Even through all the celebrating, each member of the team paying homage to game-winning-goal bank Nathan Horton by smiling just as wide as the happy-go-lucky winger and high-fiving by teammates as they walked by one another, the fact that the Bruins had reached the Stanley Cup finals took a bit to process. The hats were on, along with the matching shirts. On each article of clothing was the Cup, the trophy the team would finally be playing for after a 21-year absence from the finals. The reason it may be tough for some to grasp is pretty clear. 

It’s hard to believe. 

Years of conditioning have taught Bruins fans to believe that when they’re close, it doesn’t come. In a Game 7 in which the two teams were playing tight defensively and getting great goaltending to the point where it was scoreless in the third, it’s safe to say at least a good chunk of Bruins fans cringed with each Lightning position out of fear of when, not if, the Lightning would score that first goal. The first goal came, but it came from Horton, who raced to the net to tap in a feed from David Krejci. With 7:23 remaining in regulation, Horton showed that he doesn’t know the feeling of what its like to blow a 3-0 series lead, or what it’s like to lose to the Hurricanes in overtime. 

As much as the people of Boston are used to more of the same, it is clear now that this year is different. If some couldn’t see that right away (this is being written with one hand, as the other is raised), Game 7 was as good an indicator of any that the B’s can do it. The captain is generally level-headed, so finding him gushing about his team’s play is a rarity. On Friday, Zdeno was wowed to the point where he didn’t want his team’s execution to go unnoticed.

“We wanted to put a lot of pressure, we wanted to put a lot of shots on [Dwayne] Roloson. I think after the first we had 15, 16 shots. ... I have to say, yes," an impressed Chara said when asked if they executed thier game plan perfectly. "Especially mentally, we were just so sharp doing things and sticking with it. Nobody really broke or started to do something different. We were just all on the same page."

Chara came to a disaster area when he signed a five-year deal with the Bruins in 2006. The Bruins had finished last in the Northeast Division the year before, and had lost who would become the league’s MVP when they traded Joe Thornton. It would be a process before the Bruins were good, and from there it would take time before they were great. 

“When I signed over here, I believed in this team,” Chara said, looking back on his free agency decision. “That's why I signed over here. When you want to accomplish something and implement or just put that seed to create something, it takes time. It's not going to happen over one season or two seasons, but you can see that all of a sudden, the tree is giving you some fruits.”

For Bruins fans, at least recently, the fruits have never been good enough. They’ve been good enough to trick fans into thinking they have something, only to see a playoff collapse. After the heartache in Boston from the last two seasons, the Bruins have finally taken it far enough to show that the frenzy they’re causing around the 617 is warranted. If Bruins fans want to dream about a Cup, they can, because it’s a real possibility. Chara might be able to get a job as the world’s tallest fortune teller, as he never saw the Cup as a long shot when it came to the 2010-11 Bruins. 

“We were really close the past two seasons. Obviously we lost in Game 7s, but this year it's just -- I had a really good feeling right from the beginning,” captain Zdeno Chara said after the game. “We were so hungry, we talked about it in training camp that we had some unfinished business from the playoffs in the previous year with Philadelphia. 

“We really had our eyes on the prize this year. It's just nice to be in the position where we are. I know that everybody's really excited on this team and in this organization. Obviously the fans in this city deserve it. It's been a long, long time since Boston's been in the finals.”

Since 1972, to be exact, and the year has become the new “1918.” Some hear 1972 and think “Can’t Buy a Thrill,” while that year simply reminds Bostonians that for too long, the B’s couldn’t buy a Cup. 

Now the challenge that lies ahead for the Bruins is a Vancouver team who has been all-but awarded the Cup by many before the series hasn’t even started. On paper, there isn’t much reason to believe this team has a more than modest chance of actually winning. Maybe that’s because of the Canucks, or maybe it’s just the Boston mentality. Either way, the Bruins have not yet folded when the opportunities have arisen, so why shouldn’t Boston believe? Four more wins and the Bruins get their first banner in forever. Four more wins and these guys – the kid who talks too much on the ice, the guy who accidentally gives fans the finger, the center who had a cage but really didn’t like wearing a cage –  turn into Boston legends.  

“I think it's a challenge and it's motivation,” Chara said. “You talk to the old-timers like Johnny Bucyk, Cam Neely, Ray Bourque, Bobby Orr. They're always around the team throughout the year. You see how they are respected, and what they accomplish, and what they did for this city, and obviously you want to follow their footsteps and be part of the history. You want to accomplish something yourself.”

Now, Chara has a chance to add his name to that list. The Bruins have had plenty of great players over the years, but to be a Bruins great is another. Guys like Neely and Bourque may not have needed a Cup to do it, but Chara does, just like the city does after a 39-years-and-counting wait.

In those 39 years, the tendencies to not believe around these parts have grown, and there is undoubtedly a huge correlation with the fact that the team wasn’t winning. The fans got used to the heartache. Now, they’ll have at least four games to get used to the idea of a Stanley Cup in Boston.