Were you a Bruins fan the last time they played hockey eliminated from playoff contention (06/07)?

[Trap Jesus]

As crazy as it sounds, the last time the Bruins played a regular season game with nothing to look forward to but a draft pick was in April of 2007. When they missed the playoffs in 2014/15, they still had playoff hope AFTER the 6-1 drubbing to Ottawa in the last game of the regular season, and in 2015/16, their playoff hopes depended on their last regular season game vs. Tampa + the Penguins game going on at the same time.

Kind of puts into context how crazy this run of consistency has been.

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[dafoomie]

I still watch this once in a while.

 

[JoeIsAStud]

Great run, in my lifetime (52 years) he Bruins have playing meaningless end of year games 5 times.

 

[Dennis Bonvie]

In the playoffs 29 years in a row from 1967-68 to 1995-96.

Over .500 ever year. Only close to .500 two or three times. Great teams that were especially entertaining.

 

[KrejciMVP]

I remember being very disappointed with the team that underachieved following the year 98-99 year 2nd round loss to Buffalo. Byron Dafoe held out and was never really the same after that year when he had a 1.99 GAA. Thought they had a great team going into that year and it was a disaster

 

[Trap Jesus]

Well I guess this poll tells us something about the demographic here lol

 

[BruinDust]

As crazy as it sounds, the last time the Bruins played a regular season game with nothing to look forward to but a draft pick was in April of 2007. When they missed the playoffs in 2014/15, they still had playoff hope AFTER the 6-1 drubbing to Ottawa in the last game of the regular season, and in 2015/16, their playoff hopes depended on their last regular season game vs. Tampa + the Penguins game going on at the same time.

Kind of puts into context how crazy this run of consistency has been.

If only they had invested in a capable back-up in either 15 or 16, I have no doubt were looking at 13 consecutive years in the playoffs, which would be 2nd only to Pittsburgh's 14 straight among current streaks. Which would of been a heck of a feat in a 31 team salary cap system.

Julien had zero confidence in either Svedberg or Gustavsson and simply ran Rask into the ground both seasons. A capable back-up and they not only get more points from the back-up, but are able to rest Rask more and get more out of him in the games he does play.

 

[DarrenBanks56]

not only that. i watched every game that year. and 05/06 season. ugh

 

[McGarnagle]

I started watching the Bruins in 1995, and have watched with almost every game regularity (give or take) since 2002. I'm fortunate enough that I was born just early enough to catch at least the end of the Neely/Bourque/Oates era, and was in my early 20s during the cup run. But by no circumstance am I claiming to be a better fan than someone who started watching in 2012 just because I'm older and have watched more.

I'm not trying to accuse anyone of anything nor do I want to generalize everyone of a certain generation, but I have definitely noticed once in a while on the internet that some older fans are very dismissive of younger/newer fans as if they're not "real fans" because they didn't earn their stripes by sitting through the 1997 season or the Dave Lewis era. As if there's a skepticism that young fans are all bandwagoners until they prove their loyalty by sticking with it through bad times. But I feel like if someone has good insight or wants to learn more about the game, it doesn't matter if they started watching last week or in 1923 to me.

 

[McGarnagle]

Well I guess this poll tells us something about the demographic here lol

Let's be honest, message boards are a dead medium. Between reddit, discord, and twitter, very few young kids are going to actively search for a board to join. HF is probably one of the last true active ones, held up mostly on its size and the strength of content on hockey. But the average age of users here is probably skewing north of 30.

 

[Trap Jesus]

Let's be honest, message boards are a dead medium. Between reddit, discord, and twitter, very few young kids are going to actively search for a board to join. HF is probably one of the last true active ones, held up mostly on its size and the strength of content on hockey. But the average age of users here is probably skewing north of 30.

Yeah that's a good point, you wouldn't expect younger adults/kids to frequent this forum.

 

[KrugAvoy]

Year after the lockout in 2005 was my first year watching. I was in like the 5th grade or something then. I watched a bit of the playoffs against Montreal the year before the lockout but my first full season watching was the 05 06 season.


What I do remember is the Bruins wives carnival. I remember they were practically giving away free tickets left and right at those events for awhile

 

[aguineapig]

Recall missing the playoffs eight years running, 1960 -67. But the last year of that dismal streak, a saviour would appear. And the team, the city and its fans and the sport itself would be changed four-ever.

