Why I'm shockingly apathetic about tonight's Bruins Stanley Cup Game 7
Growing up in the wonderful Boston suburb of Wayland, I was a rabid Red Sox, Patriots, Celtics and Bruins fan. I enjoyed more than my share of Celtics World Championships, thanks to Bird, McHale, Parish, DJ, Ainge, Walton and friends. Watching the Patriots win multiple Super Bowls was an over-the-rainbow high… a feeling I long thought I would never experience, after cheering for the Patriots throughout the 80s and 90s. The Sox choking away — to a lame Mets team, no less — a World Series they were one strike away from winning was devastating, so watching them win several World Series a decade later was cathartic.
So I must be thrilled the Bruins — the only Boston team never to win a championship since I was a wee boy too young to remember — could win the Stanley Cup tonight, eh?
Not really. Before I explain, a digression…
I love college hockey. In fact, I managed to snag one of only 500 tickets allotted to Harvard for the “Frozen Four” (held in Minneapolis) the year the Crimson won the NCAA Championship 4-3 in sudden death overtime against the Minnesota Golden Gophers. Almost everyone else in the Harvard section was a hockey player parent, band member, or wealthy athletic donor/alum.
College hockey is about crisp passing, fast skating, body control, solid defending, quality goal-tending, accurate shooting, etc.
Pro hockey, on the other hand, has long been about gladiatorial combat. I grew so sick of the fighting that I swore off pro hockey perhaps fifteen years ago. It may be less violent now. I wouldn’t know. But several “highlights” I’ve seen from the Bruins' playoff run have left me sick to my stomach. I’ve seen plenty of what appear to me to be cheap shots of Bruins players by Canucks players. And Bruins players have been involved in several plays that severely injured opponents.
After learning that Canucks player Mason Raymond fractured vertebrae early in Game 6, I was set to declare myself too disgusted to watch tonight’s decisive game. But I decided to first seek out an unbiased assessment of the injury (which I have not seen). Veteran NHL ref Kerry Fraser gave this analysis of the play, concluding that the Bruin player — who was not penalized on the play — deserved a minor penalty but that the severe injury was basically a fluke and not the Bruin player’s fault.
So, I’ll likely catch part of the game and cheer for my hometown team. But I’m scarcely excited. I wish they would rid NHL hockey of its gratuitous violence so fans could enjoy the natural beauty of the game, not cringe as players attempt to injure one another. It’s hockey, not Rollerball.
Posted by James on Wednesday, June 15, 2011