My dream final dilemma

I have a confession to make. I’m a Boston bruins fan.

But before you get your pitchforks and light the torches for a lynch mob let me also say I’m a Vancouver Canucks fan. This is the dilemma I find myself in. Having both of my favourite teams in the final would appear to be a Godsend. As it turns out it’s not.

Since i was 8 years old I have loved hockey. It has been my life for as long as I can remember. I can still remember the very first game I ever watched. It was at my Grandparents house on a Saturday night. I still remember the teams it was Edmonton against Montreal and I was mesmerized by the guy in blue wearing number 99. He was a magician on ice. It got me into the sport and for a long long time I was a huge Edmonton Oilers fan to the point where i even cheered for them over Vancouver! I realize now that sounds like blasphemy but you have to remember that in the 1980s Edmonton was it. They were the mark to which everyone else was measured. Sorry folks, Vancouver just never measured up in that time frame.

It’s not to say I hated Vancouver, far from it they were still my team, i just grew up in an era where the Oilers were idolized and Gretzky quickly won me over.

After Gretzky was traded to LA i was devastated. How could they do this to me? I began to follow Vancouver more closely and slowly my love for the Oilers dissipated. I still like them a lot, but not to the point i once did.

One particular player I liked was Andy Moog and I followed his career closely, maybe because he was a BC product. When he got traded to Boston it brought a new dimension to my thinking. I started watching Moog and soon fell in love with Cam Neely, another BC product, Ray Bourque and another BC product Brent Hughes, never a star but I really learned to love his play.

Before I knew it Boston was quickly winning over my heart. I started watching tape of Bobby Orr and when i learned that i share the same birthday as him I was hooked. (On a side note, my son has the same birthday as me! It had to be a sign!). I had the pleasure of meeting Bobby Orr many years ago during one of his charity skates he used to do. A man with so many accolades and who was such a great player, was so humble and so accommodating. It just cemented my love for the Bruins.

Growing up in BC and being proud of it Vancouver has been my life. I have so much knowledge of this team from studying them and watching everything I could from their history. There isn’t much I don’t know, so my heart is definitely in this team. They say Ron Delorme has a Canucks logo tattooed on his backside. I would do the same if i wasn’t scared of needles and pain.

But i digress; the point is that it has always been my dream to have my two favourite teams in the final. I used to joke about it. One team from the East one from the West so I have my bases covered. I just forgot to factor in that neither team would be in this position for almost 20 years apart. I have had several emails and texts from friends who have known me for years knowing I’m such a Bruins fan asking who I want to win.

This whole situation has created much turmoil in my life. I used to attend the Canucks/Bruins games every year as they usually meet only once a year or every 3 years here. My system was one year I would wear a Canucks jersey the next I’d wear a Bruins, just to make it fair. I was unlucky enough to choose my Bruins jersey the night Marty McSorley clubbed Donald Brashear. I can tell you it was the first time I was scared for my life.

So I have paid for my transgressions, being mocked for years of losing, their monumental collapse last year to Philadelphia after being up 3-0 in the series and the Joe Thornton trade (don’t get me started on that one!) but as I sit here and write this, I realize that my heart never lies and even though I have much invested in both these teams, the Canucks are the team that have been my life. I was there for Troy Gambles first NHL game. I was there through the Mike Keenan debacle. I was their when they traded my favourite player in Trevor Linden. Through it all I have been a Canucks fan and I couldn’t be prouder of this group this year.

So it is a dilemma that both my teams competing for the same ultimate prize. I’m proud of both of them and no matter the outcome I can lose. In 1994 i was devastated and depressed for a week, that won’t happen this time around. Before you all think I’m going soft and leaning towards the Bruins, think again. I live in BC, I love this team and I want them to win the Cup more than anyone. The fact they are playing the Bruins is just a formality. It’s a unique situation I find myself in, but one I wouldn’t change for the world.

I’m proud of them both because they both are my boys.

Go Canucks. Bring this home for Vancouver and for Canada….. But don’t hurt them too badly; I’ll need them again for next season!