Telling It Like It Is From 325: February 2010

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Time to hit the panic button, Chiarelli!

OK, my patience is really running thin here with the 2009-2010 Boston Bruins. The Bruins went into their Saturday night tilt against the Los Angeles Kings riding a five game home losing streak. They hadn't won a home game since the Winter Classic against Philadelphia, nor had they won a game in the Garden since December 30th against Atlanta. The Bruins blew yet another third period lead and eventually lost in a 7 round shootout 3-2. I'm waiting for Bruins General Manager Peter Chiarelli to get his head out of his ass and make a trade. There are way too many players on this roster doing nothing, including Dennis Wideman, Michael Ryder, and Blake Wheeler. The time is now for Chiarelli to make a move and get this team headed in the right direction.

The game featured two of the three goaltenders that will representing the United States in this year's Olympics in Vancouver, BC as Tim Thomas went up against Jonathan Quick. The Kings got on the board first on the powerplay after the Bruins had a fairly ineffective powerplay. Jarret Stoll slid the puck over to Anze Kopitar, who fired a shot from the right point, which Dustin Brown then redirected past Tim Thomas. It was very annoying as, yet again, the Bruins squandered on two powerplays before Los Angeles got theirs, and the Kings scored just 12 seconds after the powerplay started. The Bruins couldn't muster anything for the remainder of the period and went into the room down 1-0. The Bruins played a pretty flat period which is what I've come to expect of late. I sometimes question myself as to why I even go to the Garden and torture myself. The way I see it is that the tickets are already paid off, it's only $15 a game, and I get to see a lot of my friends that I wouldn't see if I didn't go to the Bruins.

The Bruins came out with a much improved period of play in the second as they were creating quality scoring chances and getting quality shots on Jonathan Quick while generating traffic in front of the net. Mark Stuart woke up the Garden with a thunderous open ice hit at the blueline as he lined up Kings' top scorer Anze Kopitar. It was a good, clean hit. Kings forward Wayne Simmonds took exception to the hit and dropped the gloves with Stuart. Unfortunately, Stuart is now out for four weeks since he broke his pinky finger punching Simmonds' faceshield on his helmet. There is nothing more annoying than a player fighting with a faceshield. There is no honor in that. Besides, I don't know what Simmonds' problem was; it was a clean hit. That must have sparked the team, because they finally tied the game on the powerplay with just under five minutes to play in the second period. Marc Savard fed Marco Sturm in the slot, and Marco waited for Kings defenseman Drew Doughty to commit and go down before he rifled a shot top shelf to tie the game. It was German's first game since returning from a leg injury and, as usual, the German was all fired up. I thought he was going to jump into the glass as he pumped his fist and skated towards the glass, but Patrice Bergeron went over to hug him; I would have loved to see Sturm pull an Ovechkin. That definetely got some of the energy back in the building as it was setting up for a great third period.

The Bruins came out for the third period on the man advantage and went ahead just before the powerplay was going to expire; Mark Recchi went end to end and finished off a nice give and go with David Krejci to put the Bruins ahead. Krejci slid a pass to the front of the net and Recchi tipped it in. I can't believe that Mark Recchi is 42 years old; he plays like he's 22 on most nights. The Bruins, however, gave the lead right back on the powerplay as Anze Kopitar, who apparently recovered well from his Mark Stuart wakeup call, snapped a deadly wristshot from the off wing over Tim Thomas' glove to tie the game at 2. It was a pretty disturbing shot, and Kopitar is quite the talent. I know the Kings came in last season, but I don't remember seeing him. He really impressed me a lot. He's definetely a can't-miss player for sure. The Bruins and Kings remained tied through the rest of the third period and then overtime. The Bruins had a number of quality scoring chances in the third, but Jonathan Quick stood on his head to keep it tied at 2, forcing a shootout. The shootout started with Zdeno Chara whiffing on a slapshot, which really set me off because I would not have started the shootout with Chara; everyone in the NHL knows that he's going to take a slashot and the goalie has plenty of time to react. After Chara's lovely whiff, my boy Kopitar went in on Tim Thomas and completely faked him out, and he was able to finish off a one-hand backhand around Timmy. Thomas got absolutely owned. After Blake Wheeler and Dustin Brown failed to score, Michael Ryder, with the game on his stick roofed one under the crossbar to keep the game going. After LA failed to score, Marc Savard and Michal Handzus traded goals to make it 2-2. It remained that way for 2 more rounds before Jarret Stoll finally ended the shootout by blowing a wristshot past Thomas. I stormed out of my section in such a mood, and I walked out of the Garden with my head down in disbelief. I can't remember a Bruins team having such a difficult time putting teams away, and this should be a clear message to Peter Chiarelli that something needs to happen, and happen now!

