No question, Bruins went down hard

April 21, 2004|Bob Ryan, Globe Columnist

Let's establish this: The Bruins played hard. They skated hard on every shift, they were diligent about finishing every check for every one of the 3,600 ticks on the clock, and they were still buzzing around Jose Theodore as the curtain slowly fell on the 2003-04 season.

Effort was not an issue.

"It's disappointing," confirmed coach Mike Sullivan. "I thought our guys played extremely hard. We had our chances to score goals [Monday]. We probably deserved a better fate. But that's the nature of sports."

Is it ever. If it's Justice you want -- and, yes, that was a completely fascinated David Justice in attendance at his first Stanley Cup game -- turn on "Law and Order," or some such thing. Our sports promise a lot, but justice is never on the menu. In this field of endeavor, Justice ain't got nuttin' to do wit' nuttin'.

"Go back to Game 4," agreed Canadiens mentor Claude Julien. "I thought we deserved a better fate. But in playoff hockey it's not about what you should get. It's about results. We concentrated on getting the result."

It was, quite frankly, the single most important Bruins game of the new century. It may even have been the single most important Bruins game of the last 25 years. (Modern Bruins history starts with "Too Many Men On The Ice.") With an opportunity to lock in a new/revived fan base, with an opportunity to demonstrate to Jeremy Jacobs the wisdom of actually Going For It (finally!) and with an opportunity to avoid the hurt and frustration and possibly even the humiliation of losing, for the first time in franchise history, a series in which they held a 3-1 lead, the Bruins could not secure the required result. The Bruins lost Monday night's Game 7 by a 2-0 score, and, as a result, their season is over.

It would have been bad under any circumstances, but why, oh why, did it have to come against the hated Habs? Didn't the Bruins defuse this Montreal thing a long time ago?

"It was like being a little kid in the '80s again," said one person of my acquaintance. "I was sitting there with my father, saying, `Dad, why can't we beat the Canadiens?' "

Ordinarily, we could say, "Wait till next year." But if you've been following the NHL, you know there may not be a next year. The armies are forming for what most hockey pundits say will be the mother of all hockey labor disputes. The common assumption is that when the horn sounds in the final game of the Stanley Cup finals, it will signal the beginning of a nuclear autumn, winter, and spring. Training Camp '04 is an "if," not a "when."

So it would have been nice to squeeze out as much enjoyment and satisfaction as you could from this year's activity. Those memories were going to have to carry you through till whenevah.