THE BRUINS' CRUCIBLE

A mixed emotion weekend. A win, a valiant loss, and what looks like a major injury to a significant player.

The B's are two games into a seven game road series. It has the potential to make or break their season. They still have an outside chance to win the Northeast Division. But they can fall as much as they can rise. A mere 3 points cushion them from 9th place.

Tim Thomas had an excellent weekend, thankfully so. Rask was sidelined with a "knee injury." Timmy stopped 37 shots Saturday afternoon, then stopped 31 in Pittsburgh. Although on Sunday, he appeared to tire, and was decidedly less crisp in the 3rd period.

The offensive woes persisted Sunday afternoon. The B's managed a token junky goal as Blake Wheeler yanked the punk from under M.A. Fleury and slid it in the net. But they never got that pivotal 2nd goal.

David Krejci and Miroslav Satan demonstrated some skillful passing, but it was a bit too dandy for my liking. Pretty passes are indeed pretty, but when a give-and-go-and-give-and-go results in zero shots, I'm not impressed. Before he was dispatched, Savard was also guilty of trying to be too clever.

About Savard's injury, or rather the hit that caused it. I wouldn't call it dirty. I would call it reckless. Unnecessary. A player having just shot the puck, in his follow-through, is as vulnerable as a punter on an NFL field. Even though Matt Cooke tucked his elbows in, it was a late hit, a hit to the head, and a hit on a vulnerable player. I felt it warranted a 2 minute minor.

Instead, play continued 5-on-5. Which was odd. The refs had shown some minerals earlier when they called 4 straight penalties on the Penguins. But then they swallowed their whistles, allowed Ruslan Fedotenko to run amuck, and allowed Cooke's reckless hit to go unpunished. Too bad.

But in the end, the Bruins lost to the Penguins because they simply have a better team out there. There's a reason that Evgeni Malkin's squad is #2 in the East, and it's not referees.

The Bruins have a should-win game in Toronto Tuesday night. Then at Philly, at Montreal, and at New Jersey. Three playoff calibre teams, a very tough but potentially lucrative stretch of games.

Source:
ESPN

Photo Credit:
AP Photo/Keith Srakocic

COUNTERINBRUINTIVE

That's supposed to be a play on the word "counterintuitive." Because that's how the Bruins acted on deadline day this week. The team has struggled for offense all season (last in the NHL in goals scored, 16th in power play percentage). So on deadline day, they sacrificed offense to improve their defense? Why would you do that? Why would you weaken what was already your weakness?

Two reasons:
#1: There was no way the Bruins could significantly improve their offense. Even if they'd dealt away every draft pick they had, traded every prospect, traded Tim Thomas and wrapped him in platinum and gold, there was not enough offensive firepower in the market. After Kovalchuk went to the Devils, there was no A-class type of forward out there. Nor were there a bevy of B-level forwards that could fill the Bruins' holes.

I look at the names that were shipped on deadline day. Clarke MacArthur. Scott Walker, Stephane Yelle. Alexandre Picard. Eric Belanger. Jeff Halpern. Hey, the Coyotes got Wojtek Wolski, and he has 17 goals. But do these sound like the guys that will turn the Bruins into a Stanley Cup contender?

#2: Seeing that trying to strengthen their weakness was futile, the Bruins decided to strengthen their strength

This team has allowed the 6th fewest goals in the NHL. It has the best penalty kill percentage in the League. Tuukka Rask has the lowest GAA in the League at 2.14. The Bruins can prevent other teams from scoring. And that's the best chance they have to win games.

It's frustrating to watch this team try to score goals. They look like they've never practiced together before. Centering passes will go through a crease that has 2 opposing defensemen in it, and no Bruins. Then, when a Bruin is in the slot, there will be no centering passes, no shots on goal in want of deflection. Either that or the player in the crease will be slow to react. They'll deflect the shot horribly wide, or miss it completely. Krejci is the best on the team at fucking up in this way.

But if the Bruins are to do damage in the playoffs, it'll be in 1-0 and 2-1 games. It'll be with hardwork goals, conservative neutral zone play, tough defense, and flashy goaltending.

The Bruins can put Zdeno Chara and Dennis Seidenberg on the ice at the blue line. Johnny Boychuk has been a pleasant surprise this season, and Mark Stuart is solid as ever. After that, it gets dicey, with Ference, Hunwick, and Wideman. But with defensive forwards like Bergeron, that can be counterbalanced.