The Line Combinations were as follows...

Milan Lucic-Marc Savard-Miroslav Satan
Marco Sturm-Patrice Bergeron-Mark Recchi
Blake Wheeler-David Krejci-Michael Ryder
Daniel Paille-Steve Begin-Byron Bitz

Zdeno Chara-Derek Morris
Dennis Wideman-Matt Hunwick
Mark Stuart-Johnny Boychuk

The Scoring Summary...

LAK: Dustin Brown assisted by Anze Kopitar and Jarret Stoll (PPG)
BOS: Marco Sturm assisted by Marc Savard (PPG)
BOS: Mark Recchi assisted by David Krejci (PPG)
LAK: Anze Kopitar assistey by Randy Jones and Michal Handzus (PPG)

Bruins Goal Videos...

Sturm: Carlton Banks dancing
Recchi: The Dancing Bear

Warmup Music...

Metallica - "Enter Sandman"
Disturbed - "Indestructable"
Foo Fighters - "Monkeywrench"
Red Hot Chili Peppers - "Snow"

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Is that what you call revenge?

The Bruins certainly should have had revenge on their minds when they had a matinee rematch with the Ottawa Senators who had embarrassed them on their home ice just five days before. The Bruins were yet again dazzled by Ottawa netminder Brian Elliott as they dropped their fourth consecutive game with a score of 2-1.

The Bruins wore their Winter Classic jerseys to give the fans who weren't fortunate enough to attend the Winter Classic a good look at them. The change in jersey didn't really do much on the scoresheet. The Bruins were still without Marc Savard, Marco Sturm, Steve Begin, Byron Bitz, and Andrew Ference. Ottawa had reinforcements coming back into the lineup as Milan Michaulak and Jason Spezza made their return to the ice. The Bruins battled through a very tight checking first period, but Ottawa was able to crack the scoreboard first. With just six seconds remaining in the period, Nick Foligno broke into the attacking zone with Daniel Alfredsson, feeding Alfredsson the puck, and he was able to trickle one through Tim Thomas' legs to make it a 1-0 game. That was Alfredsson's fourth goal of the week against the Bruins. It was so discouraging because there is nothing worse than giving up a goal in the final seconds of a period.

The Bruins came out for the second period sort of flat, which is what I expected since Ottawa sucked all of the air out of them with Alfredsson's last minute tally in the first. It took the Bruins a little while, but they were able to tie the game at 1 as Patrice Bergeron, who was taken out at center ice, was able to get the puck ahead to Dennis Wideman, who then found Daniel Paille coming down the left side, and Paille ripped a booming slapshot top shelf, glove side on Brian Elliott. That goal extended Paille's point scoring streak to three. The Bruins thought they had the go-ahead goal just over three minutes later as it appeared that Mark Recchi gave the Bruins a 2-1 lead, but the puck was redirected off Recchi's foot; Recchi did not make a distinct kicking motion, but his foot moved towards the net when the puck ricocheted off his foot. It was a really difficult call, and it took the referees several minutes to determine the call. It was eventually ruled as "no goal," which disappointed the sold-out crowd at the Garden who have been dying for some offense. Ottawa would eventually go ahead in the game as Alex Kovalev made a nice drop pass to Jason Spezza, and Spezza roofed it top shelf over Tim Thomas. It was Spezza's first goal since returning from his knee injury. The Bruins went into the room down 2-1 after 2 periods of play.

The Bruins came out and dominated the third period, but to no avail; they lost the game 2-1. It was really discouraging. I was really hoping they could score more than just one goal against Ottawa, who is ahead of the Bruins in the standings but is not a superior team by any means. I found it very interesting that with the extra attacker on the ice and with Tim Thomas on the bench, Trent Whitfield was out there instead of David Krejci. It very well could have been a message to Krejci from Claude Julien, considering Whitfield is a career AHL journeyman.

The Line Combinations were as follows...

Daniel Paille-Patrice Bergeron-Mark Recchi
Milan Lucic-David Krejci-Blake Wheeler
Miroslav Satan-Trent Whitfield-Michael Ryder
Shawn Thornton-Vladimir Sobotka-Drew Larman

Zdeno Chara-Derek Morris
Dennis Wideman-Matt Hunwick
Mark Stuart-Johnny Boychuk

The Scoring Summary...

OTT: Daniel Alfredsson assisted by Matt Carkner and Nick Foligno
BOS: Daniel Paille assisted by Dennis Wideman and Patrice Bergeron
OTT: Jason Spezza assisted by Alex Kovalev

Bruins Goal Videos...

