7

By Eric Wilbur

April 23, 2012

Seconds before Tyler Seguin scored the biggest goal of his young career, the jinx statement hit me.

The Boston Bruins are going to win the Cup.

Again.

I know, there’s a long road ahead, highlighted by Wednesday’s Game 7 against a resilient Washington Capitals team, but win that game, and…

Admit it, you feel it too.

Game 7’s have been pretty epic for the Bruins since, well, that day in May two years ago of which we do not speak of any longer.

Montreal.

Tampa Bay.

Vancouver.

Washington?

The fact that Game 7 doesn’t come across for us until Wednesday instills an infinite amount of stress and angst that we could really go without for three days. Game 7’s are normally a sports oddity, a journey reached by the stubborn will to never quit.

That pretty much defines these Bruins, doesn’t it?

It starts with the goaltender, maybe the best story in Boston sports history, despite the idiotic media attacks on his political stance. It continues with the Captain, a much-understood figure in his first couple years here until his emergence as a force that has been lacking on the ice since Ray Bourque. It moves on, forever who knows how long, with the kid stolen from Toronto, Lucic, Krejci, Bergeron, Ference, Tuukka, and yes, Claude.

Forty years ago Boston had a hockey team that defined a generation, one that went unfulfilled for heartbreaking years of youth. Well, kids, we have another. This is a team to appreciate. To devour. To love.

Quitting is easy. Desire is hard.

It is that never-say-die attitude that truly defines these Boston Bruins. It is a team that never quits and has a fire not seen in Boston since the 2004 Red Sox. They are a pleasure to watch and a ball full of stress at the same time.

There’s something to be said about sports and athletes like this, where work and adversity speak a larger role. Don’t quit. Keep it up. Move on.

The Bruins will win the Cup because of who they are, and whom they have become – a stalwart, determined bunch who know what it takes to win, and what it takes to get there. They are, Rangers (sorry, Vancouver) be damned, the best team in hockey, a team that could be a dominant memory in Boston sports history.

That’s what they have at stake.

And that is why they will win.