Offseason game thread- shed your salty tears
- Thread starter Dummy Hoy
- Start date
I almost threw out my playoff towel from game 5 this morning but forced myself not to. It was still a great memory. Unsure how long I’ll hang on to it but it will live to see another few days, at least.
A little bit embarassing but I didn't even watch the game yesterday. The past 2 weeks have been a hazy blur, my MIL passed away the night of game 2. With everything going on, I didn't really catch much of games 2-5. Watched game 6 on Friday, and got pissed off. The funeral was Saturday and by the time Sunday evening rolled around I was so emotionally wiped out from everything that I decided it would be best to not turn the game on. Probably makes me a bad, fairweather fan but whatever. I checked the score on my phone so I know the basic flow of the game but I just couldn't do the rollercoaster. I feel a little guilty if that was Bergeron's last game and I didn't watch it but oh well. I guess that puts me in a litte better place this morning than others. It doesn't have the same sting as the other losses I've witnessed either in person or on TV.
Should have hired Scottie Bowman as a consultant. I was only half-joking with this a few months ago. He's the only guy who avoided this curse.
I feel you man. My mother died during the 2019 playoff run and I really struggled to get engaged on the team. We all process grief in our own ways.
Sorry for your loss. We’re going through pretty much the exact situation, so I hear ya. Last couple of weeks have been really shitty, and having something that we were looking forward to watch suddenly disappear isn’t helping the situation.
I’ll never forget how I stopped watching Red Sox baseball after Aaron Fucking Boone.
Or the time I stopped watching the Patriots because of David Fucking Tyree.
There was also that moment that I stopped being a Celtics fan when Kendrick got hurt and ruined everything for game 7.
And who can forget that game 7 at home against the Blues where the Refs jobbed us that destroyed my Bruins fandom for life.
Thank god I wasn’t the sucker who kept coming back for sports enjoyment with teams that didn’t always play to their potential and/or win championships.
(I say all of this being pretty depressed about it still)
Or the time I stopped watching the Patriots because of David Fucking Tyree.
There was also that moment that I stopped being a Celtics fan when Kendrick got hurt and ruined everything for game 7.
And who can forget that game 7 at home against the Blues where the Refs jobbed us that destroyed my Bruins fandom for life.
Thank god I wasn’t the sucker who kept coming back for sports enjoyment with teams that didn’t always play to their potential and/or win championships.
(I say all of this being pretty depressed about it still)
This hurts as bad as the 1971 first round loss to the Habs, if not worse. If some of you boomers and older remember.
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Your points are very well taken. Especially in the aftermath of such a phenomenal, record setting season.
Intellectually, I know you are right. And I even had this conversation with my Brother in Law before the playoffs started. He was advocating that this season was a joy and a success no matter what.
And that said, FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK.
One more thing: Bob Ryan is the king of telling sports fans how to feel and writing that "you are not a real fan unless...." Your post did not come off that way at all.
I really feel for you guys with young kids who are gutted by this. The worse sound I ever heard in my life was May 14th 2009. My then 8 year old son let out a wail when Scott Fucking Walker scored in OT to win game 7. His cry haunts me to this day. There is nothing like your first heartbreak. He stuck with them through the GOAT of chokes in 2010 and was rewarded in 2011. Hopefully they'll get their chance to celebrate as quick as he did.
Agree 100% with your first sentence.
You know when I learned that? Memorial Day weekend, 2000.
Sox-Yanks, Sunday night game in the Bronx, Pedro vs. Clemens. I wanted to beat Fat Roger so fucking bad. After Trot parked one in the top of the 9th, and Pedro got out a jam to close out the game, I sat their on my couch in a warm glow of satisfaction and thought "this moment is why I love the Sox, and I'm savoring the hell out of it."
I think one can only get to a place like this after you've endured a lot of sports heartbreak. But it's good to get there.
Here here, super well said (from a 54yo who got a little, but not great, sleep).
And thanks to everyone else who has shared here too, helps manage the frustration today.
i'm so spent I don't even know what to write. I got maybe 3 hours of sleep last night. Have tried all day to console myself and take pleasure in the regular season, how remarkable it was and how remarkable this team is. Every year there is a cup winner, big fucking whoop; but what the Bruins did this year in the regular season had never been done before. There has to be some solace in that? Right?
Yep. Reminds me of this completely.
Yep, to their fucking graves
I’m sorry but not as bad. I remember sobbing on my bed after that game. That was the perfect team. Damn the Canadians and damn the WHA.
