VERSUS WOULD LIKE YOU TO KNOW THAT OPENING NIGHT IS COMING

Puck the Media posted this:

(if you're one of the 5 people reading this in an email, click through for the youtube.)
lovin' me some center alignment...

GO BRUINS!

Couple of game recaps; Numbas

and Savard makes three...

Well, the Saturday game kinda sucked from a caring-about-the-bruins-winning perspective. However, Savard got a good goal and had a couple breakaways that he turned into drop-passes.

5-2, Arniel was the other Boston scorer. Whatever. The Bruins vets looked good, Thomas needs to shake off some rest, and Chara is an important part of our defense. Other than that, not much was going on.

The Bruins also beat the Habs in Quebec City in front of 40 of Patrice Bergeron's closest friends on Sunday (and they didn't even have to wear those puke-green shirts!).

And then Chemmy over on PensionPlanPuppets pointed out to me that Phil Kessel scored 13% of the Bruins' goals last year, and hahaha how did I feel about that, chump?

So here's my response:

Kessel was the highest-goal-scorer for the Bruins, yes. However, the second through twelfth player in goals scored are still there. Sorting the table by points, he’s the only one in the top ten missing.

We’ve lost 0 Short-handed goals, and 8 powerplay goals. Ryder, Savard, Wideman, and Chara all had more powerplay goals than Kessel.

Leaving him with 28 ESG last year. 6 other bruins had more than half that: Wheeler, Kobasew, Krejci, Lucic, Savard, Ryder. All of them are staying. Of course, none of them have over 10 percent of the Bruins even-strength scoring.

However, I think Ryder-Savard will be a good matchup, and if Sturm can stay healthy (every finger and toe on my body is crossed on this one) then we won’t be missing out too much.
Plus we’ll have Tuukka to push Thomas to be as good a goalie as possible, that will help on the other end of things. I think that puts the Bruins in contention for another Jennings trophy, which was a huge help last year.

Even without 36 goals, the Bruins would be 238-196, or up 42 goals over the season. The only teams with 42 more goals for than goals against last year were Detroit, San Jose, and Chicago. 42 is still good enough for best GF-GA in the whole Eastern Conference.

One more thing to look at: Assuming Kessel (whose production drops 40% when he's not with Savard) scores 36 goals again this year, that leaves Toronto with a -7 goal differential, still nearly 50 less than the Bruins'.

Eat it, Toronto.
GO BRUINS!

THE GERMAN RETURNS TO THE GARDEN

Having precisely removed the locker room cancer that is phil kessel (la la la I can't hear you, 36 goals, la la la) the Bruins are moving on with the season, and today is the first home preseason game. I'm super pumped. It's against the Rangers. Here's the lineup according to the Bruins Blog:

Goaltenders: Tim Thomas and Tuukka Rask
Defensemen: Johnny Boychuk, Drew Fata, Derek Morris, Jeff Penner, Mark Stuart and Dennis Wideman.
Forwards: Jamie Arniel, Steve Begin, Zach Hamill, Jeff LoVecchio, Milan Lucic, Kirk MacDonald, Michael Ryder, Max Sauve, Marc Savard, Marco Sturm, Shawn Thornton and Trent Whitfield.

So....Basically we're going to get to see some good players. And now you know to pick your Thomas jersey over your Chara one.

There might be a Game Day Thread over at Stanley Cup of Chowder, but tickets should be cheap enough you may as well just go.

oh man oh man oh man oh man oh man oh man oh man HOCKEY IS BACK!!!!!!

GO BRUINS!

Bill Simmons is an idiot

"Sportsguy33" on twitter is Bill Simmons, noted disney sportswriter and Boston Bandwagonner extraordinaire. Now, I'm not one to dislike bandwagon fans. Hell, pre-lockout I couldn't name 5 guys in the NHL on the first try. But enough about me. I've learned. Bill Simmons is stuck in the pre-salary-cap era.

Here's what a salary cap is, Bill, and I'll try to use monosyllabic words so you don't get lost: A cap is how much a team can spend on all of the folks on the team each year. You can not pay more than that to all of the folks on the team. If one guy wants too much, they must trade and get good stuff back.

