Friday, January 29, 2010

Game 52 Preview: Bruins at Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo

The most normal picture of Miller's face, ever.
Game 52
7:30 PM, January 29, 2010
NESN, 98.5 FM
at Buffalo Sabres (31-14-7)

Well, at long last Bruins Hockey is back. Of course it's an away game on a Friday evening so you might skip it or turn it off early if the Sabres go up or whatever, but fear not!

The Bruins have beat the Sabres in both games this year! Huzzah! And some even better news:

Savard. Saviard?

THE SAVIOR RETURNS! LO, THE GOLDEN CHILD WILL LEAD US FROM THE DARKNESS!*

*offer may not be valid in all areas.

Stats!
I gotta say...it's not pretty.
Looking forward to the Bruins playing again.
Here's Ryan Miller's Olympic mask:
Miller v. Rask in net.
GO BRUINS!

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

GLORY GLORY HALLALUJAH

Look, I know that things are looking very down and apparently we need to blow up the team or something and trade everyone or else the bruins will never win another game.

Just look at Pierre LeBrun's article over on that pinnacle of hockey coverage, ESPN.

"But I can tell you one thing, I'm not trading Toronto's pick [for this year]," said Chiarelli. "I am not trading it. That pick is too valuable."

You have no idea how glad that makes me. Now lets attack a troubling line from the article:

"The Bruins, who...currently sit one point out of a playoff spot" Bullshit. Stop right there, Pierre. As it turns out, every team plays 82 games. Once you've got that little tidbit in your brain let's look at the Games Played stat.

Three teams ahead of Boston have the same amount of games played as Boston: Buffalo, New Jersey, and Philadelphia. Buffalo and New Jersey are so far ahead right now they'd have to suffer dramatically for us to catch up. Philadelphia is one of the teams between 6 and 12 that is at either 55 or 54 points right now.

Two teams have one more game played than Boston: Washington and Atlanta. Washington is in the same category as Buffalo and NJ, and Atlanta has the same point total.

Three teams have 2 more games played than Boston: both New York teams and Florida. They're all in that 55 or 54 bubble as well.

Four teams have 3 more games played than Boston: Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Pittsburgh. Peter already told us about Toronto's season, Montreal is bubbling along, and Ottawa and Pittsburgh are at 62 and 67 points right now.

Going by the absolute standings the Bruins are in 12th right now. However, if you go by points percentage, the Bruins are in 7th. Let me repeat that:

The Bruins are in 7th in the East.

7th ain't so bad. 7th is, in fact, a playoff spot. And that's what we've achieved with a crippled team that's been in a slump and lost the last 5 games. What I'm saying is the Bruins aren't screwed yet. But that bubble's going to burst eventually and I hope we don't sell the future now for some crap rental.

Hope Springs Eternal.
GO BRUINS!

Monday, January 25, 2010

Game 51 Review: BRUINS 1 LAST PLACE HURRICANES 5 READY SET PANIC

Luckily instead of watching this mess of a game I got to watch some football...like watching the colts make it to another superbowl (dammit) and the Saints win but fail to cover the spread (worst case scenario). Woof.

Most of the people who watched the game mentioned things like "heart" "energy" "character" on Twitter, so I'll just say sure, that's probably it.

The Bruins now have the longest losing streak of the year. To find the last 5-game losing streak, you've gotta go back to December of 2007. Incidentally, the Bruins also dropped the 5th game of that streak to Carolina. They then lost the sixth game in a row to Atlanta. Luckily, there is not another game for a couple days. They have the opportunity to try to right the ship now before Friday. Oh wait, that's Buffalo? (Could be Savard's first game back) And then LA? ruh-roh.

At least the Olympics are soon.
GO BRUINS!

