New Bruins Schedule Released

I still haven't watched a full baseball game yet, but I'm already itching to get back into hockey.

After coming to an agreement allowing NHL players to participate in the upcoming winter Olympics (YES!), the 2013-2014 schedule has been released.

Here are my top 10 games that I will either be attending or glued to the TV for:

#10 December 10, 2013 @ Calgary Flames
This could be the only time you ever see me put the Flames in a "top 10" games to watch.  This will be Jarome Iginla's first game back to Calgary since being traded last season.  Do you guys remember that?  It was one of those moves that no one really talked about, nor did it ever come up in the playoffs.  Especially not the Eastern Conference finals.  It'll be pretty cool to see the fans react to Iginla and I expect him to be amped up to perform.


#9 November 14, 2013 vs Columbus Blue Jackets
Flames...and now the Blue Jackets?!? I promise I'm not high.  This will be Nathan Horton's return to the garden.  While I wish there was a way to keep him, he clearly desired a market significantly more lax than Boston.  Well, Nathan, you found it.  Still think he'll get a good ovation.


#8 November 5, 2013 vs Dallas Stars
The big trade for the B's this offseason was obviously unloading Plexiglass Peverley and Party Boy Seguin to the Stars in order to increase our Swedishness (Loui Eriksson).  I'll discuss more about the trade in a later post, but it should be interesting to see this game.  I'd assume Seguin will want to show the B's that they gave up on him a little too soon.


#7 February 4, 2014 vs Vancouver Canucks
Boom.  Bring me right back to June 2011....  LLLUUUOOOONNNGGGOO, the Swedish Sisters and the Vegetarian come back to Boston for another 2011 Cup Finals rematch.  They have a new but familar coach in ex-Rangers head coach Tortarella, but mostly the same key players on the team.  Oh man, this is going to be a good one, just for the fact I love our fans and they will never let this team forget what happened in 2011.


#6 November 29, 2013 vs New York Rangers
Besides last year, the B's have always had a home matinee game on Black Friday and I LOVE IT.  Just like they did in 2011, the NHL has decided to piggy-back off of this and air the game on NBC.  I personally think this is a great time to try and get an annual national game.  NFL has Thanksgiving day, and you can't compete with college football and NFL on the weekends.  I'll be recovering from turkey and beer on the couch watching this game!


#5 October 5, 2013 vs Detroit Red Wings
Ladies and gentlemen, I introduce to you one of our newest members to the Atlantic Division (yes we are now the Atlantic Division, while the old Atlantic division is now the Metropolitan Division).  We add another original 6 team into the fold and our second game of the season is the first time we'll play them as division rivals.  My Swedish crush, Daniel Alfredsson, also spurned us for the Wings.  Just a little added fuel to the fire.  Welcome East, Wings.  Did I mention this is a Saturday NIGHT game??  Get your drank on fans.


#4 November 9, 2013 vs Toronto Maple Leafs
Remember the feeling you had back on May 13th when you thought the hockey season for Boston was ending?  Then the beyond excitement feeling knowing you just completely ruined Toronto fans spring?  I do and I'm sure the Leafs do too.  This should be a very intense match up as the two teams play each other for the first time since Game 7 of the first round.  If Loui Eriksson scores, can we still chant "Thank You, Kessel"?


#3 October 30, 2013 @ Pittsburgh Penguins
The Bruins will have March 27th circled on their calendars (see #1), but I can guarantee you the Penguins will have 10/30 circled on theirs.  That is the date the B's will travel to Pittsburgh in an Eastern Conference Finals rematch.  Remember that one?  The series in which the Penguins were suppose to just man handle us offensively?  Oh yeah..the B's completely embarrassed the team and the two best players in the world by SWEEPING them. #BoomThatHappened


#2 Any game vs Montreal Canadiens
Best rivalry in all of sports.  I'll take on anyone in this argument.  These games never ever lack drama or emotion.  They will be a more skilled team with the addition of Danny Briere and they will definitely be a tougher team with the addition of George "Best Mustache in Sports" Parros.  I guarantee a Thornton vs Parros bout in the first period of the first game against these two teams.  Both teams will be competing for the division title again.  Sad the B's handed it over to the Habs late last season.


#1 March 27, 2014 vs Chicago Blackhawks
Normally the #1 spot is reserved for the Candiens, and while the 4 games against the Habs would take #2-#5, I have to give the Cup Finals rematch the #1 spot.  I'll just say that again, Stanley...Cup...Finals...rematch.  Less than 2 minutes away from forcing Game 7.  I expect the B's and the crowd to be on a different planet with intensity.  I don't even know if that statement makes sense, but it does to me.

