The other day before going out for a show that night, I was sitting around waiting for the Lyft and randomly thought “Ok, the Celtics are out of the playoffs and the Bruins don’t play for another week...a whole week with no playoff games...is this what normal cities feel like all the time?”
Fortunately, the Bruins don’t have some spare R&R time because they pissed away a roster that’d win everything short of a Warriors series if you simmed it in NBA2K and might have to burn the whole house down to kill the spider in the living room, they’ve got a week to chill because they took the Carolina Hurricanes and exacted sweet, sweet revenge for those of us who woke up one morning in Connecticut as a kid like “Wait, what do you MEAN the Whalers are ‘gone’??!?”.
(if that seems oddly specific, well, as you know, New Englanders hold a grudge better than anyone. Just ask Bill Buckner.)
Instead of the instant classic i’m-so-excited-i’m-so-scared overtime nail-biter of a conference championship that sent the Patriots to the big dance this year, the Bruins cruised through the Eastern Conference Finals scoring a ridiculous 12 more goals than Carolina and now they wait for the winner of the Sharks-Blues slugfest out west. So in the meantime, Bruins general manager Don Sweeney’s going to make a phone call to the reigning world champs of the gridiron to see how to handle the extra week to prepare for maximum playoff ownage.
(Personally, I’m no hockey expert like our good friends at Stanley Cup of Chowder, but #1 on my bye week agenda would be “find out what Tuukka Rask eats for breakfast, then do that”. Then again, there’s a reason they’re calling Bill and not yours truly.)
Take it away, Sweeney:
Bruins GM Don Sweeney said Saturday he’ll be reaching out to a “local team” that has been fairly successful handling long layoffs leading up to their title game.
“There’s different sports, there’s crossovers that we’ve all kind of identified that we’re going to tap into. There’s a local team that had time between when they were going to Super Bowls,” Sweeney said. “So, we are going to look at different resources that have done it and done it well.”
Of Patriots coach Bill Belichick, Sweeney said he doesn’t know him well but, “I have a hell of a lot of respect for the man. I think we’re going to reach out to their group and see if we can tap into...we look at everybody’s assets in that way and hopefully they’ll be able to share some information with us.”
#NHLBruins GM Don Sweeney on adjusting to the long layoff before the #StanleyCup Final and the health of Kevan Miller, Chris Wagner, and Zdeno Chara: pic.twitter.com/NSy7A3jyQi
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) May 18, 2019
Either way, the Patriots and Bruins both know full well how important it is to get the team as close to full health as possible when you’re playing a violent, high-speed game, and if nothing else, hopefully any B’s that are banged up can rest up. Like, example:
Patrice Bergeron's injuries in 2013 Stanley Cup Final: torn rib cartilage (Game 4); broken rib (G5); separated shoulder/punctured lung (G6).
— @GrantRamey (@GrantRamey) June 6, 2014
That said, Belichick’s scheming skills when he has two whole weeks to game-plan are second to none, so hopefully he’s in a gregarious mood when the Bruins get in touch.
And hey, if he’s not, just ask him about special teams. That always gets Bill fired up.