Paille - The Dancing Bear

Warmup Music...

Disturbed - "Indestructable"
Metallica - "Cyanide"
Red Hot Chili Peppers - "Snow"
Disturbed - "Ten Thousand Fists"

Monday, February 8, 2010

Dennis Wideman sucks, but not as much as the referees do!

I swear, the Bruins keep finding new ways to lose hockey games right now. As if their embarrassing Martin Luther King Day performance against Ottawa wasn’t bad enough, followed by a rigorous practice on Wednesday, you would think that the Bruins would come out the gates flying and bury the lowly Columbus Blue Jackets, a team who is amongst the league leaders in goals against. The Bruins lost a heartbreaker 3-2, but not all blame can be put on the Bruins; sometimes the men who wear the stripes can be held accountable for a loss.

The Bruins came out flying against Columbus and jumped on the board a little more than two minutes into the contest as Miroslav Satan pushed the puck up ahead to Trent Whitfield, who then broke out in a two on one with Michael Ryder, and the snakebitten Ryder roofed one top shelf over 2009 Rookie of the Year winner Steve Mason. It was certainly encouraging to see Ryder get his name back on the scoresheet and in a convincing way, since his last few goals have been fortunate bounces off of his body. The Bruins sustained good pressure on Columbus, but couldn’t seem to put more behind Mason. Columbus was able to tie the game as Dennis Wideman, who is having by far his worst season in the NHL, coughed up the puck coming out of his own end; he misfired on an outlet pass which instead went to Raffi Torres, who was then able to break in on a two on one with newly acquired Chris Clark, and Clark one timed it past Tuukka Rask tying the game at 1. From then on, Wideman heard the boos every time he touched the puck. Claude Julien seriously needs to sit him down for a few games. I can’t recall Hal Gill being this bad. Wideman has completely lost his confidence; I’m sure Julien calling him out to the media didn’t help the cause any, but something needs to be done. Later in the period, Mark Stuart left him the puck behind the net to carry the puck out of the zone, and Wideman proceded to skate forward without the puck. I was ready to jump down from 325 and strangle him. I can’t believe how bad he is and what we gave up to get him (Brad Boyes). Milan Lucic got into his first fight since returning to the lineup as he squared off with Jarrod Boll. Since they're two of the premier fighters in the league, it was a draw; they both got some good punches in, but the linesmen had to jump in to break it up since they were both visibly tired. The game was tied at 1 after 1 period of play, but it should have been a 1-0 Bruins lead if Wideman didn’t have his head up his ass.

The Bruins came out in the second period with not as strong of an effort. They started to sit back instead of attacking the net and getting quality scoring chances. The B’s did take the lead as Patrice Bergeron took the pass from Daniel Paille and fired a wrist shot one step over the blueline and put it glove side on Steve Mason. It was a beautiful wrist shot from Bergeron, and encouraging to see that he can get that kind of shot off even though he’s still playing with a broken left thumb. After that goal, the Bruins just sat back and let Columbus control the tempo of the game. I was starting to see the wheels fall off. Dennis Wideman gave the crowd another reason to boo him as he took a slapshot clearing the puck out of the zone and hit Blake Wheeler on the foot; thankfully, Wheeler was okay after limping off of the ice. I was sitting there shaking my head saying, “This guy just can’t do anything good right now.” The Bruins went into the room up 2-1 after two periods of play.

The Bruins came out for third and nearly put the game away as both David Krejci and Vladimir Sobotka had two glorious chances. Krejci missed an open net, and Sobotka took a slap shot from about 8 feet out and Mason sprawled to make a great save. Columbus dodged those bullets and really pushed the tempo, eventually tying the game as I predicted. Kris Russell came down the left wing boards and threw a pass over to Antoine Vermette who took a shot which was stopped by Rask, but Vermette got his own rebound to put it home to tie the game at 2. I couldn’t believe that one of the worst teams in hockey was giving us this kind of game. Columbus continued to mount the pressure. The referees had the final say in this outcome as referee Tom Kowal called Milan Lucic for a double minor high sticking penalty on Columbus forward Derrick Brassard when it was another Columbus player who accidently highsticked his own teammate. Just sixteen seconds after the penalty, Kristian Huselius fed Anton Stralman, who then fired a slapshot from the left point which RJ Umberger redirected past Rask. I couldn’t believe what had just happened. I can’t believe how bad the Bruins are at sealing the deal in the third period. They got off to such a great start and did nothing the rest of the way. I began to think that with this loss, the Bruins brass could have started questioning whether or not Claude Julien is worth keeping behind the bench; granted, he has a very good track record, but what else can he do to motivate these guys? I think if he hadn't just signed a three year extension this past September, and if former head coach Dave Lewis wasn’t still on the books, Julien would definitely be gone. This was one of the most difficult losses I can remember attending in recent memory.