Don't get me wrong, I'm as pessimistic as ever about the Bruins' chances to do anything in the Stanley Cup playoffs, if they even get that far. My friend in Vegas informed me that the odds for the B's to win the Cup are 15:1. That's too low for my money. I'd need 40:1 or better to risk a dime on that.

But at least the prospects for the future are largely intact. Seidenberg might be resigned, he might not. More significant trades can be made. I'd like to see a stretch of Tim Thomas playing so we can accurately gauge his value, and possibly trade him (or Rask) to get some scorers.

There's not much hope for the 09-10 Bruins. I don't know why fans are so pissed that there wasn't a savior for them on Trade Deadline Day. Saviors usually don't get traded. They're usually on winning teams already.

SALE OF TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING EXPOSES JUST HOW WEAK PARTS OF THE NHL ARE

A minority owner of the Boston Red Sox - Jeff Vinik - just completed his purchase of the Tampa Bay Lightning. The deal includes the company that operates their arena, as well as 5 acres of adjacent land. Total cost: $110 million.

The previous owners paid $206 million when they bought the team in '08.

That's almost a 50% drop in value in just 2 years. How? Why? Shouldn't the implementation of a salary cap help to make a sports franchise more valuable?

The Lightning won the Stanley Cup in 2004. But they've only qualified for the playoffs twice since then, and lost in the first round. Percentage wise, their attendance is 3rd to last in the NHL. Nearly 25% of their seats are empty on average. And their road attendance is the 2nd worst at 89.2%. Only the Florida Panthers draw smaller crowds when they travel.

The Tampa area is the 20th largest media market in the country. Why is there a hockey team there?



Source:
ESPN

SOX DOMINATE COLLEGE TEAMS

The Sox crushed Northeastern, allowing only 2 hits. Casey Kelley had a perfect, 2 strikeout 1st in the start. David Ortiz hit a homerun. In the nightcap, the Sox beat BC 6-1. Boof Bonser got the start and the win. Jose Iglesias had a 3 run double.

The Sox play the Twins tonight, tomorrow, and in split-squad action Saturday.

Source:
RedSox.com

Photo Credit:
AP Photo

BRUINS DUMP MORISS, GRAB SEIDENBERG*

The Bruins traded defenseman Derek Morris to the Phoenix Coyotes in exchange for a 4th round pick. And while that sounds like an awful trade (as much as I've criticized Morris, he's a better defenseman than you'll get in the 4th round of any draft), the move cleared up the remainder of the $3.3 million Morris was getting. Morris was to be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season and the Bruins were carrying 7 defensemen anyway.

Then the Bruins turned around and shipped Byron Bitz, Craig Weller, and a 2nd round pick to Florida in exchange for Dennis Seidenberg and a college defenseman.



Seidenberg has 16 career goals in 357 games. He's a solid blue-line presence, and is a much better defensive defenseman than Morris was. Morris has struggled all year to be consistent on offense, and to be a factor on defense.

And believe it or not, this does help the Bruins' offensive woes. A good defensive tandem that can stop opponents' possessions quickly leads to easy and fast breakaways.

So the Bruins are slightly better today. Which is like saying that Kevin Smith minus 5 pounds is slightly less fat. It's true, but he still can't jam into an airplane seat.

So far, the Bruins have given up a 2nd round pick, a prospect, a solid player with potential to be a bruiser in Byron Bitz, and Derek Morris. They've gotten a prospect back, a 4th round pick, and Dennis Seidenberg.

Meh.

But there is still a little more than $1 million in cap space still open.

Oh, and the Bruins are now the most German team in the NHL.



Source:
CBC

BRUINS BACK IN THE HABIT

I could reboot the old Bruin excuse machine that I've used so many times this season. I could blame the Olympic break. I could say that Chara was worn out, as Slovakia played the maximum number of games and the Slovaks put him on the ice more than the Bruins do. And the non-Olympians were all rusty. But wouldn't the Canadiens be just as rusty?

The Bruins were somehow up 1-0 after a period dominated by Montreal, but saved by Rask. Sturm scored the B's goal, and it was kind of a joke. On a power play, the puck just sort of pooped out from behind Carey Price, sat there for what seemed like an eternity before Sturm tapped it in.

But the bad habits continued. There was a hope that Rask could continue to make brilliant saves, and for the most part, he did just that. It was 1-0 going into the 3rd. And the Bruins had actually generated some decent scoring chances in the 2nd. Although they got a bit too fancy, "a little cute" as Savard described it postgame.

