31.4 Seconds Away from a Point

SOOOOOO close. Man did that suck. Watching the Bruins at my lovely Xmas party last night was actually fun. However, I ended up leaving the party early (and the Bruins had a 2-1 lead) to watch the final period in the comfort of my own home. I am not sure what possessed me to do such a thing, in hindsight, it would have made more sense to drink copious amounts of free alcohol and ignore the final period which has brought me so much anguish this year. Going into last night, the Bruins had been outscored 39-25 in the final period and overtime this season. Why did I assume it would be any different last night in New Jersey? Despite Andrew Raycroft's 31 save heroics, the Bruins gave up two more goals in the final frame to lose 3-2 to the Devils. The game winning goal by Alexander Mogilny was scored with 31.4 seconds left in the game. Man did that suck. Poor Kate From England came home to see a very distraught and displeased boyfriend, sulking in bed. As usual, she had me laughing on my way to work this morning, making last night's crappy ending a faint memory. Unluckily for her (and Boston) the Bruins play against Ottawa on Thursday night and we get to do this whole dance again.

First Xmas Party of the Year Means Watching The B's in a Bar

Well Boston heads into Jersey tonight with a solid 8-12-5 record. The game will start at 7:30 and will be on TSN so hopefully I won't miss too much of the game at my first Christmas party of the year. Man I love Christmas. The party does take place in a bar...most bars have TV...I say it is a 50-50 chance I will see the game. Which, oddly enough, are probably better odds than the odds the Bruins are getting in Vegas tonight against the Devils. The last time to the two teams met (Oct.29 in Boston) the Bruins blew (yet another) two goal lead late in the 3rd and ended up losing in a shoot out 5-4. I hope Joe and the Boys come out to play, after all this game won't be on the NHL package so it only makes sense they will win.
The Lab Rats and I will be shooting again next week, tonight I will enjoy an evening of drinks without cameras.

$200/8 Wins = $25 per Victory

I have recently come to the conclusion that the NHL package so far has cost me $25 for every Bruins win this year...ouch. In fact, 2 of the Bruins 8 wins this year have been against the Toronto Maple Leafs and therefore I have not watched these wins via the NHL package. I would really like to justify paying $2oo per season but I find it hard when I see Joe Thornton lollygagging around his own defensive end for most of his shifts. Playing against Ottawa on Saturday, Thornton appeared happy to float at his own blue line and wait for the puck. He never seemed to be skating hard and as the team's captain, he is supposed to lead by example. Obviously the B's did not beat the Sens as they fell 4-2 and it was their second straight loss. They also lost to the Flyers 5-3 one day earlier, which I might add, was the first Bruins game I missed all year. My point? I have watched a lot of Boston and I am becoming less and less surprised with every loss. It has been a long time since I have seen consistent hard work by the team and if they are going to play crappy they deserve to lose. They need to play better and it needs to start with Joe.

Bruins Win (No really!)

The Bruins seemed like a completely different team last night when they took on the Toronto Maple Leafs. Boston came out with something to prove and managed to actually play a full 60 minutes. Glen Murray got the Bruins rolling with 2 quick power play goals and the Bruins never looked back. Patrice Bergeron, Shawn McEachern, and Sergei Samsonov added the rest of the offense for the B's as they took the game 5-1. Andrew Raycroft got the nod and despite a very slow first period, he played like the Raycroft of old when called upon late in the game.

Side Note: Man I hate scalpers and Leaf fans. Just out of curiosity I priced out what tickets would have cost off scalpers. I managed to talk one of those fine, upstanding gentlemen of society down from $180 to $140 for 2 purple tickets. Now this isn't all that bad considering the tickets are worth about $100 face value for the pair. So I took this fine gentlemen's "business" card (and I use the term business extremely loosely!) and I went to the bank machine to get some cash out (for some reason I didn't have the $140 in my wallet while walking around Toronto ...no really). Once returning to this guy's "office" he let me know he no longer had the tickets, but I could upgrade to green seats...for a price. What a piece of crap ass scum. Ah well, it just goes to show what is wrong with the game of hockey in Toronto. I went home and watched the game with my girl, had a few beers, ate a great dinner and thoroughly enjoyed the victory. Funny how it is that when the Bruins win, Leaf fans are quite hard to find. The cell phone stays quiet, the inbox receives no new mail and the visits to the office are few and far between. It kinda reminds me of trying to find hockey fans in the city of Toronto in May, the Leafs are long eliminated and there is a Jays bandwagon ready to be hopped on.

