R2G3 - Bruins v Flyers in photos

Just for a point of reference vs my Tumblr blog. All photos © Reuter's, Getty Images and the Boston Bruins.

  

 

Winter Classic Moments | Satan offencive?

I have millions of photos of the Classic, and there's no way I have the time nor inclination to post all of them, so here's a few favourites. And huge props to the B's for being the first home team to win the Classic. Bruins, what!

Miro Satan signs with the Bruins
Well this was an interesting development. What has Satan been doing this season, other than not playing in the NHL, and "training" in Long Island? I can't quite figure out the theory behind this signing. I realise the B's need some offence, but last season, Satan only had 17 goals and 19 assists, playing with Crosby and Malkin. As a point of reference, Lucic had 17 goals and 25 points, and is on IR until, likely, Friday vs the Blackhawks.

Once Looch makes his return, Chiarelli is faced with the choice of who to either waive (Paille? A good addition to the team, and sure to be picked up on the wire before making it to the P-Bruins), or send back down Providence. The semi-obvious choice at this point is to send Sobotka back down as he doesn't have to clear waivers, but with how he's been playing, which doesn't necessarily reflect on the stat sheet (4 goals, 3 assists), it seems illogical. Especially to replace a 22 year old coming into his game, who hits like he's 80lbs heavier (why doesn't the NHL include hits, MS, A/B, TK and GV in their comprehensive stats anymore, when they're included on the game sheets?), with a 35 year old who hasn't played in about 6 months, and hasn't been a huge offencive threat since 2005, when he put up 35 goals and 31 assists.

So what will happen with Lucic comes off IR? Remains to be seen, but given the Bruins' performance at the Classic, while chippy and rattled at times, the addition of Satan confuses the shit out of me. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. And while I realise the Bruins are one of the lowest teams in the league with 2.5 GPG, I still don't see how adding Satan to the lineup will make much of an impact. Unless he's been added to the roster as trade bait for the upcoming trade deadline? So many ifs and so many questions. Expect to see Satan playing on Monday v the Rangers. I, of course, will not be seeing it, since it's on Versus, and I have DirecTV. Fuck you again, Comcast.

I just hope that before he retires, Satan signs with the Devils. Then my hockey fandom will be complete. Hopefully that will happen in March.

I'm vexed.

"It just wasn't meant to be" - Lucic | BOS v ATL

Post game interview from 12/30/09, courtesy NESN:



I'll be the first to admit, I love Lucic. And this saddens me. Especially since the usually grinny Milan is not looking very happy at all during this interview. Is there still a possibility he could play tomorrow? Maybe. A very slim chance, probably <1%. Fourth line, limited minutes, who's to say? What makes me more sad is all the interviews he gave saying how he's never played an outdoor game before because it never gets cold enough in Vancouver. Keeping the streak alive, I guess? Here's to hoping the ankle is good to go tomorrow. If the Nor'easter heading towards New England turns to rain though, all bets are off. What happens if there's rain anyway? Is there a rain delay? Is the game postponed? Moved to the Garden? Has that possibility been prepared for? I'm curious. Snow? Awesome, make the players shovel. Rain? You can't stop play every 3 minutes to squeegie the ice off, and playing on wet ice creates way too many injury possibilities. But here's to hoping Looch is able to get into the game, if for no other reason than to put that smile back on his face, and break the "never played outdoors" streak.

In other news, the Bruins once again thrashed the Thrashers. Here's the interesting stat of the night. In 27:42 that Ondrej Pavelec played against the B's in the past 2 games, he allowed 6 goals on 18 shots, which averages to a SV% of .667, and GAA of 13.00. I'm thinking the Thrashers have his number, and he's hoping he never has to play them again.As it were, the B's have beaten the Thrash in 9 straight games. Shame they only play each other 4x a year. And like Jack Edwards says, 2 U's, 2 K's, 2 points, and another shutout.

David Krejci, Vladimir Sobotka and Patrice Bergeron were my personal players of the game. Krejci didn't put up too much in terms of the score sheet, but he made a lot of things happen, and I'm guessing he and Bergeron both put the excitement and sheer ecstasy of being named to their Olympic teams to good use in the game, especially after being embarrassed by Tampa the other night. Congrats to all the Bruins who've thusfar been named to their respective countries' Olympic teams: Zdeno Chara (Slovakia), David Krejci (Czech Republic), Marco Sturm (Germany) and Patrice Bergeron (Canada). Here's hoping Tim Thomas is named to Team USA.

Here's some photos from last night, courtesy Reuters, Getty, AP, etc.

Greatest photo sequence ever. Shame they weren't all shot from the same angle or I could've animated this. Or I could rip it off the DVD but I'm lazy and you got the Milan interview so be happy.

Winter Classic practice coverage on NHL Network right now if you're interested.

Phil who?

Welcome back, your dreams were your ticket out.

Welcome back, to that same old place that you laughed about.

Well the names have all changed since you hung around,

But those dreams have remained and they're turned around.

Yeah we tease you a lot cause we've got you on the spot, welcome back.

Kessel: Oh hey Marco, great to see you buddy!

           Good luck tonight, haha, you'll need it.

   Sturm:  Bereiten sie zu sterben.                          
(Prepare to die)                       

 

More B's pics / Leafs-talk

I'm going to start with the Leafs talk. B's fans, you can skip down.

So there's a REALLY well-written and well-though-out Dave Shoalts column in today's Globe and Mail, and I want all the Leafs fans who found their way here to go read it. I'll wait.

