Each year, the Boston Marathon and a Red Sox matinee game are highlights of Beantown’s Patriots Day celebration.
This year, many Hub fans were also watching an NHL game in the nation’s capital, which is located 440 miles south, on Monday, the state holiday in Massachusetts honoring the Revolutionary War.
Highlights of Beantown’s annual Patriots Day celebration are the Boston Marathon and a Red Sox afternoon game. This year, on Monday, the state holiday in Massachusetts honoring the Revolutionary War, many Hub fans were simultaneously watching an NHL game in the nation’s capital, some 440 miles south.
Boston won’t have to deal with the added pressure of the Presidents’ Trophy and its alleged curse this time around, which was a major talking point during the season in the city.
As many NHL fans are well aware, Boston enjoyed the greatest regular season ever a year prior to winning the title, but they were defeated by the Florida Panthers in the opening round of the playoffs.
In a post published on the Huffington Post, Bruins TV announcer Jack Edwards described that collapse as a “Hindenberg-like ending.”
Undoubtedly, the curse holds some validity as only eight out of the thirty-six previous Presidents’ Trophy winners went on to win the Stanley Cup. By the way, on four different times, the B’s were included in the other 28.
And although while it was unlikely that Boston would finish the 2023–24 regular season as the NHL’s best team for a second consecutive year, the Bruins still had a chance to do so heading into Monday’s game.
Thus, Bruins supporters now have what they desired, courtesy of the Rangers and a loss to the Capitals. “No one around here wants to be in contention for the Presidents’ Trophy again, because that regular-season award rarely leads to a Stanley Cup championship (last time it did: the 2013 Chicago Blackhawks), and is more of a jinx than an honor,” Chris Young wrote in an April 5 (Attleboro, Massachusetts) Sun-Chronicle story, summarizing the sentiment and wish of the community.