Maybe part of the reason I’m ok is that I can’t think of a sports result that inflicted pain after the miracle of 2004. Sports became more about joy than despair. No fun to absorb a tough loss (2011 Sox collapse, Patriots perfect season, Bruins 2023), but surely not the end of the world disasters I experienced pre-WS championship.
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I realize that not everyone here is both a Bruins and Celtics fan, but this has been such a weird day with the Bs hangover mixed with anticipation for the Sixers series. And to think that just a few days ago I had so much less faith in the Cs. I actually said to someone last Thursday, following the Celtics Game 5 home collapse, that I felt a lot better about the Bruins' makeup and was confident they'd take care of business.
His name definitely passed through my brain at some point last night. On a vibes level it 100% feels like the Seguin situation is some kind of Rosetta Stone for understanding everything that has gone almost perfectly right but instead went exactly wrong over the last 10 years for this franchise.
Edit: The other butterfly effect thing I think about sometimes is if Yeti came over sooner.
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Thanks for these reaffirming responses. Helps counter balance the fact that while I talk (write) with a brave face, the reality is I’ve listened to the unplugged version of AIC’s “Nutshell” & “the trapeze swinger” by iron & wine a combined 30 times today because they are the only songs that fit the mood.
I’ve been thinking a lot about fandom in general last few days, and I kind of think it’s a lot like this quote that ends one of my favorite tv shows:
That was such a Mookie Bettsian Playoff Performance that we should see if the Kings are interested in acquiring the Bruins.
I’m glad that you guys have these traditions with your kids. My seven year old daughter watches a bit with me and asks tons of questions about how the game works. My three year old is enthralled with the concept of the goalie hug and gets a ludicrous smile on her face as she bends over at the waist before throwing her hands up in the air and flinging herself forward into one. They love the National Anthem (“Dada, are we gonna listen to the SOOOONG?”).
Lotta joy at the game and the team. They’re not there yet on the fandom where it would crush them. The seven year old is starting to understand the explanation her old man sometimes gives her about human nature, though, which applies to the coaching this playoffs:
“Well, my love, a lot of people are idiots.”
You know what's really pissing me off today?
The fucking Panthers had 42 fewer points than the Bruins had this year.
I can't remember the last time the Bruins actually upset another team in the playoffs. The Bruins are ALWAYS on the receiving end of big upsets, but when was the last time the Bruins beat a team in the playoffs with many more points than them? Pittsburgh in '13 (10 more points)? That's a rounding error. Even when they won the Cup Vancouver had only 14 more points than they did. I honestly think it might be 1992 when they swept Montreal.
The closest the Bruins came to upsetting a much higher seed was in 2008 when we were all thrilled they took Montreal to 7 games. But the Bruins never seem to win the big upsets in seeding, like other teams do to them. It's fucking aggravating.
There's something deeply frontrunning about the team and I cannot for the life of me see how they fix it.
What players are going to want to come to a team that chokes this much? At least Toronto has the pull of being the hometown club for a lot of guys.
Christ I'm pissed off.
The fucking Panthers had 42 fewer points than the Bruins had this year.
I can't remember the last time the Bruins actually upset another team in the playoffs. The Bruins are ALWAYS on the receiving end of big upsets, but when was the last time the Bruins beat a team in the playoffs with many more points than them? Pittsburgh in '13 (10 more points)? That's a rounding error. Even when they won the Cup Vancouver had only 14 more points than they did. I honestly think it might be 1992 when they swept Montreal.
The closest the Bruins came to upsetting a much higher seed was in 2008 when we were all thrilled they took Montreal to 7 games. But the Bruins never seem to win the big upsets in seeding, like other teams do to them. It's fucking aggravating.
There's something deeply frontrunning about the team and I cannot for the life of me see how they fix it.
What players are going to want to come to a team that chokes this much? At least Toronto has the pull of being the hometown club for a lot of guys.
Christ I'm pissed off.
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This was me following the Scottish Game. I didn't sleep at all that night and then decided that I just could not get THAT attached to sports. Now I post here regularly on SOSH, I've written two sports books, I am a fan of all four Boston sports teams, plus golf, plus tennis, plus NCAA sports. I work in the world of college athletics. I mean....sports are kind of my life. But I decided that it was unhealthy for me to get THAT emotionally invested in it because more often than not, your heart is going to be broken. So do I love sports? Absolutely. 100%. But I just can't let myself be THAT tied to them, because it was just totally killing me.