The Line Combinations were as follows…

Daniel Paille-Patrice Bergeron-Mark Recchi
Milan Lucic-David Krejci-Blake Wheeler
Miroslav Satan-Trent Whitfield-Michael Ryder
Shawn Thornton-Vladimir Sobotka-Drew Larman

Zdeno Chara-Derek Morris
Matt Hunwick-Johnny Boychuk
Dennis Wideman-Mark Stuart

The Scoring Summary…

BOS: Michael Ryder assisted by Trent Whitfield and Miroslav Satan
CLB: Chris Clark assisted by Raffi Torres
BOS: Patrice Bergeron assisted by Daniel Paille and Zdeno Chara
CLB: Antoine Vermette assisted by Kris Russell
CLB: RJ Umberger assisted by Anton Stralman and Kristian Huselius

Bruins Goal Videos…

Ryder: Jim Carrey dancing in Dumb and Dumber
Bergeron: Rodney Dangerfield dancing in Caddyshack

Warmup Music…

Foo Fighers - “Pretender”
Disturbed - “Indestructable”
U2 - “Elevation”
Red Hot Chili Peppers - “Snow”
Van Halen - "Panama"

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

The Martin Luther King, Jr. Day massacre, and popping my Wilmington cherry.

If you look up the word “dedication” in the dictionary, you should see a picture of my devotion to the Boston Bruins. I foolishly attended the Martin Luther King matinee disaster against the Ottawa Senators in the midst of a pretty bad snow storm. I was determined to get there somehow, whether it be by commuter rail or just another drive down route 2. Commuter rail it was!

Because of the unfortunate commuter rail schedule, I had no choice but to be at the Garden at 8:54am for a 1:00 faceoff; it was either that, or get there in the second period, and if I’m going to ride in on a very boring hour and 20 minute train ride, I at least want to see the entire game, no matter how bad the Bruins are playing right now. I got my iced coffee and bagel at Dunkin Donuts inside the Garden when I arrived shortly before 9am, and I hung out by the Bruins Executive Office entrance where I tend to see some faces that any true Bruins fan would recognize. Shortly before 10:00, Bruins General Manager Peter Chiarelli got off the elevator with his arms full and his laptop in hand. I wanted to shake his hand, but didn’t want to make him feel as though he needed to put his stuff down. Instead, I said hi to him, and wished him good luck today. He acknowledged this by saying hi and thanking me. I was hoping to meet Cam Neely so I could thank him for everything that he has done to turn around the Boston Bruins; he walked right by me when I wasn’t looking, and by the time I realized it, he was headed upstairs. I was satisfied with Chiarelli, but I really wanted to meet Neely. Another day, perhaps. For this game, the Bruins were still a wounded bunch as Steve Begin, Byron Bitz, and Marco Sturm were all out of the lineup. Patrice Bergeron returned to the lineup after two weeks of being out with a broken thumb, and the Bruins recalled Drew Larman from Providence; I have no idea who he is or where he came from originally.

I wasn’t expecting too much from the Bruins for this game since they had just gotten back the day before from being out in California for a week, and they had to play the next day in the afternoon; not exactly what I call fair, but with the condensed schedule due to the Winter Olympics, they really didn’t have much of a choice. The Bruins came out extremely flat and with no hop in their step. I’m not trying to make excuses for this team, but I honestly feel as though jet lag was a major factor. Ottawa got on the board first as Michael Ryder set up Blake Wheeler for a one timer which missed the net by about ten feet; the puck the ricocheted off of the boards and right to Mike Fisher, who sent an outlet pass ahead to Alex Kovalev who then split the D between Dennis Wideman and Zdeno Chara and slid a backhand through Tim Thomas’ legs. Kovalev has been a big time underachiever this season for Ottawa, but it seems as though he always manages to score when he sees the spoked B. I couldn’t help but yell at Dennis Wideman since he was pretty much used as a cone on that goal. Ottawa made it a two goal contest as the Daniel Alfredsson show got underway. Mike Fisher once again got in on the fun and fed Alfredsson at the top of the circle for a one time slapshot that went top shelf over Tim Thomas glove side. There was lots of traffic in front of Thomas and Timmy had no chance. That was Ottawa’s second shot of the game and the second goal of the game, and the fans began to get restless again with Thomas; when he made his first save of the afternoon after it was already 2-0, he received a raspberry mock cheer and he swatted the puck with his stick out of clear frustration. The puck went halfway up the glass and nearly in the stands. There is nothing I hate more than Tim Thomas getting mocked by the crowd. I’m quick to question fans around me who want Tuukka in the game so badly, and I usually end up schooling them with my knowledge and they generally have nothing with which to come back at me. I knew the B's were done at that point since they had no energy and Ottawa was clicking. The Bruins went into the dressing room down 2 goals after 1 period.

