Bruins Win Big in Ottawa

Wow, what can you say about Tim Thomas?! 44 saves for his first career shutout in a 5-0 win over the Ottawa Senators. Bergeron, Samsonov, Boynton, Sturm and Boyes provided all the offense neccessary and it made my and Kate from England's blah day turn into a great evening. Nothing could've been better than sitting on our sofa drinking chocolate milk (after all, it was a school night) watching the Sens get beat then kicking back on watching a little 24 (up to season 4 now!). Tonight I shoot Lab Rats with Andy Walker and Sean Carruthers, which my make my long stressful day even longer...I can't wait till 9:00 when I walk in the door, get a hug from My Kate, and put in an episode of 24. Roll on 9:00!

Bruins Keep Rollin'

Kinda busy, need to be short...the message:

2 points out of the playoffs
tied with Montreal
1 point behind the Leafs...

Keep it going strong B's!

Kate From England Had Faith in You...

I didn't...nuff said.

24...the Magic Number?

Ok so sitting at my desk (Monday nearly over) I had this strange realization that everything in the world revolves around 24. Ok so 24 hours in a day...too obvious...24 beers in a case...still a little too much on head...but my (and Kate from England's) current television addiction is the show "24" with Kiefer Sutherland and Elisha Cuthbert (who is now in her 24th year!). When not relaxing on our couch, chilling with my babe, and watching an episode of 24 (now mid 3rd season) generally speaking I am watching the Boston Bruins. The Bruins are currently in 11th place in the Eastern conference. As you hockey fans know, only the top 8 teams make it into the playoffs. In the table below you will season the final standings for the 2003/04 season:

Total Points:
1- Tampa Bay 106
2- Boston 104
3- Philadelphia 101
4- Toronto 103
5- Ottawa 102
6- New Jersey 100
7- Montreal 93
8- NY Islanders 91

Now currently the B's have 44 points with 35 games left on their schedule, using last year's standings if a team wants to make the playoffs they are gonna need at least 92 points. And this my friends is where it gets scary, for the Bruins to get 92 points this year they must get 48 more points... plainly stated, they must win 24 games. Perhaps 16 piercings is not the magic number after all babe, you still have 8 to go!

Bruins Have 5 Goalies and Beat the Flyers

Well I have no idea what is going on in Beantown...The B's have Tim Thomas starting (and winning) games, Jordan Sigalet backing him up, Hannu Toivenon on the IR, Andrew "I like fighting pucks" Raycroft day-to-day and now they have claimed Craig Anderson off waivers from the Chicago Blackhawks. So I figure I will reserve comment until THEY know what they are doing because as of now, I am not so sure they do. Habs Fan let me know of some rumours of trading Raycroft, which wouldn't really surprise me. Thomas has played amazing and Toivonen will be Boston's starter as soon as he gets back. Where does Raycroft fit in? Realistically Sigalet will be sent down to Providence; after all, they need a starting goalie too. Who knows what the plans for Anderson are? Providing the Bruins keep playing well, I don't really care. The B's went into Philly last night and embarrassed the Flyers 5-2. Travis Green had two goals and Thomas (as per usual) held them in all 60 minutes. Let's hope his luck keeps up tomorrow against the Rangers.

Bruins Lose and Win in Extra Time

Going into the 3rd period on Saturday afternoon, the B's had a chance to shock the visiting Dallas Stars and pick up a victory. Unfortunately, Boston could not hold on to their 1-0 lead and the Stars tied the game up sending it to overtime. With nothing settled in the extra 5 minute period, the game went to a shootout and eventually Dallas won 2-1 on a high-light reel goal by Jussi Jokinen. Today the story was the same but with a different ending. Boston went into the 3rd period with a one goal lead over Anaheim and once again blew it. In fact, the B's built themselves a two goal lead early on in 3rd but got into some horrendous penalty troubles that cost them. Sergei Samsonov was called for using an illegal stick and Patrice Bergeron was called for hooking on the exact same play. 14 seconds later, Boston's lead had be cut in half and it was 3-2 with a half period to play. Less then a minute later the Mighty Ducks tied the game causing a chorus of profanity from my office at work. (Due to the early start, I could only listen to the game). Luckily for the Bruins (and my co-workers) Patrice Bergeron scored with just under 2 minutes to play in OT and the B's won 4-3. The game was the second game in a row that goaltender Tim Thomas started as Andrew Raycroft sat quietly on the bench. Boston now travels to Philadelphia to take on the Flyers on Thursday night.

