BY: DUANE A. STEINEL
Boston; Home of really good lobster, clam chowder, and currently that’s about it. For sports, at least. Red Sox suck. Celtics suck. Patriots really suck. And the Bruins are on their way. Let’s be real here. There are franchises I hate, like the Leafs. But I respect their fanbase because I can relate to them in many ways. Bruins fans are a different breed. You dick-heads tried to chase your star goalie out of town because he chose his sick daughter over the playoffs. You literally accused him of giving up on his team and not caring. For simply running to his daughter when she was sick and wanted him. Unreal. Buffalo Sabres fans might complain a lot. Believe me, we do. But that’s one thing we’ll never do. We have morals and decency. But hey, you keep living by that unholy mantra of “tHeY hAtE uS cUz tHeY AiN’t uS.” So here are my top five. You bunch of chowder heads.
5.) Zdeno Chara:
Fuck Chara. Seriously fuck him. No, I don’t hate him. But fuck him. Why? Because he’s 6’9” and has played 1,553 games. He’s been a pain in Buffalo’s and the league’s ass for 22 seasons. Considering he has size only comparable to Sasquatch, it’s not hard to believe he’s lasted in the league as long as he has. Not many players are big enough to push him around. With a wingspan of 7 feet, he’s been one of the most lockdown defencemen in the league for two decades. He has a cannon from the blue line and was once clocked at 108.8 mph in 2012.
He’s been a mainstay within the Bruins organization for 18 years and served as captain for his entire career there. When given the honor in just his first season, then General Manager, Peter Chiarelli stated, “Zdeno’s leadership qualities have been apparent from the time he joined players for their informal skates prior to training camp”.
In 2008 Chara took home the coveted James Norris Memorial Trophy as the league’s top defenceman. Three years later he would be a Stanley Cup Champion. Being captain and a leader isn’t just about winning trophies and scoring points though. Chara leads the way in a lot of charity work in Boston. Whether he’s delivering pies to area shelters on Thanksgiving, shoes to the needy with his Soles4Souls Foundation, or collecting pajamas for the Bruins annual PJ Drive, Chara doesn’t hesitate to help those who need it.
Chara to date has 656 in 22 seasons and has committed to playing a 23rd. Chara is the standard on the blueline, and most definitely deserves to one day be enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame.
4.) Byron Dafoe:
Byron had many big accolades over the course of his NHL career, but none was bigger than when he was my guest on episode 17 of “2 Goalies 1 Mic”! Okay, I’m totally kidding, but the guy is an absolute gem. Born in Sussex of the United Kingdom, Dafoe was drafted by the Washington Capitals in the second round. In 1997, Dafoe would be traded to the Bruins in a deal that saw Jozef Stumpel, Sandy Moger, and a 4th round pick go back the other way. While with Boston, Dafoe would post three 30-win seasons and 132 total wins in his 5-year career with the Bruins. He would appear in an All-Star game in the 98-99 season when he posted a .926 save percentage, 2.00 GAA, and 10 shutouts. A career year, he’d be nominated for the Vezina Trophy. Who won it that year? Oh yeah. That’s right—the Dominator.
Dafoe was always known for his unbelievable mask designs. He was just as flashy in the net, making acrobatic saves and from time to time engaging in fisticuffs. Dafoe would fight his best friend and best man at his wedding, another former guest on my show, Olaf Kolzig, in 1998. Dafoe would also fight Patrick Lalime in 2002 in a game against the Senators.
Dafoe also charitable, co-founded the “Athletes Against Autism” with his best friend and other former NHL goalie Olaf Kolzig. He finished his career in 2004, with 171 total wins, and will forever be one of my top five favorite Boston Bruins of all-time.
3.) Sergei Samsonov:
Yeah, remember that guy? Sergei Samsonov. He was a Bruin for eight seasons. When thinking of Samsonov, the one word that always comes to mind was electrifying. One of the first non Sabres cards I ever collected, Samsonov was both exciting and dynamic. Lightning speed and could stick handle in a phone booth.
