News Article: Who Is The Bruins Biggest Rival Today

[jgatie]

I don't take any team seriously when the videos of them winning the Cup are all in black and white.

It's Habs today, Habs tomorrow, Habs forever!

 

[Mathews28]

If we’re talking all time rival it’s the Habs. If we are talking g all time most despised opponent, it’s the Habs.

We are talking current RIVAL and for me it’s a combination of the team(s) most likely to compete strongly for, And be “in the way” of, the prize that the Bruins are after, who the bruins play a fair amount, who the Bruins fans and players get the most geared up for.

That’s not Montreal in my eyes and while I don’t know I would guess it’s not Montreal for the Bruins players and coaches now.

I feel It’s TB who’s playing that role now. Games I. Recent years have become much more heated. TB is pulling the garbage that the Canadiens used to do.

 

[b in vancouver]

Second article in a couple of days. This one was a lot of fun to write. I took a look at the B’s v Habs rivalry of the past and who their biggest rival is today.

Who Is The Bruins Biggest Rival Today?

Feedback is appreciated. If you disagree with my thoughts and think someone else is a legit rival for the Bruins, let me know.

Hopefully you enjoy reading this one as much as I enjoyed writing it. Brought back a lot of memories.

I disagree. Completely. Until The Leafs actually succeed, or if there's some actual bad blood, then it's not much of a rivalry. One dirty hit by Kadri and the Toronto hype-machine (and fans) as they try to make it a rivalry does not make it so. I like watching the drama and silly fan expectations of that team but they've been mostly irrelevant for so long that it's hard to care.
So much of this 'rivalry' seems like a kid brother just trying desperately to trash talk an older better brother so that other people will think of him. It's like pretending there's a giant rivalry with Ottawa or Buffalo.

3 series over 20+ years that The Bruins won is fun, but not rivalry.

 

[RoccoF14]

That article, and a lot of posters on this thread have no concept of what a rivalry truly is. That is why they fail to see that this question really only has one answer.....Montreal.

If you have to ask the question of who your biggest rival is, then you don't have one........

1. Like a good whisky, rivalries take years and years to develop. Sometimes they take a generation or two. They don't just pop up because of one or 2 close games or 1 or 2 playoff series. They also just don't go away because one or both teams aren't as competitive as they used to be.
2. Rivalries are passed down by fans from generation to generation and they are part of the fabric of a team.
3. Rivalries are also mutual. BOTH teams, and their fans, have to be equally vested in the rivalry. Not just one.
4. Rivalries have NOTHING to do with how good a team is. You want to crush that team just as much when they suck as you do when they are good.

Army-Navy, Red Sox-Yankees, Packers-Bears, Bruins-Habs, Michigan-Ohio State. THAT is a rivalry.

Washington? Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay, Toronto as our biggest rivalry? Ridiculous.

 

[Mathews28]

That article, and a lot of posters on this thread have no concept of what a rivalry truly is. That is why they fail to see that this question really only has one answer.....Montreal.

1. Like a good whisky, rivalries take years and years to develop. Sometimes they take a generation or two. They don't just pop up because of one or 2 close games or 1 or 2 playoff series.
2. Rivalries are passed down by fans from generation to generation and they are part of the fabric of a team.
3. Rivalries are also mutual. BOTH teams, and their fans, have to be equally vested in the rivalry. Not just one.
4. Rivalries have NOTHING to do with how good a team is. You want to crush that team just as much when they suck as you do when they are good.

Army-Navy, Red Sox-Yankees, Packers-Bears, Bruins-Habs, Michigan-Ohio State. THAT is a rivalry.

Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay, Toronto as our biggest rivalry? Ridiculous.

Ridiculous? Not really, not in the context of the thread, And certainly not by definition. I think a somewhat more open mind is helpful in contributing to the spirit of the thread. I get what some are saying here, defining a rivalry as a long standing thing, and honestly that’s how I have always measured a true rivalry, so I suppose you could replace “rival” in the thread title with some other reference.

rival:
noun
a person or thing competing with another for the same objective or for superiority in the same field of activity.

Habs hardly meet this definition these days. TB certainly is though.

I think those saying anything other than the Habs are doing so in the context of the thread, which asked who the biggest “current” rival is, and which in my view was stated exactly that way because we already know who the biggest historical rival is. The thread didn’t ask for the longest standing rivalRY. Nor the team they hate the most.

TB is probably currently the opponent who brings the greatest blend of intensity, hate, challenge, meaningful games, etc as well as potentially being a huge obstacle (unless they lose in the first round) toward advancement in the playoffs.

 

[4ORRBRUIN]

Habs, PERIOD!

