28 hours of hockey euphoria

1. Bruins 4, Hurricanes 0

I really...this game was a great experience, especially after being at game 2. Timmy and the B's really turned it around and gave a great show.

We got to the glass for warmups - found everyone, sorted out tickets, no problems there - I grabbed my anti-Canes-mojo poster and split off from the group to go sit by Canes warmups, poster pressed firmly against the glass, shit-eating grin on my face.

Moment of the night that seriously set my heart racing and ready for the Bruins to beat the pants off the Whalercanes? Tim Conboy looked at my poster, grinned, and shook his head a little. BUT THEN, two minutes later, Eric Staal himself came over and was stretching right beside my poster; he took a few more laps, then, on his way off the ice to head back into the locker room, ERIC STAAL PUNCHED THE GLASS IN FRONT OF ME, with the most petulant, crabby look on his face, ever! I'm pretty sure I ruined his mojo. Yep, three quick hard raps on the glass with the outside of his fist, a quick scowl, then back in, buzzer sounded, and up we headed to our seats in the nosebleeds.

Other highlights - Milan Lucic was a beast; he put some sweet hits on some of the Canes early on, got things going early, and even potted a goal, thank goodness. Phil Kessel snagged two, and Chara was a +3 on the night. Making up for lost ground in game 2. Good man.

It was like someone flipped a switch in their brains, or replaced their legs with bionic robot ones, or amped them up in some way that didn't seem humanly possible - the drastic change in energy level between games 4 and 5 was absolutely unbelievable. I don't want to think that it's only because of the home energy from the crowd, but I think that was part of it. Another part is that the Bruins had no reason to get ANGRY at the WhalerCanes; they were just sort of...that team, you know, that we're playing against. There were no Komisareks, no Laraques on this team, until last night.

The Bruins were a sleepy bear until last night, until they had their backs to the wall - not only did the Hurricanes back them into a corner, but then they decided to poke the cornered bear. NOT A GOOD IDEA. Now, Walker might as well have a bullseye painted on his back; the Zdeno Chara debacle didn't hurt, and in the third, the Bruins came out swinging. The defense rotated like a well-oiled machine; at one point even the least physical forwards were spotting playing two-way hockey, specifically David Krejci and Marc Savard. The two of them made some nice little checks, and even did some mucking in front of Tim Thomas, the few times the puck made it to the defensive zone.

My favorite stat of the night: The Bruins had 40 SOG to the Whalercanes' 19. These numbers were essentially reversed for games 2 through 4, which is promising.

Game 6 tomorrow - here's hoping the Bruins pack a little bit of Red Sox mojo, circa 2004. My mood: cautiously optimistic. It's true, Carolina is a tough building to play in, but they KNOW now what the atmosphere will be like, and there's a wee bit of momentum. Keep rolling, boys. Keep rolling.

2. Capitals 5, Penguins 4

I missed this game. I am both happy and sad about this; while it sounds like a game in which there were many heart attacks, sometimes those are my favorite kind of games. Your heart races, adrenaline floods your body; a doctor checking your body's reaction would almost think YOU were involved in these games. Alas, though, we're just the plebes watching the struggles of others, living vicariously through their efforts.

And lo did the Caps bring the pain to Pittsburgh tonight. Dave Steckel is apparently a beast, Alexander Semin finally woke up from his 5-game nap, Ovechkin didn't account for ANY goals tonight - before the game, I thought to myself, is Ovie going to try to carry this team through the playoffs? Because if so, they're not going anywhere. Tonight, Viktor Kozlov, Tomas Fleischmann, Alex Semin, and Dave Steckel proved otherwise - and well done! Varlamov let in four goals which still makes me question the quality of the defense, but other than that - well played!

3. Blackhawks 7, Canucks 5

Man, were Khabibulin and Luongo a pair of sieves tonight, or what? Okay, maybe not, but close. The Blackhawks scored a touchdown on the Canucks; Patrick Kane grabbed the first Blackhawks post-season hat trick since 1994, and the Blackhawks took down the last Canadian team in six games to make their first Western Conference Finals appearance since 1995.

IT WAS A GOOD NIGHT AT THE UNITED CENTER TONIGHT.

Glad to see Toews and Burish snag goals as well. Really, other than that, I've got nothing, except: this gif sums up my feelings since yesterday night.



I'll soak in this feeling for about 30 more minutes, and then it's back to watching my team fight for its life. Two more, Bruins. One more, Caps.

DO IT.

NHLwithdrawal: The first step...

...is admitting you have a problem.

