Tag: NHL

Friday

There is no hockey game tonight. That blows. I hate this two days between games crap. It’s torture, especially when your team lost the last game. We need a game tonight, damn it!

Hey, guess what. Today is the first day of summer. Yesterday was a beautiful day to send off Spring and now we have Summer. Today is the longest day of the year (sunlight wise), which to an eternal pessimist means: It’s all down hill from here. Or as folks in Game of Thrones would say, Winter is coming.

So I’ve watched every episode of Game of Thrones. When does it get good? No, really. It’s not bad. I wasn’t forced to watch three seasons (10 episodes per season… screw you and your crap HBO. How about 26 episodes per season the way the real networks do it. Jerks). It wasn’t bad. It’s just that so many people told me it was the greatest thing ever. I guess it just didn’t come close to living up to the hype. There are some characters that I really like (forgive me for not trying to spell first names) the dwarf Lannister (sp?) brother is the best part of the whole show. He’s smart, manipulative, and damn funny. I thought they under used him in season three. Hopefully that changes. Same thing with the younger of the Stark daughters. I expect her to be running things when the story ends, but she was sort of boring in season three. She did end with a bang though.

All in all, the show is okay. I’m not in a hurry for the next season to start, as I am with The Walking Dead, but it’s just sort of… okay. Why then did I start listening to the book on tape of the first book? Why? I know it’s just okay. Why? Urgh.

Happy Summer.
Go Bruins.

Stanley Cup Finals Game Four – Oh Crap!

It’s just one game.  Keep telling myself that it’s just one game.  Don’t panic.  Don’t throw yourself off of the Tobin Bridge.  It’s just one game.  Just one game.

Last night the Blackhawks offense showed up, and the Bruins defense didn’t.  Fortunately, the Bruins offense showed up, and Cory Crawford’s glove hand didn’t. 

Once again we went to overtime, and this time it was the Blackhawks winning by a score of six to five.  It may have been the single most exciting game of the playoffs for the Bruins thus far, with apologies to game seven of the Toronto series which was just painful until the third period and then became awesome.

Both teams put on goal scoring shows, and just when you thought one team was pulling away… BAM the other team comes back and gains all the momentum.  It was an absolute blast to watch, and listen to on the radio, which I did for the third and the OT.  In overtime both teams had their chances but it seemed the Bruins were carrying the play a little bit more.  That might be because I was listening to the Boston radio broadcast, but it is definitely how it felt. 

So now what.  Instead of being up 3-1 we are tied 2-2.  There are three games remaining and two of them are in Chicago.  It’s down to a best of three.

I have to believe that the Bruins will play better in game five on Saturday.  I can’t imagine our defense being that weak for two games.  I still have confidence that the Bruins will win the series, but I am not as confident as I was.  For some reason, given the way the two teams played, being up 2-1 felt like being up 3.5-1.  It just wasn’t real.  I kept trying to tell myself not to underestimate Chicago, but I also kept finding myself underestimating Chicago.  I was actually talking about making plans to see the victory parade.  Can you believe that?  Me!  Mister Cautious Optimism was looking past potentially four games!

No more.

I believe the Bruins will win the series.  You might say I am cautiously optimistic.

Go Bruins!

Stanley Cup Finals Game Four Tonight

We’re just about 11 hours away from the drop of the puck in game four of the Stanley Cup Finals.  I wonder if I’d be this psyched up for the game if the Blackhawks were leading in the series.  Do sports fans in other cities go through these mood swings, or is it just we Bostonians who live and die by our teams?

When our team wins we feel invincible.  They are immortal, nothing will ever harm them.  We can’t wait for the next game so that we can witness the titans squashing the mere mortals on the other team.  Game time is celebration time.

When our team lost the last game it’s different.  There is a sense of impending doom.  The unraveling of all that is good in the world is just about to begin.  When game time comes it’s a nervous feeling.  Oh no… here we go again.

We take this crap way to seriously here in Boston.  I wonder if the rest of the country acts the same way.

Don’t get me wrong though, I wouldn’t have it any other way.  Rooting for a winning team in Boston is THE BEST.  Hell, rooting for a losing team in Boston is still pretty great.  We just bitch about them more, and who doesn’t love bitching?  Am I right, or am I right?

Game four is tonight at 8:00ish.  A Bruins win gives us a 3-1 lead in the series and brings us to the brink of another Cup.  A Blackhawks win ties the series at two and gives the home ice advantage back to Chicago.  That cannot happen.

Statistically speaking, is this a must win for the Bruins?  No.  Realistically speaking, is this a must win for the Bruins?  ABSOLUTELY!  We need to put them away quickly.  We cannot give them any hope.  We cannot give them any life.

Win game four, Bruins.  You must win game four!

Go Bruins!

Stanley Cup Finals Game Three – The Bruins Win

Here’s the NHL highlight video of last night’s game.  Give it a look.

Notice anything funny about that video?  Anything out of the ordinary?

I did.  It’s almost all Bruins highlights.  The Blackhawks highlights are few and far between?  Why is that?

It’s because the Bruins pretty much owned that game last night.  The Bruins got goals from Paille, again, and Bergeron, again.  Allow me to jump on a bandwagon and start calling Dan Paille by his new (censored) nickname:

Yippee Paille, muthaf*cker.  Heh heh, Die Hard meets Bruins.  Some how it fits.

