How great is this?

Dan Shaughnessy

In this century, it’s third

June 17, 2011|By Dan Shaughnessy, Globe Columnist

Though Bruin Shane Hnidy didnt play in the Cup Final, the Stanley Cup was… (Essdras M Suarez/Globe Staff)

One man’s opinion:

The Bruins winning the Stanley Cup in Vancouver is the third-greatest Boston sports moment of this trophy-heavy century.

Here are my top three:

Gold medal: 2004 Red Sox beat the Yankees in the American League Championship Series and win the World Series.

Silver medal: 2001-02 Patriots beat the Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI.

Bronze medal: 2010-11 Bruins win Stanley Cup.

The rest of the country is no doubt jealous of our pro sports High Renaissance. In the short span of seven seasons, we have witnessed the grand slam of North American trophy presentations.

Bob Kraft was handed his third Vince Lombardi bauble in Jacksonville in February of 2005. John Henry picked up his second World Series trophy (the one with all the little flags) in Denver in 2007, and Wyc Grousbeck snatched the Larry O’Brien Trophy on the Garden parquet in June of 2008.

Now the Stanley Cup is back in Boston for the first time since 1972.

The Cup is definitely the coolest piece of championship hardware. The other three are a little contrived, though we do like the wastebasket-and-ball look of the NBA trophy.

But that’s not the issue. This is a Boston sports barroom argument.

Let’s take the four sports individually. Baseball is always No. 1 in Boston, and the greatest season in Red Sox history is 2004. There can be no argument about this one. Nothing can top it. The Sox threw off 86 years of hard luck and heartache and pulled off the greatest comeback in baseball history — recovering from a 3-0 deficit against the Yankees.

This will never be superseded. It is biblical.

The second-greatest Red Sox season since Babe Ruth is 1967, the Impossible Dream year. We can never overstate the importance of ’67. It brought Boston baseball out of a two-decade coma. The Sox have never looked back.

The 2007 Red Sox were probably the best Boston baseball team of this century, but they can’t compete with the ’04 gang. Not even close.

For sure, there are other great Red Sox seasons, such as 1912, 1918, and 1946. It’s hard to put them in place after all these years, but none compare with ’04 or ’67.

Bill Russell and the Celtics spoiled us with 11 championships in 13 seasons between 1957-69. The Celtics returned to glory for a pair of championships in the ’70s, then became Boston’s most popular team when Larry Bird and friends won three banners in the 1980s. Their 22-year drought ended when Danny Ainge brought Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett on board for 2007-08.

The Patriots’ championships have all been won in this century, all owed to the trio of Tom Brady, Bill Belichick, and Bob Kraft. The Patriots had some good times back in the late 1900s, but no Super Bowl wins. The first one in New Orleans in February of 2002 will always be the best one.