Well, what can I say? Another season of putting food on the Jacobs’ family's table, another year with a disappointing end to a Bruins season. I am going to give you my own personal recap of this 2009-2010 Bruins season as I saw it. For those of you who wear Bruins beer goggles, you may not want to read this because you will probably mistake me for some bitter, grumpy old man, but what I am is a 28 year old diehard Boston Bruins fan since 1990 anxiously awaiting a Stanley Cup for the first time in my lifetime.
This was one of the most anticipated Bruins seasons in recent memory. Last season, the Bruins were one goal away from advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 1992 until Carolina villain Scott Walker had to crush all of our hearts. Three weeks before this season began, Bruins General Manager Peter Chiarelli pulled off a very bold move by trading 2008-2009 top scorer Phil Kessel to Toronto for their first round pick in the 2010 Entry Draft and three additional picks. Kessel was very disgruntled in Boston and needed a change a of scenery. Chiarelli initially took some heat for not replacing those 36 goals Kessel would have been expected to score, but he stressed that he was confident in guys such as Marco Sturm, Blake Wheeler, and Michael Ryder to contribute a little more than what they had in the 08-09 season. Yeah, about that...
The Bruins kicked off the 09-10 season with a 5 game homestand. They opened up with a disappointing 4-1 loss to Washington, and followed up that effort with a nice 7-2 win over Carolina with 7 different goal scorers and a season high 4 powerplay goals; definitely a nice way to get back at the team that crushed your Stanley Cup dreams in the previous season. They were then embarrassed 6-1 by Anaheim, squeaked by the shitty Islanders in a shootout, and ended the homestand by not setting their alarm clocks properly as they were beaten by Colorado in a Columbus Day matinee. The Bruins went on the road for the first time and lost two of their most important offensive players as Marc Savard and Milan Lucic were both put on the shelf. Savard had suffered a broken foot in training camp and came clean with it on the road, and Milan Lucic had suffered a broken finger; just 24 hours before finding out this news, Chiarelli traded Chuck Kobasew to Minnesota for two nobodies who had never sniffed the TD Garden ice. It was not a particularly popular move amongst the guys in the room as Kobasew was very well respected and represented what it meant to be a Bruin. Before they returned home for Nashville, Chiarelli acquired Danny Paille from Buffalo to replace PJ Axelsson on the penalty kill, and Paille did an admiral job in that department as their penalty kill quickly rose to the top of the NHL.
The Bruins grinded out the next few weeks with a depleted lineup, and during that stretch it was like attending exhibition games with the lineups that were being thrown out there. Guys like Brad Marchand, Trent Whitfield, and Mikko Lehtonen were taking regular shifts…who? As if the injury bug wasn’t bad enough, David Krejci was diagnosed with the good old H1N1 virus, aka the swine flu, which put him on the shelf for a week. The Bruins suffered another critical injry setback as Tim Thomas was mysteriously the backup goalie for 2.5 weeks. After giving up a game tying goal to Billy Guerin with less than a second remaining in regulation and then singlehandedly giving the game to Pittsburgh in overtime with a costly turnover behind his own net, Thomas allegedly punched a wall in the locker room and injured his hand. That story was reported by multiple reliable Bruins sources and it was something that didn’t take me by surprise given the fact that Thomas can be a hothead. That gave Tuukka Rask the starting job for a few weeks and gave the Bruins and their fans a glimpse as to what they may have in their goaltending future going forward.
During the first week of December, Chiarelli signed top scorer Marc Savard to a 7 year/$28M contract. The contract was front loaded with Savard earning $14M of his $28M in the first two years of the deal. Three days later, Phil Kessel returned to the Garden for the first time since being dealt, and it was arguably one of the most enjoyable nights at the Garden. The Bruins romped Toronto 7-2, Marc Savard recorded a hat trick, and Kessel was -3 on the night, not to mention the fact that sellout crowd of 17,565 chanted KESS-EL and ASS-HOLE at him everytime he stepped foot on the ice. The Bruins had a very strong December leading them up to the much anticipated Winter Classic to be hosted at Fenway. The Winter Classic was absolutely epic! I am so glad that I splurged and dropped $225 on my seat; I was sitting about 35 rows off the field in the corner where the Bruins shot twice. The seats were in section 26, loge box 148, row NN. I was contacted by my rep, Nikki Gullotti, during the last week of October, and since I have a single season ticket, I was able to pick out my seat whereas if I had more than one ticket, Ticketmaster would give me the “best available” seats in my price range. On New Year's Day, I started drinking at 8am at Game On with friends, got myself on the NECN news, and watched the Bruins win an epic overtime victory with a gamewinning goal by everyone's favorite German, Marco Sturm. The day was capped off by gathering for food and beers with friends at a little bar on Boylston Street located behind Fenway.
