DHL Dan CCXXXII - Hitting The Century Mark

As the Boston Bruins turn 100 today (Happy Birthday, Bruins!), Shank writes one of his three yearly hockey columns to commemorate the event:

There is so much to remember in 100 years of Bruins hockey, and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces while refusing to take the cheese on the Juan Soto nonsense …

▪ The Bruins turn 100 Sunday and plan a centennial birthday party before their 3 p.m. game at the Garden against the Montreal Canadiens.

Nice symmetry there. The Montreal Maroons were the Bruins’ opponents for their first game ever — a 2-1 win at Boston Arena Dec. 1, 1924.

The Zamboni of those days was a horse-drawn, plow-like scraper followed by a team of broom-toting sweepers (no jokes about slow horses playing for the 2024 Bruins).

As much as anything, Sunday’s celebration will be a salute to the Hub’s hockey culture, and the grip the Bruins have had on this region for as long as Jimmy Carter has been alive.

DHL Dan CCIX - Underwhelming

A formulatic beginning to what looks to be a mailed-in effort by the Shankster:

Celtics-Knicks and Bruins-Rangers? The Boston-New York playoff duels would be good times, and other thoughts.

Picked-up pieces while dreaming of Celtics-Knicks and Bruins-Rangers in simultaneous conference championships at the two Gardens …

▪ Celtics-Knicks. Bruins-Rangers. Boston-New York. The New (1995) Boston Garden and the vintage 1968 Madison Square Garden. The Sports Hub vs. The Fan. Matt Damon vs. Spike Lee. Williams vs. DiMaggio. Real clam chowder vs. Manhattan clam chowder. “Cheers” vs. “The Honeymooners.”

When you start a column out like that, you get the feeling that this is indeed a DHL delivery, first class.

DHL Dan CCVI - Harry Sinden On The Bruins

Shank talks to the former Boston Bruins coach / GM / Mr. Everything:

Getting Harry Sinden’s take on the Bruins’ playoff chances, and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces while watching Red Sox defense videos to the tune of the Benny Hill theme song …

▪ The Bruins are in the playoffs again. What does Harry Sinden think of their chances?

“They’re definitely a contender,” says the 91-year-old Bruin-in-Winter. “I’m not on top of the team, but from what I’ve seen, they are a reasonable contender. I think they have a good chance to advance. I couldn’t call them the No. 1 team, but they’re going to give anyone a heck of a time.”

A player, head coach, general manager, and Boston Garden king of hockey, Sinden first came to the Bruins organization as a player/coach in Kingston, Ontario, in 1961. Today he watches games on TV from his home north of Boston, and as “Senior Advisor to the Owner and Alternate Governor,” he ranks fourth on the team masthead, trailing only owners Jeremy and Charlie Jacobs, and team president Cam Neely. Sinden traded for Neely in 1986, and drafted today’s GM, Don Sweeney, in 1984.

DHL Dan CC - Hope Springs Eternal

Shank thinks (or pretends to think) that we're winning two championships this year:

Again we have two shots at championships this spring, but we’d settle for one, and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces while wondering if the Red Sox can get the Dollar Store to sponsor Truck Day …

▪ This weekend marks the fifth anniversary of New England’s last men’s professional sports championship, when the Bill Belichick/Tom Brady Patriots beat the Rams, 13-3, in Super Bowl LIII in Atlanta.

By the gaudy standards of our 21st century sports high renaissance, five years without a parade is a certified drought.

Which brings us to the spring of 2024, when both the Celtics and Bruins have a chance to get everybody back on the Duck Boats.

I wrote about this one year ago (“Bruins and Celtics may be climbing toward a rare double this spring”) and we all know what happened: The Bruins, after compiling the greatest regular season in NHL history, flamed out in seven games of a first-round series against the Florida Panthers. The Celtics made it to the NBA’s Final Four for the fifth time in seven years, but dropped the first three games of their conference final series against the Heat, then collapsed in Game 7 at home.

And Shank will pick right back up with negative / critical columns about both teams when their seasons end.

Perspective

Most of the time when a local sports team crashes out of the playoffs early, Shank's all over them like a fly on shit. Not this time:

As awful as the Bruins loss was, it’s not the worst sports calamity we have endured

Where do we put this one?

Where does the Bruins’ epic playoff fail rank in the pantheon of local pro sports disappointments?

