Boston fires the head coach two months after the season is over. Way to be on top of things there, guys.

Boston GM Peter Chiarelli called head coach Dave Lewis into his office around 4pm today (or so the news stories report), and gave him the boot.

Getting fired on a Friday puts one hell of a damper on the weekend, and I can tell you that from experience.

My reaction to the news was three-fold:

-Um, what?
- HURRAY, IT IS ABOUT DAMN TIME.
and
- How is this going to affect my offseason?

Let's examine this, shall we?

Um, what?
We're two months into our offseason. Shouldn't this have been done sooner?

HURRAY, IT IS ABOUT DAMN TIME.
I wasn't a fan of Lewis in Boston. My roommate, ever the devil's advocate, used to argue with me that he was doing well, that there's a learning curve, etc, etc, talky talky talky. I expected and demanded more of Lewis. Boston fans are notoriously hard-to-please, and with a championship drought that's been going on longer then my entire lifetime, the Bruins have always had to fight doubly hard against the Patriots and the Red Sox - two teams that have both brought championships home lately- for a sports fan's dollar. There are maybe a handful of weeks in the hockey season where there is no overlap between sports seasons, and then is when the media begrudgingly pays the Bruins any respect. It's usually during this interim of no overlap that the Bruins hit a spell where they just suck out loud. (Timing is not our strong suit.) This past season, however, getting the fans interested was the least of our problems- getting the players interested and engaged in their season was one of our greatest issues.

The pure and simple fact to me is that Lewis just did not deliver. He had all these great pieces of the puzzle available to him, and he couldn't make them fit to create a hockey team. What I feel he could have done differently during the season is moot point, but the numbers produced by the Bruins team under Dave Lewis do not bring tears of joy or the warm happy fuzzies into the hearts of Boston fans (ok, THIS Bruins fan).

How is this going to affect my offseason?
This is a very selfish question on the surface, but once you look deeper and realize that the planets do not revolve around the sun, but actually around my whims and desires, you realize that this is a perfectly logical question to ask.

I have a love-hate relationship with the offseason for many of the reasons that any fan who gets over-attached to a sports team does: trades, free agency, and the crazy drugs that front offices are on when they negotiate contracts. Watching a team I spent the better part of six to eight months monitoring, tracking, and spending more time with then family or friends splinter off into the wilds of free agency and trades is always hard. It's always tough to downshift into mourning the loss of a player to another team, and sometimes it's tough to upshift into being enthusiastic for a new signing. It's tougher still when you're more invested in the prospects or the fly-bys that a team signs for one year to fill out a roster in their AHL affiliate, because you're always wondering how transactions are going to affect the affiliate's roster for the coming season. Roster-wise, the offseason is a rollercoaster ride of emotions, and I don't need that compounded by wondering who the coach is going to be for either team. Boston can be so inconsiderate of my feelings, sometimes.

But seriously: I'm psyched for the coaching change. Bring it on, offseason. Bring. It. On.

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Points on the just-ended Boston @ Ottawa game.

• It was not Phil Kessel's first game back since beating testicular cancer. He played two games in Providence this past weekend. Technically, this is his third game back.
• Jordan Sigalet is a goaltender. Jonathan Sigalet, slightly less than five years Jordan's junior, is a defenseman. Jonathan was the only Sigalet playing in the Boston game this evening. If you're going to make your living annoying me and talking over the game, giving me a play-by-play of what I am watching on the ice (how redundant is THAT, by the way? I have eyes. I can see.), the least you can do is get the names right of the players.
  
• Matt Lashoff, while a talented young defenseman, is not a veteran at nine games into his NHL career.
  
• Jordan: goaltender.
  
• Jonathan: defenseman.
  
• Boston: thanks for giving up 4 unanswered goals and dropping a 2-0 lead. That was awesome.
  

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What's the call when a player observes a religion?

To understand my position on religion, internets, you have to understand that I went to Catholic school for 12 long years, and you have to understand that while yes, Catholic schoolgirls DO have that reputation for a reason, being immersed in such a skewed religious environment all. the. time. just beat any care I had about it right out of me.

That said, my gut reaction to this story is, why is it a story in the first place? Have we really hit the bottom of the barrel where we have to turn something like this into a story? I can't argue that hockey is separate from religion, because that would make me a hypocrite: anyone who knows me will tell you that hockey is my religion and any ice rink is my church. Discussing players, teams, and transactions can get just as heated as debating God and church doctrine if you're discussing it with a smart fanatic.

Yes, his devotion and his need for concessions does affect his teammates, and that's not fair, but neither is it fair when a teammate gets himself ousted from a game or gets suspended from a game. And yes, I did just compare reserving a sweet place in heaven to a goon.

But more then arguing what the call should over this, I'm too busy being indignant that this is a news story. Maybe it's because I don't think about religion because it's not a part of my life, or maybe it's because I like to pretend that society has progressed beyond the point of someone's religion being a news story.

