A FAN’S NOTES

 

Here We Go Again

 

A brief recap of the Montreal-Boston series on the day of the seventh and deciding game: we’re trussed up as firmly as a masochist in a dungeon at three wins apiece; both teams have an overtime victory; both goalies own a shutout; the team that scores first has taken every game to date. Historically the Canadiens hold a five to three edge in the eight game sevens they have played against the Bruins.

 

History matters. While the macro morals of its stories often remain unheeded, it informs our prejudices and may taint an entire state. Closer to home it is fertilizer for clan and family feuds, oxygen for bad blood between rival sports clubs. Yet history doesn’t happen until it does and doesn’t exist until it’s done. Bruce Springsteen sang, ‘There’s just winners and losers and don’t get caught on the wrong side.’

 

And so, game seven tonight: bleu, blanc et rouge versus the black and gold; the laundry’s little changed through the years. I wish Guy Lafleur was still playing for us. I wish Bobby Orr still played for Boston. But it’s the 21^st century now (something I realized whilst trying to buy a ribbon for my Smith-Corona typewriter). And so for tonight, here’s hoping petty history will be made by a new Montreal hero or a new Boston goat.