Category Archives: Bruins

Thomas Denies President Obama

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Yesterday President Obama welcomed the 2011 Stanley Cup Champion Boston Bruins into the White House. Only one thing was missing. The 2011 Goaltender of the Year and Stanley Cup Playoffs MVP, Tim Thomas. This wasn’t a Home Alone situation, though. Timmy chose not to attend the prestigious ceremony on grounds of his own beliefs, stating, “The decision to stay away was not about politics or party, as in my opinion both parties are responsible for the situation we are in as a country.” I’m not big into politics or anything remotely close to it so I don’t have a firm stance in those terms. Personally, I’d be ecstatic to meet the President no matter who it is. But that’s just me. Some people have really strong feelings in this regard. I mean, any time the President’s involved it’s going to hit the news, let alone when he’s snubbed by an all-star athlete. So what do you guys think? Was it selfish and not classy of Thomas to bail on the White House trip with his team? Or does the man get away with his right to decline the visit because he’s a brick wall between the pipes?

 

Weekend Recap

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With the Pat’s bringing an abrupt end to Tebowmania, it’s hard to say we had a tough weekend in Boston sports, despite watching the Celts and Bruins fall to their respective opponents. Nobody’s worrying about the Bruins. They’ve established their dominance and continue to hold sole possession of first place in the Northeast Division, one point ahead of a red hot Ottawa team. The Celtics, on the other hand, are a bit more concerning. It’s hard to watch, because at times they show signs of brilliance. It’s there, somewhere, but not nearly as much as it needs to be. Many say that’s the aging factor coming through. Regardless, their defense hasn’t even been that bad. There’s just no way a team can win games in the NBA when you’re averaging under 90 points a game. On the bright side, the final stop on the road to the Super Bowl will go through Foxboro this Sunday as the Pats are set to face the Baltimore Ravens. The Pats will roll into Sunday’s game with plenty of momentum from this weekend’s victory against the Broncos. It’s been better but then again it’s also been worse for us in Boston. Hard to complain when your football team continues to build onto its second decade of dominance.

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Canucks are a JOKE

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I know the Canucks won, but honestly, you have to feel bad for them. Vancouver is just so pathetic. Looking back to last year, I don’t think there was one team in the NHL that wanted the Canucks to win the Stanley Cup. The only city that did, Vancouver, showed how well they could hold it together after losing as they tore their own city to shreds.

You would think after that the team would want to show they’ve grown as they come back into Boston to face the team that stole the Cup from them, but nope. First, Luongo “handed over” the game to Schneider for sentimental reasons. Yeah right, because when it comes to intense and bitter rivalries, hockey players are always sentimental. I’m calling the bluff, along with everyone else. Robby was scared and wimped out of playing in Boston. Moving along to the game, how did the fact that Thornton got jumped by six Canucks not get discussed more? Granted he egged one of them on, all six proceeded to clobber him. Then after jumping to his defense, we end up on the bad end of a 5 on 3 power play. Ridiculous, but expected out of a team like Vancouver. Then to top it off, Thornton called out Weise after the two exchanged words in the box, and Weise completely backed down like a coward, without hesitation. Speaking to a Canadian reporter he stated, “But at the end of the day, that’s not really the type of guy I want to fight.” That’s the only thing I’ll give Weise credit for, knowing Thornton would have pounded his face in, deservingly so. But to sum it all up, the Canucks just proved how much of a joke they are and how clearly the better, more deserving team won the game that mattered in June, not in January.

Weekend Recap

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Not the kind of weekend we’d hope for in Boston, but exciting nonetheless. And by exciting, I mean just the Bruins. Let’s just say the Celtics game was slightly less than exhilarating Friday night. It’s kind of hard to win when you only score 25 points in the first half. You just can’t put up those kinds of numbers expect to win, even when it’s the Pacers, regardless of their decent start to the season. This time we can’t even put the blame on the defense. The Pacers put up 87 points and still managed to win by 15 points. Pretty pathetic on the Celts part. Hopefully they can get back on their feet against a struggling Dallas team before they head into a pretty tough run to close out January. As far as the Bruins are concerned, what a game. I mean if you’re looking for intensity, Saturday’s Stanly Cup rematch against the Canucks was just about as intense as it gets. It felt like playoff hockey came 5 months early. Again, I’m not concerned about the loss at all. It sucks we couldn’t beat them, but in the end the game was not all that important in the long run. We’re the ones with the Cup. Not to mention we played pretty much the whole game without Lucic and ended up losing Marchand down the stretch, both to game misconducts. What concerns me is the pending suspensions both, especially Marchand, may be facing. I have a feeling Lucic’s won’t be terrible, if anything, but Marchand’s may be a while. Canuck’s head coach Alain Vigneault said, “Marchand — this is just my feeling on this — some day he’s going to get it.” At the time it turned the garden electric, but looking back it was a foolish move and arguably cost the B’s the game. The Canucks scored twice in the 5 minute major that followed Marchand’s hit. Either way, what do you guys think? With the intensity of the game was the hit just or did Marchand let emotions get the best of him?