After the Winter Classic hangover wore off, it was back to the grind. Peter Chiarelli acquired Miroslav Satan who had been sitting at home waiting for a phone call. Satan was apart of the 2008-2009 Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins. The Bruins signed Satan to a pro-rated $350,000 contract and he was forced into the lineup just four days after being signed when initially Claude Julien said he wouldn’t be “game ready” for ten days, but with all of the Bruins' injuries, he was forced into the lineup quicker than expected. On January 7, the Chicago Blackhawks came to town, and during the first shift of the game, Chicago captain Jonathan Toews locked up knees with Marc Savard and put Savvy on the shelf once again for 5 weeks. That marked the start of a horrendous 10 game home losing streak. They fell to Chicago 5-2, the Rangers 3-1, to Ottawa 5-1 in the Martin Luther King massacre, 3-2 to Columbus in the final minute thanks to a mythical Milan Lucic highstick, followed by a 2-1 afternoon loss to Ottawa, and they then lost 3 out of the 4 in shootout form to LA, Montreal, and Vancouver, respectively. During that horrible stretch, they scored just 15 goals in 10 games… What does that tell you? To the average fan, it means that Chiarelli should make a move, right? Hahaha, yeah, about that...
Before the Bruins headed into a much needed Olympic break, they reeled off four straight victories. The Bruins returned to action on March 2 against Montreal and had a 1-0 lead going into the third before Montreal dropped 4 on us, making the fans even angrier and expecting a few moves to be made on the horizon. March 3 started off with a bang as Peter Chiarelli traded Derek Morris to Phoenix and freed up that cap space, indicating that Chiarelli had a plan. He then traded fourth line fan favorite Byron Bitz to Florida for puck moving defenseman Dennis Seidenberg... And that’s all he did! Chiarelli sat on his 8 draft picks over the next two years and couldn’t even muster a Clarke MacArthur or Raffi Torres to at least help out this already depleted offense. I realize those guys aren’t Ilya Kovalchuk, who was traded to NJ a few weeks earlier, but it definitely didn’t send the Bruins and their fans a positive message that they were committed to winning. I was really hoping to see guys like Michael Ryder and Blake Wheeler shipped out of Boston since they had been underachieving and weren’t showing any visable signs of life or breaking out anytime soon. I have never been a Peter Chiarelli fan, nor will I be until he brings a Cup to Boston. I think he’s extremely gun-shy when it comes to making a deal, and that doesn’t win championships in my book. You have to be aggressive and take chances; just look at Theo Epstein with the Red Sox in 2004. At any rate, the following night, the Bruins recorded their first win at home in 2010. It came on March 4 against the shitty Maple Leafs in a shootout! Not something to be overly proud of.
On Sunday, March 7, the Bruins became the ultimate punching bag, not only in Boston but in the country, as their best player, Marc Savard, was deliberately elbowed in the head by Matt Cooke and the Bruins did absolutely NOTHING! Savard lay motionless on the ice before being carried off on a stretcher. For the next ten days, the Bruins were the number one topic on sports radio for the first time in a while, and it wasn’t for a good reason; rather, it was because they were a bunch of cowards who didn’t stand up for their fallen teammate. There was so much anticipation leading up to March 18 as Matt Cooke was coming to the Garden for the first time since the incident. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and disciplinarian Colin Campbell were in attendance to make sure nothing happened since the league failed to suspend Cooke despite the fact that he is a repeat offender. (My own personal opinion on the lack of discipline is that Cooke has naked pictures of Colin Campbell boning a few farm animals.) 7:05 finally came on March 18 and the Garden was soldout! People paid a few hundred bucks to sit at the top of the Garden in anticipation of Cooke getting his ass kicked, and you would think it was an absolute given with all of the Bruins honoring the 1972 team featuring Bobby Orr, Johnny Bucyk, and Derek Sanderson. As soon as Cooke stepped foot onto the ice, Sugar Shawn Thornton grabbed him and challenged him and gave him a pretty good beating; he even got in a few extra licks when Cooke was down and being held by the linesmen. The fight had come and gone and nothing else transpired; not enough, if you ask me. I was hoping for another Marty McSorley/Donald Brashear incident where Cooke would be whacked in the head by a stick or even getting buttended in the mouth by the stick; I know it's dirty and illegal, but so was what Cooke did to Savvy in the first place. The fans booed the Bruins off the ice that night, and rightfully so as they lost 3-0, and season ticket sales began to suffer. The Bruins even called me a few days after the game to make sure I wasn’t dropping my tickets for next season.
