Final Thoughts on 2010-11 NHL Season: I liked Boston more when its teams sucked

In 1986, the Boston Celtics won their third and final NBA Championship of that decade. It was the same year I was only becoming introduced to professional sports on television, but it would still be a couple more years before I really began following basketball. Instead, the city of Boston, to me, became synonymous with suffering in 1986 for two different sports. After all, maybe you recall what happened to the city's football team earlier on or their beloved Red Sox later on in the same year of that Celtics title I just mentioned. You couldn't help but feel sorry for entire city, and it's little wonder that such embarrassment cemented Beantown's place as a home for sports tragedy in my mind. (If that word choice seems inappropriate to any reader, I might remind you of what else occurred that year. [NOTE: It only dawned on me the day after posting this that the date of this posting was in fact the 25th anniversary])

Fast-forward a decade-and-a-half, and a new century has truly ushered in a remarkably different fortune for Boston. While last year's Stanley Cup for the Blackhawks marked the last championship necessary to allow me to say I've seen all four of my favorite teams reach the tops of their respective mountains, those titles were spread out over the course of a quarter-century. And now in a matter of a decade, "The Cradle of Liberty" has accumulated three Super Bowl victories, two World Series titles, an NBA Championship, and this year, finally, a Stanley Cup. I was fully aware of this entering the final round of this year's NHL postseason, which perhaps factored into me picking against the Bruins each and every single round (you know, in addition to being among the others who were doubting Tim Thomas, and also remembering that picking against Boston has treated me well the past couple years).

But there's little other reason for me to be bitter. After all, every Blackhawks fan can find some satisfaction in knowing that a perennial rival has once again suffered a devastating loss—further worsened by the worldwide embarrassment of that city's hooligans looting and pillaging. To Vancouver's credit, the better residents promptly sought to make things right.

Hockey brings out some passionate and visceral emotions from the fans who hold the sport closest, so it's indeed very possible that this year's victory might be sweeter to many Boston residents than any of those other championships earned thus far in this 21st century. Or it might just be further fuel for Massachusetts' ever-growing number of douchebags. Either way, what's done is done, and in many ways, this is one year I'm going to want to forget.


In addition to my aforementioned anti-New England sentiment, another obvious reason to shudder when recalling this 2011 NHL postseason will be my first-to-worst performance this postseason in predicting outcomes. Here's how everybody else and I ended up faring:

1. (1) Sean Leahy, Puck Daddy: 13-2 (5)
2. (3) Ross McKeon, Yahoo: 13-2 (4)
3. (2) Justin Bourne, Puck Daddy: 12-3 (6)
4. (3) Matt Romig, Yahoo: 12-3 (4)
5. (5) Ryan Lambert, Puck Daddy: 11-4 (5)
6. (6) Darryl Dobbs, Puck Daddy: 11-4 (3)
6. (12) Erin Nicks, Puck Daddy: 11-4 (3)
6. (6) Greg Wyshynski, Puck Daddy: 11-4 (3)
9. (8) Rob Pizzo, Puck Daddy: 11-4 (2)
10. (9) Matthew Barnaby, ESPN: 10-4 (3)
11. (10) Sam McCaig, Yahoo: 10-5 (2)
12. (11) Nicholas J. Cotsonika, Yahoo: 10-5 (0)
13. (13) John Buccigross, ESPN: 9-6 (2) 
13. (16) Steve Levy, ESPN: 9-6 (2)
13. (13) Barry Melrose, ESPN: 9-6 (2)
16. (15) Matt Barr, Puck Daddy: 9-6 (0)
17. (17) Dmitry Chesnokov, Puck Daddy: 8-6 (1)
18. (21) Scott Burnside, ESPN: 7-8 (0)
19. (18) Linda Cohn, ESPN: 6-9 (3)
19. (18) Pierre LeBrun, ESPN: 6-9 (3)
21. (20) E.J. Hradek, ESPN: 6-9 (2) 
22. (21) YOURS TRULY: 6-9 (0)

Yep, that's pretty dreadful. So much for thinking this was the sport I had the best handle on.

Of course, one of the most obvious reasons for not wanting to reminisce too much about this season will be the first-round exit suffered by the Blackhawks. While they were one of two teams this postseason that went into a 3-0 hole and still came back to force a Game 7, ultimately both those teams that rebounded still ended up losing the series. When making predictions at the beginning of this hockey season, I felt confident that despite the many roster changes my favorite team had to make, they'd still be able to contend. And in a certain sense, they still made me proud. But it's hard not to think of the end result as being disappointing when your Cup defense couldn't extend past one round.

And speaking of looking back at predictions, I guess we can also conclude that this year marks the end of the "Winter Classic" curse, in which the visiting team in the New Year's Day outdoor game ends up being the runner-up in the Stanley Cup Final. It may very well also mark the last time I'm picking the Washington Capitals to get there, now that I've done that for two straight years—but I suppose there's still an entire off-season for free agency moves and whatnot to possibly influence next year's misguided logic. Aside from having a few opening round victors correct this year and Philadelphia suffering a second-round exit, none of my other pre-season predictions really came to pass.

I don't know if it was the Blackhawks' absence or my pathetic record in regards to prognostications, but this year's playoffs certainly didn't strike me as being as engrossing as more recent years. Ordinarily, a Stanley Cup having to go seven games would, on its own, be redeeming enough—let alone a tournament that featured seven series altogether that went the maximum number of games. But considering that all four Bruins victories in the final round were fairly lopsided affairs, the drama wasn't anywhere near the level of the Pittsburgh/Detroit series from two years ago. And while Wyshynksi had good reason to call the Sharks/Red Wings series "a classic," that post came little more than a week after he was calling it the "Worst. Second. Round. Ever." In the end, I guess I was taken aback that this one of the rare years in which I found myself becoming more emotionally involved in the NBA Playoffs than the NHL's, but that can be attributed to a number of other factors (a combination of Blackhawks disappointment and Bulls surprise; my girlfriend's Mavericks going all the way; being among the MANY rooting for anyone other than LeBron and the Heat, etc.). 

While Canada once again could not bring home Lord Stanley, at least next year the country can look forward to having one new representative before the puck drops while their neighbor to the south will have one less—and then we can all begin to further speculate how the league should end up realigning the divisions. If indeed work stoppages occur in either/both the NFL and the NBA, then hockey's going to be all we have once the World Series concludes.

Do I really think that will happen? Nah. Both those other sports with lockouts looming or ongoing will likely resolve their issues since they're both coming off exceptionally successful seasons in terms of popularity and ratings. But it would be ironic if just six years after the NHL lost an entire season without many saying they'd miss the sport, hockey suddenly ended up being the only act in town. Like I said, probably won't work out that way, but at least I can finally conclude one of these "Final Thought" segments without some doubt about the sport's future going into next year. I suppose that alone should give me something to be grateful for.