A flood of emotions

That was an intense sports weekend. I'm not gonna lie, i spent the entire weekend thinking about what to write in this space, or any other, for that matter. Landing on substantive analysis just didn't seem like something i could pull off. And then the Bruins went ahead and lost their first playoff game of the year...let's just say that didn't serve my emotional state well. Thankfully, i'm a blogger (allegedly) and i'm damn sure that restrictions on bloggers overtly displaying emotion as a means of release are non-existent. Let's face it, Simmons does it every time he writes.

I went from a dominant Bruins win in game 1 (sort of unexpectedly) accompanied by a few Jager shots to a wierd Kentucky Derby that made me smile ear to ear (don't ask, Calvin Borrel just does something wierd to me) and a great Celtics victory in Game 7 to last night. What happened last night anyway? I spent over $150 to watch Game 2 in a suite with the girlfriend, Caveman, Mr Friday Night and a number of new friends in the Boston Media who shall remain nameless for the time being. Then an ominous sign came: As I watched the first period, i noticed Glen Wesley in the suite next to us - wearing a nice red tie to emphasize his affiliation with the Hartford Whalers, er, 'Canes. At that point, as i became momentarily starstruck, i realized we were boned.

No way were we winning a game in which the Robin to Ray Bourque's batman shows up in the opponent's colors. Then to boot, Patrice Bergeron nearly broke a scoreless tie with a shot that flipped inches over the crossbar of an empty net...shades of Mr. Wesley himself from Game 1 of the 1990 Cup finals. I felt like Michael J Fox was suddenly calling the game in my head and it was only a matter of time before Peter Klima would break the city's collective heart.

Well, i was right. From the Bruins skating in mud, to bad decisions by Thomas and Chara, to a hot Cam Ward, we simply couldn't muster a meaningful shot from there on in and fell 3-0 in anticlimactic fashion.
Thankfully, this is not 1990. This is just one game. This is still the beginning. The Bruins will rebound and i'm pretty sure that no team has ever gone 16-0 through the playoffs - so you could say this was inevitable. (Dwight Howard is huge and i want him to die)
Right now, i know that Claude is hammering the Bruins for not being more aggressive and will have them coming out strong Wednesday night, but frankly i'm still pissed as hell at the showing they posted last night. Hopefully, the Bruins are composed. Like Mark Recchi said, "Never get too high, never get too low"

Suit Up for the Stretch Run

A much weaker Phoenix Coyotes team (read: sans Olli Jokinen and their top tough guy, Carcillo) is rolling into town to face the new Boston Bruins tonight. With the deadline passed and a couple new faces to an otherwise unaltered big league roster, the Bruins are beginning the stretch run.

I have spent the last 36 hours lamenting the fact that the only guy on the ice Tuesday who looked worth his salt was Bergy. Ironically, he's the only guy who was really missing from the first 2/3 of the season's success. So here we are, with 18 games to play and an 18 point lead in the division over the Russian mafia run Habs (thanks Sergei and Andrei!) and a 6 point lead (and shrinking) over NJ. We haven't had a win over a good team in weeks and we're just in a rut if you ask this reporter's opinion.

Time to snap the fuck out of it. Put on the foil, stop bitching to the refs, just go out and play some Boston Bruins-style hockey. Beat the shit out of 'em.

NOW

Speaking of which, let's take a moment to welcome the newcomers with some highlights!

First, we'll examine Mark Recchi. A veteran of over 20 years, Recchi sports a great resume with 500+ goals, 1400+ points and plenty of PIM. In this first video, you'll get a great vintage look at Recchi showing some toughness against Chris Chelios back in 1996. Be sure to take note of the cheap shit pulled by Damphousse at the tail end.

Now for the other facet of his game, the offense. In the following clip, you'll catch a hat trick that the Reck (i just coined that, fuck you) posted for the Pens back in '06.

Obviously, he can be a help on the power play when paired with people who know how to move the puck.
Now we'll move back to the blue line and check out the newest member of the defensive coprs, Steve Montador. Monty is a gritty guy who will throw his body around and doesn't back down from a challenge. Fortunately, we don't lose points in the standings for bad performances in fights. Each of these two videos show Monty dropping the gloves. In one, he holds his own for a while against Brad May, who could really throw down. In the other, he gets outright killed by none other than the P Bruins Jeremy Reich (enjoy the Jack fight call).

Like I said, good thing we don't get penalized for having a fighter get his fuckin ass handed to him. That said, i like the type of player he clearly is. His bigger body of work is important though, and i think this next clip is the kind of thing a good scout would've noticed. This is an Anaheim power play, wherein Montador storms down from the far slot and levels Andrew Alberts (BC SUCKS) to clear the way for a veritable 3 on 1 in front that leads to a goal.

We'll learn alot more over the next 19 games, but I can understand why these moves were made. Much like the GM himself said, i'm glad they were depth moves that did not cost us anything from the core roster. This is exactly what should allow a good team to get better!