Bruins' Debut in Classic 70s Campaign

It's fitting that my first post of the new year ushers in something fresh. I'm very pleased to be adding a new facet here on the blog with the addition of some virtual hockey action. When I launched this chronicle back in 2014, the focus was solely on all things Red Sox and writing about the fortunes of the actual team. I then thought I needed to bring something a little more unique to the table, as everyone seemed to have a website, blog, or podcast on the go about the Red Sox. So, I decided to change the focus to my sports video gaming hobby and include some classic Red Sox baseball which I continue to feature here with Sony's MLB the Show series.

There were rumblings back in the fall that EA Sports might finally have a version of their NHL series that catered to nostalgic consumers, like me, who value recreating teams and dream seasons of days gone by. I hadn't owned a hockey video game for the PS4 since NHL 19, and I was hesitant to pull the trigger right away. While I was biding my time, I searched out reviews and chatted with members of classic roster communities to get their feedback. With a number of positive testimonials on gameplay, roster sharing, and the custom franchise feature, I picked up NHL 23 for half-price on Black Friday to get in on the action, and I'm very happy I did.

It's quite obvious to anyone who has passed by here that I'm a huge Red Sox fan, but there is

no bigger Bruins fan than yours truly, especially back in my younger days. I adopted Red Sox fandom in 1975 during the World Series moving away from the Montreal Expos, but I was always a Bruins fan. Like most Bruin fans of my vintage, my guy was Bobby Orr. Unfortunately, I was quite young when he spearheaded those Stanley Cup runs in 1970 and 1972 (I was born in 1966), so most of my memories of his Bruins' teams were of the editions that came up short.

There was no second-guessing what era I was going to recreate first. Getting a chance to get those players back out on the ice that I watched religiously on Hockey Night in Canada every Saturday night was a must! From about the time I was five years old, I was an avid hockey card collector for about an eight-year span, so the seventies was the golden age of hockey for me. My father would go to a local wholesaler and buy me at least one box of hockey cards each season. When he brought the boxes home and set them on the table, I would scurry off to my room and plow through pack after pack hoping to find some sweet action cards, particularly of the goalies. With each discarded wrapper, the anticipation of snatching up my favorite players would mount. All the while, I would be ticking the boxes on the team checklist cards of the players that were revealed while shoving those rectangular pieces of powdered gum into my mouth. I haven't thought much about those players since those halcyon days until this game gave me the opportunity to recreate them. For me, there is a noticeable parallel between card collecting and creating classic players with a couple of exceptions. Now, rather than flipping the cards over to learn about players and their check the stats, I head on over to the Hockey Reference to reacquaint myself with them, and instead of hoping to indiscriminately find players by chance, I can remake any player or team I want.

So that led me to my classic 70s season which involves 12 teams and two divisions. It'll be an 80-game schedule. Below are the teams I fashioned.

East

1976-77 Montreal Canadiens

1973-74 Boston Bruins

1978-79 Atlanta Flames

1978-79 New York Islanders

1971-72 New York Rangers

1977-78 Toronto Maple Leafs

West

1970-71 Chicago Blackhawks

1974-75 Buffalo Sabres

1972-73 Detroit Red Wings

1974-75 Philadelphia Flyers

1974-75 Los Angeles Kings

1972-73 Minnesota North Stars

I know it may be puzzling to some as to why I didn't choose a Cup-winning edition of the Bruins. Simply put, I was trying to avoid player duplication, and I wanted to see if I could earn some retribution for the '74 playoff squad. With that said, the journey begins...

The season opener against the New York Islanders kicks off a three-game homestand at the Garden which will also see the Maple Leafs and North Stars paying a visit to North Station. 

Denis Potvin opened the scoring on a feed from Mike Bossy.  His point shot glanced in off the blocker of Gilles Gilbert. Potvin amassed 101 points for a potent 1978-79 squad that only lost 15 games in the regular season.

That seemed to light a fire under Boston as they pushed back with a strong forechecking game and were rewarded on a turnover at the Islanders' blue line. Wayne Cashman gathered a loose puck and broke in alone on Billy Smith tucking the puck over his left shoulder to even the score. Bobby Orr followed this up with a wrist shot from the point that skipped off the stick of Potvin and past Smith giving Boston a 2-1 lead going into the second period.

New York tied the game with the only goal of the second period. Clark Gilles broke in with Bob Bourne on a two-on-one. Gilbert made the initial save off Gilles but couldn't corral the rebound, and Bourne slid it in on the short side.

Late in the third period, Mike Bossy pounced on a loose puck in the slot and beat Gilbert on the glove side. This would be the game-winning marker as Billy Smith was brilliant in the final frame holding Boston at bay as the Bruins outshot the Islanders 13-6 in the third period. Smith's final stop would be his best coming with 10 seconds left in the game. Fred O'Donnell snuck past a check by Potvin and tossed the puck to Andre Savard who was driving for the net. Savard's offering trickled in between the pads of Smith but stayed out.