Hello, Bonjour & Hóigh!
During the 2008 playoffs, Montreal fans viciously booed the Star Spangled Banner prior to a playoff game between the Bruins and Canadiens. When the series shifted back to Boston, the Bruins fans in attendance reacted with class and grace, cheering throughout and singing “O’ Canada".
But for some reason when the Bruins play one of the six Canadian NHL clubs, a usually small but sometimes big, faction of fans at TD Garden seem to believe chanting “U-S-A” will spur their team onto victory.
Such was the case sporadically during the Bruins-Senators game. Apparently, this group of fans never took the time to checkout the current Bruins roster on the team website, where 15 of the 24 players listed are Canadian. The head coach and GM are Canadian. So why the “U-S-A” chant? It makes no sense!
By no means is it as offensive as the booing of a national anthem, but Bruins fans already showed they’re better than that and this scribe believes they’re more original as well. If they did their research, they easily could have come up with a chant directed at the overrated Senators center Jason Spezza, who has only one goal in 10 games. Or maybe Ottawa defenseman Matt Carkner, who got into two fights the last time the two teams met.
But while the “U-S-A” chant was simply annoying and unoriginal, the booing and the “Bronx cheer” that reigned down on Thomas in the first period, when he let in a soft goal on the second shot he faced in two weeks was classless and is either the result of ignorance or a very short memory. Have these fans guilty of this act forgotten what Thomas has done and meant to this team over the last two seasons? Or are they simply bandwagon fans that don’t even know?
If their memory doesn’t work well enough, let’s just travel back to last season when he won the Vezina Trophy (best goaltender for those that don’t know the NHL, but consider themselves Bruins fans). Thomas stole plenty of games for the Bruins en route to a 36-11-7 record with a 2.10 GAA and .933 save percentage. He was also 7-4 with a 1.85 GAA and .935 save percentage in the playoffs, helping the Bruins reach the second round for the first time since 1999.
The “what have you done lately” mentality is understandable if the season is halfway done, but just past the quarter mark? Thomas has not been that bad at 6-6-3 with a 2.36 GAA and .915 save percentage. He self-admittedly had a bad game Saturday but he came through in the shootout.
"Those things are going to happen," Wideman said when asked about Thomas’ tough night Saturday in which he let in a soft goal with 19 seconds left, allowing the game to go to overtime. "But how many times has Timmy bailed us out? Unfortunately when the goalie has a bad night, there’s no one to bail him out. Timmy got the job done in the shootout and he’s got it done for us so many times before."
Bruins fans should remember that as well.
Sláinte!
Murph
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agreed on all counts...
ReplyDeleteThe only point I disagree with is that Bruins fans are better than this. I have had season tickets in the balcony for over ten years and have had to listen to the idiots up close game after game after game. I turned to the guy next to me on Saturday and said, "Are these idiots actually mock cheering Thomas? Unbelievable."
ReplyDeleteBut it isn't unbelievable. They paid their money, they've had their 8-12 beers - they have the divine right to say whatever they want. I am surrounded by idiots who think Chara stinks. Let that sink in for a minute. There is a guy that sits near us that hates Chara and wishes Wideman dead on a regular basis.
It is a moronocracy in the stands. There are a few smart, sensible fans but they are drowned out by the nitwits who blame linesmen for penalty calls and screech when the ref calls a blatant hand pass.
I sing our anthem every game. On nights like Saturday, I get to sing two anthems. I love "O, Canada" - it is a great song. There's a moron near us who doesn't take his hat off for the Canadian anthem and then takes it off for the US anthem. I think he thinks that 19 of the 9/11 highjackers were from Saskatoon instead of Saudi Arabia.
I was proud of our fans during that O Canada moment in 2008 but it is the exception, not the rule.
Thomas has done so much for the B's so it was disheartening to hear that he was given the "Bronx Cheer" for his performance on Saturday night. Didn't the team sign him for two more years or something like that?
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