2 threads?

[PressCoverage]

400+ Red Sox threads... and an entire two about the Bruins...

then you look at the stands at a Bruins' game on TV, and you wonder to yourself, what has happened?

I mean, not 20 some years ago, the Bruins were still the No. 1 ticket in town... What went wrong?

Years of Sinden? Boring, plodding product on the ice? the strikes? Or is it because the Fleet Center is so stale and boring? Or just hockey in general?

What a shame...

 

[IcyPatriot]

400+ Red Sox threads... and an entire two about the Bruins...

then you look at the stands at a Bruins' game on TV, and you wonder to yourself, what has happened?

I mean, not 20 some years ago, the Bruins were still the No. 1 ticket in town... What went wrong?

Years of Sinden? Boring, plodding product on the ice? the strikes? Or is it because the Fleet Center is so stale and boring? Or just hockey in general?

What a shame...

There is a major problem for the Bruins in terms of fan support. Too many Bruins fans from the Orr years, Middleton years, Borque years, Neely years grew up with the Bruins playing pretty good...very, very physical hockey.

Right now...they are like #2 in least amount of penalty minutes. I don't see them getting around this problem unless they win a championship. Even myself...I'm 47 ... I still enjoy watching the Bruins and except for the occaisonal Chara clock clean it's a pretty clean game.

We'll see ... Charelli(sic) is still a newbie here...perhaps he will change this through the draft...we'll find out when the next draft rolls around.

 

[Johnny Mac]

Have you watched any hockey lately? The NHL sucks. Finishing a check is not roughing. Lifting a stick is not hooking. Fighting should not get you 20 minutes worth of penalties. STOP DIVING LIKE IT'S THE FREAKING WORLD CUP.

Went to the game last Thursday with my sister, who had never been to a hockey game before. Then she went to the BC/UMass game the next night. Her assessment? "Well, the professionals were better, but the college players were a lot more violent." Ugh.

Tough to expect fans to show up. Ticket prices are ridiculous, and while the team is getting better, they're still not a playoff team. I think they've got the talent to be a contender. They're just a top goalie short. I like Thomas, but I wouldn't want him as anything more than a back up. I know Hannu has struggled a bit, but he needs to play more. Give him consistent minutes, and then we'll see. Our hope lies with him. And, if not him, maybe Rask.

 

[PressCoverage]

agreed... but i can't accept that a mere lack of physical hockey is what has emptied the building to this level...

i just am starting to believe hockey isn't magical here anymore... i know i'm not as addicted since Cusick and Wilson stopped calling the games ... and the Thorton trade? soured me...

 

[sdaniels7114]

We traded last year's MVP. In the middle of his MVP season for heaven's sake! That's just one of many decisions that point to the team not trying to win a cup. There's no question that the Pats didn't make Branch happy because they felt that doing so would hurt the team's chances at winning the Bowl. Nobody with any sense thinks Branch is a Seahawk because Kraft wanted to save money. When the Bruins traded Thornton and got rid of an endless list of other great players over the last decade or more, there was no question that they were doing so to save money and hoping that the fans were too stupid to notice.

I was a monster Hockey/Bruins fan from birth 'till 95 or so. I'm currently in suspension, waiting for Jeremy Jacobs to sell the team or die. I'm hoping for a sale because his kid seems to be about as cheap as Jacobs himself has become, but I'll give the kid a chance when he's totally in charge. Perhaps he'll be like his dad was in the 80's. Back then Jacobs owned a team the competed every year. I don't know why he had such a massive change of heart; but he clearly did.

 

[Johnny Mac]

agreed... but i can't accept that a mere lack of physical hockey is what has emptied the building to this level...

Well, like I said, it's a combination of that, a losing team, and high ticket prices.