Oh by the way, Kessel was traded to the leafs for 2010's first and second and 2011's first pick. He signed there for 5.4 per for 5 years. Kid got PAID. Now lets see how that torn labrum is doing.

Can't wait for the first Bruins/Leafs game of the year. Odd.

GO BRUINS!

State of the Bruins was Hokey as usual

The state of the bruins happened last night, and it was very similar to last year. The players on display were Lucic, Bergeron, and Morris, with special guest Krejci showing off the jersey. The winter classic Jersey looked pretty slick, I'd gotta say.

Here's a picture of Shawn Thornton in one. Look at this smug motherfucker:
He's all "damn, I look good in yellow" and I'm all "shit, you're totally right" and right about then is when I ordered mine. It was tough picking between Krejci and Bergeron, but that's life I suppose.

The hokiest part of the whole event was when they were prepping Krejci coming out to show off the jersey and the lights dimmed and they put a video on. Then soap-bubble machines in the rafters started going off like crazy. LIKE CRAZY I SAY. It created the illusion of snow, and I have to say it's the nicest stage effect I've seen in a hockey arena.

I'm so pumped for Saturday night. It'll be home game -1. (Home game 0 is next saturday, home game 1 is Oct 1st...I'm trying to be clever here dammit)

GO BRUINS!

Bruins 3 Leafs 2 I SAW HOCKEY TONIGHT WOOOOOO

HOCKEY WAS ON TV TONIGHT

Sorry I didn't put up a preview for everyone that relies on this blog to hear about when games are. I'm sure you'll live.

The Bruins were 3-2 on the scoreboard but 1-5 in fights. They should really stick to playing more than fighting.

Good job all. I'm not going to recap it all, but basically...

Bozak is wicked fast, he got a shortie to start the scoring.

0-1

A hundred people fought like it was a preseason game.

Steve Begin scored for the Bruins. I think if he keeps that up, especially against goalies other than Toskala, it will be good times.

1-1

Brad Marchand also scored for the bruins, then Stalberg tied it up.

2-2

ANDY WOZNIEWSKI scored the Game-winner, just because he doesn't like Toronto. LISTEN TO HIM, PHIL!

3-2

Overall, I liked the effort of some of the players tonight. Hunwick looked a little rusty, especially early, but he seemed to pick it up eventually. I disliked Begin to start the game, especially when he lost a fight. However, he scored so I'm not against it. Then again it is preseason, so it's time for prospects to shine in an attempt to get themselves signed.

Patrice Bergeron looked really really pretty tonight, and I liked that part a lot. A whole heck of a lot. Sobotka also was playing his heart out as usual. I'd like to see him up with the big club soon this year if there's room. However, we're pretty stacked at center right now so I'm not sure if that's likely.

R.I.P. Fred Cusick.
GO BRUINS!

Tuukka Rask would also pitch well against the Texas Rangers

The Preseason has begun, and the Bruins have shown that they're ready. Coming into Madison Square Garden, they brought out a few new guys and a few old hats, including Chara and Looch, among others. Young'uns Zach Hamill and Max Sauve put the rubber past Rag goalies Zaba and Valiquette. As mentioned above, Tuukka Rask played a great game stopping 31 of 32 shots for the final score of

2-1 BRUINS!

Tuukka played the whole game in net, uncommon for a preseason game, and showed up about as well as he did the last time he played wearing a B on his chest. If you recall, back on January 31 of this year, Mr. Rask played net at home against the Rags, pulling off a 35 save shutout 1-0 victory. Rask's thoughts? "After I got a couple of shots, I felt normal and felt pretty good, It was kind of hot out there, but otherwise I felt good." (Thanks, bruins.nhl.com)

Zach Hamill scored the first of Boston's two goals. The 20-year-old 2007 draft pick has played for the Pruins the past two years and clearly wants a chance to move up. He lead the game in shots (6, tied with a scoreless Callahan) and started the scoring in the first period. Sauve scored what would become the game winning goal in the third on a power play. Higgins of the Rangers ended up scoring an unassisted goal later on in the third, but that was all that they could muster.

So how about the competition?

