The Purgatory of the T-Shirt (The Bruins Off-Season So Far)

The Boston Bruins off-season can be best represented by the fate of my Phil Kessel t-shirt.

Said shirt was given to me by my fiance for Christmas 2008. He had searched high and low for said shirt, to no avail. The 2008-09 season was still quite young, and Kessel had his fans, but didn't have enough to make his shirt readily available. After some begging at the Bruins Pro Shop, my fiance was able to locate a Kessel shirt, and gave it to me for Christmas.

Right now, it sits in my "sports wear" drawer in my closet (you know you are a true sports fan when you must devote an entire drawer to your team related wear). I feel weird wearing it.

Because is Kessel a Bruin, or isn't he?

No matter who the Bruins have added (D Derek Morris and LW Steve Begin), and no matter who they have traded (Boston media darling Aaron Ward), the overarching obsession of the off-season has been the status of Kessel. Remember that the kid can't play until most likely December due to recovery from his shoulder injury. Remember that he was benched in the 2008 playoffs for poor performance. Remember that he isn't even 22 years old yet. Nevertheless, Kessel is the center of attention.

Will Kessel, who can't play until December, make or break the Bruins 2009-10 season? I doubt it. It is clear that the Bruins organization sees him as a expendable commodity, and have begun to round their roster accordingly. The organization values guys who aren't afraid to get into the fray - the defensive offenseman, if you will - and Kessel is not one. The Bruins are about guys who fight, who play strong defense, who aren't afraid to get hurt. Kessel is a young player that plays the American college style game - score early, score often and don't get tangled up in the excess. The Bruins seem to have no place for that style of play.

Even though Kessel may not be a burly Bruin, the Bruins would be remiss not to reserve a roster spot for a pure offensive player. As Kessel demonstrated last season, his scoring prowess can make the difference in games. You need someone to score while Thorton and Lucic are sitting in the penalty box. Also, along with Lucic, Wheeler, and Rask, you need Kessel to helm the Bruins youth movement. Savard and Chara (both 32 years old and in their 12th year in the league) are not going to be around forever, and the whole of the Bruins roster is weighted on the experienced side. Sure, you want to win now, but you also want to win in four or five years. By eliminating a key member of the young guard, the Bruins are setting them up to be without a steady scorer in a few years, post Savard. The loss of Kessel may not be the end of the world in 2009-10, but do you want to be without him in 2012-13?

So while the Bruins and Kessel attempt to figure this out - or not - my Kessel shirt sits in my drawer, collecting dust, much like the kid's Bruins jersey.

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The Mono Award

After my fantasy hockey draft this fall, which I stupidly let go to auto-draft, I ended up with a surplus of goalies and no right wings. Definitely a problem.

The commish messaged me the next day. "I'll take one of those goalies off your hands if you want. Name your price."

I offered him Phoenix goalie Ilya Bryzgalov for Phil Kessel, my favorite current NHL player. Odd choice for a favorite player at the time, sure, but I had my reasons. See, the first goal I had ever seen in college hockey game (which as most of you all know is my first love) included an assist by him, and because of that, I've stuck by him since. (And for those of you wondering, that game was January 8, 2005 - USA Under-18 Team versus Boston University.)

The commish was a little shocked. "Okay. You sure you want Kessel?"

"Of course." I messaged back.

Of course, at the time, I figured that Kessel would be on my fantasy hockey roster for no real hockey value, just because he's my favorite player. I do this with every fantasy sports team I have - I always pick up Gabe Kapler for my fantasy baseball team, and I picked up my Tampa Bay Bucs practice squad member cousin on my fantasy football team one season. Usually these moves make no sense, and I usually drop them when I need to add another player. But this time, my throwaway silly pick ended up being a great deal.

My move for Kessel and my later pickup of Blue Jackets goalie and Calder Award shoo-in Steve Mason off the waiver wire put me near the top of my fantasy league for most of the season. I looked like a genius for trading for Kessel prior to the start of the season, if I do say so myself.

Then came word that Kessel had mono. Not only did I feel bad for him, but I felt bad for my fantasy team. I was getting tons of points from him. And in my giant league, available scoring forwards were few and far between, and no one was willing to trade, so I lost his production and lost a big fantasy matchup. I placed Kessel on the DL, and watched the blogs for any indication of his return.

But then, the inplausable happened. I went to set my fantasy lineup before making dinner one evening, and saw the little red note next to Mason's name. Expecting it to be another, "Mason shut out fill-in-the-blank team again tonight. If you have him on your roster, you look like a freakin' genius," note from the ESPN.com fantasy gurus, I clicked on it.