Welcome 2012

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20120103-112549.jpgNow that everyone’s had a day or two to sleep off the New Year’s hangover, the year 2012 is in full swing, with no exception in the world of sports. The long holiday weekend had its fair share of ups and downs but for sure, never a dull moment in Boston. Friday we watched as an unlikely hero in Jermaine O’Neil led the charge for the Celtics to get back on track, getting their first win of the season at the Garden against the Detroit Pistons. Unfortunately, the Bruin’s hot streak ended at 7 games as they fell to the Dallas Stars Saturday night 4-2. On the bright side, they’re still in full control of the division, making the loss a mere speed bump in one of the best nights of the year. If New Year’s Eve isn’t your thing, New Year’s Day more than made up for it to Boston fans, as we watched both the Patriots and Celtics claim victory. After a shaky start and falling behind 21-0, the Pats rallied with 49, yes FORTY NINE unanswered points to route the Bills and ensure the road to the Superbowl goes straight through Foxboro. As if that wasn’t enough, later that evening Rondo put on a show in our nation’s capital, ending the night with a triple-double as the C’s smoked the Wizards on their home court. Last night, the battle wasn’t so easy, as the C’s returned home to take on the Wizards in back to back nights. The game was neck and neck all night, with the Celts pulling away late in the 4th quarter to seal off their third win in a row, putting them at a level .500 on the early season. Oh and the Heat lost to the Hawks last night, and it always puts a smile on my face seeing LBJ lose. Overall, not a bad start to 2012 for Boston sports fans. Let’s hope the New Year continues to bring success to Beantown and maybe some new hardware. Happy New Year!

Tradition Ruined?: Winter Classic Not on New Years Day

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This year, the Philadelphia Flyers and New York Rangers will match up against each other in Philadelphia at Citizens Bank Park. Along with the past Winter Classics, this one should prove to be another great game. The problem is that this year the game will be played on January 2nd.

In the last few years, the Winter Classic has become synonymous with New Years Day. They go together like spaghetti and meatball, or lamb and tuna fish if you are Rob Schneider in Big Daddy. I feel as if the Winter Classic has proven to be one of the major things that put the NHL back on the map, perhaps even vaulted it ahead of the NBA as an organization. It has become an incredible tradition for sports fans around North America to wake up on New Years Day and turn on the hockey classic. Something about being hungover makes outdoor hockey a great idea. But truly, that’s not it. The NHL has really done this one right. Play the game between two well-matched teams in an outdoor MLB or NFL stadium, and while we are at it, let’s air it on NBC before the BCS bowl games start up. Oh yeah, and the month before the game lets have HBO film 24/7, a must-see TV series showing an in-depth look at the two teams in the month leading up to the game. Everyone is tired on New Years Day and sitting down to watch a good hockey game is a perfect way to spend it.

I’m not really sure why the NHL changed the date from the prior years to the 2nd this year. NHL chief operating official John Collins had mentioned that the games “kind of landed on Jan. 1 because frankly NBC had a big window on a big day, why wouldn’t you take advantage of that?” I have a question John: Why wouldn’t you take advantage of your established fan base on New Years Day?

 

B’s Continue New Streak

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Thank God for the Bruin’s huh? Don’t get me wrong, I’m a basketball guy, but after so much anticipation built up for the NBA to start back up, the past week has been nothing short of a major buzz kill to Celtics fans all over. Luckily for us, we’re from Boston and can rely on more than one team to keep us happy. Last night the Bruin’s improved their win streak to seven games, beating the Coyotes 2-1 in overtime. After scoring 17 seconds into the game, the Bruins didn’t find the net again until 58 seconds into overtime, off a deflection from a Seidenberg shot. Tuukka Rask may have only seen 22 pucks fly his way, but 21 saves was all he needed for his team to pull off the victory. This was their first overtime win that didn’t end in a shootout. Talk about playing great. The Bruins have won 21 of their last 24 since the start of November and have just moved past the Rangers for first place in the Eastern Conference. It’s just incredible to watch. There’s still plenty of regular season hockey to be played, but if the B’s keep up this momentum, I don’t see any reason Lord Stanley wouldn’t be back in Boston for the second straight year.

