Tag: NHL

Clinched

The Bruins won their 11th game in a row last night when their back up goalie shut out Colorado 2-0. I missed most of the game. I don’t know if Jarome Iginla scored another goal or not. Their win also made them the first team in the NHL to clinch a spot in the playoffs.

In unrelated hockey news, my alma mater, UMass Lowell, advanced to the Hockey East finals last night by beating Notre Dame. Just think… If the son of a bitch athletic director hadn’t tried to sell our radio station out from under us I might actually care. I might have followed my old school over the last ten years. I might have even realized that Notre Dame was part of Hockey East.

I hope UMass Lowell does well, but I hope the athletic director gets fired more.

Billion Dollar Bracket

I have never watched more than a few seconds of a division one basketball game.  I did watch a couple of division two games back when I was a student at UMass Lowell.  My radio show did a weekly segment with the men’s basketball coach and DJ Dina and I went to maybe two games to show support.  I remember one game in particular because I left at halftime to drive in to Boston to see Mission of Burma’s reunion show at the Paradise.  Brunch with Burma.  What a show that was.  Unreal.

Anyway.  I just signed up for the Billion Dollar Bracket challenge over on yahoo sports.  I only picked a few upsets, and generally I did it just to suck up to New England schools.  In the end I have Duke beating Virginia 82-79.

Of course I know absolutely nothing about college basketball (see the first paragraph of this post).  Nothing.  Nada.  Nuttin, honey.  Zip, zilch, zero.

But, to paraphrase Geddy Lee on the Bob and Doug Take Off album, a billion bucks is a billion bucks*.

Logging in to yahoo sports also reminded me that I have a free fantasy hockey team out there.  I forgot all about that.  I decided to check in.  Turns out I’m in the first round of the playoffs and I’m the number three cede.  Now that is pretty funny.  I stacked the team with Bruins.  Krejci, Iginla, Bergeron, Rask.  Yeah, I can pick ’em.

Speaking of the Bruins, they beat Minnesota last night.  The win streak is at nine.  Tonight they play New Jersey.  A ten game win streak would sound nice, eh?  Even nicer if they beat the team responsible for removing AHL hockey from the city of Lowell, MA.  Yeah, Devils.  I haven’t forgotten about that.  You jerks.

Go Bruins.

 

*Geddy Lee’s actual line was more like, 10 bucks is 10 bucks.  There’s a subtle difference, you see.

Bruins

Just because I haven’t been posting a lot about the Bruins doesn’t mean I haven’t been following.  Just letting you know that.

The Bruins beat the Canadiens on Wednesday.  It was their first regular season win against Montreal since the Carter administration.  It seemed that way at least.  They looked as good in that game as I’ve seen them look in a long time.  Last night they won again against Phoenix.  It wasn’t quite as dominant, and they looked pretty beat through a lot of it, but it was another quality win.  That’s seven in a row for the Bruins.  They lost the first couple of post-olympic games, but then they straightened things out and have been off the charts ever since.  They are first in the East, and second in the NHL. 

And here I am just waiting for the other shoe to drop.  Let’s hope it falls in August, or something like that.

Rich Peverley

Here is a mighty tip of the cap to the medical staff in Dallas who were able to restart Rich Peverley’s heart last night.  NHL fans everywhere thank you for a job well done.

It was another one of those “hockey players are the toughest athletes” moments when Peverley (who was a member of the cup winning Bruins team in 2011 and therefore will never pay for a drink in Boston again) regained consciousness and asked how much time was left in the first period.  After the incedent his teammates were really shaken up and were unwilling to finish the game (rightfully so).  Peverley?  He wanted to go back onto the ice rather than go to the hospital. 

You can read more on this story here:  Columbus Blue Jackets vs. Dallas Stars – Recap – March 10, 2014 – ESPN

NHL Trade Deadline

NHL Trade Tracker – ESPN

Well, there is only about 45 minutes left until the NHL trade deadline.  The Bruins have not made any moves yet.  No top four defensemen coming our way as of yet.

Callahan went from the Rangers to the Lightning for St. Louis.  Two players the Bruins don’t really need, but who I was seriously liked to have seen in a Boston uniform.  There was a defenseman in Ottawa that was rumored to be on Boston’s wishlist who signed a two year extension.  Crap.

Marion Gaborick went to the Kings.  Would he have fit in with the Bruins?  Probably not.

We’ll see how things unravel in the rest of the hour.

Go Bruins.

