One week down, 16 or so to go

It's one week into the Bruins' offseason and I have to say, I may be done grieving for the B's abrupt end to the 2008-2009 season, but that doesn't mean I'm not bored out of my skull waiting for 2009-2010 to start. The new season can't come fast enough.

In my down time, I've taken to scouring the internet for links, along with stalking Bish's Blog, the Globe Bruins Blog (KPD is a huge hack, but I love Fluto's writing, so I suffer through it) along with whatever I can glean from Capitals Insider and the number of other teams' blogs I regularly read.

But wait, wait a second. There's actually still some hockey going on! In lieu of the big Bruins, there is Providence Bruins' hockey to watch - specifically, some players that should be up and ready for the big club next year. These are young players with relatively affordable contracts (with the exception of Tuukka Rask), who definitely bear watching. Vladimir Sobotka, Johnny Boychuk, Martin St. Pierre, and even Mikko Lehtonen and Brad Marchand could all be ready for breakout seasons next year in the vein of what Byron Bitz and Matt Hunwick did last year. The P-Bruins' opponents in this round are the Washington Capitals' AHL affiliate, the Hershey Bears; a lot of their players are in the same situation (Jay Beagle, Semyon Varlamov, Karl Alzner). Many of the Bears' players logged at least some time with their big club this year, which may give them the slight advantage over the P-Bruins, whose major player to log time with both clubs who could have been a boon to the P-Bruins' Calder Cup run is injured (Byron Bitz, possible broken ribs).

Not to say the P-Bruins can't do it themselves - they've already won one of the two games in the series so far, handing the Bears their first home playoff loss this year. Game three is tomorrow in Providence. Both teams have goalies who have logged significant time in the majors, making this an incredibly interesting playoff series.

Bits of news and fun things, to take the edge off the offseason:

Short interview with Semyon Varlamov. (from Capitals insider). Varly talks about the nickname "Varly," how no one can pronounce his first name, and the potential of playing for the Caps' big club next year.

Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook have the most epic bromance in the NHL. (From the Chicago Tribune) Really, the only thing that beats this puff piece from the Blackhawks' media bench is the piece on Patrick Kane and his sisters, from whence came this picture. Oh, Kaner - are you twelve? Seriously.

Updated Bruins' salary breakdown, from the Globe Bruins Blog. Very useful for speculating on whether the B's will be able to sign new kids, which RFCs they'll be able to re-sign, etc.

And, best for last - Phil Kessel's shoulder surgery a success. I have to admit, I woke up to this text message today, and I was the happiest I've been about hockey since a week ago today. Now, to fix David Krejci!

Is it time for development camp yet?

So Long, Farewell

In the past 30 hours, my heart was dropped off a cliff (Caps game), put itself back together, gleeful (hanging out with hockey fans at Boston Beer Works), hopeful, exuberant (Bitz's goal) nervous (two 'Canes goals), exuberant again (thanks, Looch).

Then, all of a sudden, it felt similar to being run over by eleven eighteen-wheelers. Through broken glass. And possibly some lava.

An overtime loss, and all of a sudden, that was that. Goodnight, Bruins.

Your immediate response in that situation is shock, giving way to a brief flash-of-hatred of one's own team, which dissipates, leaving boiling anger at the opponents, the Hurricanes; all this gives way to a dull sadness, exhaustion, as the adrenaline rush from cheering your team on in sudden-death slowly leaves your system. Heartbreak, disappointment.

Slowly, from that, you recover. You begin to re-recognize all that you loves about your team; Timmy Thomas stood on his head for the Bruins all year; Zee had his stumbles but is the greatest captain one could ask for; Patrice Bergeron came back from what could have been a career-ending injury. Bitzycat, the rookie kid from Cornell, stepped it up HUGELY in the postseason; so did Montador, finally potting his first goal as a Bruin at a perfectly clutch moment. The DEPTH, oh god the DEPTH of our team this year (Barring our slight defenseman almost-problems in the postseason) is unbelievable.

The 2008-2009 Bruins season, as a newbie, was magical; a longer season than any other sport made it feel like it'd never end. In fact, I wanted it to go on forever; instead, it all came to a crashing halt, thanks to one Scott Walker. But I can't hate. We got an entire MONTH more hockey than 24 teams; almost three weeks more than 8 more teams, and a few days more than the Canucks. (Sorry, Canucks!)