And instead of another boost to my fantasy self-esteem, the note told me Mason too had mono.

If I was a swearing woman, I would have sworn at that point. I would have sworn many times. There would have been more curse words than The Boondock Saints.

I had lost one of my leading scorers and my leading goalie to the same annoying disease. What were the odds?

I've weathered the storm - both are back, although Kessel's production hasn't been the same. But due to having had two players suffer from the same disease in such a short period of time has earned me a new award from my league's commish: The Mono Award.

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Merry Bruins-mas

It may seem like Hockey Santa Claus visited the Boston Bruins early this season, with this NHL best record and all. However, in the interest of being greedy, there are a few things Hockey Santa Claus could bring the Bruins as we wind down this holiday season:


Patrice Bergeron's health - As of Tuesday, Bergeron was still suffering headaches as an after effect of his December 20th concussion. After last season's devastating head injury, any hit to the head could potentially affect the rest of this 23 year old's NHL career. I know I join all Bruins fans in wishing that Bergeron gets better quickly.

Frequent traveler miles of some kind for Martin St. Pierre - St. Pierre was called up by the Bruins from Providence of the AHL on December 20th as a replacement for injured Petteri Nokelainen. He was sent back down to Providence on December 31st. On New Year's Day, St. Pierre was called back up because Nokelainen was not able to play against the Penguins. Poor St. Pierre must now be very used to either the Providence commuter rail or I-95 at this point.

A fun spinwheel to play wheel o' goalies with - The Bruins are blessed with two strong and experienced goalies in Tim Thomas and Manny Fernandez. While many prefer Thomas, Fernandez has proved himself competent and excellent in many situations. As the season has progressed, substituting Fernandez for Thomas hasn't seemed as much as a gamble as it may have in October. You could even suggest that coach Claude Julien could consider just spinning a wheel to choose his nightly starter, because Thomas's quick response to situations, and Fernandez's size and ability to block the net provide great stability to the Bruins defense.

Not too many "pink hats" - Yes, the Pats are not in the playoffs and many Bostonians do not know what to do with themselves. They are jumping on the Bruins' bandwagon like it's filled with Dunkin' Donuts coffee. I hope that those jumping on the bandwagon take the time to educate themselves about the sport, its nuances and the players. And I hope that the number of pink jerseys, shirts and hats is small - yellow and black is classy, and the bear just doesn't translate well to Pepto-Bismol Pink.


The Special Ks to continue doing what they're doing - I heard Bruins' tv color commentator Andy Brickley refer to Phil Kessel and David Krejci as the "Special K's" on New Year's Day, and I love the nickname. They deserve a catchy nickname for the great season they are having. The combination has contributed 80 points to the Bruins so far this season (Krejci with 14 goals, 17 assists, and Kessel with 23 goals and 16 assists.) Krejci, 22, and Kessel, 21, have provided an energy and spark to the team, and Bruins fans have to hope they keep up their scoring and overall good play.

Pick Up a BU or BC player after the college season ends - This is purely a selfish wish, but there are some massively talented seniors on both Boston University and Boston College's hockey teams who are undrafted, like BU's Matt Gilroy. The Bruins also hold the rights to Hockey East scoring leader, BC's bionic armed Brock Bradford (he broke both of his arms last year, and to come back like he has is sorta remarkable.) I'm all for college hockey players finishing school, but if they are still in town with the Bruins, I am sure something could be worked out. So, come on, Bruins - let's sign some local college talent.

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Tim Thomas = The Flying Fish

I am a big fan of goalies, and the Bruins' Tim Thomas is no exception. During Saturday evening's loss against the New York Rangers, Thomas was even more acrobatic than usual. But what else can you expect from the guy who has spoken several times during the past week about his practice of yoga?


Ladies of the HLOG and our devoted followers, I present to you a new yoga pose, one which Thomas unveiled during the first shot of the shootout - The Flying Fish:



Although the Bruins lost the shootout, Thomas really has established himself as one of the top goalies in the league, especially following tonight's 3-2 win against Toronto. Several hockey writers, including Mike Brophy in the yoga article I linked to above, mentioned that Thomas seems more controlled this season. While I agree, you still always want your goalie to throw himself in the air and contort himself into crazy moves to make a spectacular save. And Thomas definitely did that on Saturday night.

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Weekly Topic (I'm a sheep!)