So there's a fun little hashtag some of we hockey fans use on twitter - NHLWithdrawal - whenever there's no hockey on TV, we laugh and talk about the stupid/silly things we do to combat lack of our favorite sporting pastime.

I guess at this point it should technically be NHLaddiction - I have it, I have a lot of it, but I only want more more MORE. It's a selfish addiction, one that is rather cruel to fans of any team besides the Still-In-It-Eight (but hey, those fans still get hockey on their TVs, so I guess that's still okay!)

I think the first time it really hit me that HEY, I DON'T WANT HOCKEY TO END was last night, after that overtime Bruins loss. The buzz of nervous energy that comes from waiting for OT to start, the crush of defeat (or extreme high of a win), the thrill of just watching a Sweet Playoff Game - it's all good until the other team goes up in the series. Then, fear kicks in. Am I going to have to sink to the level of Islanders, Predators, and Senators fans - fans with teams no longer playing for the season, who have to muster the effort to care for a second-love team (or maybe not even, since both of my second teams are both being just as faily as the Bruins)? Will Rangers and Sharks fans laugh at us, or will they welcome us into the fold of fans of playoff-ejected teams? Is it a brotherhood of mourning, out there, or is it a harsh world of angry hockey fans, unwilling to sympathize with those who made it a little bit further this year?

I'm scared, Hockey Nation. Hold me.

Granted, last night was only game three. However, last night marked a scary turning point in the Bruins' season. The B's have been ahead for all of 2009. They haven't chased anyone in the standings since 2008. Now they're down a game in the series against the Whalercanes.

They weren't hungry, last night. Maybe this is what my team needed - a kick in the pants. Get hungry, Bruins. Take a note from those Meat Hats that good old Marco Sturm made for you. I'm sure the Good German won't be too happy if you sad-sack another game like you did last night.

Game specifics, in +/- form:
- Marc Savard's terrible penalties NEED TO STOP. When he came to Boston, that was one of the negative things about him that everyone spoke about. It looked like he'd learned his lesson, but echoes of Savvy Circa 2006 rang around the RBC Center last night. Get out of your time machine, Marc. It's 2009, you KNOW this stuff.
- Zdeno Chara needs a Meat Hat. He hasn't been hungry all series. Yeah, it was nice to see him staple StaalClone1, but...not enough.
+ Tim Thomas is standing on his head, still. One thing about this playoffs round - it is an Ultimate Goalie Showdown. (on that note, I am sort of DYING to see a Varly vs. Timmy showdown. MAKE IT HAPPEN, NHL. And by NHL I mean Bruins and Capitals players/coaches, not referees/administration, thanks.)
-Shots on goal. Thomas' save percentage was STILL higher than Cam Ward's, yesterday; Timmy was .926 to Ward's .913. The Bruins took 23 shots. THAT IS HEINOUSLY LOW, dudes. The Whalercanes had 41 shots on goal. If the B's improve one aspect of their game, it has to be taking more shots - which means getting the puck CLEANLY closer to Ward's end of the ice.

Friday. Meat Hats. It's on.

For tonight, go Blackhawks! (Okay, yes, I admit - I have a problem.)

Time to go REDUX

First of all, I don't want to talk about the Bruins getting blanked in game two past this:

Game one was the release of the stircrazy energy that builds up over nine days. Game two, there was none of that stircrazy energy left. Game two was rust. Two days off between games two and three means practice, getting back to what we know, settling back into the groove of hard work and retaliation. The Bruins are nothing if not retaliant, and this is a good thing to bounce back from. (I do not ever want to see Zdeno Chara get a -3 for the night, ever, EVER again.)

Game three in three hours: this kid can't wait.

Other games in the last few days were incredibly lively and dramatic. That's one thing - the fewer teams that remain, the more concentrated the drama seems to get. Canucks/Blackhawks game two was intense (soo intens!) although game three the 'Hawks seemed to lack mojo, dropping that one 3-1. They looked a lot like the Bruins in game 2 - just not a full-force presence on the ice. Red Wings/Ducks game three was a big bowl of crazy - James Wisniewski carted off the ice in a stretcher after taking a puck to the chest, and a Marian Hossa goal that was - and then wasn't. (I am learning the Ways of the Terrible NHL Ref from this playoff round, as well. Good times.)