The Bruins ended their season with a nice 9-3 run, solidifying the 6th seed in the Stanley Cup playoffs behind stellar goaltending from Tuukka Rask, who had recently taken the goaltending responsibilities from the reigning Vezina Trophy winner, Tim Thomas. The Bruins finished off their regular season home schedule in historic fashion as they scored 3 shorthanded goals on the same penalty kill (bear in mind that the B's had 3 shorthanded goals all season up until that point!). The goal scorers were Danny Paille, Blake Wheeler, and Steve Begin, and the goals came in a span of a minute and 44 seconds. It was probably the loudest the Garden had rocked all season. The Bruins drew the Buffalo Sabres in the first round, which was the ideal matchup since the Bruins were 4-1-1 against Buffalo on the season and goaltender Ryan Miller was burnt out from playing in all of the USA Olympic games. The Bruins split the first two games of the series in Buffalo, but not before Buffalo lost their best offensive player, Thomas Vanek, to a high ankle sprain after he was innocently pushed by Johnny Boychuk, forcing out Vanek for four games. The Bruins returned home for two absolutely epic home playoff games. The Bruins won game 3 by a score of 2-1. Dennis Wideman shocked the Garden blasting a one time slapshot from the top of the circle assisted by Vlad Sobotka; Wideman hadn’t hit the net all season. That goal tied the game at 1. The Bruins won the game just over halfway through the third as Mark Recchi steamrolled Tim Kennedy behind the net and fed Patrice Bergeron in the high slot, and Bergeron one timed it five hole on Ryan Miller! In all of my years of watching hockey, that was the best assist I’ve ever seen. The Bruins followed up game Game 3 by winning Game 4 in double overtime. The Bruins were down 2-0 after two periods but scored 2 quick goals right out of the shoot. David Krejci recorded a powerplay goal, and then Patrice Bergeron tied it up from a bad angle. The game eventually went to double overtime and on the powerplay, Miroslav Satan deaked the defense and went in on Ryan Miller, sliding the puck through defenseman Tyler Myers’ legs and into the net, sending the Garden into a frenzy. The Bruins were up in the series 3-1 and looking to close out the series in Buffalo. The Bruins had a hiccup in Game 5 by losing 4-1, but closed it out at home in Game 6 behind a two goal performance from David Krejci and a huge late goal by Miro the hero Satan, which he followed up with a legendary dance that made highlight reels everywhere.
With all the upets in the first round, the Bruins somehow lucked out and drew the Philadelphia Flyers in Round 2. The Flyers were without a legitimate goaltender and two of their best players in Simon Gagne and Jeff Carter. The Bruins got an emotional lift as Marc Savard made his return to the lineup from his Matt Cooke induced concussion in triumphant fashion by ripping home the game winning goal home in Game 1 in sudden death overtime. The Bruins won the game 5-4 in a back and forth affair. The Bruins squeaked by in Game 2 behind a gamewinning goal from Milan Lucic who scored his first goal at home on a goaltender since Game 7 versus Carolina in 2009. The Bruins easily won Game 3 4-1, but not before David Krejci was taken out in a clean hit by Flyers captain Mike Richards. Krejci suffered a broken wrist and was sent to Baltimore the next day for surgery by one of the best hand surgeons in the country. You would think that even without Krejci, the Bruins had this series wrapped up, right? I thought so too. I had my broom out all day the day of Game 4. The Bruins lost Game 4 in overtime 5-4 as Simon Gagne returned to the lineup much like Savard had done for the Bruins and won the game; I thought that was Philly’s fun in the sun, but boy, was I wrong! The Bruins put forth a really shitty effort in Game 5 as they got embarrassed 4-0. They then were starting to hear whispers of becoming a part of NHL history, and not in a good way; only two other NHL teams have blown a 3-0 series lead, and once the series was 3-2, people were discussing the possibility of it happening to the Bruins.
