LOTS of Bruins 11-12 Highlights

As the 2012 Stanley Cup Finals loom just 2 days away, us Bruins fans are struggling to cope with the reality that the Bruins are not part of it this year. Every aspect of the playoffs taking place leading up to the beginning of the Devils/Kings finals series on Wednesday reminds me that the Bruins were there last year, and it makes me so sad (sadder than I already am) that they aren't there anymore - and even more so, that what seems like yesterday when they were there, was actually a year ago. To try to cope with this sadness, I will post some of my favorite videos from the 2011-2012 Bruins regular season, which offered some amazing moments in and of itself.

These are in no particular order, and are only a dozen of the endless amount of videos I wanted to post, and perhaps plan on posting this summer.

I have to admit, looking through these season's highlights, I realized how unbelievably fortunate I was as a Bruins fan this year to experience a dozen home games that were all (except for 1 or 2) absolutely fantastic! I have so many wonderful Bruins memories over the years, starting with my first game in 1997. I miss them so much, and look forward to the wonderful memories they are going to give me the opportunity to be apart of in the years to come.

The Bear, The Gang, and the Good Ol' Bruins Are Back

It's fitting that Thornton's goal broke a 38-game goalless streak and Seidenberg's goal broke a 28-something-game goalless streak on a night that the Bruins proved they had finally broken a collective losing streak that sucked the life out of them from January through the early weeks of March.

I was extremely uncertain coming into tonight's game about what to expect from the Bruins. I hoped, obviously, that they would continue to improve and play great hockey that they are capable of. They seem to be on that road, with each passing game in the past week or two another step in the direction of playing in playoff mode. Tonight certainly seemed to have a playoff-like intensity to it, at least in the 3rd period. I had forgotten what it was like to see them play so well, and be successful. I don't want to jump the gun and say they're gonna keep it up and steamroll into the playoffs, but they are showing that they are on the right track.

Which is why I was hesitant to expect a win tonight. Tampa was so devastating the past two games they played against the Bruins, and the Bruins in general have been awful against the Southeast Division. But the 4-game season series ends at 2-2, with the home team winning every game. Playing well at home was something important they needed to re-establish before the end of the season; they had proven that they could play well on the road during the California road trip. But their shot totals had been down, and they still had some kinks in their game. Tonight, it's great to see they continue to iron out those kinks in their game.

This game was a huge relief, and Love That Dirty Water playing over the Garden sound system after the game ended almost gave me déjà vu from last years playoffs wins at home. You can't blame me since this was against the Lightning, like in the Conference Finals: things like Roloson in net playing great hockey and the recent resurgence of The Bear, who we hadn't seen since Tampa fans got unreasonably offended and outraged over the Bruins brilliant marketing scheme from last year's playoffs; after Tampa fans bombarded the Bruins marketing staff with personal threats, The Bear was no more.

He made his triumphant return yesterday in another genius marketing bit, The Bear and the Gang, and you can't help but think the Bruins debuted this on purpose at this perfect time. To put a cherry on top of how trolly and brilliant this is, check out the banner hanging on the wall in the background of the basement set of the show:

That is unmistakably the same poster. Genius. Anyway, let's look more at tonight's game!

Since it is so insanely fun to bask in wins like this, I'm going to talk about why this game was great, and why they are finally turning it around.

On the Bruins Turning Things Around

I hope they have. I like to convince myself of things, but it's too soon to know, so we have to sit patiently and wait for when they play again. Suddenly 2 days seems like a long time. So I will spend some of  it trying to reassure the belief that the Bruins are heading into the final stretch o the regular sesaon and into the playoffs playing better and better hockey. Here is some 'evidence' to help.

Things were bad for a while, and remained that way longer than it should have, due to reasons like Gregory Campbell explains below:

When things are going bad, you can start to squeeze your stick. That’s a term in hockey when you’re frustrated or scoring is hard to come by, you’re uptight and you’re not allowing things to happen. Rather, you’re trying to force plays and force things to happen. I guess it’s just another word for being tense and uptight. When things are going well it just seems like there’s flow in your game and things just kind of work out. Squeezing your stick is something that might be relevant to our team now, but it certainly isn’t the solution. (Source)

After last night's win, Tim Thomas said:

I feel like something's turned...It's a good feeling. Even before the game tonight I felt that way. I could just feel it in the locker room. (Source)

If Tim Thomas says so, I have a lot of confidence about the truth of the statement, especially because weakness in defense and lack of confidence in goaltending was also a main contributing and maintaining factor of the losing streaks and awful play.

In the same article, Thomas is quoted as saying:

When you're feeling good and feeling confident, you're glad to be in that position...That's part of the reason I picked goaltending in the first place. It's an important position in the outcome of the game. That can be a blessing and a curse, depending on how things are going.

The above article also goes on to quote Shawn Thornton:

[Thomas is] human, right?..Everyone has ups and downs. It's on us to be better around him when he's having an off night. The problem was we were collectively having off nights together.

As usual, Shawn Thornton eloquently and accurately describes a complex problem in simple terms: "we were all collectively having off nights together".

Considering my belief of the Bruins as the ultimate team, it makes sense that they play well together as a team and awful together as a team. They're just that dedicated to and reliant on one another!

The following post will have some data to show another reason I think things are going to start looking up.

The Bruins are Proof that the Problems in the New NHL Aren't Actually Universal Despite What Brian Burke Believes

Apparently hockey is going through a horrible change that is deeply distressing...


Essentially Burke is upset because he had to send Colton Orr to the AHL (thank heavens he cleared waivers!) and he had to send Orr to the AHL because, as an enforcer, there is no longer a spot on the roster available for a player who isn't necessarily the best skater (in other words, is nothing but a fighter) in the new and evolving NHL in which Brendan Shanahan suspensions are strict and frequent. He feels that because of Shanahan's excessive "policing", the physical aspect of the game is being forcefully removed and accountability on players who take cheap shots is placed solely on the shoulders of league disciplinarians (Shanahan) rather than players on the ice. In the past, for example, if a player like Downie takes a run at Phaneuf (who can protect himself, by the way), Orr comes out and makes Downie pay for it. Throwing a cheap shot directly leads to physically paying for it on the ice in that game, rather than perhaps a penalty and waiting to see if you do or don't get suspended by Shanahan. If Downie throws a questionable hit on Phaneuf, nobody on the Leafs can respond to it, because apparently the fact that Shanahan will look over the hit means nobody can respond to it on the ice.