Also learning about the whole deal with who gets suspended for what, and it seems a little off to me. Like - Brashear gets suspended for six games for a hit on Blair Betts that didn't even seem that bad, but guys like Chris Kunitz and Sean Avery can deck Semyon Varlamov in the head (or cross check him) and...nothing? Or, and this is water under the bridge at this point, but still - Lucic's suspension for crosschecking, but nothing for Komisarek's eye-gouging? Or Mike Brown's hit on Jiri Hudler? I think the NHL needs to sit down, after this season, and take a serious good hard look at how they rule these sorts of penalties. It's not fair to assess a five-minute-major and game misconduct to Brown, and then a two-minute minor and SIX GAME SUSPENSION to Brashear, when both hits are of the same caliber. If the NHL is going to take a harder hand to hits like these, it needs to serve out penalties equally and fairly, not in what appears to be a random, crapshoot-esque manner.

Capitals/Penguins game two was in a league of its own - terrible NBC coverage (although with our Brick!), Ovie and Sid the Kid both scoring hat tricks (pretty sure the media collectively peed themselves as soon as this happened) - with the differences being Dave Steckel and Semyon Varlamov. The Pens need to pull one out, tonight - more of their team needs to show up. Where's Evgeni Malkin been, this series? Did he forget to catch the plane to Washington? Maybe now that they're home tonight, he can find his way to the rink. Oh, Mineral. So faily.

So, game three. Times two. (Dear NHL, why would you schedule two games at the same exact time?) Matt Hunwick and Marco Sturm had private skate sessions yesterday before practice; it's the little things. Maybe it'll help energize their team, seeing their teammates struggling their way back through rehab. Maybe the shocker of dropping a game 3-0 to a team they beat soundly four times in the regular season and once in the postseason, along with seeing that 3-0 drop on video, will be enough to motivate them to step up their game. Whatever the case, look to see a completely different Bruins team tonight.

Oh, and let's go Celts. (And Red Sox, I guess? THERE ARE FOUR SPORTS GAMES ON TONIGHT THAT I HAVE TO COVER. Difficulty: I am having it.)

Time to go

Okay.

Game two tickets in Loge 15 for half price: Obtained.
Rally towel: packed.
Tim Thomas jersey: on.
Game face: set to go.

Let's go Bruins!

Hopefully will have pictures for you all after the game - also will be tweeting from the game, so look out for that I guess?

Well hello there, round two.

I feel like for each set of Round 2 matchups, the media/internet is trying to grab onto one aspect of the series and run with it. Some of them are awesome, some annoying.

Pens/Caps (aka the PaperMate series (thanks, @voteforgrant!): OVIE/CROSBY. I think the NHL media outlets collectively wet themselves when the Hurricanes came back to win over the Devils, thus solidifying that matchup. Is it exciting? Yes. Is it the most exciting Round 2 matchup? No. (Okay, maybe. You didn't hear that from me, though.) Am I excited to see Varlamov take on Marc-Andre Fleury? VERY.

My pick: Caps in 6. (This means I need to figure out two days to pick the Pens, or just go with the Caps every day and get a few wrong. Hmm.)

B's/Canes (aka the series formerly known as the Battle of New England): This Team Used to Be the Whalers. Let's lay out every statistic relevant to the Hartford Whalers that we can find! Okay, that's a little silly. I love calling them the Whalercanes as much as the next guy, but can we focus on the current team and how our team will match up against them? Granted the B's swept the season series, but since the Bruins last saw the WhalerCanes (look at me, I'm trying to quit!), they went 17-5-2 into the playoffs, beating out New York and Montreal for the sixth seed. Not an easy feat, and definitely a team the Bruins should be at least wary of.

My pick: Bruins in 5.

Red Wings/Ducks (aka the Disney Movie series:) The Ducks/Red Wings angle is all about the wee upsetters vs. the Hockey Machine. Somebody needs to tell the Ducks that the Red Wings are not the same team as the Sharks. The Sharks' black-hole level playoff collapses don't happen to the Detroit Red Wings; additionally, the drive to defend their Stanley Cup means that their momentum from round one probably won't change.

My pick: Red Wings in 5.

Blackhawks/Canucks (aka the Mystery series:) The angle here is OMG the Blackhawks made it past the first round, Chi-town has a hockey team again, SO WHAT NOW? And really, it's true; this series is a big fat question mark. The Canucks feel comparable to the Flames, to me; true, they swept the Blues, but that's different from playing a team two seeds higher. The only weakness I can see here is Chicago having taken their first round to 6 games versus Vancouver's sweep-in-four and week off from rest; however, I don't know if that will make Vancouver weak from rust, or Chicago weak from fatigue? This series is truly an enigma - if the series goes to seven games, or Vancouver sweeps, or Chicago takes it in 6, I wouldn't be surprised - this is a series where truly, anything could happen. Really all I can say is thank goodness the first game of this series is tonight!

My pick: Blackhawks in 7 (but actually a big ????)