Be Nice...Until it's time to not be nice

I have watched as much as I have been able to of the Bruins/Canadiens playoff series this year and I find that the old hatred is still there after so many years. Many will recall that the Red Sox/Yankees rivalry seemed to be slightly dormant and not with a great amount of intensity until 2003 and then the infamous Varitek v. A-Rod scuffle in 2004 that brought the fire back. I think this Bruins/Canadiens series may do the same for that storied rivalry.

Much like the Sox & Yanks, the B's & Habs has been decidedly one-sided historically as the Canadiens have dominated Boston in the post-season and have the most Stanley Cups of any NHL team (and by a fairly sizable margin at that). But the two have always played it tight and always wanted to beat the other.

As this series has played on the intensity has only increased. A player the Bruins view as a future offensive star in Phil Kessel was actually benched for three games because Coach Julien wanted to increase the physical level of play and a guy with about 7 credited hits all season was not going to be the one to get that done. It worked. The team threw their weight around for three games, winning one and really deserving to win the other two but the offense was still lacking. Last night, with Kessel back in the line-up for offensive spark, the B's picked up 5 goals and forced a game 6.

All this background has a point. The ill-will between these teams is long standing and perhaps that is why Guy Carbonneau said some of the things he has been saying over the past couple weeks since the Bruins knew they would play the Habs in the first round. Carbonneau played for several years with the Canadiens and I'm sure his love for the Bruins is only slightly higher than Stone Cold Steve Austin's love for Vince McMahon. But his comments have been downright arrogant and rude.

Traditionally, during a series, when you hear a coach speak about the opposing team, it's always very PC and deferential. There is a lot of, "Well, they're a good team" and "We won't take anything for granted". This has not been the case for Coach Guy. After the Bruins won Game 3, he remarked that he was not in the least bit worried. He said that the Bruins had won 1 out of 14 so what was there to be worried about.

I'm not sure whether to be upset or impressed. On the one hand you have to give the guy credit for coming out and speaking his mind and not filling the local sports page with the usual platitudes. You don't see candor like this much outside of Ozzie Guillen and he's just plain crazy (though he does make stories about the White Sox real interesting some days). On the other hand, why would you want to fuel the other teams fire. The Bruins already felt like they should have won Game 2 and they do win Game 3 and really dominated much of Game 4. One lucky bounce the other way and the Canadiens are looking at a 3-2 hole coming back to Boston for a sold out Garden in Game 6. Not exactly a series you should be too cocky about.

But I guess this is why we love rivalries. It brings out this intensity in people. The games have been intense and the fans have been some of the most intense Bruins fans I've seen in years. Maybe Guy got caught up in the moment or maybe he really doesn't respect the Bruins. Either way, the B's have shown they can hang with the Canadiens and hopefully, for the good of the fans, and for the NHL in general, this series will be something the teams can build on for next year and bring hockey passion back to Boston. Varitek and the Sox brought life to their rivalry maybe Guy & the Canadiens are helping breathe a little fire back into the B's as well.