You’d like to think that Claude Julien would have fired the Bruins up a little bit for the second period… Yeah, nice try. They came out even flatter in the second period than they did in the first. Daniel Alfredsson collected his second goal of the afternoon as Filip Kuba made a beautiful half slap pass to Alfredsson who was on the side of the net all alone; if Dennis Wideman was actually doing his job, Alfredsson wouldn’t have scored. It was a beautiful set up, no doubt, and that was the end of the day for Timmy Thomas who was pulled in favor of Tuukka Rask. I knew the game was done at this point so I wanted Tuukka to get lit up just to shut up the fans in the building. Ottawa didn’t take long getting one by Rask as Alfredsson scored his third consecutive goal of the afternoon on a two man advantage thanks to Mark Recchi receieving a 2 minute minor for elbowing and 2 minute minor for shooting his mouth off to the referee. Alfredsson was playing the point on the powerplay and fired a slapshot from the blueline that found its way past Rask. I grinned and yelled, “Thata boy, Tuukka! You’re making everyone proud today!” People in my section didn’t like it, but I really don’t care. I don’t like sitting with bandwagon Bruins fans who think Tuukka Rask is the next coming of Christ, so deal with it. The Bruins went into the room down 4-0 after 2 periods, and I really started to question myself as to why I went to such great lengths to attend such an awful game.

The Bruins came out and looked somewhat decent in the third period; I mean, nothing spectacular, but definitely better than in the first two periods. Daniel Paille got the Bruins on the board as Milan Lucic fed Johnny Boychuk at the point for a one timer which was knocked down by Jarkko Ruutu, and the puck bounced right to Paille who beat Brian Elliott to make it 4-1. I refused to stand up and cheer or even acknowledge the goal. I hadn’t done that since Marco Sturm scored on his first shift as a Bruin the day after Joe Thornton was traded; I just couldn’t bring myself to cheer for someone who should not have been here in the wake of the Joe Thornton trade. Ottawa put the nail in the coffin as referee Dan O’Rourke got in the way of Dennis Wideman, which turned into Jonathan Cheechoo being able to pick up the puck and walk in on Rask, beating him to make it 5-1. Everyone wants to blame the ref, but let's be honest here. The Bruins weren’t going to win the game, and Dennis Wideman would have found some way to screw the play up. I was asking people in 325 if they thought Wideman was getting to Hal Gill and Glen Wesley level, and most people agreed; some even said he’s worse than those two, which I found hilarious. The Bruins lost the game 5-1, which I was very annoyed with, but I put some of this on the NHL for the awful scheduling. This easily one of the top five worst Bruins games that I have ever attended!

Two days after the Martin Luther King debacle, I did something that I had never done in 20 years of being a Bruins fan… I went to Wilmington to see them practice! I went with my long time Bruins friend, Jaci, because she’s a frequent Ristuccia Arena rink rat and the only reason I went was to get my Milan Lucic jersey signed. I picked Jaci up around 9:30am and off we went. It was really cool to watch all of the drills and see what goes on in practice. Claude Julien beat the hell out of them that day, and rightfully so. I was fortunate enough to be there for a sweet Dennis Wideman tongue lashing, which was almost as cool as saying I was there for the Winter Classic. The Bruins still found ways to get injured even in practice as Matt Hunwick took a puck in the eye, Mark Stuart took a shot off the foot, and Miroslav Satan was highsticked by Tim Thomas. The crazy German, Marco Sturm, left halfway through practice due to his nagging leg injury. When practice was over, Jaci and I waited patiently outside for the players. Milan came out with Mark Stuart and Johnny Boychuk. Lucic got in the backseat of Stuart’s vehicle, and thankfully Stuart stopped. I was already at Milan Lucic’s window holding my jersey. He rolled down the window and I asked him to personalize my jersey. He wrote “To Nick, All the Best” across the top of the 7 and signed his name down the slanted part of the 7. He was very good about it and I shook his hand, which is massive! He has such a firm handshake. That totally made my day. I was glad that I was able to pop my Wilmington cherry and no longer be labeled as a Wilmington virgin.