We are all Dale Weise

Wednesday was a good day for me. That’s the day my most hated team (the Boston Bruins) lost in game 7 to my second favourite team (whatever team is playing Boston on any given night).

I have to admit, I am fully entrenched on the Montreal Canadiens bandwagon right now. I was cheering for them against Tampa Bay, but I was really behind them against the Bruins.

Maybe it’s the fact that the Habs are “Canada’s team”, maybe it’s because they play an exciting brand of hockey or maybe it’s the fact that nothing would piss off Bruins fans more than Montreal beating them in a 7 game series.

Here’s a few thoughts on what transpired in the Canadiens’ triumph over the Bruins in the past two weeks:

• Full disclosure: I hate the Bruins, I hate their fans, I hate their media. And I don’t think I’m alone with that.

• More disclosure: I am still rather bitter over the way the Canucks were villainized in the 2011 series versus the Bruins. Classy players like Daniel and Henrik Sedin were portrayed as diving wimps, while guys like Brad Marchand got away relatively unscathed. Roberto Luongo was treated like a selfish jerk while Tim Thomas was a lovable guy. The media was incredibly unfair to the Canucks and more importantly they turned a blind eye to what the Bruins were doing.

• It’s about time that Brad Marchand is getting reputation calls. He was sent to the box on a very soft call for giving Carey Price a snow shower early in the 2nd period of game 7. In retrospect, he deserved the penalty given what he got away with against Tomas Plekanec.

http://youtu.be/OckCa8T2U8A

• The title of this article is “we are all Dale Weise” because I felt like Weise was fighting on behalf of Canucks nation a little bit in this series. I believe his hate-on for the Bruins was harnessed in Vancouver (even though he wasn’t part of the 2011 team). Not only did he scored two big goals, including one in game 7, but he was in the face of the Bruins. He didn’t allow them to get the psychological edge. He stood-up to Milan Lucic.

• I must admit, I thought Weise would end-up looking silly after he mocked Lucic’s chest thump and muscle flex, but he backed it up and his team won the series.

• Speaking of Lucic, what an embarrassment he has become. I am from East Van myself and I really want to like him. I didn’t hate him after 2011, but only Brad Marchand is more hateable for me now. He essentially called Weise a baby while looking like the biggest baby in the NHL. His threats to Dale Weise and Alexei Emelin in the handshake made him look like a sore loser. And I haven’t even mentioned the multiple spears to opposing players’ groins yet.

• I loved the headline of this article from the Province’s Jason Botchford last week: “Weise may be more popular in Vancouver than he has ever been”. It was true last week but it’s even more true now. Weise wasn’t exactly a fan favourite in blue and green, but I for one will always have a soft spot in my heart for him after this series.

• But the best news of all? Shawn Thornton’s bush league move of squirting PK Subban in the face with a water bottle ended up being the turning point in the series. Boston was about to win game 5 and take a 3-2 series lead when Thornton yucked it up at Subban’s expense. The Habs won game 6 and 7 by a combined score of 7-1.

• The Bruins lost in the first round in the season following their Cup win in 2011, but this feels profoundly different. Justice was served. The NHL and its fans now see what Canucks fans have known for three years. The Bruins are a good team, but their antics are cheap and dirty and their excuses and whining is laughable. They act like take the moral high ground but nothing could be further from the truth.

• Everyone now knows the truth. And really, that’s all I’ve wanted all along.