Celebrating a Great Year by the Boston Bruins

I know that a sports fan like myself is supposed to be devastated when their team is eliminated from the playoffs. Fans spend the entire season investing time, energy, and emotion into their team. When the season comes crashing to a halt, it's supposed to hurt and it usually does. With that said, I'm really not feeling all that upset over the Bruins losing to the Blackhawks in the Stanley Cup finals. Yeah, the way that they lost, blowing a one goal lead with 90 seconds left to go in the game, was a punch in the gut. Overall though, it was a great year and the B's lost to a fantastic team.

It could be the fact that the Bruins won a couple of years ago. The epic run of championship titles flowing through New England in recent years has changed the mindset of the local fans. There's no sense of panic or desperation. Winning makes everything a little better and a recent title kind of tides you over for a little while. Sure, a legitimate dynasty is always great to live through, but a title here and there is enough to keep the spirits high. There are 30 teams going for the same goal and only one of them can be the best at the end of the year. That team can't, and won't, always be the Bruins.

It could be the fact that there's no shame in losing to the Blackhawks. In their first 24 games of the season Chicago had exactly zero losses in regulation. It was the best start in NHL history. They went on to win the President's Trophy with the best record in the NHL. Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane gave them one of the most exciting duo of young forwards in the game. Corey Crawford took a huge step forward and provided stellar goaltending all year. They were a team with plenty of obvious streaks but without many glaring weaknesses. The Boston Bruins were a good team in 2013. The Chicago Blackhawks were simply better than them. The Chicago Blackhawks were better than everyone. There's no shame in losing to a great team.

It could be the fact that the Bruins had a great season. They may have had a bit of a lull in the second half of the season and that caused them to lose the division, but when the playoffs rolled around they were a lot of fun to watch. Krejci, Lucic, and Horton finally stepped up to be a legitimate number 1 line. Tuukka showed the world that he's a top of the line goalie who doesn't wilt in the playoffs and can carry a team. Bergeron and Campbell suffered tremendous injury, but kept on going. Krug provided some unexpected excitement, Boychuk provided some unexpected goals, and Chara provided a completely expected and entirely perfect playoff beard. Looking for an entertaining hockey season followed by an even better two month long playoff run? The Bruins gave us that this year.

Obviously I wanted to see the Stanley Cup towering 7+ feet above the ice in the arms of Zdeno Chara. I wanted to attend another victory parada, would've liked to sing "We Are the Champions" with a bar full of Bostonians, and wished for another Bruins Stanley Cup flag. But it's tough to be upset with the way the NHL season ended. Next October can't come soon enough, but until then it's time to enjoy the summer and the baseball season.