1. Game Six

The title of the post really says it all. It's not "Eastern Conference Quarterfinals-Game 6", or "Bruins Playoff Home Game 3", it's just "Game 6". Any Bruins fan would know exactly what that was referring to, and will continue to remember it vividly for years to come.

I'm only 20 years old, and my hockey memory only goes back so far. I don't really remember anything before 1998, so I missed the real glory days of the Black and Gold. However, I've seen plenty of hockey games in my two decades, and I think this is far and away the best game I have ever seen. It had it all: a loud crowd, an air of desperation from both sides, intensity, chippiness, lead changes, bad goals, highlight reel goals, and overall drama. There are dozens of videos of this game on YouTube, of which I've probably watched 90%. I have this game on DVR too, and have watched it at least three times, and may watch it again before tonight's opener too. (In fact, I have two versions of it: one NESN replayed, and one from CBC that was on the NHL Network. It's pretty interesting to hear the differences in the way the pairs of announcers call the game).

This was a game that I wasn't too sure about, and was definitely nervous about the outcome. The Bruins had an incredible showing in game five, stunning the Montreal crowd with a sound 5-1 victory, and this should have led to a boost of confidence in the team. My only fear was that the Bruins would come home and completely lay an egg, falling flat in front of the home crowd.

No dice.

This game started off rocking, just like games three and four, but unfortunately I missed the beginning. I had to work, and ended up leaving an hour and a half early to miss as little as possible. I heard the Bruins were down 1-0 fairly early, and was watching the game at a pizza place in the North End while waiting for my food, when this happened:



I'm not ashamed to say that I threw up both hands and yelled "holy shit!" in the middle of a pizza place. Phil Kessel undressed Francis Boullion, and in doing so tied the game. That was probably the nicest individual goal I've ever seen Kessel score, except for the one at the end of the previous season where he batted the puck in out of the air against the Penguins. However, that goal came in a game of no consequence, where as this was a do-or-die situation. Just like that, on what appeared to be a broken play, Kessel had the Bruins back in business.

It wouldn't last long, however, as after coming oh-so-close on a power-play, including hitting the post once, the B's gave up a breakaway goal to Tomas Plekanec, who stepped out of the penalty box, took an easy feed in on goal and slipped one past Thomas.

Again, the Bruins found themselves down a goal, as time began to tick away early in the third period. However, they'd respond on what again looked like a broken play. Peter Schaefer carried the puck into the Montreal zone, nearly catching Vladimir Sobotka offside. Schaefer then tried to flip a pass to Sobotka, who grazed the puck while skating to the crease, somehow slipping it past Carey Price. To this day, I'm still not entirely sure how that puck went in the net, and from the looks of the celebration Schaefer and Sobotka weren't either, but it didn't matter: the Bruins had again tied the score.

With 17 minutes to go in the game, and having just tied the game, the Bruins had momentum on their side. They'd press Montreal for a bit, coming close on a couple of occasions, but were unable to break through. Then, with 10 minutes to go in the game, Boullion, the goat who got beaten by Kessel, made up for his mistake by beating Thomas on a shot from the point that bounced off of Shane Hnidy's stick, causing a wicked deflection that neither Thomas nor Hnidy could be blamed for. The Canadiens celebrated giddily, and the crowd was momentarily silenced.

It was at that point that the doubts crept in, the Boston fan in me began to think "Well that's how it's going to have to end, on a crappy bounce like that. Figures."

Again, no dice.

These B's refused to go away, continuing to pressure Montreal. With eight minutes to go in the game, and the Bruins running out of time, Price froze the puck for a faceoff in his own zone. The Bruins, after the ensuing faceoff, ended up with the puck and fired a shot on net, one that Price handled and again covered. For some reason, Montreal coach Guy Carbonneau, who at certain moments in this game had a look on his face like somebody had just stolen his lunch money, decided to pull Saku Koivu out of the faceoff circle, where he had been incredibly effective. Bad move, Guy.

