This column originally ran in The Standard-Times on April 15, 2005.

By Nick Tavares

Today marks one of the more irrelevant days in recent local hockey history.

Out of the playoffs with the franchise player gone, the general manager exiled, a lame-duck head coach behind the bench and a seemingly clueless owner, the Bruins will end what has been a forgettable season at best and a disgusting one at worst.

Watching Joe Thornton and Sergie Samsonov push San Jose and Edmonton, respectively, into the playoffs hasn't been the worst part. And it wasn't watching a corps of rookie defensemen holding down the blueline for a last-place team.

No, the worst part has been watching the franchise crumble. The relevancy of the Bruins to New England is at an all-time low. There is absolutely zero faith in ownership and management among fans, which is certainly not the position a team wants to be in when searching for a new GM and possibly a new president.

But, take solace Bruins fans, there is a chance for success after all is said and done. Only five years ago, another professional team from the immediate area was at a crossroads due to passive ownership, inept management, infighting, player revolt and poor performance.

That team was the 2001 Red Sox, and how they were able to rebound and win the World Series three years later is truly amazing.

The 2001 season was bad from the get-go. In spring training, manager Jimy Williams angered several veteran players, including Dante Bichette, Carl Everett, Mike Lansing, Jose Offerman and Troy O'Leary, among others, with his plans for constantly changing lineups in order to get everyone playing time.

To make matters worse, the team was getting worse before it got better. Nomar Garciaparra was limited to only 20 games due to a wrist injury, catcher Jason Varitek's broken elbow limited him to 51 games, and Pedro Martinez missed significant action with a sore shoulder.Williams' grip on the team slipped in no time. Everett, always a beloved teammate, received a scolding in the media from Williams after Everett grabbed his crotch at home plate following a home run off Seattle's Jamie Moyer. Then-GM Dan Duquette wasted no time in undermining his manager however.

"All that counts is performance, and Carl Everett is a big reason we're in the wild-card race," Duquette told reporters in the middle of that season. Nice message to send, eh?

The Duke had long endeared himself to his players and managers before this, which included criticizing Williams for playing pitcher Steve Avery knowing it would kick in a contract option and, later, releasing team leader Mike Stanley without warning.

Before long, after juggling greats like Lou Merloni and Morgan Burkhardt in the lineup, Williams was fired while the Sox were four games back of the Yankees in the division.

The man to take his place? Pitching coach Joe Kerrigan, who was given a big-league managing contract and wasted no time in juggling the lineup just as much as his predecessor.

Kerrigan managed the team to a glorious 17-26 record down the stretch, including an almost unreal 5-21 stretch through the end of August and most of September.

It was around this time that Pedro shut himself down, not willing to risk his career for a lost cause. Duquette called him out on it, earning Pedro's wrath and helping seal Duquette's fate.

In the end, the Sox strung together some wins to finish barely above .500 at 83-79. New ownership was on the way with the Harrington group getting out of the business, and Kerrigan and Duquette were out of work before the end of spring training.

After spending 2002 purging the roster of its clubhouse cancers, John Henry and Larry Lucchino hired a fella by the name of Theo Epstein. The three had a real plan for baseball in Boston, both on the field and through the fan.

A World Series victory and more than 200 consecutive sellouts later, the Sox are the darlings of New England, just as they were long ago.

Now, do the Bruins have it in them to revitalize themselves in the same fashion?

It's hard to say, but then again, things were just as bleak for the Sox as they are now for the B's.

So here's hoping that hockey means something in the public consciousness again. And here's hoping in three years, this terrible season is nothing more than a bad memory.

Nick Tavares is a columnist for The Standard-Times. Contact him at ntavares@s-t.com

This story appeared on Page B6 of The Standard-Times on April 15, 2005.