Jinx

On Saturday nights when I was a young boy I used to watch the Leafs with my dad downstairs while my mom watched the gripping duo of The Love Boat and Fantasy Island (da plane! da plane! --sorry, couldn't help myself...) They would habitually lose.







The absolute worst thing that could possibly happen to me was that the Montreal Canadians would come into town and beat my beloved Leafs. Of course, this was the 1970's: the time of Lafleur, Gainey, Shutt and Dryden...Of course the Leafs lost.

Using the argument that the enemy of my enemy is my friend, I became convinced that I should support the Boston Bruins...and well, why don't I let anecdotage take it from here...

In 1977, Don Cherry's Boston Bruins faced their arch-rival Montreal Canadiens in the Stanley Cup finals. The Canadiens swept the bruins (winning four games in a row).

In 1978, Cherry's Bruins again found themeselves facing their nemesis in the Stanley Cup final. Though they lost the series, they put in a more respectable 4-2 performance.

In 1979, the Bruins faced the Canadiens yet again, this time in the semi-finals - and this time the series went to a seventh and deciding game. With less than two minutes left, the Bruins, winning 4-3, were called for a penalty. Sure enough, Guy LaFleur scored in the last minute and Montreal won 5-4 in overtime and went on to win the final series over the New York Rangers.

The penalty for which Boston was called? Too many men on the ice!

[The disorganized Bruins had six men on the ice for what seemed like an eternity to knowing fans. Eventually the officials were obliged to call a penalty. Cherry later called May 10th 1979 the worst day of his life. (Boston finally beat the Canadiens in the 1988 playoffs. Boston had lost to the Canadiens in their previous fourteen meetings.)]

But I never lost my love of the Bruins, frustrating as it has been these past 26 years.

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We moved to Kelowna, BC in 1980, several thousand miles away from Toronto. This being before the era of the 300 channel universe I became a fan of the hometown Vancouver Canucks, because, well, because they were always on!

And in 1982 they went to the Stanley Cup Finals against the mighty NY Islanders (Bossy, Trottier, Potvin, Smith!)...and lost 4 straight.



But, of course the true fan says wait 'til next year...and the years that followed delivered upon us the lousy stinkin' Edmonton Oilers, a team with so much firepower that they could beat you in the last 5 minutes of a game even if your favourite team had a 3-goal lead over them (Gretzky, Kurri, Anderson, Messier: I could go on and on.) This was if they hadn't just opened up in the first or second periods with 5-10 goals like they usually did. I didn't cry myself to sleep like I did when the Leafs lost...I...was older.

It would take 12 more years of suffering, BUT- 1994 delivered another Canucks team that made it to the finals: a fast, dangerous team that had the Russian Rocket Pavel Bure, Kirk Maclean in net and Trevor Linden playing the best hockey of his career...and losing it all by one goal; the tensest ending to a hockey game I've ever known; and the most bitter because everyone believed until that damn siren went off that the Canucks would tie the game. Even the Rangers looked nervous.

I moved back to Toronto that year and the hockey strike that fall broke my hockey-watching habit. I've found it hard to watch a complete game since...