Boston Bruins Blogs

1. That was by far the best game played by the defense all season led by DE Andre Carter’s two sacks. Bend but don’t break was in full effect. Dallas gained 377 total yards, but were one for three in goal to go situations. But goodness, Patriots, work on your tackling.

Continue reading "Pick Six: Week 6"

1. I have to take a moment and pay respect to Al Davis. The legendary Oakland Raiders owner passed away on Saturday. Born in Brockton, MA, the rebel and leader of the Silver and Black was a steward of the AFL and helped form the modern day NFL. The Patriots held a moment of silence before the game to honor Davis. The league lost an icon.

Continue reading "Pick Six: Week 5"

As soon as the Bruins advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals, I couldn’t help but think I remembered Mark Recchi saying he believed the Bruins could win the Stanley Cup after he re-signed with the Bruins. So I did some research, and look at what I found:

Continue reading "Mark Recchi Knew"

More often than not, the better goalie will prevail in game seven.

Tim Thomas of the Boston Bruins proved just that in game seven of the 2011 Stanley Cup Final.  Thomas earned his second shutout of the series, while also recording an amazing 1.15 GAA and a .967 save percentage in the final seven games.  Here is the laundry list of achievements that he can add to his resume:

Continue reading "Thomas Betters Luongo in the End"

Two teams who have been sitting outside of the Stanley Cup Finals for quite some time finally get the chance to win Lord Stanley’s Cup.  Boston has not seen the Finals since 1990 when they lost to the Edmonton Oilers in five games.  The Vancouver Canucks are well-documented in their last Stanley Cup Final appearance, when they lost in that memorable seven-game series to the New York Rangers in 1994. 

Continue reading "Stanley Cup Finals Preview: Boston ..."

We can finally put all of these Kaberle rumors to rest.

The Boston Bruins officially announced on Friday morning that the club has acquired defenseman Tomas Kaberle from the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for prospect center Joe Colborne, the Bruins first-round pick in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft and a conditional second-round pick.  Toronto takes control of the Bruins own second round pick in 2012 if the Bruins can reach the Stanley Cup Finals in 2011 or if they re-sign Kaberle this summer (Kaberle is an unrestricted free-agent at the end of the season).

Continue reading "Kaberle solidifies a Well-Rounded Boston Defense"

I recently sat with College Hockey Inc. Executive Director Paul Kelly to get his opinion Taylor Hall and Tyler Seguin and what the Boston Bruins will do in the NHL Draft with their two first round picks. I have one correction to mention. During the interview, I said the Bruins have the 17th pick in the first round. It is actually the 15th.

Continue reading "Paul Kelly on the Boston Bruins Draft"

Red Sox vs. Yankees. Celtics vs. Cavaliers in game 3 of a 1-1 series. Bruins vs. Flyers in possible series sweep.

There are so many story lines for this Friday night in Boston Sports.

Continue reading "The Tri-fecta, the Trinity, TGIF ..."

After a long weekend in Boston Sports Hell, (even the Celtics winning game 1 of their series with the Heat was a kind of loss with the Garnett suspension), Tuesday was a day of Miracles. Who had ever heard of Darnell McDonald? A man who waited 13 years to get his chance to make a difference on a big league team, and on his very first at bat, he hits a two-run home run to breathe life back into this Sox season. Then, the 31 year old rookie hit’s a Monster-scraping walk-off.

Continue reading "Walk-Offs at Fenway Park, Skate-off ..."

Shortly after moving defensive defenseman Derek Morris, Boston added another veteran to their blue line.

Dennis Seidenberg, who signed a one-year deal with Florida this past summer, leaves Florida as the top ice-time getter, averaging 22:54 played a game.  The German Olympian adds just two goals to the Bruins' lineup, but has 21 assists on a low-scoring team.  He is very good at getting the puck out of the zone and moving the puck up ice, but will not contribute much to the Bruins and their 16th ranked power-play. 

Continue reading "Boston Trades Craig Weller, Byron ..."

A Golden Effort Falls Just Short By Brad VanFossan I know it’s more than just a hockey game when my 63 year old father is looking forward to watching, and has been watching most of the

Continue reading "Golden Effort Falls Just Short"

There’s been a lot of griping recently over the state of Boston sports, serving (for me) as another ugly reminder of the developing, spoiled and cocksure nature of fans in this area. Let’s take a quick look, shall we?

Continue reading "A Message to Boston Sports Fans"

New England Sports Network (NESN) is in the midst of airing a six-episode reality television program titled, Boston Boxing: Team Training.

 

The series documents the teachings of a renowned local boxing trainer to 40 amateur pugilists with extremely varying skill levels over a span of 12 weeks.

Continue reading "Boston Boxing: Team Training on NESN ..."