So what do I think the call should be? Two thumbs up until he -or anyone- starts sacrificing virgins at center ice.

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I've been a slacker, and for that, I do not apologize. I am what I am.

I started a new job last week, after several months of being unemployed. My mother was understandably through the roof, because it meant I'd no longer be bumming gas money. I'm just excited because I finally have a valid excuse to buy those really cute dress pumps and that gorgeously cut blouse. However, as I was getting ready for my first Friday this season where I would be heading from work straight to the game, I wondered how this break in my pre-game rituals would affect my team, the Providence Bruins (answer: terribly. They lost all three games this weekend. Providence, by the way, is Boston's farm team).

And then, because I wonder a lot, I got to wondering what kind of pre-game rituals other fans have. We've all heard tale of how on winning streaks, players will wear the same skivvies, and we've all seen the playoff beards. I know that Boston this year has started the "rally helmet" during shootouts.

HLOGgers and kind friends, I ask you: what kind of pre-game rituals do you have? Do you have a specific playlist you listen to and get pumped with? Do you have specific underroos that only get trotted out on game nights? Do you wash your lucky socks, or do you skip it, afraid that the detergent will wash out all the luck, too?

(this is a sort-of cross-post from soveryobsessed.)

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Hi, there.

I'm a bad, bad, bad lady o' greatness, because I kind of forgot to post. Hi, I'm Heather. No, the other Heather. Heather C. I live near the Bruins, and while I like the team in Boston, I love their farm team in Providence so much more it's beyond scandalous.

I'll be back, but for now, here's my INCREDIBLY LATE getting-to-know-me questionnaire:

1. Where you're from, what you do - basic things.
I was born on a windy, blustry day in March in New England. The location of my birth is top-secret, as deemed by the government. I call Boston home, and when I'm not skipping family events for the hockey, I am most often found playing princesses with my nieces.

2. Your team and why you like them.
The Bruins of Boston and Providence, mixed with a dash of the Ottawa Senators, the New Jersey Devils, and the Los Angeles Kings. Why do I like them? That's highly-classified information.

3. Your least favourite team and why?
The Canadiens. Because... why not?

4. Your favourite player of all time & now.
My most favoritest player retired, so I've had a top-ten list of men who can only ever dream of being my favoritest player ever since: Jason Spezza, Jordan Sigalet, Martin Brodeur, and others. If PrisonBreak's Wentworth Miller would just up and wear some hockey pants, we'd have a clear-cut winner.

5. If you had to punch one player or member of the NHL organisation, who and why?
Mike Ribeiro. I still harbor resentment from the dive he took in the 2004 playoffs where he writhed on the ground in "pain" to draw a penalty. I want to club him with the Oscar for Best Acting by a Weasel in a Playoff Series.

6. What you'll be looking forward to in this group blog?
Hanging with other girls who get that sometimes, loving a sport isn't all about the cute boys. Sometimes, it's about the sport.

7. What don't you like in general?
My turn-offs include people who kick puppies, punch infants, drive slower then I do, and don't use their turn signals when driving. I also don't like my food touching on my plate, and think that people who confuse the 'devil horns' hand gesture with the sign language hand sign for 'I love you' ought to have their privilege to breed revoked.

8. What role do female fans play in keeping the game alive?
Other then buying tickets and merchandise? They talk the sport with others, hype it up to others, and get their friends to come. It's marketing, grass-roots style.

9. What role do female fans play in picking heroes for the community?
They have the ability to look at a player as a complete person, as opposed to most men, who just care about save percentages or shots on goal. Women are able to pick a hero based on not only the stats, but on attitude and demeanor.

10. Hockey just isn't the same without...
A passion for the game or the team.

11. If you were on a deserted island, which player would you pick to stay with you?
Ha! Like I could pick just one. Each boy I would bring, though, would serve a specific purpose. Like wood-chopping duty to feed the flames of desire. Or like Jason Spezza's duties- he'd be in charge of bringing me my alcoholic beverages, on a silver platter, and then fanning me with palm fronds. But we can talk about Heather's House For Wayward Hockey Boys at another juncture, when we have more time and aren't in a family-friendly environment.

12. Crosby, Ovechkin or Phaneuf?
I admit that I paid very limited attention to all three last season, but I did want Ovechkin to win the Calder.

13. The player you'd like to take for:
A grand night out - Martin Brodeur.
A movie - Steve Eminger.
A Boring event - Jason Spezza.

14. If you could make your own team, regardless of whatever players, what would it be called and where will it be/how would it be like?
Oooh, the responses I have for this. Do I go dirty and say that they'd be based in my bedroom? Do I go the more family-friendly route and be professional about this, as if I actually had the money at my disposal to build a Cup contender? Oh, the decisions.

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