Saturday 3 September 2011

Jumbo Joe

I was driving through Lynhurst the other day wearing my bruinskini on the way to the beach in Port Stanley when I noticed that sign I always notice on my way through "The Home of Joe Thornton"...and it made me start to think in depth about him.

November 30th, 2005 is a day as a Bruins fan that I will always remember.  The day we traded the face of our franchise to the San Jose Sharks in exchange for Marco Sturm, Wayne Primeau and Brad Stuart.

When I first found out about the trade at first I didn't believe it...and then once I found it to be true I was shocked and saddened that my beloved Bruins could trade its Captain and one of the top players in all of the NHL.

"Jumbo" Joe and I go way back (ok well my memories of him)...Joe grew up in nearby Lynhurst (see photo of me paying respect to the birthplace of Joe) and he played Jr. B hockey in St. Thomas where he was a local legend and everyone in this area knew who he was.

Joe would go on to play for the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds where he was an absolute Star putting up 122 points in 59 games during the 1996-97 season paving the way to him being selected 1st overall in the summer of 1997 by the Big Bad Bruins!  A draft which would also see one of my all time favourite Bruins Sergei Samsonov taken in the 1st round.

This would begin the NHL career of Joe...and it would be a slow turbulent start...he would treat his entire rookie season as if it was a season long of playoff hockey (more about the disapearing Joe act later). Joe had a whopping 7 points his rookie year setting off alarm bells that the Bruins made a mistake.

Luckily for Joe and the B's his point totals would rise each season and he would turn into an absolute force who along with one of my all-time favourites Glen Murray were one of the best 1-2 punches in the league!

Regular season success for Joe and the Bruins was becomming a regular occurance...however over time a very disturbing trend was starting to form.  What started out as perhaps a bit of bad luck turned into a disturbing three-year trend which saw the Jumbo Joe led Bruins to three straight first round exits.

At the time I will admit I was perhaps too caught up and ga ga over the prescence that he brought and the numbers he put up but looking back at it now I truly understand the reasoning behind trading him.  I honestly believe with him as the face of our franchise and our "leader" that we do not raise the Cup last season.

Looking back at it I think we maybe could have got more for Joe but I really think the turning point in this franchise was turning over the keys of this amazing franchise to a young Bergy and later Timmmy and then with the eventual signing of our current Captain Big Z!

So thank you Jumbo Joe for all you did for my beloved B's and you will always have a place in my heart but I really dont think we ever would have won a cup with ya!

- Ashley

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