bear’. Everywhere else, it’s mindless cavemannery at its finest. Zdeno Chara is one of the only guys in the league that can hold you by your helmet strap and laugh at you as you try to swing a haymaker at his head. Top line forward Milan Lucic has the raw brutality and strength that makes him a legitimately dangerous skater out there when he loses his cool. (Which happens more than he’d like to admit, really.) And second-line agitator Brad Marchand has a roster of scrappers that he can stand behind when he’s in pest-mode.
That alone is enough to make you hate the Black-and-Gold, at least from an outsider’s perspective.
There’s more to hating the Bruins though, I think (read as: I know). There have been times where the coach, Claude Julien, has openly complained about the embellishment put forth by players in order to draw penalties. He’s not wrong -- it’s an epidemic, really -- but it’s tough to make that case when Chara, Marchand, and even David Krejci have been busting for selling a call.
‘Hypocritical’ is the word you tend to hear a lot in regards to the Bruins. That’ll make you hated.
There’s also still (somehow) some angst thrown the B’s way by some when they point to the league’s alleged favoritism of the Black-and-Gold, too. Many think that this is Gregory Campbell’s fault, as he is the son of former NHL disciplinarian Colin Campbell. This also explains the many Stanley Cups the Florida Panthers won during Gregory’s time there. But though Campbell did not have involvement with any issues involving the Bruins -- and no longer has that role, for that matter -- the easiest way to describe any situation involving a non-suspension with the Bruins is to point the finger at Colin Campbell and the sweater that his son wears. It’s a lazy narrative, I think you could actually call it the laziest one, but one that’s been thrown out there countless times nevertheless.
That’ll make you hated.
But here’s what really gets under everybody’s skin-- it works for the Bruins. The Bruins are still among the league’s elite, and they haven’t wavered from that in-your-face, kick-your-head-in style. Yes, the club has moved on from the likes of Shawn Thornton, and may cut some more muscle from their lineup before the start of the season, but they still expect to be an Eastern Conference juggernaut with their ‘heavy’ style that they rely on much like the Blues and Kings.
In Boston, this team makeup and villainous image works. And that drives people crazy.
For example, after numerous playoff defeats, I think you saw the Vancouver Canucks move away from their skill-game and focus on becoming something they weren’t. They were a faceless entity by the end of last season. The Montreal Canadiens went through the same thing three years ago. The Toronto Maple Leafs look like they’ve moved on from their philosophy of overvaluing hometowns and grit, but we won’t know for sure ‘til the 2014-15 season at the very earliest.
The culture change hasn’t come to the Hub just yet. And I’m not sure if it ever really will.
The Bruins have really never been more popular. The waiting list for season tickets is a decade long now. The fans have gravitated back to this team because of its style. It reminds them of the glory days of Terry O’Reilly and Cam Neely. It could (and at some point, likely will) be their downfall, but until then, Bruins fans will be as in-your-face as the team they’ve supported at record numbers since the start of the 2009-10 season. And all while the team keeps winning.
Yeah, that’ll make you hated.
But I wanna know, why do you hate the Bruins?
Ty Anderson has been covering the Boston Bruins for HockeyBuzz.com since 2010, is a member of the Pro Hockey Writers Association's Boston Chapter, and can be contacted on Twitter, or emailed at Ty.AndersonHB[at]gmail.com