BOOM! BOOM! FIREPOWER!

Well, I have to give it to Patrick. Although his picks were clearly made out of homerism, he was right. He correctly predicted that every Boston Bruin nominated for an award would leave Las Vegas with a trophy to put on the mantle. Kudos to you sir, may you burn in hell.

Tim Thomas, Zdeno Chara, Claude Julien and Manny Fernandez all walked away as winners tonight, taking home some nice hardware. Thomas and Fernandez won the William Jennings Trophy which is given to "the goalkeeper(s) having played a minimum of 25 games for the team with the fewest goals scored against it. Winners are selected based on regular-season play."Now I'm not going to say ManFran doesn't deserve it...but ya know...he doesn't.

Although Manny Fer-after thought didn't really deserve anything, Thomas did and he walked out of Vegas with not only the Williams Jennings Trophy but also the crown jewel of goalie awards, the Vezina Trophy. Claude walked away with the Jack Adams Award (coach of the year) and a beardless (insert sad face here) Zdeno Chara took home the James Norris Trophy (best defenseman)

Although it is no Stanley Cup, Bruins fan can take solace in the fact that the team and its players are finally getting recognized in a hockey world where Boston, until this year, wasn't even close to being on the map. Hell, the Bruins were to busy sleeping outside of the building where teams would register to be put on the hockey map. Oh yeah, I saw it, they were sleeping right next to Phoenix and Columbus.

I can say that I am proud of the season we had before falling to Carolina in the playoffs, but a team has to start somewhere. I put this exactly in the category of the 2003 Boston Red Sox whose heartbreaking loss to New York was taken care of the next year. Sometimes a team just need to feel the sting of a loss before the high of a victory.

So to Zdeno, Tim and Claude, congrats on your hardware because each one of you were a driving force to helping the Bruins take over the top spot in the East. Put them on the shelf, show the kiddies and get ready for the 2009-2010 season because this is just the beginning.