Sad Bruins Fan

Guys. I'm sad. (Despite the hilarity of this photo.)

As I mentioned in my previous post, the Bruins are my favorite sports team. Hockey was never the sport-of-choice at my house (we were more of a football/baseball kind of family), so I was really introduced to the sport of hockey in high school. Our high school hockey team was one of our best teams, consistently playing in the state championship, and I had quite a few friends who played. We didn't have a hockey team at my college, so I got pretty into watching the NHL and the Bruins. I fell in love with this underdog hockey team and have been following them ever since, watching every game and learning about their history. When they won the Stanley Cup in 2011, that was just icing (ha) on the cake.

This year, (pretty unexpectedly) they put themselves back in the championship series. This was after coming back and beating Toronto after being down 4-1 in the third period of game 7 of the first round. This was after defeating the Rangers and sweeping the Penguins, two teams that were a hassle for us all season long. Against all odds, the B's were back in the Stanley Cup finals, and a sense of hope swept through every Bruins fan across the nation.

I don't know what it was, but the Bruins just looked so tired this entire series. They weren't the same team that was handing it to New York and Pittsburgh. The energy was entirely drained from them by the time they got to Chicago. Awesome opportunities turned into turnovers. Empty nets weren't taken advantage of. Tuukka was an amazing goaltender throughout the playoffs, but it's almost as if the team kind of took that for granted, and their defense was practically non-existent. Sure, there were some great plays and spurts of energy from the black and gold, but it always just seemed too little, too late.

There were also weak moments on Chicago's end, too, but out of the two teams, they were more consistent, more level-headed, and (what it seemed like) more determined to win the cup. It showed. They were on top of every loose puck. They took advantage of every Boston mistake. They created an almost inpenetrable barrier between the Bruins and Crawford. They skated hard to everything, and Boston just looked like they wanted to hang up their helmets and watch for the good part of this series. Unfortunately for us, Chicago wanted it more, and based on this series, the team that deserved to win, did.

I'm disappointed in them. They could have pushed harder in this series with the championship on the line. But I'll always love the Bruins, and I'll look forward to the first puck drop in October all summer long.

P.S. Can we talk about how adorable these photos are?

P.P.S. Even more important than the game itself, Jeff Bauman was the Boston Strong flag bearer at last night's game, and a little more than 2 months after losing both legs, he's standing and learning to walk on his prosthetics. Absolutely amazing.