Thanks 54...

My favorite football player growing up was Tedy Bruschi. I was fortunate. My dad first bought season tickets in 1982 for twelve bucks a pop, and still has them. His favorite player was John Hannah. He always had his eyes on him, no matter where he was (though most likely he was driving a defensive linemen to the ground). He brought me to Foxboro every home game Sunday growing up, the old stadium, and the new. He taught me everything there was about the New England Patriots (dismal history at that time). But one thing he didn't have to teach me was who my favorite player was going to be. My favorite player was and will always be Tedy Bruschi. I'll never forget all those games at Foxboro, before he was even a starter, with my eyes fixed on #54 running down the field on special teams. He always gave it all he had, and he was and will always be a true Patriot. \I will always remember the chills that ran down my spine watching him take the field for the first time after his stroke. We will all miss watching you on Sunday's Tedy. Thanks for the memories, and thank you for always giving it your all. New England will never forget.

54!

'95-96 November Road Trip

November 17th, 1995

Wrapping up a little road trip that started in St. Louis, the boys travel to take on two of the hottest Eastern Conference teams. First up are the Atlantic division leading Washington Capitals, currently the second seed in the Eastern Conference. The Bruins showed no signs of slowing down netting 4 quick goals in the first period including two from Kevin Stevens, one each from Steve Heinze and Adam Oates. The second period kicked started slow, but the Bruins continue the thrashing in an insulting manner with a John Gruden tally. Nine seconds later Marc Potvin destroys D-Bag of the month Dale Hunter. Potvin is now 3-0, not Stevens level of thug, but nicely done for the amount of ice time he sees. Michal Pivonka then puts the Caps on the board halfway through the second. The Bruins storm right back with a pair of goals from Ted Donato and Heinze (his second of the night). The third period opened with what looked like the start of a little comeback for the Caps. Ok, maybe not from a 7-1 deficit, but I had to think that way to keep it slightly exciting. The Caps goal that came from Calle Johansson was quickly answered by Todd Elik. The Caps strike again however this time from the blade of Defenseman Jim Johnson. Steve Heinze ended any dream of a Washington comeback with his 3rd of the night to top it all off. (Now you really know this is fantasy, Steve Heinze Hat Trick. Maybe in High School, maybe. Love you Heinzey!) Three Stars are Mr. Heinze himself, Stevens, and Oates.

November 21st, 1995

3 days off for the boys, and I hope they didn't spend it in lovely......Pittsburgh. The Pens are currently chasing down the B's for first in the Northeast Division and look to put a dent in the 10 point lead the B's have on them. It looks like Kerry Fraser made the trip out for this one folks, no I did not see a moustachioed referee skating around, but damn did we get called out in this one. Super Mario kickd off the scoring 28 seconds into this tilt, assisted by Sergei Zubov. Our resillient B's came right back to make it 1 up as Todd Elik netted the tying goal. Glen Murray then tries to haunt the B's with his chance at a penalty shot. No dice Muzz, Lacher stones him cold. However Luc Robitaille gets one by the ex-Laker Lacher (ooooh that rhymes) to put Pitt up 2-1. In grand B's fashion, Don Sweeney fills the slot on a breakaway and drills home a Kevin Stevens feed for the 2-2 tally. In the second the B's try to pull away with Todd Elik's second of the evening. Minutes later Jon Rohloff tunes up Chris Joseph to pull his record to a clean 4-0. Another penalty shot for the Pens, this time from Ron Francis. Again no results for the home team. After providing the opponents with a scoring opportunity, Mariuz Czerkawski decides one wasn't enough, so he pulls a minor penalty that carries over to the start of the third. On that note, wham, bam, thank you Mariuz, Pittsburgh goal from Tomas Sandstrom evens it up 3-3. Another penalty shot briefly following a Rick Zombo double minor B.S. call from Mr. Fraser, but again Lacher comes up with the save on Mikko Makela. Shorthanded, we needed a hero. I looked for Cam to come up big as he skated alone towards Barrasso. Well Tommy won that battle, but the one that followed he botched as Alexei Kasatonov drilled home Neely's rebound, 4-3 Bruins. Joe Mullen netted an insurance goal 11 seconds later. But Kerry decided, what the hell, might as well send Ted Donato to the box in the last 2:00 to give the Penguins a fighting chance. Luckily it didn't pan out and we closed out a 5-3 win. Stars: Elik, Sweeney, and Bourque.