Sunday, January 24, 2010

L10: Game 41-50 (2-7-1) NEW STRATEGY: 2 LOTTERY PICKS


Yeah, we're not doing so hot right now. Let's jump right in because we all have days of watching sports ahead of us. First of all, the Bruins are currently out of the playoffs in terms of total points but if they can win the next three they'll be back to tied with Ottawa. By point percentage, they're in 7th in the east right now. I'm not entertaining dreams of catching Buffalo at this point, especially since we don't have games in hand on them and they're 13 points ahead. Jerks. Ryan Miller better bring his A+ game to Vancouver next month, is all I'm saying.

The losses we've had have been bad losses and as a result I know I've been much more interested in football and the Wild. Whatever, this is part of being a fan. Watching all your hopes and dreams slip away. Like that graph up there, which is the likelihood of the Bruins making the playoffs. Even if they do, I don't see them making it past the first round unless things really turn around. Then again who thought the Carolina Hurricanes would beat two of the best teams in the league last year and end up in the Conference Finals? Not I. Not I. Fuck those guys anyways.

17.18%

That's our powerplay. Not terrible, not great, 20th in the league. Not as good as it was last time around, not as bad as the start of the year. 1718 didn't have a whole lot going on, but Blackbeard the pirate was riding around, and that's pretty slick. Way to go, 1718!

87.71%

PK percentage. The Bruins are back on top of that stat, after dropping to second for a couple days this past week. Well, we're still good at SOMETHING....

126

Goals for AND goals against. The Bruins have scored the fewest goals in the whole league, and the only teams that have fewer goals against are Miller's Buffalo, Brodeur's Jersey, Luongo's Vancouver, and Keith/Seabrook's Chicago. Fortunately if they win today they'll tie or pass the next-lowest team in goals for (Carolina)

4

The number of players that have played in every game for Boston this year: Zdeno Chara, Blake Wheeler, Michael Ryder, and Mark Recchi. Three of these guys follow Patrice in most points for the Bruins. Ryder has 20 points, good for 9th.

42

Mark Recchi's age on February 1st. Mark Recchi is one of the better things going for the Bruins right now. In the last game when the top line was Paille-Bergeron-Recchi that was Claude saying to the rest of the players "These guys. These are the ones I want on the ice more than the rest of you shlubs." Recchi has said that this is his last year.

Fun fact: Mark Recchi is from Kamloops, where Blogger/Leafs beat writer James Mirtle is also from.

TORONTO PICK WATCH
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Cam Fowler, according to this mock draft.

Toronto? Still bad. Not as bad as Carolina and Edmonton, but still pretty damn bad. 3rd place in the lottery standings right now. Here's a fun little piece by Ryan Classic about Phil Kessel's performance this year. Fun part: Compared to Alexai Yashin. Look for Brian Burke to be yelling on your TV soon, folks!

Oh, and draft party at my house.
GO BRUINS!

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Game 50 Preview: Bruins vs. Senators WELP

Last time they came to town it sucked. Early game, not much in the way of preview. They're wearing the Winter Classic jerseys. If you see a guy in a #1 Brimsek classic jersey, come say hi. if you're not going to the game, chat over at Stanley Cup of Chowder Enjoy, y'all.

GO BRUINS!

Friday, January 22, 2010

Game 49 Review: Bluejackets 3 Bruins 2 Refs 1 WHY YES I DO THINK 'POOP' IS AN ACCURATE DESCRIPTION

I think this just about sums it up:
I don't want to really talk about the game, so here's the recap in video form. Discussion post-video:
But let's not get crazy about it. Everyone loves watching bushkorn go crazy but nobody wants to be him. So let's get some rationale here. First of all, the Bruins are still on pace for a playoff spot with all their awful play recently. Granted, they'll have to start picking up, and the 07-08 team has caught up to them. However, the overall stats bear out that they're in sixth right now in points percentage and SRS. The sharks have passed them in PK supremacy but they're still best in the east in that (though buffalo is hot on their tails).

