Bruins Blog Project: Opening Night 10/21/10
Once again, I will be attempting to blog comprehensively about every Bruins game I attend over the course of the year. Two years ago I achieved this successfully. Last year, I lost focus after 1 game. If this progresses naturally, I should not even finish this post. We’ll see.
Pre-Game: I have moved, which means I have a brand new route to the game. Farewell Red Line at Wollaston to Orange Line at Downtown Crossing. Hello Green Line the entire way. Plus, I get on at the start of the line, so I’ll always have a comfortable seat to listen to deafening pre-game music in. Hopped on the T at about 2:30 (yes, puck drop was at 7) and I was on my way.
I got to The Harp at 3. Why The Harp? Well, 98.5’s Felger & Mazz were broadcasting live and Jon wanted to check it out because their show is, admittedly, great. I walked into a nearly empty Harp (again, it was 3pm on a weekday) to see that Jon had nabbed a table, literally 2 feet from the broadcast table.
After my initial horror of sitting so close to Felger & Mazz subsided (thanks to multiple Sam Adams Octoberfests) Chris joined us. We soon noticed that two chairs and headsets had appeared at the broadcast table. Jon ran up to the producers and asked who was coming, as Jon is wont to do.
Turns out it was Boston Globe Bruins beat writer Kevin Paul Dupont and NESN’s very own Jack Edwards, who is near and dear to our hearts:
Jack is the nicest guy on the planet. In fact, I had called up that pic on my phone, showed it to him and he loved it. He also complimented me on my Savard jersey, saying, “I love your sweater. Keeping the faith!” He also had his family there, which was very adorable. Jack and Dupes joined the show, which we could only hear part of, then we took off to Fan Fest.
Fan Fest, the annual pre-Opening Night parking lot replete with a sponsor booths and terrible cover bands, was a brief pit stop. We got our limited edition t-shirts, made a quick lookover and headed out.
Next up was the Boston Sports Grille. It was insanely packed but we got a table quickly, ordered food and drink and waited for Steve to arrive. Opening night is great, because it’s the only game all 4 of us season ticket holders get to attend together until the playoffs. We only have 2 seats and split them up accordingly, but for special occasions we nab two extra seats. Our burgers, beer and banter went quickly by the wayside and we were on our way to the Garden.
The Game: I am attempting to spend no money inside of the Garden all year. This is no protest, just trying to be smart. If I am spending $8 on a beer, it will come with 5 friends. So, my drinking was done when we stepped inside. Well, you know, aside from the beer Chris bought me.
I immediately regretted my decision to stop drinking after the following announcement; “Ladies and gentlemen, please rise for the singing of our National Anthem to be performed by Steven Tyler!” Holy shit was this bad. It was so horrifying, but you couldn’t walk away. Tyler comes out dressed as Laconia lady of the night and sings with the words scrolling on the Jumbotron, presumably, so he wouldn’t forget them and then delivers this:
Gross.
Fortunately the crowd and the Bruins seemed to feed off the ridiculousness that preceded puck drop. It was a high intensity crowd and a good hockey crowd at that. After forcing back-to-back icings the Bruins got a standing ovation. It was nice to see that the crowd hadn’t been infiltrated by pink hats as some may have suspected.
The Bruins were excellent. Their skating was excellent and they picked their spots nicely as to when to bring the physicality. At first we were skeptical about their new Power Play, with Recchi at the point. But, just seconds after Jon exclaimed, “Why is Ryder out there on the Power Play?!” Rydes potted one and the Bruins never let up.
Bergeron was excellent and I’m excited to see Horton throughout the year. Seguin is the real deal. Just his flashes of brilliance alone are amazing. Can’t believe his career is 6 games deep.
The one thing I will say is that I’ve never seen a more fragile crowd. As soon as the Capitals scored to make it 3-1 it was as if all hell were breaking loose. Clearly last year’s collapse has done a lot of deep damage.
Post-game: Straight home. Wordapp.