HOCKEY IS BACK!!!!

Welcome back, NHL!  You don't know how badly I have missed you.  I tried watching the NBA.  That lasted about one quarter.  It'd be much better if you let KG and Carmelo duke it out on the court...sissies.  I tried watching NCAA basketball.  That's better, but I don't really have a team to cheer for.  I like football a lot and the Pats are luckily fun to watch, but come on...

NOTHING      BEATS    HOCKEY!!

I must admit, I avoided this blog throughout the lockout.  I had a lot to say, but they were not very nice or kind words, especially towards our own owner, Jeremy Jacobs (he's not reading is he? Video).  Anytime the B's were brought up, I'd start chatting it up calm, cool and collected.  Gradually I'd feel my heart start to race and fire flow through my veins, so I'd remove myself from the conversation before a baby got punched.  But that's the past...let's focus on HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY!!!! When I found out they agreed on a CBA I dusted off the Lucic jersey and blasted the Bruins goal song.

What I'm excited for this year:
1. Besides hockey fights, I'm most eager to see where Seguin takes his game this year.  He seems like he's on the verge of becoming a real star.  He played really well in Switzerland, let's hope he can continue his development and take his game to the next level. (Video of Seguin's dominance in Switzerland at Puck Daddy).

2. A close second is Dougie Hamilton.  I cannot wait to see this kid play.  He's been dominating juniors, so I'm eager to see how that translate to the big league.  Put him next to big Z and let's see what we got.

(1a/2a: Funny how my first two points are related to the Kessel trade... thank you, Brian Burke.  Oh, sorry you just lost your job.)

3. Tuukka toga time.  I think Rask is ready to be a number goalie in this league.  With only a one year deal signed, he's playing for a HUGE contract.  I hope he gets it.  The back up goaltender on the other hand is a huge question mark.

I could go on, but those are the three things I'm most interested in.  Oh man, let the countdown begin, and Mr. Jack Edwards start warming up those pipes, it's going to be a fast and furious season.

JANUARY 19th, RANGERS @ BRUINS

P.S: I moved in with my girlfriend this fall.  I told her now she'll understand what it's really like to live with me!!!

8 Golden Points: Game 12 vs Maple Leafs

Bruins 7 - Maple Leafs 0

8 Golden Points:

1. Spell check keeps trying to tell me "Bruins 7" is wrong.  I promise you checker, the Bruins scored 7 goals and in the past two games have scored 12.  What?!  The Bruins absolutely positively dominated this game.  All three zones, every situation, all the battles, everything.  The Maple Leafs literally gave up half way through the 3rd.  I don't know if I've ever seen a team just STOP playing.  It was beautiful.  Let's hope he B's can keep this up.

2. The big story of the night, of course, is Tyler Seguin.  His first career hat trick with three beautiful goals: PP on timer, bats one out of the air, and a nice complete end to end play.  He did this in front of HIS hometown, growing up 40 minutes outside of Toronto, and in front of his country as it's "Hockey Night in Canada" on Saturday nights.

3. On the flipside, the player we'll always be comparing Seguin too, Kessel, had another miserable outing against the Bruins.  The B's have to be in his head.  He's the leading goal scorer in the NHL and he only had 2 shots on net?  He had a golden opportunity to give most of us the bird when he had a break away in the third, but decided to pull his best Peverley impression and completely miss the net.

4. The Bruins only had two power play opportunities this game, but again converted on one of the tries.  Baby steps in the right direction.  And again the stone wall known as the penalty kill unit stepped up to the plate, shutting down the Leafs on all four of their chances.  I was not keeping track but it seemed like the Bruins penalty killing unit actually generated more shots on goal the the Leafs power play unit.  Again...domination.

5. I love saying good things about Lucic.  You lose a lot of credibility when the the player of the jersey you own stinks.  Lucic stunk in the playoffs and smelt like he needed a diaper change earlier in the season, but once we got him a fresh set of pampers he's been lights out.  Not wanting Seguin to get too far ahead of him, he decided to throw two goals in the net himself.  He now has goals in 3 straight games, 5 out of the last 6.  I could really use a Lucic fight soon....  Just saying.

6. Timmy gets his first shutout of the season.  It must be nice to have to carry your team once in awhile.  He didn't have to make any ridiculous saves, didn't really have bail any of his teammates out too badly (Kessel did that himself by missing the net), he just played a solid game.  The Bruins played from puck drop to the end of the game and rewarded Timmy with a shutout.  I'm hoping we see some Rask and hopefully the team continues to play well.