We didn't get to see some of the more, shall we say, talked-about players on the Rangers. Avery sat the game with a limp wrist, and Lord Marion Groindemort sat out with, shockingly, groin pain. Princess Henrik rested for his big game against the Devils tonight and let the backups fight it out for that number two spot.

Noteable players:
Zach Hamill: 6 shots, 1 goal
Max Sauve: 4 shots, 1 goal
Milan Lucic: 1 assist
Blake Wheeler: 1 assist
Johnny Boychuk: 1 assist
Tukka Rask: 31/32 saves

Coming up next: Bruins are playing tonight at Toronto (7pm, NHLNetwork-US). In response to Tuukka's 59:51 played on the ice, Dany Sabourin will be playing tonight's game. Instead of this "split them in one game" bidness, Claude has chosen to give them full-game experience, and a full-game chance to prove why THEY should be on the Big Bears. Good morning Boston, and as always

GO BRUINS!

Adventures in Poetry

I wrote this back in august in the comments section over at Pension Plan Puppets, a Toronto Maple Leafs blog but the post got pseudo-deleted before I could share it with all of you. Luckily, one of the stunningly handsome and charming gents who runs Pension Plan Puppets, a Toronto Maple Leafs blog was able to drag it out of the hidden archives, and now I get to share it with you. I hope you like it.

p.j.
    axelsson
beloved winger
defensive specialist
penalty killer
a man you can depend on for
 terrible hair
     excellent vision
        loyalty to a fault
truly
you will be missed

Yes this is the second Axelsson item on the blog today. Deal with it.

GO BRUINS!

Pebben about Boston: "I'm not bitter"

From sometimes commenter and fellow Axelsson fan sleza comes another translated Swedish article, this time from hockeyexpressen, which ran the interview on Friday.

Per-Johan Axelsson had invested everything in for one more NHL year. But after 11 seasons in Boston he didn't fit (be good enough) anymore.
- I'm not bitter. One knows that it's business what it's about, says Frölunda forward, who still hopes to land in North America during this season.

When August turns into September and autumn unmercifully presses itself, Per-Johan Axelsson use to leave Göteborg for Boston. But instead of another season in North America, has hockey life taken him to Karlovy Vary and the Czech countryside to play with Tre Kronors (Swedish national team) in Czech Hockey Games.
Everything but flashy NHL life can be said, but instead Pebben says:
- I've always liked to play in the national team, so it's only cool and exciting. It's been awhile since the last time.
National team tournament, which started well with a shootout win over Russia (4-3), is his first after Olympic gold in Turin 2006.

When the end became clear with Boston, was Frölunda a obvious choice for 34 year old. Axelsson, who won SM gold (Championship in the Elitserien a.k.a. Swedish Elite League) with the club during the lockout season, has signed a 4 yeal deal.
During his 11 season in classic Bruins, he was the player who was there the longest. After last season he was told that Boston was interested in to continue the contract with him, but in the end it came nothing.
- I don't want to stay for just any kind of price, says Axelsson who wasn't specially interested in to change a club.
Now stays the Axelsson family in Göteborg, daughter Wilma has started preschool and will get a sibling.

How has the first time been?
- Lots of training. But it's nice to work and accustom a bit. It's a very big ice coverage. it's a big difference. It's going to take a bit time but it gets better.
Against Russia he played in the first line with "radar pair" (two players that play well together) Tony Mårtensson and Mattias Weinhandl.
- It's the first time I played with then but I know what it's for players. A passing player and a sniper. So I'll try to stay away, says Axelsson and laughs.

Even if there'll be no continue in NHL, is the goal for him to go to North America anyway. Head coach (national team) Bengt-Åke Gustafsson values Axelsson's qualities and Olympics in Vancouver in February is the great goal.
- Yes, it's obvious. It has been extremely cool. I've been with two times earlier, says he.
The move to home hasn't killed his Olympic hope. Just made the road there a bit longer.

Thanks again for sleza for translating this for us. Yes, there haven't been many updates recently on here but nothing's been going on and I got a new job and apartment, so here we are.

Go Indians and
GO BRUINS!

Are you shitting me

Wosneiwski?

GO BRUINS!