Is there really anything to say about this weekend? Yesterday was turning out to be a great day. Celtics won, Bruins won…only one more win left and the day was complete. Then our hearts and dreams were shattered, again. Toughest Monday in a long time. I think 90% of New England is in depression. The other 10% have already jumped off the Zakim bridge. Not a great way to start the week.
At the end of the Brad Marchand signing I got a chance to kick it with Brad for a little bit and ask him a few questions about last year’s cup run and this year’s B’s squad. Check it out:
AM: Going back to the playoffs last season, what was your favorite part of the Stanley Cup run?
BM: I think my favorite part would be after we scored our fourth goal (in game 7 a 4-0 win), we were all on the bench celeberating watching the clock count down and we knew we had it and we knew we won it. Everyone’s kind of running back and forth on the bench giving each other hugs.
AM: How is this team different from the team that won the cup a year ago?
BM: Well we have three different guys but it’s not a whole lot different. We want to play the same way, we play hard and want to be tough to play against. We have Pouliot who came in and is playing really good hockey and Joe’s (Corvo) has played great too. We still have a great team and hopefully make another good run.
AM: Speaking of Joe, last night after your goal (against the Senators, tied the game 3-3) I saw that you were real pumped with him, what did you say to him?
BM: I said great job getting the puck to the net for me in a position where I could get a rebound, I just had to let him know (wry smile)
AM: Your on pace for a 70+ point season, what has been the key from last year to this year that has caused the increased production?
BM: I think a lot of it is who I am playing with (The Bru-tang Clan). Seguin and Bergy, they are both great players who make a lot of great plays. I’m learning to be a consistent player and learning to play your best every night, that’s what they (Claude and his staff) expect of you.
Just as everyone would probably guess, I can personally tell you Brad is a real laid back guy that everyone one of us would be down to throw some beers back with. 23 and Stanley Cup champion, doesn’t get much better than that. Thanks again to Brad for his time and answering my questions.
PS: To see the video from the interview, hop on over the Boston Sports Blog Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/BostonSportsBlog) and be sure to like us while your checking it out.
First of all, thanks to Brad Marchand and ilovebostonsports.com for a great event yesterday! It was great to meet Brad and get a chance to talk with him. Check back tomorrow for the exclusive interview!
On to this weekend. Although the Bruins will be overshadowed by the Pats and the Super Bowl (and rightfully so), they have a full slate of of tough tests starting tonight with the pesky Hurricanes. Even though the Canes suck and are in the basement of the Eastern Conference they have given the B’s trouble in the three previous matchups, defeating the Bruins in each game. With the game at home tonight, I’m hoping Chara and Co. can finally stomp on Staal’s club. After tonight, the Bruins have back-to-back matinee games vs. the Penguins and Capitals. Each game will be tough, especially vs. the Caps (9th in the East) on the road who have an 18-6-1 home record. If the Bruins can emerge from this weekend with four points (and maybe a chance to bring the Cup on a visit to see its counterpart, the Lombardi trophy), it would be a success.
Once again the projected lineups from Fluto:
Milan Lucic-David Krejci-Rich Peverley
Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-Tyler Seguin
Benoit Pouliot-Chris Kelly-Zach Hamill
Daniel Paille-Gregory Campbell-Shawn Thornton
Zdeno Chara-Johnny Boychuk
Dennis Seidenberg-Joe Corvo
Andrew Ference-Adam McQuaid
Tim Thomas
Tuukka Rask
Yesterday, the Boston Sports Blog had the pleasure of joining I Love Boston Sports on the BU campus for an autograph and t-shirt signing with Bruins star Brad Marchand. The event was a complete success from start to finish, with a great turnout of Bruins fans eager to meet their favorite player. Fans had the opportunity to meet Marchand, chat with him, take pictures, and get an autograph. I Love Boston Sports also had their full line of Bruin’s gear on display, with a wide variety of creatively designed shirts and sweatshirts for all die hard Boston sports fans. Not going to lie, the Bru-Tang Clan line of apparel was sick! For most of the event, Marchand actually rocked a sweatshirt with him and the entire team as cartoon drawings, obviously with Brad as the leader of the clan. Anyways, the event was a great success all around. We were all pumped to join in on the event so again, big thanks to the guys at ilovebostonsports.com! Stay tuned for more info in the next week about another Bruins event that the Boston Sports Blog will be a part of!
Just wanted to send out a final reminder for you guys who want to come join us with I Love Boston Sports and Bruins star Brad Marchand in Boston today. We’ll be at the Upper Crust on BU Campus at 88 Comm Ave, right across from the Agganis Arena. Try to get there early, should be chaotic. On a side note, the Celts held on to win last night in Cleveland 93-90. I’ll have more on that game after the event today. Come join us!
The Bruins did not bring their best effort to the first two periods at the TD Garden last 
night but came alive in the third period fueled by some hard-nosed effort by Marchand who put the puck in the back of the net while being mauled on the powerplay and by Seidenberg’s miracle center ice goal. I have never seen anything like that and probably won’t again. It reminded me of a fluke NHL 11 or 12 goal that you would score at one in the morning against your roommate, and not something a pro goalie would allow. I’m sure Craig Anderson is going to get ribbed by his teammates for the next week.