This is rather a loaded question for me, because I’ve got ties to two separate NHL teams at this point, both in the playoffs, and my two NHL teams’ AHL teams are currently playing each other for their Calder Cup run. Basically, I spend a lot of time cringing no matter what happens.


But, if I could put all that ulcer-inducing Pens/Caps/Babypens/Bears orgying aside for a moment, I’d have to say that since the beginning of the series, I’ve been keeping about half an eye on the Boston Bruins (although I did choose Montreal to win the series).Currently, they’re fighting back 2-3 against the Habs, so who knows if I’ll get to watch them much longer, but I have to say, their group of little scrappy Czech rookies (Sobotka and Krejci) have sort of warmed the cockles of my heart during the beginning of playoffs.

Player-wise, the specific non-Cap-non-Pens people currently on my radar for playoffs?
Tootoo, who I waver back and forth between liking and wanting to punch.
Biron, the only Flyer I can stand, probably because he’s the only one I’ve never seen pull Flyerish crap (sorry, Nadine!).
Turco, mostly because he’s my car’s namesake and because he’s really a fantastic goalie.

And in the AHL? I’d say I’m watching the Syracuse Crunch, but I’d be lying. I do know they have Brassard and Brule playing for them right now, and I’ve been sort of passively interested in Emo!Brule since he was pegged as the guy in Sid’s shadow for that draft year, and I always feel for the players who do the called up, sent back, called up game. No, I’m really just focused on the Bears. And barring that, on the BabyPens. That's one of the few good things about having ties to two, even if they do play each other from the getgo.... SOMEONE's gotta move on, right?

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Dude Where's My Team??

This off course, was what I was saying to myself during the third period of tonight's game.

Dude - Where's my team?

So I thought to myself, "Self - what can I do to help my team?"

Due to mainly brokeness, my previous tradition of getting drunk while watching playoff hockey has had to make its way out this year. Which is fine with me. Mainly because my team is supposed to destroy the Boouirns in the first round.

Note the key word in that sentence is "supposed to".

The team apparently forgot about this during the third period, where mes Habitants were looking mediocre at best. MEDIOCRE.

We forgot to move our feet. We also apparently forgot how to shoot the puck, and when we remembered, we forgot that the puck is supposed to HIT the net. You know, because the puck hitting the net (as opposed to the post and end boards) actually has a chance of going in.

Unlike Don Cherry and Bob Cole (stupid pro Boouirns morons - I mean, I know the Laffs didn't make the playoffs and the Habs did, but that's no reason to be so blatant about your dislike of the TOP CANADIAN TEAM in the PLAYOFFS!!), I am not going to give credit to Boston.

Sorry, not for nothin', never happen.

The fact is, mes Habitants were beating themselves. They had plenty of power play time (and did anyone else notice the blatant interference on Baby Sexy #1 during the first period?? The referee apparently forgot to put his contacts in before the game) and they still failed to come alive.

So I decided to bring out an oldie, but a goody.

And so I whipped out Les Canadiens de Montreal, which, once upon a time, was the team's theme song. I would love to share it with you all, but that would require far more work then I am willing to put in this morning. I swear there will be a YouTube video with that song in the background sometime in the near future.

So, mes Habitants, wake up! Game 3 goes TONIGHT in Boston!

P.S. - I can't for the life of me make the "Read More" thing work. So if anyone has any advice with helping my incompetent self, please, feel free.

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Lions and Tigers and Habs OH MY!!

So who would have believed at the beginning of the season that the Montreal Canadiens would be sitting in first in the East at the end of March?

Certainly not I. I had once again converted away from Gaineyism and had in fact, converted to Tillmanism, which any good Rider fan will tell you totally paid off in the form of the franchise's first Grey Cup since I was but a little lass. Anyway, back to the point. After free agency ended and the Habs had no one, I was angry and bitter.

After we traded away Hip Hip Huet (I totally do not care that he is now pronouncing it Hu-et instead of Hu-eh) and got nothing in return, I hated my team and wanted to cry. Now, with six games remaining in their regular season schedule, the Habs are first in the East and 5 points ahead of the slumping Sens in their division.

Now, I have to admit. I had prepared myself for anothing season out of the playoffs. I was prepared to be satisfied with simply beating the Laffs, because really, at the end of the day, the only thing that matters to a true-bleu-blanc et rouge Habs fan is beating the Laffs. Sure, Stanley Cups are nice, but we already have 24 of them, and sometimes sharing is... nice. Yeah, nice that's it.