Read it? Awesome. The points he makes that I like are, what damned good would it do to bring Kadri and Bozak up right now? To start breaking them? Kessel is proof that one player CAN'T change a team (although, if you look to the Bruins and the return of Lucic and Savard to the dressing room, you'll find the opposing take on that). Can two? Three? Four? How many does it take? You know what CAN change a team? The coaching. Now I know Burkie won't fire his BFFRW two months before the Olympics, when he's named him as coach of Team USA. Nothing says confidence in a man like canning him but letting him lead your national team. I really kind of hope USA tanks it in the Olympics giving Burke his just cause. And I hate Team USA as an organisation. Sorry. But that still means a couple months of the Leafs mistaking truculent for turbulent. So I'm here to help. Leafs, pay attention. Luke Schenn, you too buddy. I think I can help you out.

Truculent
1 : feeling or displaying ferocity : cruel, savage
2 : deadly, destructive
3 : scathingly harsh : vitriolic
4 : aggressively self-assertive : belligerent

Truculent

Turbulent
 1 : characterized by agitation or tumult : tempestuous

Turbulent

Stop being agitated. Stop feeling sorry for yourselves. Be aggressive, pro-active, destructive and fierce. Bluntly, stop being girls and just go out and play like men.

That said, I would love to see Luke Schenn in the Black & Gold with Wideman. I think it would work. It might take some time, and sorry, Ference, but y'know. These things (could) happen.  

Moving on.

BRUINS PHOTOS!

I snaked all of these from the B's website, cause, surprise, Daylife let me down again.  Enjoy!

Milan Lucic, I love you. I would bake you chocolate cakes and set

your homepage to Zappos and talk to you in Serbian all day long,

but babe, that nose keeps getting bigger and bigger. You're a beast.

Never change.

Is Recchi giving the finger? I think he is!

Looch's goal. I love how the puck is conveniently cut out of frame.
A more detailed breakdown of the goal to be found on WEEI.

This never gets old. That look on Bitzy's face is HILARIOUS.

Krejc drawing a penalty and Mair looking wicked guilty.

WHO HAS MORE FUN THAN US?

Is the ref in on the win-lovin'? Could Chara be taller?

Could Bergie's Movember duster be any creepier?

In a semi-related note to the "Who has more fun than us" caption... There's an hilarious commercial for the NESN show The Instigators, starring Jack Edwards, Mike Milbury and Andy Brickley (which you totally should watch because it's also hilarious), where Edwards gets nailed with water balloons, including one right to the jewels, doubles over and pain, and keeps getting hit with the balloons. Who are still being thrown by Mike and Brick. I'm pretty sure I have it on DVD, I'll try to rip it and put it up on YouTube cause really, you need to see it.

Bruins @ Thrashers - picture time!

Before we get into the photos, I want to congratulate the Thrashers on finally being an AWESOME team. That was an intensely great game of hockey last night. It might not have seemed it because the crowd just wasn't there, but props to the fans who did show up. That might go down as one of my favourite hockey games of all time. I'm really pleased and pleasantly surprised to see the Thrash coming into their own finally, and see them playing the way I knew they could all along. That said, I'm still waiting for Kari to return until I really start paying attention to the games. Fucked up? Probably. Will Kari even stay on the team? Who knows. But you know how I roll and where my loyalties lie. But well played, Atlanta Thrashers. Very well played.

These are only the first round of photos I was able to dig up. There were more obviously, but I based these on either the Bruins doing something awesome, or the absolute HILARITY of the fans in the background. Considering it sounded and looked like there was only about 200 people in the building, and 100 of them were Bruins fans, these pictures are high-quality entertainment. I shall point out my LOLs. The good photos are from Reuters. The shitty ones are from AP. All rights reserved, blahblabhblah.

LOL: Looch stripped Bogo of the puck in his first day back on the job.

LOL: Is that a wookie in the crowd over Little's left shoulder
(our left, his right)? And/or Johny Candy's ghost???

LOL: There is very little in this world I love more than a fan
giving a hockey player the finger. And this guy goes all the
way with a double-salute. What is he, a disgruntled former
Ottawa fan? Is the nice older lady behind Z smiling at him?
Is that my Aunt Donna?!

LOL: The look of "this isn't happening, I didn't
see it, la la la they didn't score" on the guy over
Wheels' shoulder. Also, A Krejci goal celebration! WIN!

LOL: There are so many I don't know where to start. I love the lady
in the front row trying to use her Jedi powers (or Harry Potter
protection spells) to keep that puck outta the net. The other big LOL
here is that I was praying Bergie did not go into the shootout. I
picked Ryder, Krejci and Wheels. I was 2/3 right. And lookit that,
Bergie deked Pony right out of his net, AND his jock. That
goal was a thing of beauty. Shame Wheels pulled the same
move and whiffed on the open net.

LOL: The dismay of the three Atlana fans in the audience, and Tuukka with
his best QB pose EVAR (4th-and-2 what?). What's even funnier is that he
was stumbling at the time, and falling backwards, so mad props
to the photographer of this one.

Also funny, I was talking to one of my friends as it went to the shootout (ok, talking is a stretch. I was just saying "SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT" but whatever, it's communication), and look, the B's aren't really known for their prowess on the shootout (I keep typing that shoutout. Hilar!). And uh, hello? Kozlov, Afinegenov, (can't spell that to save my life), Kovalchuk? This was disaster waiting to happen. I told my girl that someone better make sure all the milk crates in Philips were tied down.

As Jack Edwards loves to say - Two U's, two K's and a big fat W.

I'll keep looking for more photo o'hilarity for you. Thrashers fans, you keep it funny. There may not be a lot of you, but I salute those of you that show up and make the game more entertaining.

Also of relevance to Thrashers fans, tickets for Casino Night are now available! The event will occur on 01/10/10. Someone please buy me a ticket so I can come mingle and meet all of you?