'95-'96 Bruins Weekly

Again it's been awhile since we've gotten an update from the boys. It's been another week since games were played and they are again not fresh in my mind. The only real solid point I can make about these games is that when you take 1-3 weeks off it's like you're starting the game all over again. I hung around in the first game long enough to lose by one. My game came back to life in the second game only to eek out a win. First some league news.....

November 13th, 1995- Los Angeles Kings trade Michael Petit to the Tampa Bay Lightning for Steve Finn. (Who and Who? They were in the game surprisingly. But no Kyle McLaren? Makes one wonder.)

That same night- Panthers @ Bruins

A tear jerker. Brian Skrudland drains one late in the first period (assisted by Bob Kudelski) and the Panthers never looked back. The Bruins took 7 minor penalties and one major in this game to pretty much keep me short handed the entire game. Kevin Stevens made his usual mark felt, this time (again) on the face of Tom Fitzgerald. Not even computerized hockey players listen to me. I told Tommy weeks ago fighting is not his bag (baby!). Anyhow, Skrudland, Kudelski, and Andrei Lumakin are the three stars as the B's were outshot 44-25.

November 15th and 16th- Moving Day

The Devils trade netminder Chris Terreri to San Jose for a pick.
San Jose then moves F Pat Falloon to the Flyers for a pair of picks.
Washington gets in on the action by acquiring D Eric Charron from Tampa Bay for a pick.
Finnally Buffalo trades D Doug Bodger to San Jose for Vaclav Varada.

November 17th- Bruins @ Blues

Back on the road, the Bruins face off against one of the busier off-season movers in the league. A sign of the times changing early in this one. Ted Donato gets a gift early in the first period when Al MacInnis slides one past his own Grant Fuhr for the 1-0 Bruins lead. Not much action again as I reacclimate myself to the game. Chris Pronger decides to get a little antsy and picks a fight with....guess who. Stevens pummels him handily late in the second. Opening shift, third period, Adam Oates takes a nice feed from Bourque, skates 2/3's of the ice to slam home the 2-0 lead. Halfway through the third, Shawn McEachern seals the win with an unassisted goal. Donato, Oates, McEachern are the stars. Shots went 32 a piece.

Maybe a couple games today. Guest players just might be seen next weekend, stay tuned!

The Final Cost of the Winter Classic

Yes, I know that ticket prices will be in the $50-$300 range for the actual game. I'm more worried about what our renewal price will be for 2010-2011. Currently, we have what I think is the best deal in the Garden: $800 give or take a few bucks gets you a seat to all 41 games on the end the Bruins shoot twice. You're in the building without breaking the bank. What has me worried is what ownership is doing with the winter classic. From what I've heard, new season ticket holders after the WC was announced were paying much higher rates for their season tickets. Also, this privileged pre-sale we were given access to yesterday? It was absurd. All I wanted were a pair of balcony seats to a couple of random games when I know friends and family would be in town. I go online for this presale and in most cases could not even get balcony seats (Loge seats were all that was available and they cost $300 each after fees) and when I did finally find some balcony seats available they cost $140!!!! I'm not paying that - that is above stubhub prices from last season to the big regular season games.

My overriding point here is, I think we're in trouble when it comes time to renew our season tickets for 2010-11. That will be the real cost of the winter classic. It better not get rained out. Ownership may milk the attention they get for all its worth. I'm all for paying a little more if they are putting a better product on the ice, but i can't stomach too much more and I'm sure a lot of season ticket holders are in the same boat.

By the way - I was born and raised in Minnesota (hence the nickname) and am a lifelong Vikings fan. Brett Favre is a disgrace. That's all I'm going to say...

