Boston knows something about long losing streaks. The last time they won the Stanley Cup, we were still fighting in Vietnam, Watergate hadn't reared its ugly head and the current president of the United States, Barack Obama, was a 10 year-old child. And prior to the Red Sox winning the World Series in 2004, you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone old enough to remember their last world title 86 years prior.
But never let it be said the stars and the heavenly bodies don't align themselves in Boston's favor on occasion. Tonight is a lunar eclipse. The last one was on October 27th 2004, the night the Red Sox swept the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium to win their first world title in nearly 90 years. Tonight, the Bruins joined the fraternity of Massachusetts-based world champions by beating a tough Vancouver Canucks 4-0 for their sixth world title.
With two goals each by rookie Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron and perfect work by goalie Tim Thomas (37 saves in 37 opportunities), the Bruins' Stanley Cup victory, as with the Red Sox' sweep over the Cardinals and Rockies in 2007, was sort of an anticlimax. Down by another 4-0 score in Game 6, the Vancouver Canucks refused to lie down for the Bruins and scored two goals in the 3rd period. Just prior to Game 7, the Bruins were regarded as the underdogs because for the first six games, each team had won on its own home ice and after being down 0-2, the Bruins were in the position of having to win 4 of the next 5 games. Beat the mighty Canucks twice in a row twice in a best of seven series?
Fugeddaboutit.
I'm not a hockey fan by any stretch of the imagination. Most of my regular readers will know I'm a baseball guy and a die-hard Red Sox fan (and don't think for a miniute that Josh Beckett's complete game one hit shutout of the Tampa Bay Rays tonight was lost on me) but I congratulate the Boston Bruins on their first world title in nearly 40 years. I'm happy for their fans (all but one, anyway) and I sincerely hope the Bruins repeat next year as Stanley Cup champions. And what are the odds of another Boston sports franchise winning a world title on a full lunar eclipse?
At the risk of making a bad pun, I'd say, "Astronomical."
