So ends the 2013 season. One lockout. Zero Winter Classics, 24/7 episodes, All-Star Games or NHL Awards ceremonies. One Stanley Cup.
credit: sportsmockery
I’m sure Chuck will do a post about the Bruins when she’s ready. For now we send her and our other Bruins fan friends love. We’ve all had teams lose before, but not everyone’s team has lost in the Cup Final. Mine has. It’s worse than anything. So even if you hate the Bruins, hug a Bruins fan today.
Since hockey stops for no one, here are a few of my thoughts on last night’s game. I promise to be gentle.
Blackhawks Win
I’m so happy for them. If you’re around here a lot you know I like the Hawks quite a bit – they’re my Western Conference team and rank #3 among my hockey favorites.
That said, holy shit do I wish last night had been the Penguins. Or the Capitals. In that order. You can bet your socks I would have run screaming through my neighborhood, onto the highway and not stopped until I reached whatever city my team was hoisting the Cup in. Watching another team win is like watching someone else get in your boyfriend’s car and drive off. Even if you like the girl. That’s YOUR prize.
Speaking of prizes… almost!
So while I enjoyed last night’s win – and predictably burst into tears at the final buzzer – it wasn’t quite everything it could have been for me.
Plenty of everything for these folks.
For our Hawks fan friends – congratulations. You, Chuck and I all know what that feels like from recent years. Enjoy it.
The Bruins
Chuck will surely say something eloquent and heartfelt about her team and how proud she is. Let me, who does not like the Bruins at all (not even a little), say this: Well done. I wouldn’t hate you if you weren’t worth hating, and for that you must be good and strong and fast and so fucking frustrating. You deserved to be in the Final and you earned my renewed hatred with some incredible hockey.
Patrice Bergeron – You, sir, can stay. You can be Chuck’s boyfriend anytime. Playing Game 6 with a broken rib, torn cartilage and a separated shoulder, no tape or stitches – that’s holding it together with your heart. I am not sitting with Marchand at the wedding, though. Put me between Seguin and the bar.
The Blackhawks
You guys know I get the Crosby-level prideweep over Jonathan Toews. Back in April 2012, I wrote:
If I were ever on a sinking ship, I’d want to look across the deck and see Jonathan Toews in charge of the lifeboats because you know everyone is getting to safety in a single file line holding their toothbrush and enough money to call home. [link]
Still true. Toews has the heart of a lion and apparently… a sense of humor. No! Stop! Okay, dance.
Puck Daddy: Toews does the Moonwalk
from sheercompulsion.tumblr.com
If you were writing this for a sports movie, Andrew Shaw would take a puck to the face and bleed through the whole game. A rivulet of blood would trickle down his cheek as he lifted the Cup. I hope your movie was Rated R for how many f-bombs Shawzer dropped on national TV.
Last but not least, Kaner with the Conn Smythe. Do you agree? What about Crawford? I could (and did) argue both ways. Who cares, since they got the Cup? Patrick Kane, pride of Upstate NY. We’re going to see this mullet every year in the playoffs now – it’s a powerful weapon.
In the playoffs there are heroes everywhere. Gregory Campbell. Brian Bickell. Everyone did their part. Congratulations to the Blackhawks on their win. Congratulations to the Bruins for doing what 28 other teams could not do.
Now summer is here – thank heaven for all the very attractive Cup celebration photos coming our way.
Is it October yet?
Tags: andrew shaw, Boston Bruins, Chicago Blackhawks, jonathan toews, Patrice Bergeron, patrick kane, Viktor Stalberg
Tears of joy!!! I just can’t even process this, it happened so suddenly, and I’m just so happy!
Devastating. Patrice wanted it so bad.
Tazer moonwalking is everything. I can’t stand it. Also, Duncan Keith with his baby & Patrick Sharp with his daughter were just too much.
I do feel badly for Bergeron, though. I hate the Bruins, but that beautiful man has the heart of a lion.
While I feel bad for some of the Bruins player’s I’m glad that Jeremy Jacobs didn’t win the cup in a lockout year that he helped cause.
Also that shot of Duncan Keith and his baby should be used in fertility clinics as an ovulation aid.
As a huge fan of both teams–I love them equally–I opted to root for the Blackhawks because they had such an amazing season, and I wanted it to end with the Cup. I’m ecstatic that it did! What an amazing ride!
That said, I’m proud of the Bruins. They had one HELL of a playoff run. I will never forget watching game 7 against Toronto! And no one thought they’d win against the Pens, let alone sweep them.
Both teams have a lot of heart and depth and each should be proud of the way they played. I know that doesn’t help the Bruins who aren’t hoisting the Cup, but it does mean something to this fan who knows they gave it everything they had.
The best thing about this is all of the dancing. Tazer moonwalking, Q doing the little shake thing with the cup. More hockey dancing please.
But now that it’s over, and the Blackhawks won, I can say I’m a little sad that there will not be more naked celebrating Tyler Seguin pictures on tumblr.
But I will console myself with unbuttoned blue shirt Toews.
pic.twitter.com/huH2F4liyy
I don’t cry over the Super Bowl (not even the time I went). I’ve never seen the World Series, and I just saw my first NBA final the other day (unimpressed). The Stanley Cup, however, makes me blubber like an infant, regardless of who wins it.
If it couldn’t be the Pens, at least it wasn’t the Bruins. The Hawks are my #3 also, and I still haven’t recovered from last night. Between the Blue Jackets, the Pens, and the Hawks, I’m exhausted. For a season that didn’t start unti January, it seemed to last forever.
It was glorious.
I will concede that Patrice Bergeron is a beautiful, beautiful man.
I cannot believe this is even real life. Still. It all happened so quickly – I thought we were going to game 7 as then…..Bickell. Bolland. BOOM. Glitter cupcakes.
I will say – Patrice. I did not like you throughout the entire playoffs because you effectively ENDED EVERYTHING. But you, sir, are a warrior. I cannot wait for Sochi to cheer you on.
Jonathan….you came through again. Killed it with fire. Made everything better. Danced on the B. And I can’t wait to see what you do this summer. Love these guys.