 

[TwineTickler]

Been a Boston sports fan all my life (born in 84) as my Dad thankfully raised me correctly in Fairfield County CT... I could have been a dirty NY Fan (couldn't find puke emoji, so please visualize)... so always rooted for the Bruins, but hockey wasn't on TV that much and my dad at the time was definitely more into baseball, basketball, football... there was no park and rec hockey in my town, so hockey was on the back burner for me until Bergerons rookie year... I really started watching during the playoff series against the Habs, yes that one, and just fell in love with it, and also being a huge red sox fan all my life, could easily draw the parallel between Sox-Yanks and Habs-Bruins... that playoff loss resonated with me. Following year I was so pumped for hockey and then the lockout happened, but I couldn't wait until they fired things back up. Since that playoff series Hockey has been far and away my number one sport, Bruins are far and away my favorite team, if I miss a game I'm not a happy camper... and I literally can't watch a regular season baseball game.

So, the long winded answer to your question is... yes

 

[BMC]

Been a Boston sports fan all my life (born in 84) as my Dad thankfully raised me correctly in Fairfield County CT... I could have been a dirty NY Fan (couldn't find puke emoji, so please visualize)... so always rooted for the Bruins, but hockey wasn't on TV that much and my dad at the time was definitely more into baseball, basketball, football... there was no park and rec hockey in my town, so hockey was on the back burner for me until Bergerons rookie year... I really started watching during the playoff series against the Habs, yes that one, and just fell in love with it, and also being a huge red sox fan all my life, could easily draw the parallel between Sox-Yanks and Habs-Bruins... that playoff loss resonated with me. Following year I was so pumped for hockey and then the lockout happened, but I couldn't wait until they fired things back up. Since that playoff series Hockey has been far and away my number one sport, Bruins are far and away my favorite team, if I miss a game I'm not a happy camper... and I literally can't watch a regular season baseball game.

So, the long winded answer to your question is... yes

Major props to your dad, Fairfield County is pretty much a suburb of NYC. The place reeks of Yankee/Ranger/Knicks fans!

 

[BMC]

I started watching the Bruins seriously in 1988 when cable tv finally made its way to my little town. Been with them ever since through the highs and the lows.

 

[TwineTickler]

Major props to your dad, Fairfield County is pretty much a suburb of NYC. The place reeks of Yankee/Ranger/Knicks fans!

Yea I'd say it was a good 75/25 split between NY and BOS fans for the most part. He was born/raised in Dover and my mom is from Pittsfield so that helped... but he actually was a Yankee fan for a few years growing up because his Mom was when they lived in Florida after his parents got divorced. SO glad he made the correct decision to go back to his roots.

 

[UConn126]

I was, but I didn't pay too close of attention to the team during that time. I was a huge Bruins fan as a kid in the 90s into the early 2000's. As a young defensemen, I obviously idolized Bourque. But then I stepped away from playing the game around 2004 to focus more on playing music, which obviously lined up with the NHL lockout, so hockey went from being a huge part of my life to non-existent in it. Once the NHL came back, I had a 3ish year period where I paid almost no attention to hockey, but I eventually caught wind of all the exciting young talent the Bruins had (Krejci, Kessel, and above all others, Lucic) and started watching again and quickly got back in the habit of watching every game I could.

 

[Killer B]

Been a Bruins fan since early 70's and became an absolute diehard during the late 70's (talk about entertaining hockey!)
I think I've created hundreds of Bruins fans due to my cult like following of the team over the years. I'm in the process of
trying to see the B's play in every stadium in the league with the wife (halfway there). I probably miss a total of 2/3 games
a year and I'm a miserable slug when I do! One of my proudest Bruins moments is when my wife got hit in the neck by a
puck shot by the Brad Marchand (how many people can say that!)...

The Boston Bruins are like an illness to me and I'm a sick, sick man...

 

[sarge88]

Yeah that's a good point, you wouldn't expect younger adults/kids to frequent this forum.

Which is crazy IMO.

There is so much good content/discussion/opinion/information here that it is really unfortunate that more people don't utilize it.

 

[Dennis Bonvie]

Let's be honest, message boards are a dead medium. Between reddit, discord, and twitter, very few young kids are going to actively search for a board to join. HF is probably one of the last true active ones, held up mostly on its size and the strength of content on hockey. But the average age of users here is probably skewing north of 30.

Isn't that a good thing?

 

[JOKER 192]

been a fan since late 69' but gotta admit I wasn't paying to much attention for most of that decade especially during the Mike O'Connell/lock out era. Slowly got back into when Chia took over.

 

[PatriceBergeronFan]

Yeah that's a good point, you wouldn't expect younger adults/kids to frequent this forum.

Except on the Toronto side.

 

[Jdavidev]

The night the lights went out at the garden, I became aware of the NHL (as opposed to my local AHL team) and became an instant fan of the Neely, Bourque.