I'm not going to attack Tuukka Rask. It's not his fault that the Bruins' defense melted like Frosty in the Sahara.



But the Tuukka Time Twits (and if you don't know any, you haven't sat in Section 314) out there attacked Thomas for goals that resulted from defensive ineptitude, so fair is fair.

But the Bruins shouldn't be dependent on 22 year old goalies to win games for them. The Bruins were outplayed at pretty much every level of gameplay. For fuck's sake, they were outmuscled on the boards by the Montreal Canadiens!

And I don't want the Bruins to make any deals, at least no significant ones. This team has more holes than a pornstar convention. They really need an entire line of forwards to supplant Wheeler, Krejci, and Ryder, who are all bumbling fools.

And Andrew Ference is a load. -3 last night, a well deserved -3.

I don't want to mortgage the future just to get one guy who will improve this team from the 8th best in the East to the 6th best.

Bruins vs. Maple Leafs Thursday night.



Source:
ESPN

Photo Credit:
AP Photo/Elise Amendola

THE SOX ARE GETTING A NEW BALLPARK!!!

In Fort Myers...



The Sox have once again found a way to squeeze some more bucks out of their popularity by building a new Spring Training facility that should be ready by 2012. The centerpiece of the complex will be the "Fenway in Florida," an 11,000 seat ballpark with identical dimensions as Fenway Park. There'll even be a replica Yawkey Way outside of the park.

Who needs a new Major League ballpark with 15,000 new (and cheaper) seats, dozens of luxury boxes, and concourses that don't make you feel like Indiana Jones when you can build an 11,000 seat Spring Training park?

And by the way, this idea comes a mere 14 years after the Yankees built an 11,000 seat Spring Training park in Tampa, which has the exact dimensions as the old Yankee Stadium.

But hey, more money isn't a bad thing. It's just that every story about the Sox building a 50 seat platform hovering above the short-stop makes me wish we had a new ballpark.

Source:
WBZ

Photo Credit:
Boston Red Sox/Lee County

SO CLOSE...

I had a feeling during the 3rd period. A good, warm, comforting feeling. As Canada hit the post twice in the opening minute, as Sidney Crosby bungled a free and clear breakaway, I felt like the US was being helped, Angels in the Outfield style. Then Zach Parise seemed to confirm this feeling, tapping in a rebound to tie the game with 24 seconds left.

But reality set in. The US had expended all their fuel in a desperate 3rd period, and had nothing left in the tank for overtime. Sidney Crosby got the goal, and will get the glory, but it was only a matter of time before some Canadian beat Ryan Miller, who was as exhausted and spent as Brian Rafalski, and Ryan Suter. I'm having trouble finding a box score with Time On Ice listed, but Raflaski and Suter easily contributed 30 minutes in this game.

As I said, Crosby will get the glory. He has such a boring, vacant personality. He makes Bill Belichick look like Chad Ochocinco. He should really do volunteer work at insomnia clinics and help those people get to sleep.

He's so individually overrated in what is a consummate team sport. And how much do our Northerly neighbors wash his balls? If he were caught raping ducks, the Canadian branches of PETA would laud him as an animal lover. Canadian history books would record him as a civil rights leader who pioneered inter-species unions.

Not to take away from Canada, who won this Gold Medal fair and square, but they nearly lost to Switzerland. They were 1-1 against the US. If not for their 7-3 toppling of Russia, the luster from their Gold Medal would really diminish. And they executed all of this mediocrity on their home soil, on a North American sized rink.

So I guess what I'm saying is that Canada barely limped away with what they were supposed to leisurely stroll away with. They needed overtime to beat a country that features hockey as its 4th sport at best. But if I were Canadian, I'd probably be celebrating it too. What else is there to celebrate up there? 3 more months of winter?



Now to the game. The US shot itself in the foot a few times. That's to be expected from such a young team, in such a big game. The first Canadian goal came from a silly Erik Johnson giveaway in front of Ryan Miller's net. And then there were the countless Offsides calls that stopped US rushes in their tracks.

But there's a great deal to look forward to in 2014. Patrick Kane is 22. Ryan Kesler is 25. Ryan Suter is 25. Zach Parise is 25. Bobby Ryan is 22. Phil Kessel is a douche. The US finished 8th in the 2006 Olympics. They've won Silver in 2010. And they'll once again contend for Gold in '14.