Violence has been a part of hockey since at least the early 1900's. According to the book Hockey: A People's History, in 1904 alone, four players were killed during hockey games from the frequent brawls and violent stickwork. 

Continue reading "Legend Of The Goon Squad pt.2"

Pardon me while I go off track for a moment.

 

Last night I watched one of ESPN’s 30 for 30 documentaries. It was “Without Bias: The Len Bias Story” or something like that. It didn’t blow me away as far as storytelling goes, but it was well done.

Continue reading "Deep 86-ed"

After seven games played, the Patriots get a much deserved and needed break, thanks to the bye week. While it’s great for the players and coaches, it is sometimes tough for the fans.

 

Continue reading "Good Bye"

It's funny how one mistake on an online publication can put a few thousand people in an uproar.

“Phil Kessel Traded to Blues” was the headline on a story without any subtext included with it on Thursday evening.  The New England Hockey Journal, a well-respected hockey website, posted this error that sent the fans of the Bruins and Blues into a state of panic.  Bruins fans were terrified that they did not get a decent return while Blues fans were anxious over who had to be traded.  Online hockey message boards lit up with questions on how the deal went down and when the teams were going to officially announce the news.  The media bonanza even made it as far as ESPN.com when they posted “Rumors:  P. Kessel maybe headed to Blues.”

Continue reading "Misprint Still has St. Louis Buzzing"

So we all know by now that the story ended the way it shouldn't have.  This was supposed to be the season that the Black and Gold would redeem almost three decades of inferiority to the Celtics,

Continue reading "Here we go"

This is just not the Celtics' year. Last night's game 7 looked like a game 4 in a 3-0 series. The Celtics came out without their energy, all out of sync. Clearly, they missed KG. Ray Allen, who we needed to step up, finally did, but he was the only one who showed up to play. Meanwhile, Orlando 21-13 from three point land, was just too much to handle and every shot they took led to me biting my nails off and praying for a comeback that never came. This game was a tough one for Boston to handle; we were losing all game and never made the run that they usually can.

Continue reading "The Celtics Lose Game 7 and Boston ..."

Before I go into my “woe is me” mode for yesterday, let me just say that there was some incredible defense on both sides of the Sox-Angels game.  Although I was furious as the game concluded, I can’t say it wasn’t a fun game to watch.  Whether it was Nick Green cleanly fielding a bunted ball, or Jason Bay diving for a fly in left, the Sox made it clear (at least defensively) that they wanted to win yesterday’s ballgame.    And how about that play by JD Drew to keep the game scoreless in the 8th?  What a play. 

Continue reading "Boston, you're still my home"

Part 2 of this series will include Restricted Free Agent options as well as possible acquisitions via trade.

In Part 1 of this series I covered some of the more realistic Unrestricted Free Agent options for the Flyers in their quest to acquire a starting goaltender. In addition to the Unrestricted Free Agent options, there are several viable Restricted Free Agent options. The benefit of restricted free agents is that they are all young…that is, after all, why they are restricted free agents. They are often times coming off their entry level contracts, and just haven’t played enough seasons to be eligible for unrestricted free agency. The bad part about restricted free agency is that, depending on how much the player is signed for, the team is required to pay some sort of draft pick compensation.

Continue reading "Goaltender Options for the Flyers - Part 2"

I thought I’d give a top 10 list a shot, and I thought defenseman was the place to start. I’ve noticed that the thoughts regarding the top 10 defenseman in the league are quite erratic, and there doesn’t seem to be a widely accepted pecking order. So I present you with mine. I’ve taken all around play into consideration. Both defensive and offensive abilities have been considered.

Continue reading "My Top 10 NHL Defenseman"

The American sports landscape has been continually tattooed with dynastic labels like “Team of the Year” or “Team of the Decade.”  The NFL in particular has been defined each decade by a juggernaut winning …. a lot.  The dominance of franchises like the 70’s Steelers, the 80’s Niners, the 90’s Cowboys, and the Patriots of the new millennium has immortalized the likes of Bradshaw, Aikman and Montana to deific status.  The NBA has also provided its share of dynastic runs from the Celtics to the Lakers to the Pistons to the Bulls, and examples abound exist in both hockey and baseball as well. 

Continue reading "Bruins Cup could give Boston Most ..."

Welcome everyone to my first post here on the hockey blogs! I know I am a Floridian, but hockey certainly runs through my veins. Today, I will first be talking about the Eastern Conference. And...how about them Bruins! They look like the team they were when the season started. I was a bit concerned about them in the middle of the season, I mean after all they lost to the Panthers and the Lightning in one road trip. I did not think they were contenders when the playoffs started, but I am starting to rethink that now. Their power play gives me nightmares. Bruins in sweep, I say.