'95-'96 Bruins Update

This being my first day off in the month of August, I thought I'd catch everyone up on the progress of the '95-96 Bruins season. Since our last visit with the team about 3 weeks ago, progress is pretty much negative. We've played two games since my last post and really I cannot recall much of the actual games themselves. Luckily I took notes and here's what they look like:

November 10, 1995- Bruins @ Nordiques (Avalanche)
1st Period
9:37- BOS- Ray Bourque assited by Don Sweeney
2nd Period
7:18- QUE- Mike Ricci assisted by Curtis Leschyshyn
8:23- FIGHT- Jon Rohloff defeats Claude Lemieux
9:27- BOS- Ray Bourque assisted by Adam Oates
3rd Period
1:53- BOS- Ray Bourque assisted by Blaine Lacher
7:06- BOS- Adam Oates assited by Don Sweeney
9:05- BOS- Jozef Stumpel unassisted
Final- Bruins 5 Avadiques 1
Shots- QUE 44 BOS 22
Stars- Bourque, Oates, Sweeney

November 12- Devils @ Bruins
1st Period
3:30- BOS- Dave Reid assisted by Jon Rohloff and Steve Leach
2nd Period
0:01- FIGHT- Kevin Stevens defeats Scott Stevens
1:09- BOS- Ted Donato assisted by Adam Oates
2:17- NJ- Steve Thomas assisted by Scott Niedrmayer
2:55- BOS- Steve Leach assisted by Jon Rohloff and Blaine Lacher
3rd Period
3:06- BOS- Cam Neely from Shawn McEachern and Blaine Lacher
Final- Bruins 4 Devils 1
Shots- NJ 45 BOS 25
Stars- Leach, Rohloff, Donato

League Update
Division Leaders
Pacific- Vancouver 10-10-3 23 pts
Central- Detroit 13-2-3 29 pts
Atlantic- Washington 13-5-1 27 pts
Northeast- Boston 15-2-1 31 pts

League Leaders
Goals- NJ Steve Thomas 15. 12th Ray Bourque 11
Assists- DET Paul Coffey 21. Kevin Stevens 10
Points- DET Paul Coffey and Sergei Federov 32. Adam Oates 18
GAA- BOS Blaine Lacher 1.52.

I'll probably get a couple in today and tonight but the next 6 days will be very tough. This promise of the cup before the season starts is going to come down to the wire. Lets go the Bruins!

NHL.com's 30 in 30...The B's....(and J-Boy)

Interesting take on the hometown team...

http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=457992&navid=DL|NHL|Home

What especially interested me (besides the Deke, Deke, Deke, controversy (thats Kessel for you non 311 folks) is the look at the prospects...

Especially-Johnny Boychuck aka J-Boy.

Great point in the article about J-Boy languishing in the Av's system for 5 years. Guess #77 wasn't around to show him how to play hockey.

All reports out of Providence is that Boychuck can hit and score some points. The big question is can this translate into the NHL? 

I remember the hype about a certain Providence point scorer named Pelletier. He came up to the big club and did jack.

However, I also remember some sentimental favorites named Reich, Sobotka, and Hunwick who can change a game. (Yes I said Sobotka, that crazy bastard would throw himself at anybody in a heartbeat).

Either way, a couple more months til New Years. And I don't mean the Classic, I mean opening night for the B's.

This is going to be a hell of a season, and we're lucky to have such a strong team.

And for you Phil...Good Riddance. The only thing that has proven to put a fire in your a$$ is being benched (see the MTL series 2 years ago). I know you are young. But come on.

Go B's...

The Hab Nots

It's time to take a shot at our friends North of the border - here's a look at their potential opening night roster (they don't have much cap space right now):

Forwards
Cammalleri-Gomez-Gionta
A Kostitsyn-Plekanec-S Kostitsyn
Moen-Metropolit-Latendresse
Chipchura-Lapierre-Laraque

Defense
Markov-Hamrlik
Spacek-Gill
Mara-Gorges

Goal
Price and Halak

It's self-explanatory. This team is HORRIBLE. Match Chara up with that top line of smurfs and shut them down then what can they do to you? Or, if Camo centers one line and Gomez the other, then you have to rely on the Kostitsyn's to do something for you. I would hate to be in that situation.

Then look at the defense - they are relying on Hal Gill and Paul Mara. That reminds me of the 2006-2007 Boston Bruins. How'd they do?

I won't even take a shot at Carey Price - it's too easy. I just can't wait to chant his name when he's getting pulled after giving up 5 goals in the Garden this season.

I'm predicting they will be 4th or 5th in the Northeast and will not make the playoffs and Bob "Papa Smurf" Gainey will be fired by Thanksgiving.

Go B's - 61 days until opening night