And the amazing thing is this - the Bruins, although with a solid core of veterans, are mostly comprised of rookies, sophomores, and guys who are on the younger side. Few have seen their way this far into the playoffs before. We went into this series a little too confident, and had our asses handed to us by a playoff-hardened team. But to have made it this far - I'm proud to call the B's my team.

Things that were MORE awesome - Mark Recchi played game 7 the day after having a kidney stone removed. This is truth - the Recching Ball is a BEAST.

Also - I dare the city of Boston to try to ignore the Bruins after this year and last. While it's ridiculously frustrating to try to get tickets in and around the bazillions of bandwagoners, I'm still happy the support is there. Please let it stay. I want Boston to be a hockey town again in my absence.

So now my Tim Thomas jersey is snugly packed away, along with all the posters, the two signs I made, my rally towels and paraphernalia, all ready to adorn my new apartment at end of summer. I don't know when I will see the inside of the TD Banknorth Garden again - and yeah, I'll miss the rushes of cold air from over the glass, the smells of burnt popcorn and hockey equipment, the epic goal song and WOOOO! from the announcer. Life moves on, though. All you B's fans out there - say hi for me next season when you go to games. Cheer until your throats are ragged. Respect your team; never boo them. Don't throw crap onto the ice when things don't go your way. Stay classy; this team works its butt off for you. Love it. Respect it.

Go B's Go. Bring on 2009-2010!

To everyone who texted me/sent me messages after last night's game? Thank you. Each concurrent one lifted me up a little more, and I appreciate it tremendously. :)

Wheels vs. the Milk Crate

Just a little quickie, post-Bruins practice.

It could be 100 degrees out in the shade and Ristuccia would still be rockin' out at ridiculously sub-freezing temperatures. I mean, I know it's an ice rink, but...let's just say the nickname "The Ice Box" is spectacularly apt.

A few days ago a friend posted a link to one of Cabbie's Journals; Cabbie, if you don't know, is a reporter who's following all the teams in contention for the Stanley Cup. His interviews are fairly tongue-in-cheek; he goes to Fenway Park and hangs out with Carey Price, for example, or tries to learn Russian from Varlamov, the baby Caps goalie, or tries to steal money from Brooks Laich.

In this video, he totally makes fun of the autograph hounds at Ristuccia. GOOD TIMES. I'm glad I recognized the parking lot (and the lady with the makeup that he makes fun of, as well. She's there EVERY FRIDAY THAT I AM THERE.) Totally worth a watch.

In actual practice news, though, things looked good today. Savard, Bergeron, and Wideman were noticeably absent, along with Tim Thomas, who may be taking a recovery day due to "flu-like symptoms" experienced in games 3 & 4 (bet you're even happier that we swept now, eh? I can't imagine Fernandez in goal against a Habs team that was any stronger than these guys. No, Thank you.) Up filling in for Thomas was young Providence Bruins goalie Adam Courchaine, who's only logged one game for the Peebs this year - he did most of his time in the OHL with the Ottawa 67's. At first we thought it might actually be Bemidji State callup Matt Dalton, but that wasn't right. Adam Courchaine is highly unlikely to see any playoff time; there are a few goalie in line ahead of him, the most prominent being Tuukka Rask. Odds are that with at least a week before the next playoff game, Julien just wanted to give Timmy Thomas an extra rest day.

Drills were solid today - not too much messing around, although the team seemed in high spirits and didn't take things too hard - with the exception of Byron Bitz, who did extra conditioning while the rest of the team chipped pucks at Courchaine towards the end of practice.

One last fun thing - in past weeks, Matt Hunwick has had the unfortunate task of cleaning up the pucks post-practice. A few of us have been keeping score of Matty Hunwick vs. the Milk Crate of Pucks- one week he knocked over a bunch of water bottles during clean up (Milk Crate Wins), one week things went without incident (Hunwick wins), and one week the coaches let him escape without cleaning up (draw). But with Hunwick out for the count with a busted spleen, we wondered who would step up to the plate and battle the Milk Crate in his stead. Answer: Blake Wheeler. (of course, another rookie.) Wheeler did his teammate proud, and wins this round! Get well soon, Matt Hunwick - your opponent awaits you at Ristuccia!