Continue reading "NHL Playoffs Rock On! First the East"

Playoffs start on Wednesday, April 15th, with the Montreal Canadiens playing their first game against the Boston Bruins on Thursday, April 16th in Boston. If that last game against the Bruins was any indication, it's going to be a spirited series, with lots of penalties and power plays. Let's see if the Habs can keep up their good power play of late and keep the goals coming.

Continue reading "The NHL Playoffs Are Finally Here"

The Blues were on the outside looking in on the NHL playoff picture on December 13th, 2008 when they received even worse news; captain and leading minute-man Eric Brewer went down with a herniated disc in his lower back.  Things seemed dreary for the Blues hockey club.  Fans already started calling for the first-round draft choice in 2009 and pretty much gave up hope on any playoff dreams.

Continue reading "Blues Have Been Strong Without Brewer, Legace"

After snapping a three-game losing streak on Saturday, the Boston Bruins lost their third game this month, yesterday, to the New York Rangers, 4-3 at Madison Square Garden.

Manny Fernandez was between the pipes for the B's—and the struggles for the net-minder continued, stopping just 26 of 30 shots he faced. Fernandez has now lost his last five-straight-games, and six out of his last seven games started.

Continue reading "Stop Panicking, Bruins Fan"

OK. So I lied. In last week’s musings I apologized for a sudden lack of blogs due to an increased workload at my paid writing job and I was back, better than ever and writing incessantly. If you haven’t noticed, and I’d be disappointed if you didn’t, another seven days has gone by without a new posting. Well, now, I truly have returned. You have my word. Following this edition of The Sports Don’s Sunday Musings, make sure you tune in later in the week for a blog about the impending superstardom of the Celtics’ Rajon Rondo, a look at the post Seattle Mariner careers of Ken Griffey Jr. and Alex Rodriguez (at the suggestion of my buddy Taco) and whatever else my twisted sports mind can conjure. As always, thank you for your support.

Continue reading "The Sports Don's Sunday Musings: Volume V"

Another week has come and gone, and there is another Sunday crossword to make me feel like college was a waste of money and another week of sports in our memory banks. From the aftermath of Alex Rodriguez’ steroid scandal to a NBA player looking like the lovechild of a Georgetown basketball coach and a patriotic Muppet, there’s much to talk about and a whole lot more on my mind.

Continue reading "The Sports Don's Sunday Musings: Volume II"

Goaltender Antero Nittymaki has won the starting job from Marty Biron.  After a solid weekend of play, Nittymaki had Philadelphia analysts talking about a goalie controversy.  Coach John Stevens proved them right this week, announcing that Nittymaki would be the starter until further notice.

Continue reading "Nittymaki Gets the Nod"

Jeff Carter helped the Flyers stay lucky, scoring two goals and handing out one asist in a 3-2 win over the Thrashers in Atlanta on Sunday.  Antero Nittymaki made several outstanding saves in net, helping hold off a third period surge from Atlanta.

Continue reading "Still Lucky..."

Just what the doctor ordered.  The Flyers completed an amazing comeback in Boston this afternoon, beating the Bruins 4-3 in overtime when Randy Jones fluttered a shot from the blue line that bounced off the leg of a Boston defender and into the net.

Continue reading "Flyers Finally Get a Lucky Bounce"

The Flyers announced today that two key players will not be joining the team for their trip to Boston today.  The Flyers are scheduled to take on the Bruins in the second game of a home-and-home series tomorrow afternoon.

Continue reading "Sick and Tired Of Being Sick and Tired"

The Boston Bruins walked into the Wachovia Center last night and showed the league how they have taken control of the Eastern Conference.  They played a puck control game, won the battles in the corner, and peppered goaltender Marty Biron with rubber most of the night.

Continue reading "Bruins Prove They Are the Class of the East"

On February 25th 2007, the Atlanta Thrashers made a move that they thought could land them a Stanley Cup in their fair city.  After acquiring Keith Tkachuk for three draft picks and Glen Metropolit, Atlanta General Manager Don Waddell saw his team fall in the playoffs after a 4-0 sweep to the New York Rangers.  Keith Tkachuk then re-signed with the St. Louis Blues, rejoining the rebuilding franchise that following summer.  Well it is February 2009, and we are hearing Tkachuk trade talks yet again.

Continue reading "Tkachuk Trade Talk... Again"

In the 2006 NHL Entry Draft, Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli waits patiently as St. Louis makes their first selection.  Erik Johnson comes and goes, as Pittsburgh, Chicago and Washington make their picks.  The once-projected number one selection still remains and Boston sees no choice but to select him. 

Continue reading "Kessel Worth the Wait"

Well, this is my first post at the new website, trying it out to see how I like it.