Providence Bruins Lose 6-0 to Los Angeles and a Trade Proposal

No seriously, after last night's display the Bruins (Boston) should be relegated to the AHL. This way Boston might be somewhat competitive on a nightly basis. Actually on second thought, this plan may not be fair to the Providence Bruins as they DO have a winning record and ARE putting up good numbers in their league. I, once again, do not have all the answers but clearly the message set when trading Joe Thornton has fallen on deaf ears. The B's have given up 12 goals in their last two games and have scored only 2 of their own; tough to win in any league with those numbers. One suggestion, and I believe it would be the best thus far, would be to "get rid of the tosser with the folded arms". Of course, what Kate From England meant is to fire Mr. Sullivan. Although I am not in the dressing room or involved with the team in ANY capacity, it would appear good ole' Stevie boy has lost his motivational touch.
Yet another suggestion, and a much less likely scenario, would be to trade Raycroft for a goalie in a similar situation. Perhaps someone who is not living up to potential, is currently overpaid, and needs a fresh new start to get his confidence back...what do you say Habs fans?

First goal of the season for the Habs;
One of many to come agains Raycroft.

Joe's Return a Joke and Where is #33?

Well I have had two days to recover from what was one pathetic ass game. I cannot imagine being a hockey fan in Boston, going to the Garden to see the return of a home town hero like Joe Thornton only to see him kicked out in the first 6 minutes on a blown call! The two refs, Chris Rooney, Francois St. Laurent are both first year refs and St. Laurent (not the one who made the BRUTAL call) did his first NHL game at the end of November! Why these two rookies were chosen to do such a high-profile game I will never know. Obviously Rooney wanted to make some name for himself and take the spotlight off of Joe and put it on himself. I could be wrong, but look for a similar rant this Saturday from Don Cherry.
As for the game, the Bruins were horrible in their own zone and played an all-round sloppy game. It was as if they were more concerned about Joe being kicked out than actually playing hockey. The B's lost 6-2 and Andrew Raycroft was pulled with 4 minutes to go in the second period. Although none of the 5 goals were solely Raycroft's fault, he certainly was not the same Raycroft he was two years ago. In fact, I am having hard time remembering any game this year in which Raycroft was the deciding factor in a Boston win. It appears he is fighting the puck and generally gives up weak goals that his counterpart Hannu Toivonen stops routinely. I am not saying I am not a Raycroft fan, I think he is a great goalie, I am just saying someone or something needs to be said/done to put him back on track. Until this happens every time I don't see #33 between the pipes I shudder at this image:

Pictures Now Available

Well I got off my ass and finally uploaded all the pictures from the trip to England; they are now available here. As well, Joe comes back tonight...it is certainly gonna look weird seeing him go to the visitors bench. Go B's!

Greetings and Salutations

Well here I am, back in one piece from the UK. Unfortunately I have been a very lazy blogger, but alas, I was in England vacationing so blogging took a huge back seat. There will be many photos to come on my flickr account once I get around to uploading them. I had an amazing time chilling in good ole' Landbeach with Kate From England and her family. Mike, Di, John and Diesel (well maybe not Diesel) couldn't have been more welcoming and generous. The home cooking was great, I saw my first football game and in the words of David Brent "el vino did flow". Once again, we couldn't manage to get on the London Eye due to annual maintenance; I swear Kate and I are just not meant to take a ride, so we went to London and pouted in front of it! (Like I said...photos to come) And finally, although I lost contact with my B's, they seemed to hold their own and have won 5 of their last 8 games. The fun really starts tomorrow when Joe Thornton and his Sharks (wow, that still doesn't sound right) come to Boston to take on the Bruins. Of course this will be Joe's first visit back since the shocking trade just over a month ago, so I hope the B's win but Thornton gets a great reception.