Next week at Days of Y’Orr we’re doing our season preview posts by position. A bit early? Maybe. But we’re super excited about the season.
This week? One simple overall preview.
What are we expecting out of the Bruins this year? A lot.
We’re seeing some skepticism among writers and fans. We get that. The Bruins have broken our hearts. A lot.
Most recently, they suddenly couldn’t score and lost in OT in 2009 against Carolina. What happened in 2010 doesn’t need to be spoken about yet again. The Bruins just keep getting in their own way. But not anymore.
They haven’t sniffed a Cup finals since the early 90’s. What a painful three years to be a Bruins fan. Lost to the Oilers machine in the 1990 Cup Finals. Lost to Lemieux and the Penguins machine in the ’91 and ’92 Wales Conference Finals.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pd8cDxL_5IE&w=480&h=385]
These clips are still painful. But sometimes history is.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wresWm5VZc&w=480&h=385]
Some fans are optimistic, but seem to be looking more towards the future, citing the fact that the Caps and Pens are still the class of the east. Many are still skeptical.
But you won’t find that here at Days of Y’Orr. We expect AT LEAST the Conference Finals this year. And why not the Bruins?
After the jump, our prediction for the Bruins this season…..
Many people around the interwebs said that even if Boston made it past Filthadelphia they would’ve had trouble solving Halak and would’ve been blown away by the Blackhawks if they happened to beat the Habs.
But sometimes a team just matches up good against a more “skilled” team or finds ways to beat a team that others couldn’t. The Canadiens weren’t supposed to beat Washington or Pittsburgh. But they did.
The Bruins weren’t supposed to make the playoffs. They weren’t supposed to beat Buffalo and the goalie machine that is Ryan Miller. But they did. Of course, they weren’t supposed to blow a 3-0 lead and they did.
Jack Edwards wasn’t supposed to escape that mental hospital. But he did.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQ9s7jP20Is&w=480&h=385]
CONCUSS THAT!
Were the Blackhawks a better team on paper? Certainly. But we wipe our ass with paper. The Bruins would’ve at least given them a good run.
We’re sick of making excuses after the season.
Oh well they just ran into a hot Carolina team.
There were too many injuries, etc.
We don’t care anymore.
The Bruins got better this offseason. So did a lot of other Eastern Conference teams.
But Chara should be back to his old self. And hungry.
Boychuk will be even better. Rask learned what it takes to be successful over a long season. Tim Thomas is hungry to prove he’s no back up as well.
Lucic is ready to bust out. You can never underestimate the power of Mark Recchi. Dennis Seidenberg wants to earn that contract. Nathan Horton should have renewed passion in a hockey hungry market.
Bergeron just keeps getting better. Krejci will re-discover his magic. Wheeler could blossom in his third NHL season. Shawn Thornton is still the third greatest player in NHL history. Mark Stuart is eager to unleash the fury. Ference….well he’ll be up in the press box 3 games in anyway.
Seguin has the potential to contribute.
We could go on and on. There’s a lot to like about these Bruins.
The Caps and Penguins are likely the Bruins biggest competition. Big surprise there, huh?
Washington doesn’t scare us. You don’t win 6-5 games in the playoffs and the Caps did nothing to improve their awful defense once again. Boston has the talent to contain that offense enough to win a seven game series.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jm8Hom1ranE&w=480&h=385]
Pittsburgh is the biggest threat in our minds. Crosby. Malkin. The underrated Jordan Staal. Fleury. An improved defenseive corp. There’s a reason they went to back to back Cups. “On paper” they should run wild on the east.
After New Jersey and Washington bowed out of the playoffs last year, the Pens should’ve ran wild too. But for many reasons that didn’t happen. Boston realistically probably isn’t a better team overall but they can certainly hang with the Pens.
So why make excuses to start the year? Why point out how much better other teams are than the Bruins on paper? That doesn’t mean anything. The season will certainly have it’s rough patches. Every season does. The Bruins will lose three games in a row at some point and everyone will jump off the band wagon for a week. Whatever. We won’t miss you.
We like… no, we love what management has done with this team over the summer. We love what the players are doing and saying in practice. We love that hungry look in their eyes. There’s a feeling in our tummies we haven’t felt at the beginning of a season in quite some time.
You always want your favorite team to win a Stanley Cup. You start every season thinking this could be the year. Unless you are a Thrashers fan. But this really COULD be the year.
As for us? We’re expecting a huge year. The Bruins have the talent. They really do. The only question is whether or not they have the drive. We won’t really know for six months when the playoffs start. But they have that look. We love it.
But as usual, we’re behind them from Day 1. Another year, another chance at ending this Cup drought.
We Believe. Do you?
Our prediction for the year?
Drought over. Cup takes a trip down Causeway.
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