For this old hockey fan seeing the Bruins whip Montreal is a good feeling.
Beating them in 1988 was as good as winning the Cup.
Winning the Cup in 2011 was even sweeter because they had to beat Montreal to advance out of the first round and that series started very badly.
One thing I have learned over the years is Habs fans came to respect the Bruins - In contrast, Toronto fans never have.
There was an infamous scalper in Montreal that went by the name of Kelly. He once told me that the Bruins were his meal ticket.
Toronto comes in I might have enough for 3 days at Old Orchard Beach, Boston comes in I can do Aruba for a week.
Kelly worked the Garden as well and the Charlestown crew let him do his thing because Kelly had a loyal customer in South Boston who visited Montreal often
View attachment 807433
I miss the rivalry
Love the stories... those days, despite where we usually ended up, were so much fun.
God did I hate Mario Tremblay. And Yvonne Lambert (probably the nicest guy in the world, I don't know) can go f*** himself. TMM. What a killer.
Anyway, I remember scraping and hustling to somehow get into the old Garden when the Habs were in town and it was electric, magic, intense. Seriously, it was hard to describe. And I'm not being the old fogie when I say you kids missed something. You just did. Days gone by that will never be repeated.
Sitting in that dirty old Garden with the layers of gold paint that looked like it had been slathered on the wooden seats with a spatula, with what looked like spanish moss hanging from rafters, literally sitting on top of ice (careful if you had a few pops and in the nosebleeds, those steps were steep), then going out at intermission to get a beer and walking the clouds of smoke in the hallways.
Waiting for the dude in the Gallery Gods to start slowly banging his hand in rhythm against the side of the metal balcony.
All that watching the action from Bobby Orr vs. Guy Lafleur, to O'Reilly vs. Nilan, to Jay Miller vs. John Kordic, to Cam Neely absolutely OWNING Patrick Roy when it finally started to turn our way. Magic days.
The noise alone was worth the entry fee. Truly.