The Lucic fight wasn't exactly highlight-reel material but good for him for playing "pissed off hockey" like he said. I would have liked "goal-scoring hockey" or "game-winning hockey" but I guess it's something. Anyhow the big story here is that the refs called high-sticking on Lucic with 1:something to go in the third in a tie game when it was a different-colored stick.

The real story there is that at 4:02 of that video up there, you can see where if Krejci doesn't straight-up miss the net I'm high-fiving everyone around me and we don't have to be tied 2-2 with 1:something to go and getting shitty calls.

I was pissed about that last night, and it's an absolutely terrible way to lose a game, but I've calmed down now and I know that game 50 is coming up tomorrow morning (or close to...) and, well, time to work for those 2 points.
GO BRUINS!

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Game 49 Preview: Bruins vs. BlueJackets BURN THE FLAG

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(Yes, really)
Game 49
7:00 PM Jan 21st, 2010
98.5 FM, NESN(HD)
vs. Colombus Blue Jackets (19-24-9)


Silly mascots aside, the Blue Jackets are 14th in the west with 47 points, and only 4 points ahead of Toronto. Yeah, they're not that great. The FLYERS beat them. Oh well, here's some links:
  • New Blog Beantown Athletic Supporters has been writing like crazy. Pretty good stuff. Check it out.
  • Georges Laraque was told to stay home by Montreal and that he'd be bought out at the end of the season. Not a huge loss for the Habs or the NHL, which is why it's annoying.
  • If you didn't see the Zdeno Chara poem yesterday, go back and read it.
  • Pretty much everyone in Carolina is on the trading block, but Aaron Ward's contract is way too big for us to get him. Sorry, guys.
  • "Dr. Recchi Prescribes Ugly Hockey" - I can't make this up.
Anyhow, I'm not expecting all that great of things but who knows? Maybe Tuukka will stand up to Nash and friends and Steve Mason will continue to pull his best Raycroft impression. I have hope, except these are the lines for tonight, from Bruins Blog:
Daniel Paille
Patrice Bergeron
Mark Recchi
Milan Lucic
David Krejci
Blake Wheeler
Miroslav Satan
Trent Whitfield
Michael Ryder
Shawn Thornton
Vladimir Sobotka
Drew Larman
Actually, that top line is pretty nice. Paille has great wheels, Bergeron would be in discussion for Hart if he didn't get hurt, and Recchi is the oldest working Dinosaur in sports. What I'm saying is that's a great effort line, though I don't know if Recchi or Bergeron will be taking faceoffs. I'm hoping Bergeron is back to 100% and all, because Recchi isn't exactly elite at faceoffs.

Oh look, time for some stats:
Well, I guess they are worse than us in some ways. Higher GP and lower Points percentage. There's hope, y'all.
GO BRUINS!

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

"Ode to Zdeno Chara" by Kevin Devaney

Editor's note: This was written by Kevin Devaney, a friend of mine who was inspired when I brought him to a preseason game. And people say those games are pointless...

Aries and Poseidon once took a half drunk road trip north
for a frost sprite gangbang
the child, they name “Zdeno.” But something happens,
the boy is colder than, more ferocious,
than others. He grows to a man and receives
the gifts of his fathers’.
Aries, throws him a bowstaff, titanium
and flatten headed labeled Easton and two 15 inch blades.
Poseidon gives a zamboni.
The arena, he finds on his own,
when he is ready, thunder in his chest
known, and born, of gods.

11 pm. November 18th 1984
“Old Time Rock N’ Roll” thumps out of speakers because
Will Murry is turning 40.
Jean Devaney “dances”
as much as one can, sober,
with a three year old daughter asleep next door,
and belly all out with me.
There’s a pillow in the car. Someone shouts
over the music, “When are you having the baby?”
and the music that just soothes the soul soothes on.

Sometimes, I think I can hear that song in my sleep,
as I imagine Zdeno can hear the slick slice of skates, that tower
of a man. At six foot nine, the tallest to ever play in the NHL,
he’s still better known for his fights. Just ask Bryan McCabe.