Bruins 12, Everyone Else 24

Well I suppose it has been a while since I last posted. The only real excuse I can come up with was that I was waiting for the Bruins to win again. Since it has been such a long time, I decided to give up and accept that the B's may not win for a while. In the last six games they have been out scored 24-12...man it is tough to win with those numbers. Watching Boston in the 3rd period has become similar to watching a slow-motion car crash. They always seem to end up playing not to lose instead of playing to win and therefore, Boston is now on a 6 game skid. In the upcoming weeks, the Bruins take on Toronto, New Jersey, Philidelphia and Ottawa (twice) so these inflated numbers could get even uglier. So what is the solution? A coaching change? Player trades? Move the team to Ottawa? I am not sure. But what I will say is playing competively for a full 60 minutes will optimize the B's chance of winning enormously. Mike Sullivan needs to find a way to motivate his players or else it could be lights out for the young coach.
Despite the shabby play of Boston, my weekend was quite fun. It was rather low key and relaxing after a long Call For Help week in the studio. Kate From England did a great job of cheering me up and putting up with my grumpiness.

Weekend Wrap From L'ill Vegas

Once again it was a wonderful weekend. I had the honour of landing Kate From England into Canada and now she is officially a permanent resident. We went to Niagara Falls (which truly wants to be Vegas) and played in our fun hotel room. Big thanks to Amber for letting us use her car and to all the people who supported Kate throughout this long 2 year process.
Believe it or not, we actually found a bar that had the Bruins game on. And although I was thoroughly entertained at Boston Pizza, I really could have dealt with the B's actually winning on this momentous Saturday. Surprise, surprise, Boston came out flat in the 3rd period and gave up 3 goals to the Islanders and ended up losing 5-2. Ah well, the important things in life are settled and I couldn't be happier!

B's Get Thumped at Home

Well not that it is really any surprise, but the Boston Bruins lost last night to the Ottawa Senators 5-2. I am not too angry with the loss except to say it is how the Bruins lost. Generally speaking the Sens are going to score at least 4 goals against a young Bruins defense. After all, Ottawa boasts arguably 3 of the best scorers in the game right now. But as I so poetically put it to Kate From England last night, the Bruins needed to make the Sens earn the victory not hand it right to them. After a well played first period, which saw both teams notch a goal, The B's came out flat in the second, took too many penalties and were absolutely horrendous in their own zone. Hall Gill (with a little help from rookie Milan Jurcina) coughed up the puck in his own end and gave Bryan Smolinski a gift that made the game 2-1. Less than 2 minutes later, and with the man advantage, Boston gave up a two man breakaway and Peter Schaefer made no mistake on the rebound making it 3-1.
One positive thing about the game is that the Bruins did play convincing in the third period. Although outscored 1-0, they didn't collapse as they have so often this year. Dominik Hasek held on to the lead in the 3rd period as Ottawa was out shot 15-10. The Bruins next play on Saturday when they travel to New York to take on the Islanders.

Bruins Earn a Point in Philly...Awesome.

So the title may be a bit sarcastic, but going into last night's game with the Flyers, I would have been happy with the B's getting one point playing in Philidelphia. The piss off is that Boston had a two goal lead with 4 minutes to play in the 3rd period. Simon Gagne scored to cut the lead to
3-2 and with 24 seconds left in regulation, Joni Pitkanen scored sending the game to overtime. It was Pitkanen who won the game for the Flyers just 2 minutes into OT when he was left alone in front and beat Hannu Toivonen. Both the tying goal and winning goal were not gems by any means, and Toivonen will most likely not play tomorrow when the Bruins host the Senators. Andrew Raycroft did dress last night but watched from the game from the bench.