After I posted my favorite hockey hit of the year by Marchand on Salo yesterday, it reminded me of a similar hit from a great scene in the movie Remember the Titans. Take a look (Fast forward to 1:10)
The Bruins will resume their season tonight and look to get back on track against the Ottawa Senators at the T.D. Garden. The B’s lost their final game before the All-Star break to the Capitals and have been inconsistent over the second half of January. I am confident the team can refocus and return to their winning ways of November and December. It all starts with strong play in the net, where Tuukka Rask is expected to start tonight after Tim Thomas had a busy weekend in Ottawa at the All-Star game. Nathan Horton will be out of the lineup tonight as he continues to battle concussion symptoms.
Remember to come join us tomorrow at the Brad Marchand signing event!! February 1st from 3-5pm at Upper Crust on the BU Campus at 888 Comm Ave, right across from the Agganis Arena.
In honor of the event:
Here is the projected lineup from the Globe:
Milan Lucic-David Krejci-Rich Peverley
Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-Tyler Seguin
Benoit Pouliot-Chris Kelly-Zach Hamill
Daniel Paille-Gregory Campbell-Shawn Thornton
Zdeno Chara-Johnny Boychuk
Dennis Seidenberg-Joe Corvo
Steve Kampfer-Adam McQuaid
If you didn’t catch it earlier today in his piece on Bergeron, the Boston Sports Blog would like to welcome our newest hockey writer, Andrew Mazze. It’s been a work in progress, but we wanted to make sure we found someone who loves the Bruins and knows a thing or two about hockey. The addition couldn’t have come at a better time as the Bruins are a hot topic this week for the site.
Thanks to the guys at I Love Boston Sports, a Boston sports apparel company, the Boston Sports Blog will be in the city Wednesday afternoon hanging out with Brad Marchand. I Love Boston Sports will be putting on the event, with Brad signing autographs and taking pictures, and asked us to come along for the ride. So clear your schedules Wednesday, February 1st from 3-5pm and head to the Upper Crust on the BU Campus at 888 Comm Ave, right across from the Agganis Arena!
Although Tyler Seguin, Zdeno Chara, and Tim Thomas get all the publicity (and All-Star recognition), it is, Patrice Bergeron who leads the Bruins in points through 47 games this season. In addition to his offensive prowess, Bergeron is consistently one of the best faceoff men in the NHL and strong defensive center. His willingness to do the little things that go unnoticed on the stats sheet is the reason why he is a permanent assistant captain on the team; a guy who leads by example. Bergeron has been instrumental in Seguin’s development into an All-Star, unfortunately only the latter was afforded the honor of making the trip to Ottawa this weekend. Bergeron has been underrated by the mainstream media throughout his career, but the diehard Bruins fans know that the two-way pivot is critical to the team’s success.
Bergeron has always been a player I have enjoyed watching since he came to Boston as the 45th pick overall in the 2003 NHL entry draft. He embodies the Bruin culture that Cam Neely and Peter Chiarelli have re-established here in Boston. I have nothing but respect for a selfless player who goes about his business in workman-like manner and has demonstrated the willingness to put team success before his own statistics. His resilience and determination were put on display when he came back from a serious concussion and broken nose suffered in 2007 and since then has battled through two more mild concussions. It’s obvious that each guy in the locker has nothing respect for Bergeron and the rest of the NHL needs to follow suit. Don’t say that to Patrice though, because he doesn’t care, he just wants to win another cup.
If you had to guess who had the best TV Ratings among NHL teams who would you choose? Flyers? Penguins? Blackhawks? Rangers? Guess again. The Buffalo Sabres statistically have the most people tuning in to watch them lose. Probably because they have nothing else to watch (i.e. Buffalo Bills) and they are basically a part of Canada. Typically, the Sabres and the cry baby Ryan Miller are usually a good squad. However, they are only 20-24 this season, sitting last place in the Northeast Division.
“The league’s biggest feel-good story locally is in Boston, where the Bruins have carried over the momentum from their 2011 Stanley Cup win to post the biggest local TV ratings increase this season. NESN’s average rating of 5.25 (third-highest in the league) is up a whopping 89.5 percent from last year. The average of 125,000 homes that tune in to Bruins games is the highest in the NHL.”
-Sports Business Journal
Clearly, Boston has found a revived l
ove after seeing the Celtics enter into senior citizen status. It also probably helps that our hometown Heroes won the Stanley Cup last season (in case you guys missed it). The lockout in the NBA definitely has helped this as well, because you either watch hockey, or find a reality TV show to watch, which ironically is probably more exciting than watching the Celts this season. So keep tuning in after this all-star break as the Bruins make their second run towards the cup. Even if you don’t watch it, waste all of your schools power by turning on every TV in your dorm to NESN during game time to get the ratings up so we can get ahead of pointless Buffalo.
Boston Sports Blog 