For years before my parents had children
they lived in California.
I have a photograph of my mother from back then,
bandana in her hair and
she’s smiling like the sea behind her
couldn’t exist without it,
like she had shifted things, swayed if not built
by her power. It was a carefree smile that
I didn’t see much of as a kid when
for days she was a Diana
her body a taut bow
because that’s what it takes to raise kids like me.
Zedeno, we were born to be two different types of titans.

11:45 pm. November 19th 1984
There was what they called
a natural birth.
“not even a frigin’ baby asprin,”
my mom describes it today.
That night was the first time
she and I disagreed .

Bless the rage of your fathers, Chara,
you have pushed ice with their gifts
until it yielded immortality,
Zdeno, professional, your peers call you fear,
but do you close your eyes, ever, and think
of your mother?

Yes, if you write poetry about the Bruins (or team USA or hockey in general, really), I will put it on the blog. Within reason.

GO BRUINS!

Friday, January 15, 2010

Game 46 Review: BRUINS 1 SHARKS 1 SO WIN WE BEAT THE SHARKS WE BEAT THE SHARKS EAT THAT WE BEAT THE SHARKS

Yeah, it totally happened. And despite the fact that the only Bruin to actually shoot a puck on net and get it in was Chara in the 4th round of the shootout, but who's counting? Sharks captain Rob Blake probably isn't.

Thomas played an unreal game, and you really owe it to yourself to watch all of his "save" highlights from the game. No, really. Insane stuff. Here are some links:
Vs. Setoguchi
Vs. Marleau

And here's the big one: RIGHT HERE. Thomas makes a hundred saves, and practices the Fosbury Flop enough to win a couple high-jump events.

What I'm saying is that if at 1:15am you were still glued to the TV, I was right-there with you. Amazing game. We don't have to get into the ugly ducks game a night or two before.

GO BRUINS!

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Game 43 Preview: Bruins vs. Blackhawks RECCHI COULD PASS STAN MIKITA

Game 43
7pm, January 7, 2010
NESN, 98.5 FM
vs. Chicago Blackhawks (million-negative 5-0)


Ok, so the hawks don't actually have -5 losses, their record is really 30-10-3, which is good enough to be top of the West right now. And the West is a better conference than the East this year. Much better. On top of that the Blackhawks are the next-best PK in the league right now, after the Bruins. Oh and their PP is 6th in the league, not 17th. Yeah, I'm not expecting great things tonight either.

However, Tim Thomas has won 5 out of his last 6 games, and the one loss came when he allowed 2 goals against Tampa Bay. 2. That's not a lot, considering that the goalie they

However, there's always hope. Hell yeah. The Bruins could win this. Mark Recchi is currently tied with Stan Mikita at 13th for all-time points leader, and he could break it against his old team. Hell, Mark Recchi was probably playing at the same time as Mikita.

Game threads at Stanley Cup of Chowder and Second City Hockey. And fan tweetup for those attending the game behind section 308 during 1st intermission!

Here's a touching story about a Chicago fan. Did you sign YOUR organ donor card?

Stats!
GO BRUINS!

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Game 42 Recap: BRUINS 4 SENS 1 USA 6 CANADA 5 USA! USA! USA!

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

THE UNITED STATES IS YOUR
2010 WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPION!!!!

Eat it, Canada.

But I get ahead of myself. The puck dropped for the Bruins at 7:30 in Ottawa, aka "asshole-town" as soon as the cheechoo train guy finds out Cheechoo is traded. (HEY CHEECHOO GUY: MAKE MORE VIDEOS!)

The Bruins got off to an early lead, scoring about a hundred thousand goals and making it so if you had NHL network you were flipping over to the gold medal game. Hell yes.