Kate the Canuck Gets Screwed by Vancouver

After arriving home on Friday night to celebrate her 26th birthday, Kate From England FINALLY received the important document she has been waiting for; her Canadian Visa. This means after landing next weekend in Niagara Falls, she will be allowed to stay in this lovely country indefinitely! WOO HOO! Kate will know what it feels like to officially call Canada home, making her my new favourite Canuck (although until she gets citizenship, we will still call her Kate From England, Kate Who Knows the Queen, Kate Who Loves the Beatles, Kate Who Talks Funny, ETC...) But seriously, congrats Kate! I love you and I am proud of you.
As well two other things happened on the weekend that were shocking. Firstly, the Bruins won their second straight game by 2+ more goals and Kate (once again) went 3-4 on proline. The Bruins handed Pittsburgh a 6-3 loss and the B's dominated the Pens throughout the game. Joe Thornton led Boston with 2 goals and 1 assist and Hannu Toivonen secured his 4th win of the season. The Bruins victory gave me the only win I had on my proline ticket for Saturday. Kate on the other hand, embarrassed my 1 win performance by picking 3 of 4 correct only losing the Vancouver/Calgary game. The Flames hung on to a 1-0 lead throughout the game and when the buzzer sounded at the end of the 3rd period, Kate's ticket was done. So for those playing along at home, Kate has been screwed the last two Saturdays by the Montreal Canadians and the Vancouver Canucks. How is that for Canadian hospitality?

Bruins Win Big and Kick Off Birthday Weekend Celebrations

It took just under two weeks for the Bruins to finally win a game convincingly. Last night the Bruins made Kate From England and my night by handing the Florida Panthers a 4-1 loss. It was the first 2+ goal victory the B's got since beating the Penguins 6-3 on October 22nd. Hannu Toivonen started his 4th game in a row and once again played great stopping 29 of 30 shots. Andrew Raycroft's return is doubtful for Saturday when Boston hosts the Penguins. The Bruins have hired Hall of Famer Ray Bourque (who just happens to be my favourite player, see the jersey collection) as a coaching consultant. It is great to see Mr. Bourque back in the Bruins organization.

The victory was a great start to a weekend of fun and celebration. The more-than-lovely Kate From England is turning 26 on Sunday (despite clinging to year 25) and I can't wait to have a wonderful weekend with her. She had some bumps and bruises along the way in her 26th year, but I can more than assure her that her 27th year will be all for her. I am very proud of everything she has done over the last year, she has persevered through hard times and emotional times and came out on the other side smiling. Here's to you Kate; your birthday weekend celebrations and your 27th year!

Islanders 4, Bruins 3, Star Wars 3

If nothing else, last night's game between the New York Islanders and Boston Bruins was entertaining. Once again, the Bruins gave up the first two goals of the game and had to play catch up the rest of the way. Only 52 seconds into the first period Oleg Kvasha netted his first goal of the season beating Hannu Toivonen upstairs. Fearless leader, Joe Thornton, led the offense for the B's scoring an early assist and a late goal to push the game to overtime. In OT it was ex-Bruin, Shawn Bates, who scored with only 29 seconds left in the extra frame to seal the victory for the Isles. Although I was quite happy with getting a point on the road, it is getting more and more frustrating watching the B's consistently lose.
And what may you ask is the best cure for a bad dose of frustration? Well presents of course! A big thank you to my lovely girlfriend Kate, who noticed I was a little more than grouchy yesterday so she bought me Star Wars Episode III. I am not saying that I am a spoiled little boy who needs presents to cheer me up, but as usual Kate realized it is the little things she does that makes me smile. The token gifts, our simple jokes, and the fun nights we have together always put a smile on my face. Thanks again Babe!