Ever since I was a wee little handsome lad, and as far back as I can remember, I have always loved the Bruins and there will never be any other team for me. For me it was not an automatic decision to always choose the Boston sports route, but there was just something about that city and all the teams that encompassed it that made me choose each and every professional sports team that played in Massachusetts. Ever since my brother brought me to my first Bruins game when I was eight or nine against the Montreal Canadiens I fell in love with not only the Bruins but also with the sport and all things that could possibly relate to hockey, so I must also thank him as he is as big of a Bruins fan as I am. I'll always remember the smell of the garden as I walked to my seats and to me that scent of a hockey rink is one of the best smells in the world.
I'll never forget my first favorite player was Sergei Samsonov, and I still chuckle to this day as I see him speed around the ice for the Carolina Hurricanes. I'll also never forget that first team I fell in love with, containing the likes of Byron Dafoe in net, P.J. Axelsson, Jason Allison, Brian Rolston, and Hall Gill. However, another thing that I won't ever forget was my first Bruins disappointment, as they traded away power forward Joe Thornton to the San Jose Sharks for forwards Wayne Primeau, Marco Sturm and defenseman Brad Stuart freeing up about 2.5 million dollars of cap space. Stuart and Primeau turned out to be busts while Marco Sturm has found himself a place in Boston after leading the team in goals during the 2009-2010 campaign, and finishing sixth on the team in points on an embarrassingly weak Bruins offense. What preceded and followed that year was a few years of solid hockey in which a playoff spot was usually earned but an early round exit was almost expected. Unfortunately, the Bruins ownership has earned the reputation of being cheap. Yet ever since the signings of Marc Savard and Zdeno Chara on the same day going into the 2006-2007 season, and the recent youth movement in the organization, I have felt a slow progression of a team forming through the years that could and should make that run to the Stanley Cup that has seemed so hard to get...but yet so close.
And now here we are about to enter the
2010-2011 season in a few hopefully short months. After a draft that I'm sure all hockey fans heard about, the Bruins landed prospect Tyler Seguin who burst into the hockey scene last year after captaining the Plymouth Whalers of the OHL and earning league MVP honors. Not only has this pick excited many Bruins fans, but the Bruins draft seemed to reinforce the fact that offense was a much needed priority as the first five picks went to offensive players before goalie Zane Gothberg, a Minnesota high school standout, was taken in the sixth round, 165th overall, before the Bruins wrapped up the draft with their final two picks going to defenseman. Add that to the recent signings of Nathan Horton and Greg Campbell, along with the re-signings of Mark Recchi, Dennis Seidenberg, Shawn Thornton, Johnny Boychuk and Daniel Paille and I have a good feeling about the upcoming season...can't seem to find any wood around me to knock on...damn. Well my next post will be up shortly analyzing the draft and the players selected along with my thoughts on the upcoming season.