They've usually been high seeds so they typically have fewer seasons to pull upsets.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Boston_Bruins_seasons
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Boston_Bruins_seasons
I get that, but my point still stands.
I'd love to know how both their overall record in Game 7s and in particular their home record in Game 7s stacks up to the rest of the league. My impression is that both are far far worse than league average. I shudder to think what their record in such games would be without the blessings of the Leafs over the last decade or so.
FUCK.
It's a stupid point. You're essentially complaining that they're too successful in the regular season.
Going back to 1986-87 when they made all series 7 games, the Bruins are 11-9 in game sevens. Also, thinking less of a team for getting to game seven and losing instead of losing in five is dumb.
The silver lining about this disaster is that it's given us a glimpse of the the pre-2011 SJH
Welcome back amigo
Welcome back amigo
I'm always going to think less of a team that constantly loses Game 7s at home. Sue me.
You wanted a game thread? This is a game thread.
No, I'm arguing that they never seem to upset other teams like they themselves get upset. That's fucking annoying.
I'll define this era as beginning in 2008. This is their game 7 record:
2008 Rond 1: Lost Montreal (road)
2009 Round 2: Scott Walker (home)
2010 Round 2: Lost, Philly (home)
2011: Round 1: Beat Montreal at home; Round 3 OT: Beat Tampa Bay at home; Round 4: Beat Vancouver on the road
2012: Round 1: Lost to Washington (home)
2013: Round 1: Beat Toronto at home
2015: Round 2: Lost to Montreal at home
2018: Round 1: Beat Toronto at home
2019: Round 1: Beat Toronto at home; Round 4 lost to St. Louis at home
2022: Round 1: Lost to Carolina (road)
2023: Round 1: Lost to Florida (home)
They are 6-8 overall. 1-2 on the road; 5-6 at home. Of the 11 home game 7's, 5 have gone to OT and they are 2-3.
There is almost no advantage in home ice. These games are basically coin flips.
2008 Rond 1: Lost Montreal (road)
2009 Round 2: Scott Walker (home)
2010 Round 2: Lost, Philly (home)
2011: Round 1: Beat Montreal at home; Round 3 OT: Beat Tampa Bay at home; Round 4: Beat Vancouver on the road
2012: Round 1: Lost to Washington (home)
2013: Round 1: Beat Toronto at home
2015: Round 2: Lost to Montreal at home
2018: Round 1: Beat Toronto at home
2019: Round 1: Beat Toronto at home; Round 4 lost to St. Louis at home
2022: Round 1: Lost to Carolina (road)
2023: Round 1: Lost to Florida (home)
They are 6-8 overall. 1-2 on the road; 5-6 at home. Of the 11 home game 7's, 5 have gone to OT and they are 2-3.
There is almost no advantage in home ice. These games are basically coin flips.
Those are interesting numbers and thank you for getting them.
Next question: SHOULD there be a home ice advantage? Is this something that's league-wide or something particular to the Bruins? I know this year the road teams have won most of the games but over time I'm curious if that's the case. I cannot shake the idea that the Bruins perform unacceptably poorly on home ice in the playoffs but that's only a feeling. The old Garden is dead thank God but I still would logically think it would be an advantage to have home ice. But it does not seem to work out that way for this team.
NJ won Game 7 on home ice last night. Of course Colorado lost theirs the night before.
This is another series after the '19 SC Final where the Bruins have gone 1-3 on home ice. Perhaps it's just noise. But it's fucking annoying.
Next question: SHOULD there be a home ice advantage? Is this something that's league-wide or something particular to the Bruins? I know this year the road teams have won most of the games but over time I'm curious if that's the case. I cannot shake the idea that the Bruins perform unacceptably poorly on home ice in the playoffs but that's only a feeling. The old Garden is dead thank God but I still would logically think it would be an advantage to have home ice. But it does not seem to work out that way for this team.
NJ won Game 7 on home ice last night. Of course Colorado lost theirs the night before.
This is another series after the '19 SC Final where the Bruins have gone 1-3 on home ice. Perhaps it's just noise. But it's fucking annoying.
Aren't home teams something like 20-30 this year? Unsure what the last 10-15 years look like overall
Because they're usually the higher seed because they've usually had good regular seasons. A 7 seed can upset 6 teams. A 3 seed can upset 2 teams. They're usually closer to the 3 seed than the 7 seed.
Minor quibble -- the '11 round 3 one was in regulation.
I am thinking more and more along the lines of the point Marciano raised in the Round 1 thread, quoted below. You can be the model citizen, an incredible example to follow at a human level, and someone everyone in the room looks up to. Does that mean you're the most effective captain at willing your team to win? I don't know. Being at 50-70% capacity every postseason certainly can't help.