Marc Savard won the faceoff, and slipped a pass back to the point, where the puck was fired right back on net. Milan Lucic, who barely moved from his spot on the left wing, turned, took a crosscheck in the back from Mike Komisarek, who routinely turned down invitations to fight Lucic during this series, instead choosing to try and take him out at the knees in game four, and got the shaft of his stick on the puck. The puck defected off of Lucic's stick, bounced off of the ice, and past Price to tie the game AGAIN. The Garden exploded, and it was at this point that I knew they were going to win this game, they just had to.

Soon after that goal, the Canadiens iced the puck, only further inciting the Boston crowd. The B's had all of the momentum, and for the first time in the series looked like they really had the Canadiens on their toes.

Finally, at 15:45 of the third, David Krecji had the puck in his defensive zone, heading up ice. Marco Strum was streaking up the left wing side, and Krecji fed him a beautiful pass, right in stride, indirect and off the boards. Sturm then took that puck and fired another beauty to the tape of a crashing Kessel, who chipped the puck over the shoulder of a stunned Price. 4-3 Bruins.

Jack Edwards gleeful shout of "the Bruins lead!" may never leave my head, ingrained right along with his other memorable line from this game, "This building is VIBRATING!" Yes, the Bruins did lead. In fact, they were ahead for all of 11 seconds, as the Canadiens promptly won the next faceoff, won a chase down ice for the puck, and caught the Bruins napping as Chris Higgins scored his second goal of the night to tie the game again.

To say that the goal quieted the crowd may be an understatement. The PA announcer was still reading off the B's 4th goal when Higgins scored, and the resulting trademark "woooo!" may have been one of the weakest the Garden has ever seen. The Bruins, however, refused to be deterred, and simply went right back on the attack.

1:27 after Higgins' goal, Montreal's Alex Kovalev, my least favorite player in the entire NHL, missed a chance to clear his zone, instead shooting the puck off the body of Zdeno Chara. Chara then threw the puck into the opposite corner, where Sturm knocked Roman Hamrlik off the puck, creating a scoring chance for Chara coming down the slot. That shot went well wide, but Sturm, in the words of Jack Edwards, "threw Hamrlik another bang", got the puck, and fired one through a crowd on net. Sturm, seeing the pile-up of bodies in front of him, also saw the juicy rebound Price gave up, hopped over a skater on the ice, gathered up the loose puck and simply outwaited the sprawling Price. By the time Sturm released the puck, Price was without his stick, and facing the wrong way. Ouch. Sturm fired one into the open net, a couple inches over the desperately outstretched glove of Price, and gave the Bruins a lead that they would not give up.

For the last two minutes of this game, my friends and I didn't sit down. As soon as the puck cleared the zone in the final ten seconds, we took off running from my friend Billy's apartment in the North End to the Garden, just down the street. Why? I don't know really, it seemed like the right thing to do. And believe it or not, this was BEFORE the party that night started, so there was no inebriation of any kind. The scene coming out of the Garden was joyous and loud, with people both excited and stunned by what they had just seen. There are videos everywhere on YouTube for this game, all of which can still induce chills. Yes, the B's went on to get steamrolled in game seven, but that didn't matter then. This game had singlehandedly revived hockey in Boston, bring the excitement of playoff puck to a level it hadn't seen in years.

That excitement has carried over to this year as well, as Bruins fans have been anticipating tonight's puck drop since the minute game seven mercilessly ended six months ago. This is a game that no Bruins fan will ever forget, and one that may be looked at as the turning point of the franchise. This game proved the B's were willing to fight, willing to get dirty, and ready to come from behind, no matter how great the odds stacked against them.

This is the game that all fans watched all summer, fuel to get the fires going for the upcoming season. Perhaps now, on cusp of the 2008-2009 season, I can finally stop watching YouTube clips, finally stop hearing "Sturm....holds....Sturm....scoorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrres!", and finally remove a picture of Marc Savard's game three winning goal from my desktop. After all, a new season is dawning, one that will hopefully bring moments that match and exceed the six listed in this space.

On second thought, who am I kidding? There's no way I'm going to not watch these clips...

Enjoy, and Go B's.










This one's my personal favorite, because it's actually the entire last 8 minutes, in which there would be four more goals scored. The person who posted it has a high quality version of it on the site too, which can be watched by clicking here.




"There'll be a game seven! We'll see ya Monday night!"