What Winning the Cup Means to me, and why I am a Bruins fan.

I have gone a bit fanpost crazy here, seeing, you know, we won the cup and all... I have a few more too!



I had become a Red Sox fan when I was 10 because my sister and best friend had been watching them all season, so I wanted to have something in common with her. I started watching Boston baseball in the 2007 ALCS against the Indians and then I became hooked to baseball.

I had always watched the Patriots, but I took it more seriously now and then followed the Celtics playoff run in 2008. I was now a sports fan and I loved following the Boston sports scene. But the Bruins were not even a thought to me. I followed the entire 2008 Red Sox season without really knowing much.

I remember when they were in the 2008 playoffs against the Canadiens I watched bits and pieces of game six, but was not too interested. No one I knew really watched hockey. My dad had given up when they let Samsonov walk, so I had no real reason to watch hockey.

A few weeks into the 2008-2009 season, I watched the game where Blake Wheeler scored the hat trick. I decided to watch that full game and just fell in love. I loved the fast pace, the ice, the hard hitting and everything about it. I did not miss another game that season.

Because it was Wheeler who scored that hat trick, he was my favorite player for a while. Then I realized he sucked and was not longer so interested. Then they went to the playoffs and lost to the Hurricanes, and I was as heart broken as any Bruins fan. The next year against the Flyers was devastating.

I had wanted to go to one playoff game each round. Me and my dad had always wanted to do that. The first two seasons, we were in Florida and by the time we got back they were knocked out. This year, we stuck around and got our dream, to see every round and to win the cup. We went 3-1 this year, only loss was to the Canadiens in game one of the playoffs.

I got to join the Inside Hockey staff this season as a Bruins writer. I had to stay up late, and do a ton of work for my articles every night. Getting home from games I attended, I was up till 2am sometimes writing my articles. But it was all worth it, when I went to the site the next morning.

I went to insidehockey.com the next day to see if they had published my article yet. And the picture they matched with my post? Tim Thomas, hoisting the cup. That was when it all sank in.

The Bruins are your 2011 Stanley Cup Champions.