It’s perhaps in contention for the bronze medal. But this is subjective stuff, and I’m happy to let you be the judge.

I think we can all agree that the old Red Sox forever will be the gold standard when it comes to flops that demoralize the entire region. In this spirit, the Red Sox’ 1986 World Series fold forever will be the capo di tutti capi of Boston sports collapses. After 68 years of near-misses (hello Bucky Dent and Denny Galehouse), the Sox were one strike away from winning the World Series at Shea Stadium, but they dissolved in a 10th inning that famously featured the Steamer’s wild pitch and Mookie Wilson’s Little League grounder between Billy Buck’s wickets.

It's a good column, primarily because Shank gets to write about one of his favorite subjects - epic losses by Boston sports teams.

Tres Hombres

Shank writes about yesterday's clean sweep for Boston sports teams:

Celtics make it a clean sweep on Boston’s tripleheader road-show Sunday

ATLANTA — Sunday sweep.

A Hub hoop-hockey-hardball hat trick.

The Celtics beat the Hawks, 129-121, in Game 4 at State Farm Arena.

The Bruins beat the Florida Panthers, 6-2, in Game 4 at Sunrise, Fla.

And the Red Sox pummeled the Brewers at Milwaukee, 12-5.

I am told this is only the third time in history that the C’s, and B’s both won playoff road games on the same day the Sox won a regular-season roadie, according to Boston Sports Info. That’s three times in the 74 springs the teams have co-existed in Boston. Pretty good.

This could be a great week on Causeway Street. The Celts can eliminate the hungry, young Hawks Tuesday at the Garden and the Spoked-B’s can send the Panthers home for the summer Wednesday. There’ll be closeout sales all around. It’s still early in this playoff spring, but both teams have a golden opportunity to make it to the Finals in June.

The column's mostly about the Celtics, with only a single Shankism mentioned (The sons of Danny Ainge and Brad Stephens...).

Quiz Time!

The Boston Bruins won last night against the Florida Panthers, 4 - 2.

The Boston Celtics lost last night to the Atlanta Hawks, 130 - 122.

Which game do you think Shank did a column on? Of course he wrote about the losing team!

While you weren’t watching, Celtics get stunned by Hawks in Game 3, and they deserved to lose

ATLANTA — While most of you were watching the Bruins and national hoop pundits seemed to ignore this series altogether, the forever .500 Hawks (41-41 this year) beat the Celtics, 130-122, Friday in Game 3 of their heretofore ho-hum first-round playoff series.

Begging the question: If a Tree Rollins falls in the NBA forest, and nobody is watching, does it make a sound?

Count this veteran observer as one who did not think the Hawks would win a single game against the mighty Celtics in this early round. The Green led by 32 in Game 1 and by 22 in Game 2 and didn’t trail after the first quarter of either game.

But you know the only saying: an NBA playoff series doesn’t start until the road team wins a game.

Now the Celtics will have to wait until Sunday (or later) for that. And they’ve guaranteed that there will be a Game 5 in Boston Tuesday night. Boo.

He sounds really shook up about it...

DHL Dan CLXVI - Springtime In Boston

The snow's all melted (!), the flowers are blooming and Shank writes what looks and feels like his annual springtime column:

This is the best time of the Boston sports year, and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces while reminding ourselves yet again that this truly is the greatest sports town in America …

▪ What was your preference this weekend? Celtics-Hawks in playoff Game 1 Saturday afternoon at the Garden? Sunday afternoon’s celebration of the Boston Strong 2013 World Series champs at Fenway? How about Boston sports’s Magic Monday?

On Monday morning, you can watch Babe Ruth/Shohei Ohtani pitch against the Sox at Fenway (where Babe actually pitched!). After the game, you can walk down to Kenmore Square and watch thousands of runners in the 127th Boston Marathon. Then, you can waltz through the Back Bay and finish your day on Causeway Street, watching the historic 2023 Bruins launch their playoff run against the Florida Panthers.

It’s the best time of our sports year. Let’s just hope the Sox don’t get eliminated before the Celtics or Bruins.

If that happens, we'll be reading three dozen columns on how bad the 2023 Red Sox are.

DHL Dan CLXV - Bruins Playoff Run Column

Shank calls his old pal Harry Sinden to get his take on this year's Boston Bruins:

What Harry Sinden thinks of these record-setting Bruins, and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces while wondering if the Red Sox are in need of a Chaim-lich maneuver . . .