Weekend Recap

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Contrary to popular belief, Christmas weekend was good in the Boston sports world. Sure it was tough seeing the C’s lose yesterday but you have to look at the bigger picture. We’ll start out Friday with the Bruins absolutely annihilating the Panthers at home 8-0. Brad Marchand capped the day off with his first career hat trick en route to stretching the B’s win streak to 6 games. At this point I think it’s safe to say the best team in Boston resides on the ice. How can you argue with a team that has won 20 of its last 23 games and gone from zero to hero in a span of two months? Then we can look at our AFC East champion Patriots. People forget that they’re one win away from clinching top seed in the AFC and home field advantage throughout the playoffs. It’s a bit sketchy watching them go down 17-0 to Miami at halftime, but they always find a way to win down the stretch. One more win against a struggling Buffalo team and the road to the Superbowl for the AFC goes through Foxboro. Christmas Day was a bit unsettling as we watched the Celts fall to the Knicks 106-104, as it always hurts to lose to New York in any sport. But not all was lost in this game. The C’s proved they could play ball. With Pierce out and Pietrus awaiting a physical, it was good to see a few Celtics step up. The loss was tough to handle, but more can be taken away from the game. I still feel good, if not better, about the C’s as they continue their season this week. Ideally it could have been better, but again it’s hard for Boston sports fans to complain today. Happy Monday!

Bruins Take Care of Business

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Yesterday the NHL Power Rankings came out for the week, putting the B’s at 2nd place behind the Blackhawks. Not too bad, considering we did move up three spots since losing our 1st place ranking two weeks ago. What gets me is the fact that the Flyers are still ranked third after the Bruins destroyed them Saturday. Correction…Absolutely EMBARRASSED them on their home ice. Without Pronger and Giroux there is no way this team keeps pace with top teams, and the B’s game was just the beginning of that slide. But who cares, we’ll just take care of our business and let Philly’s misfortune pan out.

Taking care of business is exactly what the Bruin’s did last night at the garden. Despite struggling so far this season, Montreal always poses a threat when they come into Boston. It doesn’t matter how well either team is doing, the rivalry brings out the best in both squads. Last night the B’s held their ground with a 3-2 victory, and sent the Canadiens back across the border with their heads down. Krejci, Pouliot, and Marchard netted the goals for Boston, as Timmy stood solid once again between the pipes. The B’s scored a late goal off a turnover in the Montreal zone, which would prove crucial as the Habs pulled their goalie and netted one with under 2 minutes to play. With a few days’ rest, the Bruins are looking for revenge at home when the Florida Panthers come into town Friday.

All Is Well In Boston

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20111219-121540.jpgIt’s been great writing these weekend recaps lately. Of course it helps being a Boston sports fan, but Monday always seems a little brighter when there isn’t much to complain about in the sports realm.

The Bruins absolutely embarrassed the Flyers on Saturday, capping off a two game road trip with a 6-0 stomping in Philly. They now sit tied with the Flyers in points atop the Eastern Conference. Tim Thomas was once again a rock in net, recording his 30th career shutout. The B’s take the ice at home tonight against the struggling Canadiens team as they look to expand their new winning streak to 5 games and pull ahead to sole possession of the conference lead.

Order was restored in Denver this Sunday, and “Tebow Time” was put on standby. As expected, the Pats took down Tebow and the Broncos, putting an end to all the miracle boy chat (at least for the next week). Oh how about Timmy boy running for his life towards the end of the 4th quarter? I mean how do you let yourself get sacked for a 29 yard loss? Brady would never allow that. Speaking of the legend, Tom threw for 2 TDs and rushed one in himself, capping off the score with a “Gronk-esque” type spike. With the win, the Pats claimed the AFC East title for the 9th time in 11 seasons with Brady at the helm.

For the first time in 7 months we got to watch the Celtics squad take the court. First things first…it was an ugly game, but basketball is back so I’ll take it! Doc played everyone, giving the starters some late game rest and the newcomers a chance to show what they got. After giving up a commanding lead in the 4th quarter, the C’s were able to hold off a late game push by the Raptors to seal off a 76-75 win in Toronto. The Raptors come to Boston Wednesday night for both teams’ final preseason game before the regular season tips off Christmas Day.

With another passing weekend, again Boston sports fans cannot complain. Our two division leaders have continued to advance, one moving ahead in their conference and the other clinching a division title. Our lost boys in green are back in action, looking to make one more run at the Larry O’Brien trophy. Once again, all is well in Beantown. Happy Monday!