After being drafted by Boston with the 8th overall pick in 1997, Samsonov would stun fans his rookie year when he scored 22 goals and 47 points. He would go to win the Calder Memorial Trophy as rookie of the year at the end of the season, and from there go on to have three more 20 plus goal seasons. It would have been four, had he not been dealt to Edmonton at the trade deadline in 2006, when he had 18 goals for the Bruins. He would finish that season with 23 goals and made it to the Stanley Cup finals with the Oilers.
In 514 games with the Bruins, Samsonov scored 376 points. Yet somehow, when you bring up his name to Bruins fans, they give a look of confusion, taking a solid 10 seconds before remembering who Samsonov was. This is probably because they’re too busy trying to think of new ways to defend that rat-faced scumbag, Brad Marchand, the next time he licks someone’s chin on a face-off or cries on one knee when someone calls him a naughty name. Cheers, Sergei, you deserved better.
2.) Patrice Bergeron:
Patrice Bergeron is the blueprint of what any team should want in a first-line center. A dynamic goal scorer, elite playmaker, and has been one of the best 2-way centers the league has had for well over a decade.
After Bergeron was drafted by Boston in 2003 with their second-round pick, Bergeron would end his rookie campaign with 16 goals and 39 points. From that point forward, Bergeron would go on to score 20 or more goals eleven times and 30 or more six times. In 2011, Bergeron and the Bruins reached the pinnacle of hockey success when the Bruins won the Stanley Cup. That post-season, Bergeron would post 20 points but lost out on the Conn Smythe Trophy to Tim Thomas, whose performance was legendary.
Bergeron would go on to win the Frank J. Selke Trophy as the league’s best defensive forward four times. He would also take home the King Clancy Memorial Trophy in 2013 as the player with the most notable leadership and community contribution. Bergeron’s charity work in the city of Boston has been nearly second to none, especially with his own “Patrice’s Pals” program, which invites patients from local hospitals and other children’s organizations to watch games in a suite at TD Garden, receive gifts from the organization, dinner, a personal video on the scoreboard, and meet with Bergeron himself.
Bergeron is one of the few Bruins I respect. He’s a class act on and off the ice, and will I hope, one day be sent to the hall. Class act……that’s a term rarely used when describing Boston Sports figures. Yeah, I said it.
1.) Ray Bourque:
This one was a no-brainer. In my generation, The Bruins and Ray Bourque go together like lamb and tuna fish…..maybe you would prefer spaghetti and meatballs? Okay. Big Daddy references aside, the point is when you think about the Boston Bruins, Bourque is one of the first players you think of. Over 1600 games played in his 23-year career, Bourque reached 90 points in a single season four different times. Numbers you might never see again with his consistency. In fact, he would score at least 80 points ten different times. In Bruins fan’s eyes, Bourque was the next coming of legend Bobby Orr. George Johnson for NHL.com, in a piece “100 Greatest NHL Players,”, writes “Bourque was blessed with a hard shot, could skate like the wind and make pinpoint passes out of the defensive zone.”
Bourque is the blueprint for what you want in a cornerstone defenseman. He had the ability to quarterback a powerplay, rush the puck from behind his own net into the offensive zone, take on the opponent’s most skilled players, and scored willingly. He has the hardware to prove it. Five Norris Trophies as the league’s top defender. He’s been voted into the NHL All-Star game nineteen times. Winner of the King Clancy Memorial Trophy in 1992 and got the call for hockey’s highest honor when he was elected into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2004, just three years after finally reaching his dream of winning a Stanley Cup.
In 2001, after defeating the New Jersey Devils in Game 7, Joe Sakic broke tradition when being handed the cup by league Commissioner Gary Bettman. Instead of taking the first lap as captain with the cup, Sakic immediately handed Lord Stanley’s Cup to Bourque. He broke into tears, kissed the cup, and took his lap. A lap he had waited 23 long years to make. This would be the final game of his illustrious career. He was traded to Colorado after 21 seasons with Boston, and although he won it all with the Avalance, he will always be a Bruin. Of his 1,579 career points, 1,506 of those were in black and gold. He was the captain. Their leader. He was the Black and Gold Standard.
The Sports Desk can be reached at editorialtrainwrecksports@gmail.com
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