The Bruins now have a two games to one lead in the Stanley Cup Finals.  Far be it from me to start feeling anything more than cautious optimism.  This is far, far from over.  Chicago is a fantastic team.  Don’t count them out.  Even though they threw the best they possibly could at the Bruins in game two and still ended up losing, and then came out in game three and seemed to play as if they were constantly hearing footsteps behind them.  The Blackhawks are not done.  Not by a long shot.

Boston is two wins away.  Two painfully difficult wins that we should not assume are ours for the taking.  No.  There is huge work left to be done by our heroic Bruins, but they are definitely up to the challenge.

Game four is tomorrow night in Boston.

Go Bruins!

Stanley Cup Finals Game Three: Drop the Damn Puck!

We still have more than six hours to go until the start of tonight’s game three of the Stanley Cup Finals between the glorious, brilliant, magical, majestic, kingly, heroic, noble Boston Bruins, and the douchey, pucky Chicago Blackhawks.

What do you mean, I am a homer?

Game one went to triple overtime and the Blackhawks stole the game from the Bruins. Game two included the single most one sided period of the entire post season as the Blackhawks dominated the Bruins in embarrassing fashion. The Bruins then won the game in overtime.

Two games. Both team won a game they had no business winning.

Now we come home to Boston for game three. I am hoping for a convincing Bruins win in regulation because frankly, with an 8:20ish start time, I don’t think I can make it through another overtime.

Six hours to go. I say we flip the bird to the television network and drop the puck right now. Who’s with me?!?

Go Bruins!

How to Steal a Win in the Stanley Cup Finals

And that, my friends and loyal reader(s), is how you steal a win in the Stanley Cup Finals. Those Blackhawk pukes stole game one from us, and the mighty Bruins turned right around and stole game two from them.

It was beautiful. Actually, it was awful in the first period. Oh my goodness, did they kick our ass in the first. Fortunately, we had one Tuukka Rask in the goal. As the two or three thousand shots came pouring in from inside the hash marks faster than the cameras could actually follow, Mr. Rask stood upon his Finnish head and stopped all but one.

In the second, the Bruins closed the competitive gap. It was still nerve racking, but it was better. The third was pretty even too.

Overtime though… It was beautiful. Dan Paille. 2-1 win.

Glorious!

It’s all tied up at a game a piece now. Glorious.

Here’s the highlight video.

And here is a little nod to the Bruins of the past…

Stanley Cup Finals Game Two

Game two of the Stanley Cup Finals is through two periods. In the first, the Bruins were completely out played by Chicago. It was the most dominant period I’ve seen in the entire post season. It was awful. Magically though, Tuukka Rask was able to hold the Blackhawks to just one goal.

In the second, the Bruins tightened things up. Rask remained super human, and Chris Kelly scored his first goal (and point) of the playoffs and incredibly the score is still tied at one.

The third is starting now. Hey Bruins, what do you say we steal this one, hub?

GO BRUINS!

Game One: What Did I Do to Jinx It

I take full responsibility for the Bruins losing game one last night.  It is totally my fault.  I don’t know how it’s my fault, I wasn’t even in the same region of the continent, but I know it’s my fault.

I did something to jinx the whole works.  What was it?  I worked a screwy schedule yesterday.  Instead of 9-5:30, it was 6-2:30.  That could be it.  I also ate the last reeses peanut butter cup.  There’s a good chance that was the problem. 

I wore my black Bruins jersey.  Only for a little while though, as it doesn’t really fit anymore.  I’ve always had a weird feeling that shit was bad luck.  I think the Bruins often lose when I wear it.  That’s it!  No more black Bruins jersey on game days!  Be damned, acursed replica jersey!

There is a good chance that the jersey was the jinx, but there is one other thing that might have been the culprit… I fell asleep.

I can’t be blamed.  I’ve had a shit week.  An uber shit week.  I’ve barely slept at all.  Whenever I finally get to sleep something (I’m looking at you, cat) wakes me up.  What’s worse, I’ve been snoring like a chainsaw when I do fall asleep and that is keeping everyone else awake, so everyone is fried this week, thanks to me.

Anyway, I watched most of the first two periods, and then just before the 2nd intermission I went to my room with my iPad and one of the 10,000 or so CBS radio apps.  I made it a decent way into the third period when I decided that I could still listen to the game if I was lying down.  I wouldn’t fall asleep.  The score was still 2-1 but I wouldn’t fall asleep.

Next thing I know I am awake and the audio is off.  The app just stopped streaming.  I looked at the clock, midnight.  Damn.  I checked the score.  You know, to make sure the game ended at 2-1 Boston.  Urgh.  It said 3-3 in the second overtime.  Crap!  I just gave up, took the headphones off, and went to sleep.  I woke up again at about 1:30.  I checked the score.  Damn it!  Blackhawks 4, Bruins 3 in the third overtime.  Game over.

I know it was my fault.  I’m 80% sure it was that damned unlucky jersey… but it might have been my inability to stay awake. 

I’ll try to do better on Saturday, Bruins nation.  I will hold up my end!

Go Bruins!

Stanley Cup Superstitions

Two years ago when the Boston Bruins were on their Stanley Cup run I developed a new superstition. If I ate a little Smartfood Popcorn on a game day, the Bruins would win. It worked for all of the wins in the third and fourth rounds.

I tried it in the Toronto series and it didn’t work. That was it for the Smartfood. What’s it going to be this time? I haven’t noticed anything yet. There aren’t even any candidates. I’m worried that I’m not doing my part to help. I’m worried that ill be the jinx without even realizing it.

(I’m not really, I’m just a serious hockey nerd. Deal with my nerdishness.)

The drop of the puck is just minutes away.

GO BRUINS!