New England Hockey Talk

[MGB Boy]

Not just three times in two weeks, but twice in Toronto in four days. Not digging this new unbalanced schedule. I understand the desire for divisional rivalries, but they've overegged the pudding a bit, I think. It seems like every night I turn on the TV and I'm seeing the same games, Bs-Leafs, Bolts-Canes, Pens-Flyers, Canucks-Sharks, etc. Gets a bit repetitive...

Old time hockey in Providence on Saturday night between the Baby Bruins and the Portland Pirates. 23 fighting majors and 239 minutes in penalties in the third period alone. Sheesh. Slap Shot lives.

Goalie is simultaneously the most fulfilling/rewarding position on the ice and the most frustrating/annoying. Definitely takes a certain personality type. If I absolutley couldn't play goalie (a real possiblity sometime down the line, the knees won't last forever), I'm not sure where I'd play. Probably D. I understand the need for defensive responsibility, I don't mind moving people out of the front of the net, and I can skate backwards pretty well.

The thing with Patrice Bergeron is that he's just so young still. He's got three seasons of NHL experience under his belt and he's still just 21, still more improvement and development to come. Once they dumped Thornton, moved Bergeron up to center on the #1 line, and put together the Boyes-Bergeron-Sturm line, things really started clicking. More good things to come, I think (Boyes was just a rookie last year too).

There are some really big-name young guys out there, Ovechkin, Crosby, Malkin, guys who are sucking up a tremendous amount of hype and attention, and deservedly so. Great players, to be sure. But there's another whole set of tremendously skilled young guys bubbling just below the hype line, guys like Bergeron and the Staal brothers (and there are more of them on the way) and Kopitar and Thomas Vanek, those guys aren't getting as much hype or name recognition but they are going to be stars in this league before too long. I can't wait to see what Phil Kessel is like five years from now (when he's a ripe old 23). Just hope he pans out well. That was the big disappointment for the Bruins in recent times, they had a tremendous draft one year where they got Thornton and Samsonov in the first round, so much potential, so much hype and hope, but neither of them ended up being the player that people hoped they would be. I mean, look at Samsonov, guy won the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year in 97-98 (over Thornton no less), and he's pretty much done squat ever since. Sometimes all the potential in the world doesn't mean squat (remember when Eric Lindros was being touted as Gretzky's successor, and they were calling him "The Next One"?). I think that's why so many folks are relieved about Ovechkin and Crosby, they seem to be living up to the hype so far.

-Ricardo

[bethandlouis]

Quote: Originally Posted by MGB Boy (original)

I understand the desire for divisional rivalries, but they've overegged the pudding a bit, I think.

-Ricardo

mmmmmmm Pudding <drool>

[MGB Boy]

Nice backplate art on Peter Budaj's mask;




Hi-diddley-ho, neighborino!

-Ricardo

[bethandlouis]

"Olie Kolzig made 48 saves and five different Capitals found the back of the net as the Washington Capitals defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-2 in a four-point Southeast Division struggle. The win ended a six-game skid for Washington, which now returns to the District to open up a four-game homestand."

50 shots!!!! At least the scoring capitals showed up tonight. Glad to see Semin back in the line-up (my fantasy team has missed him). Every week in the fantasy league I am guaranteed at least one win with Kolzig and LeClaire as my goalies. At least I have Abby on the bench.

I can't believe that Kolzig faces that many shots. The Caps only tallied 20 shots in 3 periods. There is something really wrong with that ratio. Ric do you think that you could keep an save percentage and a GAA facing that many shots? Vote for Olie!

[MGB Boy]

Quote: Originally Posted by bethandlouis (original)

Ric do you think that you could keep an save percentage and a GAA facing that many shots? Vote for Olie!

Without a doubt! Actually, I was smugly proud of myself after my game last night, I had the glove-hand working like nobody's business. Really wish I could figure what that magic ingredient is to gain consistency. Some nights I'm fighting every puck, every glove-side shot seems to be bouncing off the cuff of my trapper. Other nights, like last night, it's as if my trapper has some kind of massive tractor-beam going on, sucking everything in by itself. I swear, lasty night some shots found my glove all by themselves, I was just an innocent bystander. The glove was doing the work for me. Plus I got to taunt my buddy George (he was the short Rangers fan at my hockey party, the one who brought the six foot sub. Gotta have another one of those hockey parties after the holidays, I think). Every time George scores, he's shouting "YEAH!!" and pumping fists and doing a happy dance like he's Mike Eruzione scoring in the third period against the Soviets in 1980. A bit over the top sometimes. Me, I'm more low key, I don't showboat my saves or anything, I just get up, drop the puck, and clear the snow from my crease. But after George's last little post-goal happy dance, I told him the next time he shot on me I was going to give the big flashy Patrick Roy "Statue of Liberty" move, holding the glove hand high in the air to let the world know I had the save. Sure enough, last night he's set up right in front all by himself (thanks a lot, defensemen!), gets the great pass from behind the net, goes glove-side, I made the save, and immediately went into the Patrick Roy, holding up the glove right in his face. He cracked up. Good times. I can't decide what was my favorite play last night, that one or when Dan (guy who you met at the highland games, the one who didn't have a wife and kids) tried to set up a tight screen right on top of my crease for a shot from the left point and swiftly found himself deposited on his ass by my well-positioned stick. Man, it's such fun...

