It sure feels like Stanley Cup fever is spreading in Boston
For today’s purposes, let’s call this championship-rich run, the one that began on February 3, 2002 in New Orleans, where many enduring parties begin, the New Golden Age of Boston sports.
We’ll set aside for another day the debate regarding whether anything in our city’s sports past has approached the blessings of the past 17 years, during which the Patriots, Red Sox, Celtics, and Bruins have combined for 10 championships, all winning at least one. This is about the now, the present, and the remarkable team that at the moment looks heaven-bent on bringing the New Golden Age title count to 11 come June.
Yeah, you all saw this coming with the Bruins, didn’t you? Sure you did. I believe that almost as much as I believe that stack of Zach Hamill rookie cards hoarded away in your closet is going to bring an eBay jackpot someday. There’s a fine line between optimism and delusion, and to Bruins’ fans credit, I think most entered this season with realistic goals in mind.
Earning a playoff berth seemed possible. But winning a playoff series? A wish unlikely to be granted given the presumed imbalance on the roster, which featured a couple of reliable stars (Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron), a couple of supposedly aging stalwarts (Zdeno Chara, David Backes), a future cornerstone or two (David Pastrnak, Charlie McAvoy) and a whole lot of question marks. Here we are now, with 76 games down, six to go in the regular season, and the calendar about to flip to April, and the Bruins have long since vaulted past those maybe-they’re-a-playoff-team lukewarm expectations.
After Thursday night’s rollicking 4-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning in which the Bruins surpassed them in the Eastern Division and the Atlantic Conference for the first time since Oct. 18, anything seems possible. They’re now 48-17-11 – and 66-25-12 in Bruce Cassidy’s tenure. Despite playing recently without Chara, McAvoy and others, they look like the best team in hockey in every conceivable way.
The Celtics are not the only staggeringly resilient team in the Garden. The win Thursday is one of those games that will be pointed to as a turning point should great achievements occur down the road and a happy retrospective is required.
But it really was not. Sure, it was as entertaining as hockey gets, and an entertaining hockey game is about as good as sports gets. Pastrnak – a scorer, not a fighter – had a Gordie Howe hat trick. Tuukka Rask, who usually takes out his frustrations on his own sticks, directed his temper in the direction of Cory Conacher’s face after the Lightning forward took extra glee in knocking over defenseman Brandon Carlo in the crease.
It doesn’t get more amusing than watching an angry goalie throw hands, and it’s even better when it’s in defense of a teammate. But a turning point? No. This isn’t Jason Varitek making Alex Rodriguez taste his catcher’s mitt in 2004. There was no need to turn anywhere. This team was already exactly where it needed to be.
“We stick together, and I think we’ve done that all year, no matter who is in the lineup,’’ said Cassidy. “We trust our players to go out and do the job and have each other’s backs. That’s what makes it a special group.’’
This has already been one of the most enjoyable regular seasons of the New Golden Age, for any of the teams. The camaraderie that was evident in the mesmerizing win over the Lightning reminded me of the brotherly unity of the 2013 Red Sox. Like the ’08 Celtics, there’s a sense of Ubuntu, or whatever the hockey version of that would be. And there’s a slight 2001 Patriots vibe to them in that pretty much everyone on the roster is contributing in a meaningful way, some unexpectedly.
Of course, as the 2007 Patriots could tell you better than anyone, how they will ultimately be remembered depends on how it all plays out in the postseason. Their place in history isn’t determined until the fat lady sings, or, in the best of culminations, when a 6-foot-9-inch defenseman of Slovakian descent hosts the Stanley Cup above his head and bellows an ecstatic, cathartic, “YAAHHHH!’’
The Bruins are no longer underdogs. They’re favorites. And they should be. They’ve literally fought for it. The postseason in hockey is more grueling and dependent on a little good fortune along the way than the playoffs in any other sport.
But the Bruins can do it. Some of the same cast were stars of the show the last time they won the Cup, seven years ago. Chara, Bergeron, Marchand, even Rask, the backup then, were part of the Duck Boat parade that was the most perfect day I can remember in this city.
That was part of the New Golden Age, too. It continues, still, with plenty of black to go with the gold.
