High 5

For the first time in 39 years! The Boston Bruins won the Stanley Cup (meaning the National Hockey League Championship) against Vancouver Canucks. Of couse, as the Bostonian I have partly become, I had arranged to meet with some friends at a sports bar at Canal Street just outside TD Garden. TD Garden is the home of both the Bruins and the Celtics (NBA), and even though the game was in Canada, Canal Street was the place to go for the best sports bars and the craziest fans. We have been there before, and we usually meet an hour or so before the game to get a table. Well, this being game 7 (i.e. the last and final game) of the final series we met two hours before. But no no no, Bostonians are insane when it comes to their sports teams and there were 100-people not-moving-lines in front of every bar…

We then walked south towards the Haymarket to find another bar – successfully. After the usual stuff (read: crap) about showing passports to check that we were actually over 21 and not just looked way past that, we got inside. Great bar, but no tables and no chance of getting one. We decided to go for a quick bite and return within 10 minutes. The man at the door said they could only let in 100 more people so we had to be quick. When we got back there was a line going round the block… So once again we headed south. This time towards the financial district. In the end we found a great bar that ended up being crowded before the game – just as it was supposed to be.

Everybody were excited and there was tension in the air But we ruled the Canucks – 4 to nothing!!! Champagne’s were popped, people were cheering, jumping, dancing, shouting and last but not least high-5’ing! I made a personal record in high-5’s that night. Americans aren’t known to be shy and after some beers and cocktails it’s even better. Yahhh – gimme 5, yes yes, GO BRUINS!

After the game we headed back to TD Garden high-5’ing everybody on the way. It was awesome. Everyone were truly happy. Except the police that were attending the event as if a bunch of autonomists or government terrorists were about to destroy the city. Well, in European soccer when two teams meet in a rivalry final game, the loosing team’s fans will often be pretty unpleasant or even violent, but hear we were only happy Bruins fans. Equipped with bats, angry dogs and in combat uniforms, hundreds of police officers were patrolling the streets. Some places we couldn’t be on the sidewalks and should walk on the road. Other places the roads were off limits and yet again some places (or just regular streets) were completely restricted areas. We realized that the area around TD Garden was one of those restricted areas, because… well, only God knows why. The expected party on the streets after 39 years without the cup slowly diluted to subway stations and street corners.

We headed home, which was more difficult than we thought it would be. We had to walk a few miles ‘round the strange roadblocks to get to the T. It was an awesome event even though we had to be treated as bunch of criminals. High-5!