Leafs are a cute story but I don't hate them. Their fans are dicks though

 

[PB37]

The Leafs are like the annoying little toy dog that keeps on barking at your heels but you eventually just kick out of the way to get to get back to your business. I think their internet fans put up more of a fight than their on-ice product. It's a team filled with mentally fragile kids that play a one dimensional style of hockey. I don't consider them to be a rival.

Even with shitty teams, Montreal games tend to have a level of intensity to them that other games don't have in the regular season. It's not just the fans; players feel it on the ice too.

I think we would need to meet the Lightning again in the playoffs and have it be a war to consider them a true current rival. Point standing rivalries aren't really exciting to me, it's all about what happens out on the ice.

 

[b in vancouver]

The Leafs are like the annoying little toy dog that keeps on barking at your heels but you eventually just kick out of the way to get to get back to your business. I think their internet fans put up more of a fight than their on-ice product. It's a team filled with mentally fragile kids that play a one dimensional style of hockey. I don't consider them to be a rival.

Even with shitty teams, Montreal games tend to have a level of intensity to them that other games don't have in the regular season. It's not just the fans; players feel it on the ice too.

I think we would need to meet the Lightning again in the playoffs and have it be a war to consider them a true current rival. Point standing rivalries aren't really exciting to me, it's all about what happens out on the ice.

I used the kid brother analogy but 'toy dog' works.

 

[b in vancouver]

It's been a couple year lull... but Bruins and Habs have met 4 times in the The Cap years and the Habs have actually beaten them two of those times, plus beating them in 2004 when The B's had a bloody all-star team.

If Tampa had the endless hype machine and amount of fans that T.O. does would people consider them to be the biggest rival? They're right there.

The Toronto vs. Boston 'rivalry' seems so contrived - like Leaf fans trying desperately to generate one and shoe-horning their way between Boston and Montreal. A sad part of me wants The Habs to be successful again simply so I don't have to hear about The Leafs as much. I understand why their fans hate The Bruins but it'll take multiple more playoff series before I really care about them. During my lifetime The Leafs are the epitome of a summer team - just something their fans can talk about in July about how good they're going to be next season.

 

[b in vancouver]

I don't take any team seriously when the videos of them winning the Cup are all in black and white.

It's Habs today, Habs tomorrow, Habs forever!

I'm too lazy to look it up (maybe later) but how many times do you think The Leafs have finished ahead of the Bruins in the regular season standings in the last 50 years? Three or four times maybe.

 

[JCRO]

It’s Tampa for me. Those are the games I Get most pumped to see.

Tampa is the current biggest rival IMO. Goliath. The Juggernaut. Ive said it recently on here but that fourth line gets my blood boiling. Especially adding Maroon after the Bs faced him last spring (also have never liked the guy even before then. Dating back to his EDM days) and Shattenkirk on an ridiculously cheap deal after he was bought out.

MTL is starting to become relevant again though so that gets me fired up and thinking that rivalry will re-kindle again.

And as others have stated above, TORs fans are insufferable. I don't really feel that dislike/hate factor towards their team though...idk.

 

[Dennis Bonvie]

There are no rivals.

Maybe between fan bases, but not to the players.

 

[jgatie]

There are no rivals.

Maybe between fan bases, but not to the players.

1:50 in.



Also, tell that to the 1988 team that finally beat the Habs. Every one of them would laugh in your face.

 

[Dennis Bonvie]

There are no rivals today.

Isn't the thread title:

Who Is The Bruins Biggest Rival Today

 

[jgatie]

There are no rivals today.

Isn't the thread title:

Who Is The Bruins Biggest Rival Today

Still disagree. If you think a Habs/Bruins series today wouldn't mean a little something extra to the players due to the history, then you don't know hockey players.

 

[Dennis Bonvie]

Still disagree. If you think a Habs/Bruins series today wouldn't mean a little something extra to the players due to the history, then you don't know hockey players.

You're correct, I don't know a single player on the Bruins or the Canadiens.

Still, I haven't seen a game between these two teams in recent years that looked like a rivalry.

 

[jgatie]

You're correct, I don't know a single player on the Bruins or the Canadiens.

Still, I haven't seen a game between these two teams in recent years that looked like a rivalry.

Sigh. I said nothing about knowing any particular players. But welcome to my ignore filter. Your tired shtick is not something I need anymore.

 

[Dennis Bonvie]

Sigh. I said nothing about knowing any particular players. But welcome to my ignore filter. Your tired shtick is not something I need anymore.

I don't get it.

 

[304]

Obviously a personal opinion, but the Leafs games today feel more like a rivalry than the Habs games. However, they come nowhere close to the intensity of the Habs games from about 2008-2012 (just throwing those years off the top of my head).

On the other hand, the games against Tampa Bay feel like the "biggest" games. We've done well against the Leafs overall in the last decade, but when we play the Lightning there's more on the line (at least during the regular season). I'll admit it as a fan: the Lightning scare me. They have so much talent top-to-bottom.