Boston Bruins Hold 1-0 Series Lead Over Columbus

The Thunder season is mercifully over, yet there’s been so many great things in sports recently it’s not at all that big of a deal to me. Life goes on and besides I was pulling for Terry Stotts. The NCAA basketball tournament was excellent with Auburn, Virginia, Texas Tech and Michigan State. Tiger’s win at the Masters is one which will go down for the ages. And who knows maybe in these NBA playoffs we might have something great lurking with this Houston-Golden State series which in my mind pits the two best two teams against one another in the Western Conference semis.

I love the Stanley Cup Playoffs. For me, there is nothing like playoff hockey. There is a sheer beauty in the speed, skill, smarts and toughness which is the essence of hockey played at the highest level on the biggest stage.

Like in the NBA, a team has to win four series and sixteen games to hoist the cup. Unlike with the NBA though, there is still a respect for the manner in which the game is played at all times and not the allowance for all the superstar nonsense.

In the first round both in the East and in the West the No. 1 seeds Tampa and Calgary were eliminated rather easily. The East lost both of their premier stars from the tournament both Ovechkin and Sid Crosby’s teams were both eliminated. This won’t be good for television ratings I would think, yet the games go on and an eventual champion will be crowned.

The Boston Bruins are my team. Always have been since the days when I was a kid and Boston’s Triple A affiliate was right here in Oklahoma City. My two favorite players of all-time are both Bruins… both defensemen. Bobby Orr and Raymond Bourque. Both won Cups. Orr won two with Boston before his knees gave out and Bourque never won a Cup in Boston, but did win a Cup at the twilight of his career with the Colorado Avalanche.

I’m not sure who my third favorite player is at times…it changes from time to time. Not Gretzky for sure—he was a pretty boy who needed an enforcer. A real hockey player can do these five things…skate, shoot, pass, check, and fight when you have to command your space on the ice. Maybe Gordie Howe is my third favorite player.

Anyway, with all the top teams minus Boston in the East falling in the first round Vegas probably has the Bruins as the team to beat in the East. But I take nothing for granted because hockey is a sport where you have to earn every inch and every goal to survive through the bracket and advance. Columbus will be tough.


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