62. June 15th, 2011 Picture.

YES MORE HOCKEY!  Except this time it is a whole bunch of photos of the Bruins winning the Stanley Cup!  Boom.

Ratty & I had plans to go straight from work to Canal Street, where most of the bars around the Garden are.  My mission was to leave work, RACE to the North End, park my car in a visitors spot, and RUN over to The Fours and try and get a seat at the bar.  Since this was obviously one of the most epic games ever, one that was being played AT the Garden, we knew that people would be lining up prettayyy early to get prime viewing seats.  I managed to get a spot in the North End super fast, which shocked even me, and raced over to The Fours.  I texted Ratty to let him know that I was en route, assuming that he'd still be on his way from work, and he texted me back letting me know he was almost there too.  I got to The Fours only to be discouraged to find all the seats at the bar taken.  There were plenty of people standing around, most of whom I assumed were actually going to the game, but I knew that most people with awesome seats would be there for the long haul.  

At that point Ratty texted me back and said he'd gotten a seat at the bar next door, Boston Sports Grille.  I went outside, hopped in line, and waited for the 10 or so people in front of me to head on in.  Boy oh boy was I mistaken, the situation was an absolute nightmare and I spent 45 minutes waiting outside, borderline screaming at bouncers, waiting to be let inside.  Apparently the bar had JUST opened at 4pm, and they'd barely gotten anything set up.  Servers weren't there yet, bartenders were unprepared and the owner was seriously stressing.  I mean, hi, its GAME 7 of the STANLEY CUP!  Why did you think it was a good idea to have your employees show up at 5pm?!  Eventually, after so much annoyance, I finally convinced the bouncer that my boyfriend was, in fact, INSIDE, sitting at a table waiting for me.  I then had to have Ratty come outside, confirm my story and escort me in.  If you think this is the stupidest story ever, you'd be right.

PHEW!  We were FINALLY inside and the pitchers were flowing.  Much better.

We're number 1....?

Ratty was a serious clapping machine.  I had 4 photos in a row of him clapping violently.  I picked this one.

Obviously the highlight of the night was the Bruins WINNING THE STANLEY CUP!  But there was definitely another highlight to our evening.  Here is the back story.  Earlier in the day, Rue La La had posted a picture on Facebook of two employees who were DECKED out in Bruins gear.  They were dubbed superfans and the picture garnered hundreds of comments.  I just happened to see this while I was taking an uber quick break from work during my lunch break.  Mmmmk, who really believes that.  Anyway, I was waiting in line for the bathroom and I saw two girls who were wearing remarkably similar outfits to the Rue La La super fans.  I'd had a few beers, so I had absolutely no issue going 'hey, do you girls work at Rue?' to which they IMMEDIATELY freaked out.  They were so excited that someone had recognized them and I honestly felt like I was meeting a celebrity!

Pay close attention to Amy B., the girl on the right.  We've become good Twitter friends (if that's a real thing, which I happen to think it is), and you might see her pop up in future posts!

More violent clapping.

At this point, the game was winding down, but the energy was absolutely insane.  The Bruins were gonna win!

Seriously when the whistle blew, the whole building started to shake.  People were standing on tables, jumping up on the bar, screaming and going absolutely bananas.  It was awesome.

We watched the Cup ceremony, paid our tab and prepared ourselves for the chaos that was about to ensue.

Once we got outside we realized that the cops had closed down most the routes towards the Garden, meaning that people had to funnel through the street towards Haymarket.  While the crowds were excited and some people were going crazy [like climbing on the backs of oil trucks or shimmying on traffic lights - yes I saw people do both of these things and yes I think they were certifiably insane] the majority of people were pretty respectful.  People were just really excited and wanted a place to celebrate, crowds gathered at Haymarket with lots of people leading different Bruins/Boston chants, and overall the vibe was excited, not violent.  I've been able to experience a few of these awesome wins for Boston teams in my day, and they've always been relatively peaceful.

Obviously Vancouver was the complete opposite.  At no point did anyone in Boston light anything on fire, flip any cars or do any real damage to anything.  I was pretty proud of us in that respect!

GO BRUINS!