▪ The Bruins are favorites to win the Stanley Cup. They have four regular-season games remaining and a shot at the NHL’s all-time records for wins and points. They have a chance to go down in history as the greatest NHL team of all time.

Time to check in with Harry Sinden.

Harry is the Bear in Winter, the godfather of the Spoked-B, a man who came to the Bruins in 1961. He was Bruins head coach when 18-year-old, wiffle-haired Bobby Orr first played in Boston in 1966. Together, they won the Cup in 1970.

Harry will turn 91 in September, has been married to Eleanor for 70 years, and is still on the Bruins’ masthead as “Senior Advisor to the Owner and Alternate Governor.” He is the man who drafted Don Sweeney in 1984, and traded for Cam Neely two years later.

A Cautionary Tale

The Boston Bruins currently have the best record in the NHL. Leave it to Shank to mention potential adverse results once the playoffs come around:

What happened in 1971 should be a cautionary tale for this year’s Bruins

The 2022-23 Boston Bruins are the best team in hockey, enjoying what might end up being the greatest regular season in the 105-year history of the National Hockey League. They are favorites to win the Stanley Cup.

But more than in any other sport, the best team doesn’t always win in hockey.

Ask the 1970-71 Bruins, or any old-timers who followed that powerhouse all those years ago.

The Bobby Orr Bruins won the Cup in 1970 and ’72, but the best team of that golden era was the ’71 team. The ’71 Bruins won more games, scored more goals, and piled up more points than the Cup teams that bookended them.

And they never made it out of the first round of the playoffs. The mighty Bruins were beaten in seven games by the hated Montreal Canadiens and kid goalie Ken Dryden, who had only six games of NHL experience before the playoffs.

Running into one of the five best goaltenders of all time will likely result in bad things happening to your team, and that's part of the 1971 loss to the Canadiens. Also - the rest of the Canadiens' roster wasn't too bad, either!

Wishful Thinking

Do you think Shank's getting just a bit ahead of himself this year?

The way the Bruins and Celtics are going, something very rare could happen in June

There has never been a winter like this winter for our Boston Garden teams.

They play just about every other night. They win just about every other night. We are more than halfway through the Bruins and Celtics 2022-23 regular seasons, and they have the best records in their respective sports.

So we must ask … can both play here in the Finals in June?

Imagine. The NBA Finals and the Stanley Cup Final unfolding simultaneously in the Hockey/Hoop Hub of the Universe. A Bull Gang Bacchanal. The Larry O’Brien Trophy and Lord Stanley’s chalice sitting side by side in the bowels of TD Garden. Past champions Johnny Bucyk and Robert Parish — Chief and Chief — walking hand in hand on Causeway Street. Bobby Orr as Banner Captain one night, Larry Bird handing out the Bill Russell NBA Finals MVP trophy the next.

No city has ever won both winter sports titles in the same spring, but a duck boat doubleheader is possible for Boston in June.

So are our odds of hitting the Powerball jackpot tomorrow night...

Shank's Annual Boston Bruins Column

Nothing like a little bandwagon hijacking where the Bruins are concerned:

They’re responding to a new coach, have a former MVP on the third line, and plenty of locker room leadership. No wonder the Bruins can’t lose.

The Bruins were already good. Then they changed coaches and got better. Now they are playing the best hockey in the NHL.

How did this happen?

There was a lot of negativity on Causeway Street when Cam Neely and Don Sweeney fired Bruce Cassidy in June. The demanding Cassidy, a fan favorite, had coached 399 games and taken the Bruins to the playoffs in six straight seasons. He came within one game of winning the franchise’s seventh Stanley Cup in 2019.

But Jake DeBrusk didn’t like Cassidy and asked to be traded. Brandon Carlo told The Athletic he felt “beat down” by Cassidy. David Krejci went home to Czechia for the 2021-22 season.

In true millennial fashion, player empowerment trumped player accountability. So Cassidy was fired, Sweeney explaining that the coach’s style “takes its toll.”

“I had a long history with Bruce,” Sweeney said before the Bruins’ 3-1 victory over Tampa Bay Tuesday. “I respect the hell out of him. He’s a fantastic coach. But sometimes you just take the pulse of where your team is at and where you think you can get to, and you make a really tough decision. This was difficult.”

We'll see how long two things hold up - the Bruins' record and Shank's non-hostile treatment of the team.