Bruins prospect Jordan Caron got an assist on the first Canadian goal, but Lucic said he "liked his style of play" so that's a positive.

annnnnyways,

USA ends up up 2-1, tied 2-2, up 5-3. Here's the game in 10 minutes:


If you don't want to watch just those ten minutes, they're re-showing it tonight at 6pm on NHL Network. Hell of a game.

This is how the game ends:
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huh, the sound cuts out a bit there. wonder why...
GO BRUINS!
USA! USA! USA!

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Game 42: Bruins @ Senators: Shit, Bergeron's Out for a couple weeks at least.

Patrice Bergeron will be out 2-6 weeks as described by ESPN and, according to Darren Dreger, 3 weeks. He's apparently got a broken thumb. So...Hmm. Before the Olympic break, after Lucic is back, and probably right around when we drop out of 8th in the standings.

It's OK, though, since MIROSLAV SATAN will be rocking #81 tonight. This is picture-perfect, folks. SATAN #81. You couldn't write a better script. (Shut up, devils fans, he's ours).

This is your game preview. Both squads are banged up, which is pretty shitty but hopefully Thomas will play better than whatever jerk the Senators trot out tonight.

GO BRUINS!

L10: Fourth set: The Winter Classic (5-3-2)

Well, the Winter Classic was great. I was lucky enough to be there for it (and the Legends Classic the next day! Way to go Jay Miller! Nice Hattie!) I could write about either classic, and how the atmosphere of Fenway was a magical thing, and how it was fun chanting LET'S GO BRUINS at the flyers fans, who were out in force and chanting LET'S GO FLYERS right back. It was pretty magical for the coffers as well, pulling a disappearing act on a lot of people's money. Worth it.

This has been bugging me in reading post-classic stuff, so here's my take:
Sweet Caroline is a Fenway tradition, very similar to last year's "Take me out to the hockey game" and Dennis Leary and Lenny Clarke are staples of the "people from Boston who are sorta famous and like sports" list.

Mark "Fire Hydrant" Recchi tied the game and Sturm finished it, on a pass from Bergeron. Way to go, guys!

On to the rest of the last ten games:

TUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUKK

Lookin' good, Mr. Finn. Thomas has been getting the majority of the starts, and has been playing very well in them (except when he, ahem, plays the body) and all of that. Let's look at some stats, though they are through game 41. I've been very busy the last couple of weeks, without much time for blogging. Mostly it's been good to excellent stuff, though, so I'm okay with it.

87.76%

That's the PK, humming along at peak performance (literally, #1 in the league) though they are in the bottom half for short-handed goals. Surprise, surprise! The Bruins aren't that great at scoring.

17.48%

That's the powerplay, all the way up to 18th in the league right now. If Bergeron's hand is broken, I expect this to drop as he plays the point on the PP pretty well. Who knows, though, with this team. In 1748, the ruins of Pompeii were discovered, and mathematician Bernoulli died. Bernoulli contributed to The Calculus and taught Euler, who invented mathematical notation. Without these gents, we might not have things like powerplay percentage or CORSI numbers. Where would the sports nerds go?

Where was I? Oh yes, the Bruins, not math from the 1700s.

5

The place the Bruins are in in the East by points, points percentage, or Simple Rating System. That's 5 more points than they had in 07-08, and 13 fewer than last year. It's also the number of Olympic rings, and if Bergeron's injury is bad will be the amount of Bruins going to the games (Krejci, Chara, Satan, Thomas, Sturm). Please be okay, Bergeron.

If you use the Pythagorean expectation for winning percentage (which I hear is big with Baseball), then the Bruins come in at 10th on that list, 3 spots higher than in the league standings.

I've been playing with a spreadsheet and this Pythagorean thing and Pythagorean points, and I'm still not sure if it's anything useful. If I come up with something or there's a stat-head out there that wants to give me a quick intro on some of this stuff, I'm happy to hear all about it.

Regardless of what the numbers say, we all know where our hearts are. Happy New Year, everyone.
GO BRUINS!