7. I haven't said anything about the defense and you'd think they would have something to do with a shutout right? Agreed.  It's just not as juicy as a Seguin hat trick or putting Kessel down, but the defense the past two games has been Claude-esque.  Meaning I'm not just talking about defensemen, the forwards also played great defense.  The whole "onion" system is working again and if you watch the game you'll hear Jack and Brick constantly talk about layers.  Get by one layer of the defense, your met with another.  It's not flashy, but when it's working right it's fun to watch.

8.  I thought with the game out of reach, there was no way Thornton was going to have to fight anyone.  WRONG...well sort of wrong.  He didn't fight anyone, but he tried to fight Phaneuf after his hit on Kelly.  I'm not sure how Phaneuf didn't get a penalty because it sure looks like he left his feet on this one.  You see who the first person over to greet Phaneuf was...Caron.  What a guy!  Nice things about Caron - 2, Nice things about Pouliot - 0.

8 Golden Points: Game 7 vs Toronto

Bruins 6 - Maple Leafs 2

8 Golden Points:

1. As we saw in the later part of the 'Canes game (which I'd like to forget about), Julien went with a different combination of lines to start this game and boy does he look like a genius.  This looked like a completely different team out there.  6 goals from 6 different players.  The Maple Leafs came into this game red hot while the B's have been ice cold.  You would not have known that after watching this game.

2. I think I'm going to change the name of this segment to 7 Golden Points + Seguin.  Last night, instead of playing center on the top line, he slid over and played ring wing along with Kelly and Lucic.  How'd he respond?  A goal and 2 assists.  In 7 games Seguin is 2-6-8 +5.  As a team we've only scored 17 total goals and he's been apart of 8.  One of his best plays came at the end of a shift, he hustle backed on a defense, dove and broke up an odd man rush.  He's doing it all!  And I repeat... "THANK YOU KESSEL!!"

3. In my last 8 Golden Points, I mention Lucic and Horton were just baiting everyone into thinking they sucked and that they were going to start playing well real soon.  Well as always (or on rare occasion...whatever), I was right.  The best game of the year from these two.  When Looch plays that North-South hockey, he's nearly unstoppable.  Not too many players can push him off the puck.  Crunching Phaneuf early in the game was a good indicator of things to come. 

4. We saw the return of David Krejci last night.  It can't be long until he goes back up to the first line.  He is just so good with the puck on his stick.  As Jack would say, he's the master of time and space.  Although he didn't show up on the score sheet, he had a solid game and didn't appear to show any lingering affects from his "core" injury.  He also went 11 for 16 at the face off dot. 

5. The Bruins special teams showed up last night too.  The PK unit has been lights out all year long, shutting down the Leafs on all 4 of their power plays.  On the year the PK unit has killed off 28 of 32 power plays for 10th best in the league.  Not too shabby.  The PP unit also ate their Wheaties this morning, going 2 for 5 on the night.  As Bergeron said after the game, they kept it simple and didn't hesitate.

6. The defense looked very good tonight.  Chara had a monster game (goal and 2 assists), Ference had a monster first period (3 assists) and a monster open ice hit on Grabovski.  During the preseason there was a battle for the 7th defensemen between Bartkowski and Kampfer.  After watching the last two games, it's CLEAR Kampfer is the 7th defensemen.  The only bad was Siedenberg was a minus 1.  EEeek.

7.  For the first time this season, you didn't feel like our goalies had to be unbelievable in order for us to get the win.  Lucky for us, our goaltenders are unbelievable anyways.  It wasn't necessary for Thomas to be stellar tonight, but when he needed to make a save he did.  Stoning Grabovski on the break away and Steckel on the doorstep during the closing seconds of the second were huge, timely saves.  He almost had an assist as he threw one down the ice to Seguin that was called offsides. 

8. Phil Kessel... ahhh the trade that keeps on giving.  As a Bruins fan, you have to get a little giddy when you see him put up 0-0-0 -1 and Seguin puts up 1-2-3 +2.  It's just beautiful.  At the end of the month Golden Spokes will do a "Prospect Preview" and see how the talent pipeline is looking.  If you watched the game last night, you saw stats on how Jared Knight and Dougie Hamilton are tearing it up for their juniors teams in the OHL right now. 

Next up: Saturday vs San Jose Sharks (1-3-0)  Welcome back, Jumbo Joe.