Unforced Error

You'd think that local sports teams would exercise greater levels of due diligence on prospective team members, especially in light of the Ume Udoka situation. It looks like the Boston Bruins didn't get the memo:

The Bruins tarnished their brand, and for no good reason

There’s honor in the brand of the Boston Bruins, perhaps more than the team’s ownership has ever understood.

The Bruins and their fans have always stood for something around here, a tad different from our other three franchises. The Bruins have been around much longer than the Celtics or Patriots and play in a house populated by rowdy, respectful, demanding folks who probably make less money but tip better than fans of our other three teams.

The Black and Gold have lived up to the love of their fans most winters since they first skated here in 1924. They are usually competitive, traditionally pugnacious, and ever-accountable. And Cam Neely — a big, tough, skilled leader first brought here by Bruins godfather Harry Sinden in 1986 — has been a worthy steward of the franchise since taking over as team president in 2010.

All of which made it so crushing to see Neely and the Bruins blunder into one of the worst decisions in team lore, bringing distraction and dishonor to the Hub Home of Hockey just when the surprising Bruins were off to their best start (10-1-0) in franchise history.

Read on as Shank gets to mount the Shetland Pony high horse once again.

The Jimmy Hayes Column

Shank devotes a column to a local hockey player who unfortunately is no longer with us:

Fentanyl contributed to Jimmy Hayes’s death. His family hopes telling his story can help prevent another

Former Bruins winger and Dorchester native Jimmy Hayes, who was found dead in his Milton home Aug. 23, died with fentanyl and cocaine in his system, his wife and father revealed Sunday.

It’s the news some feared when the wildly popular pillar of the community died after celebrating his son’s second birthday with his wife, Kristen, and infant son on a perfect Sunday seven weeks ago.

Hayes’s sudden death made no sense in the moment. The 6-foot-5-inch, 31-year-old ex-athlete presented as a healthy, happy young man, blossoming into a full life of parenting, podcasting, and doing good deeds for others. Jimmy Hayes had a beautiful wife and two adorable boys. His parents, sisters, brothers, and cousins were all around him. He had it all.

Burial By Proxy

The Boston Bruins lost their 2nd round playoff series to the New York Islanders last night, 6 - 2. Instead of the usual Shank burial of the local team after the playoffs ('they're just not that good', et. al), he'll let former Bruins general manager Harry Sinden do it for him:

Harry Sinden was just like the rest of us Wednesday night. He watched the Bruins from the comfort of his home and found himself yelling at the TV as their season ended with a 6-2 loss to the New York Islanders at Nassau Coliseum.

“I was into it pretty good,” Sinden said with a chuckle Thursday morning. “I told my wife, ‘If you don’t like me yelling, you can go upstairs.’ ”

Now 88, Sinden is listed fourth on the Bruins administrative masthead as “Senior Advisor to the Owner and Alternate Governor.” He was Bobby Orr’s first head coach with the Bruins in 1966 and acquired both Cam Neely (trade) and Don Sweeney (draft), the two men who run the Bruins for Jeremy Jacobs in 2021.

The Self-Explanatory Column

Occasionally, you can figure out right away why a column was written or not:

April has been anything but cruel for the Bruins, Celtics, and Red Sox

It is April of 2021 and the pandemic is reluctant to loosen its grip, but things are looking better for three local sports teams who are in season.

Bruins. Celtics. Red Sox.

So good. So good. So good.

Since the local teams are doing well, that means Shank has fewer things to bitch about, right?

It adds up to so … much … winning. Almost as if there’s nothing to complain about. I think it has me a little off my game.

Bingo!

DHL Dan CXXV - Position Overstated

Unable to devote full columns criticizing the Red Sox while otherwise enjoying his normal Ft. Myers winter vacation, Shank instead writes about a lot of little things :

Celtics continue to be treated as if they have won something — which they haven’t — and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces while paying homage to the underrated Boston Bruins — the only local team that’s getting the job done in 2020-21 …

▪ Danny Ainge, when asked about losses to the Pistons, Wizards, and Hawks, on 98.5 FM Thursday said, “I don’t think we respect our opponents enough.” That’s it, right there. The Celtics act as if they have won something when they have not. They are not as good as they think they are and that includes Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum. Brown and Tatum are not yet All-Star starters. This means they are not yet top-10 players. Why does everyone around here treat them like they are top-10 players?