I've done a semi-thorough job in my profile at describing this blog, but for those that are too lazy to click there, I'll provide some background on the blog here. If you want to find out about me personally, you'll have to go to my profile.

Continue reading "Inauguration"

A big thanks to everyone who participated in the "Inbound Link Contest".  We have a winner!  A big congratulations go out to Marija.  Thank you for all your hard work on this.  While we had a lot of people participate, Marija was able to win with only 4 links!  So it wouldn't have taken a lot to win this contest!  We'll be having another contest soon so stay tuned.

Continue reading "Inbound link contest winner announced!"

To try and motivate our bloggers to get inbound links we're going to have a contest to see which blogger can get the most inbound links to their blog. The contest begins now and ends July 31st, 2008. To be entered in to the contest all you have to do is go out and get as many websites to link to your blog as you can and at the end of the month send us an email listing all those links. All links must be active from August 1st through August 7th when we'll be judging the entries - a winner will be announced on August 7th. All entry emails must be received by Midnight on July 31st, 2008. You can email them to sportsfan@nbabasketballonline.com

Continue reading "Inbound link contest - Win $100!"

I came to a realization this past July 4 weekend. There have been some great players to suit up the jersey of a Boston team. Be it any team, at just about anytime, there have been great players.

Continue reading "The Legends"

No need to wait until June- Alex Ovechkin is your Hart Trophy winner.  Here are the winners for Round 2 of the 2008 NHL Playoffs:

The “thanks for showing up” award goes to Sean Avery’s spleen, which ruptured along with the Rangers playoff hopes in Game 3 at the Garden.  In a series where the Rangers needed to find a way to get uberstars Sidney Crosby and Evgeny Malkin off their game, Avery was held in check.  Luckily, he all but wrapped up a new contract in the previous series against the New Jersey Devils.

Continue reading "2008 NHL Playoff Awards - Round 2"

 

  “Potential” has always been the buzz word swarming around the 14 year career of Alexei Kovalev.  After the New York Rangers made him the first Russian player selected in the draft’s opening round, his second season culminated with a dramatic Stanley Cup victory over fellow countryman Pavel Bure.  Kovalev’s play elevated in each successive round of the 1994 Stanley Cup run and fans could only wonder where the wunderkind’s ceiling was. 

Continue reading "Ridin' with the AK - Montreal Canadiens ..."

Let’s end the suspense- Nicklas Lidstrom has already won his sixth Norris Trophy, regardless of when it will be announced.  Through Round 1 of the 2008 NHL Playoffs, here are some lesser known awards:

Continue reading "2008 NHL Playoff Awards - Round 1"

The fact that the Boston Bruins are about to be eliminated from the NHL postseason by the Montreal Canadiens is sickening enough.
Watching the Bruins be relegated to visitors' status in their home building, however, is just one more reminder of what a complete and utter debacle hockey has become on Causeway Street.

Continue reading "Canadiens crush Bruins' spirits"

http://wizbangsports.com/2008/03/sweet_16_the_west_is_settled.ph

The West offered its share of drama but the Sweet 16 teams are finally locked in. UCLA and Xavier shouldn't surprise anyone but who expected Western Kentucky and West Virginia?

Continue reading "Sweet 16: The West is Settled"

http://wizbangsports.com/2008/03/more_drama_in_the_west.php

The West Region has been and continues to be a source of intrigue in this tournament. Duke fell to seven seed West Virginia. This actually wasn't a big surprise given how Duke has played in this tournament. They apparently left their three-point shot at home.

Continue reading "More Drama in the West"

Sons of Westwood:  You can take that big sigh of relief.  The disgusting display of hoops by the Bruins on Sunday February 10 in Seattle against a clearly weaker Washington Huskies team was just a small let down and not dreaded back-to-back defeats.  And, oh yeah, the Bruins beat down their cross town rivals the USC Trojans, avenging their loss earlier this season at Pauley Pavilion on January 19th. 

Continue reading "O.J.? Oh, No Thanks, and Hold the Mayo"

Feaster is looking to make a major move and one of the big three are going to be shipped out.  It’s true that Dan Boyle’s absence has been difficult to overcome, though Filip Kuba has certainly taken advantage of the opportunity.  Still, a 6-1 loss to Toronto has the front office thinking major shake-up.  Here’s the conundrum:  Between Richards, St. Louis and Lacavalier, only the latter can be traded without permission.  Richards suffered a leg injury, is currently a -10 and has a no trade clause.  St. Louis is a great two-way forward and provides leadership, but is 32 years old and won’t want to play with anyone else than Vinny.  Vincent Lacavalier is 27 and some say he is the best player in the NHL this season.  Obviously Vinny has the edge when it comes to return, but it would be a mistake for Tampa to trade away their franchise player…  Or would it?

Continue reading "GM Jay Feaster's team is famished ..."