(Okay so the truth is, TRUE Habs fans are always bitter when another team wins the Cup. That mug is ours! Back off and get your own sandwhich! Ect.)

Of course, I don't want to give the credit to Bob Gainey. He has really given us NOTHING, at least not in terms of free agency or in terms of trades. Now, I realize that Hip Hip Huet was basically the back up and hadn't been playing as well, so he wasn't as valuable as was, but seriously... couldn't he have gotten something more?

So I am going to place almost all of the blame - or in this case, credit, firmly on the shoulder's of our coach extrodinare, Guy Carbonneau. Clearly he has worked that locker room the way a successful puckbunny works the after party. He has these guys' grooving on the ice, and fortunately not to anything else, because, seriously, they can't dance (there was a video of last year's (or the year before's) Halloween party on the Habs website for awhile, trust me if you didn't see it, it wasn't pretty).

With the said, I can't only make fun of the Laffs. I need to save a little mocking for the Boouirns, who went down to my Habs for the 7th straight time this year on Saturday Night. We felt sorry for you, so we let you take it to the shoot out. Trust me, you don't want us in the first round.

That said, we'll take you out in four. I have no problem winning some money on this. Not that I would bet on sports. Gambling is wrong. Very, very, very wrong.

Oh and if you haven't seen it - check out this video:

http://canadiens.nhl.tv/team/console?type=fvod&id=13785

TOO cute for words.

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i have no witty title for this ..

As the former Bruins now General hockey girl around here, and the southern hemisphere’s and one of hockey’s biggest Bergeron fans I feel it is my job, duty, neigh OBLIGATION to give my thoughts and all that on the Bergeron hit.

Waking up on a Sunday morning to your best friend texting you to say Bergeron’s been hit from behind and had been taken from the game unconscious is one of the worst things. It sucks in so many ways that are completely… Shit. Can I say that here, Jordi? Maybe not. I’ll keep my language in check.

First things first.

I do not believe Randy Jones to be a dirty player.

I do not believe the HIT to be exceptionally dirty in the style of Jesse Boulrice and Steve Downie, those other two fine examples of what Philly (who I LIKED until they traded JONI (who I liked for a reason I have never understood) is currently producing.

I do believe it was a dirty hit, I do believe it should be punished even if only to educate players about making a the RIGHT decision in the second they have to pull out of such hits. Andy Ference ( a foutain of wisdom it seems in this situation) raised a good point on the Bergeron hit after the game.

In the position he was in Bergeron was not a direct scoring threat instead attempting to clear the puck. Instead with his back turned to Randy Jones as he moved to snow plow stop and clear the puck back up the boards, he was vulnerable. Every coach expects their players to follow through on their checks, it’s part of their job and something everyone understands. BUT there comes a time in a game, in some circumstances when a player knows the person they are tracking, intending to check is vulnerable and to follow through on their check could result in a serious injury to the opposition.

While this understanding and the follow through come in split seconds, hockey players are decision makers, and the game they play relies on this quick thinking all the time. Players need to remember, as most do though, that following through is not worth it in these situations where such a high risk of injury exists and the seriousness of the injury that may eventuate, is such. (OH wow. That Really does sound law studenty.)

I’m just thankful however after everything, that it only (and it is so rare when we can say something is ONLY) a concussion and a broken nose. Seeing the video, hearing what had happened, that he’d been unconscious for 15 minutes, that they’d had to cut his jersey and gear off, tape his hands and legs together to stop them flopping was truly terrifying not just for me as a Bergeron fan, but I believe for anyone who loves the game of hockey and good young talent.

And Bergeron is good young talent. There are only two players Younger than Bergeron with more points. Their names.

Crosby. Ovechkin. The kid is good.

And I pray, He will continue to be good.

I could continue to type here and explain why I’m a Bergeron fan, (the factual reasons or the true pathetic reason involving a funny limited English interview at youngstars), how much he gives to the community (his parents were in town to see the game and go to a dinner Tuesday night where he was being honoured as the Childrens Hospital of Boston’s Champion (an award given to the Boston area athlete who has given the most back to the community and it’s children).

All in All. He’s a class act for a guy who’s just gone 22.

Get Better Soon Bergy.

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Ice Girls

Much love goes to the Boston Bruins for today's tidbit. Maybe it's just me but doesn't this..

Candidates must be 18 years of age and do not need to know how to skate to become a member of the Ice Girls.

make the concept of being an "Ice Girl" seem a little bit redundant?

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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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