I am thinking more and more along the lines of the point Marciano raised in the Round 1 thread, quoted below. You can be the model citizen, an incredible example to follow at a human level, and someone everyone in the room looks up to. Does that mean you're the most effective captain at willing your team to win? I don't know. Being at 50-70% capacity every postseason certainly can't help.
It's a very fair question and one that people are reasonably unwilling to bring up because Bergeron is so respected by all.
I get the overwhelming sense that the Bruins need their own son of a bitch in the lineup, like Tkachuk. Tkachuk is a fucking scumbag but he was by far their best player and the Bruins had no answer for anything he did and they played scared of him. He won the pick against Bergeron in OT to set up the winner. That was sobering.
In '11 they had Lucic to do a lot of that gritty work but seemingly no one like that now. Maybe I'm not giving Tkachuk enough credit for his hockey talents, but the Bruins let him push them around.
Hockey is a very random aport where a single bounce decide a game. I don't think there is any real tangible "advantage" to playing at home. The rink dimensions are all the same, it's not like baseball where maybe your home field is more favorable to your hitters or whatever. Or in the NFL where weather and crowd noise play a much larger role.
The only real advantage is last change and I don't think that has a huge impact on games. Coaches typically get the matchups they want both home and away. Then it's just the intangible stuff like sleeping at home and crowd support.,
The only real advantage is last change and I don't think that has a huge impact on games. Coaches typically get the matchups they want both home and away. Then it's just the intangible stuff like sleeping at home and crowd support.,
Hathaway did nothing in this series. Bertuzzi filled that role well but it clearly wasn't enough.
Right, point being it was something they tried to address at the deadline
It didn't work.
I have zero idea what they can possibly do now. They've ruined the best regular season in history and their best chance at a Cup in a long time and they'll never have such a run again. Their coach got badly exposed, their number 1 goalie is hurt and their franchise icon may retire.
I don't envy Don Sweeney this summer. He did everything possible to give them the best chance at a Cup this year and they stepped on rakes for 7 games. Now he's got to tear everything down.
That's hardly my point. It's the TYPE of player I'm more concerned with. Tkahcuk isn't afraid to play dirty to win. The Bruins had no answer for his style of play. They could match up his talent (hell, the Bruins are much more talented than the Panthers in every way) but they let him just stand in front or behind the net for ages and never moved him. That's the major problem here.
I also wonder how much of what limited that side of Hathaway and Bertuzzi's games is driven by an organizational / coaching philosophy.
After Game 4, it sure looked like this team got the message up 3-1 to not engage with any post-whistle shit that Florida was trying to goad them into. Gudas got to punch guys post-whistle without recourse, Coyle was getting Marchand/Sedin'd by I think Sam Bennett at one point, Hathaway was less of a presence than Peter Schaefer ever was... they turned the other cheek over and over. At least, it definitely seemed like an intentional change in approach to my eyes.
Sweeney gets an A+ for me for the past calendar year on the basis of how he's navigated building this team, adjusted to a solid C for the Mitchell Miller debacle -- but tbh it's unclear how much of that was actually Sweeney or more of a general 'way things work' in an organization where dinosaur Sinden is still a valued advisor. He did everything he could to put this team in a position to make a deep run, and the combination of fine margins and asinine goaltending decisions cost them most clearly -- but losing the snarl they thought they'd brought in at the deadline definitely didn't help.
After Game 4, it sure looked like this team got the message up 3-1 to not engage with any post-whistle shit that Florida was trying to goad them into. Gudas got to punch guys post-whistle without recourse, Coyle was getting Marchand/Sedin'd by I think Sam Bennett at one point, Hathaway was less of a presence than Peter Schaefer ever was... they turned the other cheek over and over. At least, it definitely seemed like an intentional change in approach to my eyes.
Sweeney gets an A+ for me for the past calendar year on the basis of how he's navigated building this team, adjusted to a solid C for the Mitchell Miller debacle -- but tbh it's unclear how much of that was actually Sweeney or more of a general 'way things work' in an organization where dinosaur Sinden is still a valued advisor. He did everything he could to put this team in a position to make a deep run, and the combination of fine margins and asinine goaltending decisions cost them most clearly -- but losing the snarl they thought they'd brought in at the deadline definitely didn't help.
It's either engage in scrums and parade to the box or get punched in the face and try to walk away. I'm not sure what the right answer is.