The "cheap owners" argument doesn't hold up any more. It may be the perception, but it's false. They traded away Thornton's $6.6m a year contract, and then signed Zdeno Chara to $7.5m a year. I'd rather have Chara, anyways. Then they shelled out $20m for Savard, and extended Bergeron at close to $5m a year. The team is right up against the cap. They couldn't spend much more money if they wanted to. Sure, Jacobs' tight wallet was a problem in the past, but you can't use that excuse any more.

 

[420jim]

For years and years the Bruins sold out the team and the fans to fatten their wallets. They refused to sign any of their top players for anything close to market value saying that they weren't worth the money they were asking, then in the next breath said they wouldn't trade any of their underpaid players unless they got someone of compareble value. (player value, not salary value) After years of trimming the payroll and raising the ticket prices the fans just said no.

After a prolonged policy of putting a low rent team on the ice and hard line tactics that drove up and comming players away, quality players stopped negotiating with the Bruins. All Harry Satan could get was over priced underskilled free agents that other teams passed on. Then blamed the players when the team failed year after year. So now the only players the Bruins can get is players that can't get a job elsewhere. The Bruins can only put enough players on the ice to look like maybe they have turned the corner, but when the playoffs start, you see that they just don't have anything left for the intense ride that is the playoffs.

I've moved away a few years ago and lost "touch" in what's happening with the Bruins, but I see in the local sports page the Bruins haven't changed much. Since the mid 80's through the present when its been one failure after another I noticed the one constant, or two, is Jeremy Jacobs and Harry Satan.

The last few years before I moved, The Bruins were nothing more than a second rate minor league team with a Stanley Cup winner ticket price. Most die hard fans have left because Harry Satan and Jeremy Jacobs have sold out a once proud franchise and its fans. It saddens me that the team I grew up with and loved more than any other Boston team is now just a shadow of its former self.

But I still were my Bruins jacket in the winter, it brings back memories of Rick "Nifty" Middleton, Gerry Cheevers, Terry O'Reily, Brad Park, of course old #7/ 77 and does any one remember Mike Milbury climbing the glass and beating some shnook with his own shoe.

Edit: I didn't see the thread where someone posted the vid of Milbury. Damn, the Big Bad Bruins of the 70's and early 80's and the insane Boston Gahden, does anybody have a time machine?

 

[Johnny Mac]

Sold out crowd last night. Great to see, even if a lot of them were Hab fans. At least they went home crying in their poutine.

 

[frankiesfly]

400+ Red Sox threads... and an entire two about the Bruins...

then you look at the stands at a Bruins' game on TV, and you wonder to yourself, what has happened?

I mean, not 20 some years ago, the Bruins were still the No. 1 ticket in town... What went wrong?

Years of Sinden? Boring, plodding product on the ice? the strikes? Or is it because the Fleet Center is so stale and boring? Or just hockey in general?

What a shame...

Thats what happens when you trade Joe Thorton and have nobody else to replace him. Then to watch Joe almost lead the leauge in points thats a shame.

 

[chris_in_sunnyvale]

Thats what happens when you trade Joe Thorton and have nobody else to replace him. Then to watch Joe almost lead the leauge in points thats a shame.

(Sharks fan)

Regards,
Chris

 

[dryheat44]

The problem starts and ends with pricing blue-collar fans out of the game. Period. The Bruins historically drew their fan base from the Joe Six-Packs of the world. I used to go with my father, uncle, and cousin, and the four of us would go see eight games a year back in the mid-80s for what it would cost to see one now. Literally.

Hopefully the salary cap will help them, but I have a feeling that Jacobs is going to have to sell the team in order to bring back the passion. Hopefully some longtime fan will buy the team and make it a great experience again, like Kraft has done with the Patriots.

 

[fair catch fryar]

Like a few posters have already pointed out is that the Bruins are in desperate need of new ownership with New England roots. Someone that can relate to the glory years and know what this team means to it's fans. Some of the most hard-core of any sport. Once this happens, we will probably see a change overnight! Even if the product isn't top-notch at first, fans will start to go if it's affordable and they have hope for the future. As long as the Bruins are in Jacob's hands, it's a dead end street!