Anyhow, Olie did indeed have a great night, 48 saves on 50 shots. But I still gotta support my boy Timmy, he had 45 saves on 46 shots as the Bruins beat the Leafs 4-1 despite being outshot 46-23. In their past two games, Timmy has backstopped the Bs to two wins over the Leafs by stopping 72 of 74 shots. In the past two weeks, the Bs have beaten the Leafs by increasing scores of 2-1, 3-1, and 4-1. Over those three games, Timmy has stopped 96 of 99 shots. They play again next Thursday (12/7). Gotta think the Leafs are praying Toivonen starts that game!

-Ricardo

[bethandlouis]

Is Hannu back?

When is the UVM game we are going to?

[MGB Boy]

Hannu is back, he was recalled from Providence a couple days ago. Not sure when he'll get into a game, though. Coach Lewis says he wants to get Hannu some game action, but he also prefers to ride whomever's playing hot, and Timmy definitely is at the moment.

Saturday Jan 20th, 7:05pm, UVM vs BC. According to the promotions schedule, that night is "Student t-shirt giveaway sponsored by SGA", so if you act studentish enough, you could score a cheesy low-quality shirt. Which reminds me, perhaps I'll go give that thread a random bump...

-Ricardo

[bethandlouis]

When's the hockey party?

[MGB Boy]

Heh, I dunno, gotta figure that out. Sometime in the dull dark days of winter, when life is crying out for a good distraction from the fact that it's so damn cold. Gotta look at the NHL schedule and pick an especially action-packed Saturday night. Maybe when there's a Caps-Bruins game

-Ricardo

[bethandlouis]

Caps and the Bruins play in January on a thursday night

[bethandlouis]

O.K. Timmy had a great night against the bolts. (I was rooting for them to win in regulation since tampa bay surpassed Caps in pts after the terrible losing streak). He looked great in the shoot-out!

Olie had a terrific night (fnally had a win over the stars (career 0-9-1)) Glad to see that th Caps are back to good hockey. Jamie Heward our indef. after taking a skate to the face.

It's hockey night in Canada!

[bethandlouis]

what a game! Ovie got a 5 min boarding, 5 min fighting and a game misconduct for a hit on Briere. Then there was instigator penalties that the Sabres drew. It was a very strange game (considering that the Caps won). The hockey boards were all a twitter calling the hit worse than the Bertuzzi hit a few years ago (even though Briere missed 1 shift). Lots of fans calling for suspension but it doesn't look like the NHL will be doling them out.

[MGB Boy]

I wouldn't say it was worse than the Bertuzzi hit. It was bad timing, and the door coming open (because the guys on the bench had already opened the latch for the line change) looked bad, and Ovie really ought to know better than to hit a guy when he's turning in toward the bench for a line change, but it lacked the extreme malice aforethought of the Bertuzzi play. This was just a young guy screwing up by trying to do something right (finish your check) at the wrong time. Like I said, Ovie should know better, you don't hit a guy like that when he's facing the boards and you can see has back numbers, but I don't see anything Bertuzzi-esque in that.

My Bruins beat the hated Habs last night despite playing like absolute total crap for the majority of the game. Good thing there are no style points in the NHL, ugly wins are still wins. Apparently the Bruins current plan is to play Timmy until his legs fall off. Last night was his 19th straight appearance. Last Bruins game Timmy didn't play in: October 19 v Calgary. But he's got a .908 save % and 2.82 GAA over that stretch, so I guess the work agrees with him....

-Ricardo

[bethandlouis]

I did see that game. Beating the Habs in thier house no less. It was a very exciting 8 mins (that's all I mangaged to see dumb work!!!)). The good thing about work is that I pretty much have the weekends off (i have to work for 2 hours on Sunday) but I have to work at nights mon-fri (there's always a trade-off I guess). Bought tickets to see the Caps and the Isles in March (an x-mas christmas)

I do agree with the summation that you put on the Ovie hit. It certainly wasn't Dale Hunter finishing a check though

[MGB Boy]

Another fun night in the NHL. The Bruins beat the Leafs AGAIN. I swear, we'd win the Cup if we could play Toronto every night. 23 stops on 24 shots by Timmy (119 of 123 shots in this four gave streak against the Leafs), some super-clutch late scoring by Stuart, Primeau, and Bergeron, and all is right with the world. Darcy Tucker couldn't resist living down to his own well-deserved reputation, taking a penalty for taking a run at Timmy in the third, then leaving his man open to go stand near an already well-covered Bruin in the slot, leaving Bergeron open for the final goal (and providing a nice screen to boot). Nice. Aubin started for the Leafs, which I thought was somewhat telling, given the recent struggles of Andrew Raycroft. Maybe Paul Maurice didn't want to subject him to yet another loss to the Bruins, especially back at his old stomping grounds. Still, Maurice is publicly standing by Raycroft for the moment, defending him against the increasingly vocal fans and media types who are disappointed with Razor's play and calling for young AHLer and "Leaf Goalie Of The Future" Justin Pogge to be called up (even though he's not even top-15 in either save percentage or goals against average in the AHL right now, and promising though he may be, calling him up now for an extended stint would probably do more harm than good to his development). They take the Leafs seriously in Toronto, with the same sort of rabid over the top hysteria that the Sox generate in Boston. So the current losing streak is borderline-national crisis stuff, as far as the Toronto papers are concerned.

Big night for Tampa, they absolutely pancaked Atlanta tonight. Hat trick plus two assists for Lecavalier, goal and four assists for Marty, it was wacky. After they scored the last goal midway thru the third, Tampa stapled St Louis and Lecavalier to the bench. No way they were gonna let some meathead from Atlanta injure one of the big money scorers with a "sending a message" sort of hit late in a way-out-of-reach game. Good, sound coaching decision there.

-Ricardo