Trade Deadline Day

The Bruins beat the crap out of the Florida Panthers last night thanks to a hat trick by David Krejci.  Ever since going AWOL last season, it pleases me to no end to watch Tim Thomas get shelled.  After yesterday’s trade that brought former Vancouver goalie (and Thomas’ 2011 Stanley Cup Finals opponent) Roberto Luongo to Florida, it will please me even more to watch Thomas sit on the bench as Luongo gets shelled.  I don’t expect that will happen though.  I can’t imagine Tim Thomas makes it through today’s 3:00pm ET trade deadline without being moved.  He has a no trade clause, but I expect he’ll waive it for just about any team.  I can’t imagine he’s happy about being Luongo’s back up, although now there is no question of whether or not he needs to pump Lu’s tires.

The trade deadline is a fun day to be an NHL fan with an internet connection.  I just wish it fell on a weekend so I could actually pay attention to it.  I expect to find a live blog following the news this afternoon (I’m in a meeting all morning) but I don’t expect to actually have any time to look at it.

The Bruins need a defenseman.  Preferably a top pairing kinda guy but at least a top four.  They have a huge hole to fill with Dennis Seidenberg (am I even close to spelling that right?  I could look it up but… lazy) being out for the season.  That’s the big need.  Beyond that they are just looking for depth all around.  They have been tied to a number of big names, mostly forwards, but that might be just an attempt to drive up the price for their rivals.  Specifically, Ryan Kesler has been rumored to be going to Pittsburgh for a few days now.  Suddenly the Bruins are in the talks too.  As much as Kesler NEEDS to be a Bruin, I think that has more to do with trying to get Pitt to over pay than an actual chance of him coming here.  Who knows.

Enjoy the trade deadline, and may the Bruins hit the jackpot.

Luongo to the Panthers

Roberto Luongo traded to Florida Panthers from Vancouver Canucks – ESPN

 

Vancouver has traded Roberto Luongo to the Florida Panthers?  They sent him back where they got him from?  Does this mean the Panthers have to trade him to the Islanders next?

That’s unbelievable.  Really.  The Panthers are craptastic and they are adding a player at the trade deadline?  The article doesn’t say what they gave up for him.  Also, does this mean Tim Thomas is going to be traded by the deadline?  I’ve heard that he might be a fit for Minnesota, but I didn’t think they would actually take him.  This is crazy.

I really don’t care so long as the Bruins get a top four defenseman to replace Dennis Seidenberg (sp?).

It should be an interesting day for NHL fans tomorrow.

Go Bruins

Bruins at Gillette?

The rumors around the NHL is that either next season or the season after that, the Bruins will host a Stadium Series game against the Canadiens at Gillette Stadium.  At least one hockey magazine site is confirming the rumor, although they state that the announcement will wait until after the Olympics.

Do I want to go to such a rumored game?  Yes and no.  First off, I always enjoy a hockey game.  Hell, we’re going to see the Providence Bruins play in Manchester this weekend.  Second, I have still never been to Gillette Stadium.  I’ve sort of been waiting for an excuse to present itself.  At one point I thought about going to a Revolution game just to check out the stadium, but the idea of paying to watch soccer… ugh, talk about horror.  I can’t stomach football anymore, and none of my can’t miss bands are big enough to fill a 68,000 seat venue.  (Unless maybe the three surviving members of Pink Floyd decide to get back together.)  So a Bruins game sounds like the excuse I’ve been waiting all these years for.

The downside, of course, is that it’s going to be played in January or February.  Two and a half hours in temps below 20 degrees?  Yeah, not likely.  If they push it out to the end of the season, maybe late March or early April, or if maybe they move it to the beginning of the season.  I don’t think a late October date would be too bad. 

It’s all just speculation, and when it comes down to it I don’t think I would actually want to go anyway.  It’s fun to think about though.

Thank You, Bruins

If the price of the Red Sox winning the World Series is that the Bruins have to suck for a while, then I’ll pay that price. Now that the parade is over though, it’s time for the sucking to end.

While I still have not recovered from the Stanley Cup Finals game six choke, I am ready to start loving hockey again. I’ve been there since the puck dropped in the opening game, but the Sox did distract me.

The Bruins have been crap-tastic for a couple of weeks now. This is the team that went to the Finals last year, and they are sucking up the joint against the Islanders and the Stars? No, enough. That needs to end.

Fortunately, last night was a step in the right direction. I was following the game, but I only managed to listen to the first period. It was scoreless after one, so I was afraid it might end up as more of the same. They were playing Florida whose suck level is so high it is incalculable. Turns out the B’s were just teasing me. They took the lead in the second period and then went for the Panthers’ throat in the third and put it all away.

Thank you, Boston Bruins. Thank you for playing like you meant it last night. Now keep up the good work!

Go Bruins!