Ray Bourque, Hall of Famer

by Cliopatria

On the Rebunk sports hierarchy, hockey is firmly entrenched in at best fourth place among team sports. I would bet that between the three of us we have not spent an hour combined lamenting the absence of the NHL this season, and that I would be the one who would have done the lion's share of the lamenting.

Nonetheless, my favorite hockey player, Ray Bourque, was enshrined in the hockey Hall of Fame last night. I was too young to see the incomparable Bobby Orr, and while I know that I was lucky enough to see Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux in their primes, I am too much of a homer to place them ahead of Bourque, the best defenseman of his era and quite possibly the best of all time. It was heartbreaking to see him have to go to Colorado to win a Stanley Cup, but no one in New England resented that he had to do so, and for one night, we all rooted for another team. He is a class act and for the first time that I can remember, I missed hockey today. Where's that Odessa Jackalopes schedule? (Yes, we have minor league hockey in the Permian Basin!)

By the way, the Bruins now have the biggest championship drought among Boston professional sports teams. Looks like that will not end any time soon.

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Derek Charles Catsam - 11/11/2004

Steve --
I put Bourque ahead of Gretzky only in my pantheon as a fan. I made no claims to him being a better player, merely my favorite. Surely you do not always have as your favorite player the guy who is universally considered the best? Is your favorite baseball player really Barry Bonds? Is your favorite wide receiver Jerry Rice? We cannot all be frontrunners. I loved Bourqe more than gretzky. I'm from New England. Sue me. As for Bourque being a "solid defenseman"? Uh, yeah. And Bonds has decent power and Gretzky a fair scoring touch.
dc

Steven Heise - 11/11/2004

I'm speechless at that particular comment. Ray Borque was a solid defenseman that had amazing longevity, but there is no way he's ahead of a man who has 2,857 points on his career, not to mention four of Lord Stanley's cups. This is not counting his 14 100 plus points seasons, four 200 plus point seasons, two 80+ goal seasons, or any of his other scoring statistics. Compare this to Borque who has one Stanley Cup, and really that's about it, aside from a 22 year career, which is outstanding for a defenseman. But, that's just the numbers speaking.

Of course, being up here in MN where the snows are already falling, and realizing that there is likely to be a long bleak winter without hockey, I'm wishing we had more than the less than spectacular Mavericks, and under acheiving Gophers to keep an eye on.

Steve

Maarja Krusten - 11/11/2004

Hmmmm, I seem to remember sitting at a postseason game where the Caps were beaten by the Bruins. Was that the season Boston knocked the Caps out of the playoffs in 4 games, LOL. Some of the Caps postseason games were really tough on fans, I remember the Easter Sunday I was bleary eyed after a game that "Saturday night" which resulted in a loss after 4 overtimes. BTW, I even to a couple of the Baltimore Skipjacks games, LOL.

Derek Charles Catsam - 11/10/2004

Maarja --
I fixed the link and it should work now.
I lived in DC for a few years and went to a few Caps games, including one in which a I lost a bet to my then-girlfriend when the Caps played (and beat) my Bruins. But of the Rebunkers, Tom and Tootle pretty much don't give a whit and it is well behind MLB and NFL and even the NBA for me. I still have plenty of room for it in my sports life, but I miss it a lot less than I would miss the NFL or MLB were either to go on hiatus (again).
dc

Maarja Krusten - 11/10/2004

"Hockey is firmly entrenched in at best fourth place among team sports," eh? Well, hockey is the only professional sport for which I ever sprung for partial-plan season tickets (Washington Capitals during the late 1980s, the days of Rod Langway, one of the last defensemen to play without a helmet). And I live in the subrubs of a city that mostly focuses on its Redskins!! I've visited the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto and enjoyed my time there, well worth stopping in. Could you fix your link to the story about Ray Bourque, for some reason, it doesn't seem to work? Thanks!

Posted on personal time during lunch break