Tuesday, June 25th, 2013. 10:14 am.

Chicago players come pouring out onto the ice, equipment flying, their screams audible from behind our television sets as they begin their celebration away from home. And after the handshake line, the Bruins kind of just disappear. Our team, they’re all there one moment. They’re all there with forlorn faces and aching hearts. They’re all there feeling the single most painful form of devastation a hockey player can endure, all wrapped up in a moment. As the Cup is raised, Blackhawks hoisting the hardware high one-by-one, the Bruins filter off of the ice. No, we didn’t see them go. They sort of just fade away among the celebration. In that next moment, they’re gone. The season is gone. Championship hope, gone.

But rewind and look back on what was. Look back on how no matter how many times people counted this team out, they rose from the dead and silenced everyone. Look back on how they performed miracles. Look back on how they came back from the brink and stunned the hockey world. And from that point forward, they only grew. This team, this band of brothers, this family, grew together. Shift after shift, game after game, series after series, this team proved everyone wrong. The Bruins did what they do best by playing the underdog role. They were the team that wasn’t supposed to win.

The rough part is that, in the end, they didn’t. But they went out in Boston fashion, didn’t they? As painful as it is to think about, they went down like a Boston team goes down. The exit was heartbreaking but maybe some part of you can smile about it. Why? Because this is your team. They rise and fall with no shortage of drama and no matter what happens, we’re along for the ride. We’ll always be there because this is our team, our family.

Boston you are the only, only, only.

See you next season, boys.

Crashing the Net Playoff Picks 2013: Round 2

As we wrap up a memorable first round of the NHL playoffs, it’s time Crashing the Net makes their picks for the second round. After one, here are the standings:

1. Andrea (7-1)
2. Ashley (6-2)
3. Ariana (5-3)
4. Chelsey (4-4)

May 13, 2013: The Comeback

 “Don’t blame us if we ever doubt you, you know we couldn’t live without you.”

After having 2 chances to close out the series, and failing, the Boston Bruins found themselves in a do or die situation against the Toronto Maple Leafs. The pinnacle of the playoffs. Game 7. At one point, a point that seems so distant and blurry now, the B’s had a commanding 3-1 series lead heading into Boston for a 5^th game.

 And again, had a chance to close it out in Toronto in Game 6. But they squandered both opportunities to put away the Leafs for good. Allow me to take a moment to give credit where credit is due though. The Toronto Maple Leafs gave the Boston Bruins a run for their money and should have, with statistics, history and every single possible odd in their favor, won Game 7.

But they didn’t.

Sitting in a 4-1 hole and on the brink of elimination, the Bruins found something. Experience, was it? Or something intangible? A hunger, a desire, a passion, from deep within their existence. The Bruins dug deep. They dug deeper than any team had ever before.

With just about a half a period of hockey left to play in their 2012-13 season, the Bruins began to chip away.

It all began with a Nathan Horton wrister that found twine 9:18 into the third period to cut Toronto’s lead in half. But we’d seen this before, right? The Bruins scrambling to score with only minutes left in the game? The Bruins showing up too late, right?

With Rask pulled and only around two minutes left in the game, Lucic scooped up a rebound and got one past Reimer.

They were within one.

There was something in the air. Something stirring. A force inside the TD Garden.

31 seconds later, Patrice Bergeron blasted one through a Chara screen and just like that, the game was tied.

The Garden was electric. This was happening. The game was going into overtime.

Toronto fans outside the ACC were quiet. The game wasn’t over yet, but there was silence. The crowd in Boston was alive. Momentum was on their side.

And then, just over six minutes into the overtime period, it was all over. In their very first shift together that night, the Marchand-Bergeron-Seguin line came up bigger than ever.  They caused havoc in front of Reimer, resulting in juicy rebounds and costly turnovers that put the puck right on Patrice Bergeron’s stick. Bergeron put it in the back of the net and the Bruins did it.

They completed a comeback of epic proportions.

In a game where everything was on the line, in a city that had just recently suffered unspeakable tragedy, a hockey team, a band of brothers pulled off a miracle.

 They made this nation of fans believe in the completely and utterly impossible.

Go Bruins.

It’s playoff time.

Stanley Cup Playoffs: Fourth Round Picks – THE FINAL

And then there were two.

Ladies and gentlemen we have finally reached the Stanley Cup Final.

This is the end.

Stanley Cup Playoffs: Third Round Picks

And then there were four.

The Stanley Cup playoffs have been quite a wild ride thus far and I’ve got a feeling that they’ll only get wilder. Only four teams remain. New Jersey and New York will square off for the Eastern Conference crown, Los Angeles and Phoenix in the West.

Two of these teams will advance to the Finals and only one will take home Lord Stanley.

Stanley Cup Playoffs: Second Round Picks

And then there were eight.

As you all probably know, our defending Stanley Cup Champion Boston Bruins have been eliminated from the playoffs.

After one round, here are what the standings look like.

Pre-game Notes Round 1: Capitals vs. Bruins-Game Five 4/21/12

The Bruins and Capitals are all tied up in the series as we enter game five, today in Boston. One one team so far has been eliminated in the playoffs, with many other teams in the same deadlock as the B’s. The Bruins return to the Garden faithful and hope to find the offensive spark that has eluded them for much of this series. Julien is going to shake things up with the lines today, hoping to find a combination that will produce the results the team and the fans want. The twenty-two year old goaltender for the Capitals, Braden Holtby, has had a lot of stellar performances during the playoffs so far, so the Bruins will have to find his weak spot and throw a lot of good shots at net today. Last game, Holtby stopped 44 out of 45 shots. The Bruins have only scored before the Capitals once this series, and that was the thrilling OT goal by Chris Kelly in Game One.

Post-Game Notes Round 1: Capitals vs. Bruins – Game Two 4/14/12

It was another low-scoring affair for the Black and Gold. If this series is going to go into OT every game, I may need to buy a pacemaker.

By the time the siren sounded and signaled the game was about to go into 2OT, everyone knew that the next goal would come from some sort of mental error. Both teams were playing phenomenal hockey, with the Capitals blocking shots like pros, and the Bruins rushing to the net when given the chance. Still, the Bruins know that they need to work on offense more. The defense is there. The Bruins need to find a way to move around the Capitals blocking shots if they are going to get a goal behind Holtby. Otherwise, I see this series coming down to a goaltender war.

2012 Playoffs: The Chain

Last post-season, Andrew Ference purchased a sweet Bruins jacket that was passed from player to player depending on how they performed during the game just played. You could say it was given to the hero of the night after each win.

This year, Ferry went on down to the hardware store and bought a big, bulky chain with a padlock. Ference’s handiwork can be seen on the lock as he engraved the spoked B into it.

“So we kinda sucked at the start of the year and had a whole bunch of meetings,” Ference said.

He went on to explain that the guys said there can’t be a weak link on the team. There are 20 links in the chain and 20 men dress each game. After every win, they put a small notch in the lock.

It’s more symbolic than the jacket. It’s a reminder.

Chris Kelly was seen donning The Chain in a press-conference after the game. He was the hero of Game 1. Which Bruin will get it next?