NBC Sports Boston "Before the Duckboats"

[GordonHowe]

Okay, yougin's, here's what it was like back then.

And hey, it seems like Sinden/OC redux in 2021.

Good times.

Get used to it,

Click to read more...

 

[BruinsFanSince94]

Gloom and doom

 

[BRUINS since 1995]

Okay, yougin's, here's what it was like back then.

And hey, it seems like Sinden/OC redux in 2021.

Good times.

Get used to it,

Good stuff. Thanks Gordie

 

[McGarnagle]

I remember feeling really embarrassed by the whole thing.

 

[LouJersey]

I think I looked more into this and it was the Mayor's fault at the time. Sinden didn't want it and Bourque felt really uncomfortable about it.

 

[GordonHowe]

I remember feeling really embarrassed by the whole thing.

I think all of us did.

It was sad. Sad that Ray felt he had to do that, though I understand now that he was reluctant to embarass the Bruins organization.

I'm glad he did it, though. It was a pathetic release for some of us, and though I know he didn't mean it that way, a rebuke to Bruins ownership/management at the time.

I feel badly because although they probably can't get away with the same shabby managment on display then, I see a straight line to the "management" we have today.

SweeNeely are the Stockholm Brothers, their North star, mediocrity, just getting by, a few shallow playoff runs. They are the sons of Sinden. Mark it. Book it.

Mr. Burns could care less. I wish Charlie had the reigns, though even that is 50/50. At best.

We're screwed, ladies and germs. Yes, they can plug holes and keep the ship afloat, barely. I see no incentive, or capability, beyond this.

Which means, again, I'm sorry, a veil of mediocrity which will become clearer still when Patirce, Brad, and Rask depart.

Wish I could interject, prevent.

Cannot.

 

[Alicat]

I think I looked more into this and it was the Mayor's fault at the time. Sinden didn't want it and Bourque felt really uncomfortable about it.

Pretty much this.

/thread

 

[Gordoff]

SweeNeely are the Stockholm Brothers, their North star, mediocrity, just getting by, a few shallow playoff runs. They are the sons of Sinden. Mark it. Book it.

Mr. Burns could care less. I wish Charlie had the reigns, though even that is 50/50. At best.

We're screwed, ladies and germs. Yes, they can plug holes and keep the ship afloat, barely. I see no incentive, or capability, beyond this.

Which means, again, I'm sorry, a veil of mediocrity which will become clearer still when Patrice, Brad, and Rask depart.

Wish I could interject, prevent.

Cannot.

Agree with all of this except the highlighted:

Mr Burns Could Not care less (except for the green-backs).

 

[Tbaybruin]

Our owner spends to the cap every year. Players are well taken care of and love the Bruins. He’s far from perfect but far from brutal.

 

[Fenway]

Our owner spends to the cap every year. Players are well taken care of and love the Bruins. He’s far from perfect but far from brutal.

Jacobs saved the NHL from itself.

Detroit owner Mike Ilitch was willing to lose millions a year to win a Cup and the same could be said about the Dolan's in NY and yes even MLSE in Toronto.

Jacobs was willing to break even during the regular season and fought tooth and nail for cost certainty.

But the 90's in Boston sports was not great and it was easy for the hockey fans in Boston to adopt the Avs and local media certainly did.

In 2001 a TV station in Derry, NH (Channel 50 ) carried an AHL playoff game between Lowell and Worcester with Fred Cusick and Brad Park as announcers and it was the 2nd most-watched show in the Boston market.

 

[GordonHowe]

Our owner spends to the cap every year. Players are well taken care of and love the Bruins. He’s far from perfect but far from brutal.

It's absolutely true that since the lockout he demanded and got, Burns has spent to the cap. Credit where due.

The culture built by Peter Chiarelli, Claude Julien, Z, Patrice, Timmy, Marchand (and let's not forget so many others: Rex, Looch, Andrew, Shawn, et.al.) is still there. To an extent. Largely because Patrice and Brad are still around.

But they will be leaving, and with them, I think, that culture.

It's sad because I don't want my Bruins to descend into Just Another Team, bereft of swagger and identity. It doesn't *have* to be that way. Whatever you think of them, the Flyers always play to their DNA.

I would rather the Bruins struggle yet maintain their core character, the character that, at their best (and often at their worst) has always defined them. I don't want them to dissolve into a faceless nonentity.

 

[Kalus]

Steve Buckley recently wrote an article for the Athletic about this. Link below, but I think you need a subscription.

‘He was handing the Cup to all of us’: The day Boston celebrated Ray Bourque’s Stanley Cup title