The Bruins traded Ray Bourque to the Colorado Avalanche in March 2000 in order to allow him to win a Stanley Cup before his career was over. He did just that a year later in 2001.
But in doing so, he also helped the city of Boston break its championship curse.
During an appearance on Julian Edelman’s “Games With Names” podcast, Bourque revealed that the string of Boston teams winning titles came after he brought the Stanley Cup to Boston to celebrate with his former fanbase at City Hall.
“What happened after that — the Patriots win in New Orleans,” he said. “And then, from that point on, the Pats win two out of three (Super Bowls), the (86-year) curse is broken with the (Red Sox), the Celtics win, the Bruins win, the Patriots keep winning, the Red Sox win again.
“It all started after the Cup came back to Boston.”
Bourque was hesitant to return to Boston — the city he spent 21 years of his career in. After the Avalanche won the Stanley Cup, the late Mayor Thomas Menino’s office called Bourque’s agent to see if he wanted to celebrate at City Hall.
Bourque said no because he didn’t want to embarrass the Bruins. But then-general manager Mike O’Connell was OK with it.
The Celtics are the most recent men’s Boston team to win a championship — having done so just last summer.
Perhaps history will repeat itself this year for a former Bruins captain. The Bruins traded their captain, Brad Marchand, in March to the Florida Panthers so he could make another run at winning a Cup. The difference between Bourque — who was also Boston’s captain at time of his trade — and Marchand, is that Marchand already a Cup to his name.
The Panthers are looking to repeat as champs, whereas the Edmonton Oilers are looking to get revenge in a rematch of last year’s Stanley Cup Final that saw Florida hoist the Cup.