This looks like a classic strawman agument; assert that 'everyone around here' thinks the team and its top two players are the cat's ass. It's based on a rather thin reed:

Also, when did our market go totally soft in its evaluation of this team? I watched the Celtics win a Tuesday game at the Garden against a Denver team that had only four of its top nine players. Friday I watched the Celtics handle the 12-17 Hawks — a team that stunned them two nights earlier. During and after both of these pedestrian wins, folks at NBC Sports Boston reacted as if the Green just beat the Lakers in LA in the seventh game of the Finals. Seriously. How did the bar get so low for this team? It’s like NESN gushing over the last-place Red Sox. I remember when the Larry Bird Celtics went 50-1 at home and barely drew a round of applause. Tommy Heinsohn was the ultimate homer, but the Celtics’ flagship nonsense has only gotten worse since we lost Tommy. Get back, Green Teamers! That means you, Scal.

So, Brian Scalabrine (and supposedly some others at the local NBC Sports affiliate) are the new Tommy Heinson? Somehow I don't find the opinions of a few local sports jocks being the widely felt sentiment of Celtics fans, including this one. It's trademark Shank hyperbole.

From there, he goes on to... complain about pretty much everything; might be worth a read just to marvel at that.

DHL Dan CX - The Red Sox Are Really Bad, Aren't They?

Shank has some fun shooting fish in a barrel:

Thoughts on the last-place Red Sox and other topics Picked-up pieces while watching the embarrassing parade of meatball artists the tanking Red Sox send to the mound every day . . . ▪ Does winning four World Series in this century give Red Sox ownership a lifetime pass for biennial last-place finishes and the Triple A product we are seeing now?

Yes. Next question / complaint?

The Sox are about to finish in the cellar for the fourth time since 2012. In 80 seasons from 1932-2011, the Red Sox finished last exactly once (1992 under Butch Hobson). Now the Sox lead the majors in losses and we’re about to see the fourth basement finish in nine seasons. The tanking we’ve seen in the last three weeks is worse than anything the franchise has put fans through since the pre-Yawkey era of 1926-32. And yet still we have NESN feeding us the “Heat Zone” item that features a random “hot” Sox player who has better stats than some slumping Blue Jay. There’s also a Predict The Game app, treating sophisticated Sox fans like 7-year-olds.

Demonstrating once again - if there wasn't a losing team Shank would have nothing to write about. From there, he says nice things about the Celtics, basically calls Patriorts coach Bill Belichick a liar and rags on the Bruins a bit. In other words, the usual stuff

Don't Count Them Out

Shank gives us an update on the Celtics and Bruins in the 'playoffs':

You’re never as good as you look when you win and you’re never as bad as you look when you lose.

Hall of Fame manager Earl Weaver said this regularly back in the 1970s when the Orioles were usually very good. Earl’s wisdom is my takeaway from a weekend watching the Celtics and Bruins.

The Celtics are up. The Bruins are down.

The Celtics demolished the defending World Champion Toronto Raptors, 112-94, in the Orlando bubble Sunday afternoon. It was the first game of a best-of-seven conference semifinal and gave a legion of Green People hope that their team can advance to the conference finals and maybe make it to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2010.

A decent column ensues from there. Can't wait for the sudden attitude change if, for example, the Bruins lose tonight.

The Once In A Blue Moon Column

Imagine your surprise at finding Shank's latest column actually has a positive, upbeat vibe to it?

How do you feel about a Distance Championship Parade in October? With virtual Duckboats? Are you ready for a million-strong Zoom rally with Zdeno Chara or Jayson Tatum tossing a bucket of Gatorade at Mayor Marty Walsh from 6 feet away?

Close your eyes and imagine Jack Edwards in NESN’s Watertown studio, waxing poetic about the Bruins’ 2020 Stanley Cup champions. Try to imagine Scal standing alone on Causeway Street, waving Celtics Banner No. 18 and insisting Tatum is better than Larry Bird or Bill Russell.

Our winter sports teams are white-hot here in late August (no one has ever written that sentence before), and Boston woke up Monday morning with that old championship feeling.

Not to go Full Rochie on you here, but events over the weekend have me in a happy place regarding the fortunes of the Bruins and Celtics. It might never feel better than it feels right now, so why not enjoy the speculation and the daily playoff action?

I fully expect this attitude to change with a few losses by either team.