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.
The Line Combinations were as follows…
- Mark Recchi-Patrice Bergeron-Miroslav Satan
- Blake Wheeler-David Krejci-Michael Ryder
- Daniel Paille-Trent Whitfield-Milan Lucic
- Shawn Thornton-Vladimir Sobotka-Drew Larman
- Dennis Wideman-Zdeno Chara
- Matt Hunwick-Johnny Boychuk
- Mark Stuart-Derek Morris
The Scoring Summary…
- OTT: Alex Kovalev assisted by Mike Fisher
- OTT: Daniel Alfredsson assisted by Mike Fisher and Chris Phillips
- OTT: Daniel Alfredsson assisted by Mike Fisher and Filip Kuba
- OTT: Daniel Alfredsson assisted by Filip Kuba and Nick Foligno (PPG)
- BOS: Daniel Paille assisted by Milan Lucic and Johnny Boychuk
- OTT: Jonathan Cheechoo unassisted
Bruins Goal Videos…
- Paille: Shrek dancing
Warmup Music…
- Foo Fighers - “Pretender”
- Disturbed - “Indestructable”
- U2 - “Elevation”
- Pearl Jam - “Rearview Mirror”
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