The Bruins lost a heartbreaker in Game 6 by a score of 2-1, which set up Game 7 at the Garden on Friday, May 14. I was so nervous about going to Game 7 that I had nips on me to take the edge off. I’ve never snuck liquor into a sporting event in my life, but just drinking watered down Bud Light wasn’t going to cut it. I drank the nips before the game started when the lights were down during the intro. The Bruins jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first 15 minutes of the game behind 2 goals from Milan Lucic and a goal from Michael Ryder. That 3-0 lead became 3-1 as James van Riemsdyk made it 3-1 before the first period came to an end. Philadelphia pest Scott Hartnell and Bruins killer Danny Briere tied the game at 3 before the second horn had sounded, setting up a tie game going into the third period. With just over 7 minutes remaining, the Bruins were called for a TOO MANY MEN ON THE ICE PENALTY!!! Completely and utterly UNACCEPTABLE! I didn’t know what the initial call was until I saw #22 on the penalty clock, and knowing that Shawn Thornton hadn’t skated in the third period, I knew it was a delay of game penalty for sure. The Bruins, who had the number one penalty killing in the playoffs, failed to kill off that powerplay as Simon Gagne roofed one top shelf glove side on Tuukka Rask. I stood there with my jaw down and in complete disgust. I couldn’t believe this game had become a microcosm of the series. The Bruins had a 3-0 series lead that vanished, and they then had a 3-0 lead in Game 7 that had also vanished. When the game ended, I couldn’t get out of section 325 fast enough, although I did stop to shake hands with my friends, as tough as it was to say goodbye to them for the summer. I wasn’t there to see the fans litter the ice with trash and towels, although quite frankly, I can’t blame them. A lot of us paid damn good money to see that, and the Bruins blew not only a 3-0 series lead but a 3-0 lead in Game 7 at home; just completely unacceptable.
I hope this ending to the season makes Peter Chiarelli think long and hard about next season. In the end, the Bruins were not as tough to play against as Chiarelli had promised; additionaly, Claude Julien did not bench players or cut their ice time when they did shit! The Bruins will forever be the red-headed stepchild in Boston, especially if Chiarelli continues to do nothing; he better use that #2 pick he held on to for either Taylor Hall or Tyler Seguin, or I'll really lose my mind. For next season, I want Mark Stuart, Johnny Boychuk and Dennis Seidenberg back in the fold to solidfy the D core, and I want Blake Wheeler and Michael Ryder out of here. I also wouldn’t mind seeing Zdeno Chara hitting the road, or at least having that C stripped from his jersey. He’s not a leader, and definitely not a leader for this team. He came out and said he was nervous before Game 5… Uh, hello? WTF is that? The C would look much better on Mark Stuart or Patrice Bergeron. Finally, I wouldn’t mind seeing Claude Julien get the axe. I mean, what has he won? He pulled this shit in Montreal, then in Jersey, and now in Boston. I don’t want a coach here for the next several years who can’t get by the second round and can’t motivate his team. I’m glad he got his name in the record books for blowing a 3-0 series lead, because you know damn well that he’ll never get his name on the Stanley Cup.
In closing, it was a fun season. I loved the 40 minute rides to and from Boston, the train rides on the Red and Green lines to the Garden, and meeting up with Bruins friends by the gates before the game and talking Bruins. I loved getting my $7.25 beer and a good laugh from my boy Rob, all the talks with friends before warmups in section 13, the actual warmups, and meeting up with my buddies from 325 at the tables between periods. I loved mooching my buddy Mike’s seats in Loge 10 every now and then, and I loved harassing the opposing fans in my section. Win or lose, you can’t go wrong with season tickets to the Bruins. You may not win the Cup, but it’s the friends you make along the way is what makes it memorable.
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