May 17, 2013 · 4:36 AM

I Was Warned

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I’ve told you before. I have sports radio on all day while I’m at work. Barring conference calls or meetings it’s on in the background. Sometimes I hear things other times it’s just white noise.

Well, yesterday I heard that Marchand left practice. He pulled up on a 2 on 1 and just left the ice and went into the dressing room. All I could think was The Swede. Get that big oaf on a line with Bergeron and Jagr. No one would understand eachother.

Claude gave us all a sigh of relief when he said Marchand would be ready to go. Then it was eight hours of build up.

I was warned by a guy at work that it was a 7:30 start. My initial thought was, still beats West Coast baseball.

When I play NHL 13 and I need reinforcements I call up guys from Providence. I’ve called up Bartkowski in the game and I’ve called up Krug. They’re sent back just as quick but they usually contribute when they get their shot. So imagine the smile on my face as life imitated art and Krug scored the tying goal in the third period after just getting called up.

But this is where the warning came into play. A 7:30 start means that it’s really closer to a 7:45 start. Meaning if the game goes to overtime, I don’t know how long I’ll last. And I didn’t. I was knocked out. I mean, I was asleep at 7:30 on Tuesday night.

So I was pleasently surprised to wake up this morning and see that the little ball of hate scored the game winner on a perfect feed from Bergeron. I’m glad whatever caused him to leave the ice was gone as he lept into Chara’s arms.

Can’t wait till a 3PM start Sunday. They can go five overtimes, at least I know I’ll be awake for it.

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May 16, 2013 · 5:02 AM

Drop The Puck!

Krug in the mix?

I’ve recapped before my time in college at UMASS Lowell. Our pep band was the best in Hockey East and even got comments in the Globe confirming the same. We were so good that other teams in Hockey East tried to hire us as a mercenary pep band come the playoffs after Lowell was out.

I bring this up because “DROP THE PUCK!!” was one of our favorite things to yell at the refs. It was always follwed up with the obligatory “thank you”.

I’m ready for them to drop the puck tonight but if they wanted to wait till Sunday to start the series, I’d be OK with that too. The Bruins defense is all kinds of banged up. Redden, Ference, and Seidenberg are all question marks heading into tonight. That’s why the team called up Torey Krug (above) to join fellow call up Bartkowski who was called up last series.

All these rookies, Hamilton included, scare the crap out of me on the blue line. Sure they were servicable in Game 7 against Toronto, but New York is a tougher team.

I’ll be watching for sure. I just hope the defense is decent enough to keep them in the game. We’ll see.

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May 14, 2013 · 11:02 PM

Still Savoring

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I’ve already heard it said that 10, 20, 30 years from now attendance at the Garden Monday night will grow and grow. And eventually it will be 850,000 fans and you were one of them, there and witnessed history.

Listening to sports radio yesterday I heard so many fans that never gave up.

Bull!!

Just because you gave up, changed the channel, or went to bed doesn’t mean you’re not a fan anymore. Part of being a fan is that you can critique your team with honesty.

After the overtime win in Game 4, they played scared. They played game six like they were down in the series. Even their GM likely had people traded, not re-signed, coaches fired etc.

But the comeback changed everything. For now. They go up 3-0 against the Rangers and then lose the series I think all of that wold be back on the table.

I don’t think that’s what’s on tap. I think if this team can play like they played late in game seven, teams should fear the Bruins. I hope the beast has been awoken and won’t rest until Lord Stanley’s Cup is making its way through the streets of Boston on a duck boat.

Again, here’s hoping.

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May 13, 2013 · 9:27 PM

Um…

The old saying goes, if a tree falls in the woods and no one’s around, does it make a sound?

If the Bruins are down 4-1 and no one is watching, can they miraculously come back and win the game?

Yes and yes.

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I freely admit after the fourth Toronto goal, I turned away. Catch up on Family Guy, How I Met Your Mother, maybe the 9 episodes of the Americans I never watched. I didn’t look as my phone was blowing up, I didn’t even flip back.

Somehow a little after 10 I saw they came back and won! Holy crap!

I hope Claude realizes now that it’s safe to change up his lines, it works, and he’ll continue to shake it up when necessary. He saved his own job, possibly Chiarelli’s too.

One more round. Thank God. With only the Sox for four months I may have gone crazy. At the least, another week of Bruins hockey.

Now where did I throw my Bruins hat?

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· 4:29 AM

Job On The Line?

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I’ve flip flopped on the Fire Claude bandwagon. Following the Stanley Cup win it bought him a reprieve in my mind but if they lose tonight, I’m 100% back on board. Not just a little either. I will be full on loathing this team if they let him keep his job.

I know the players hold blame, I’m not giving them a free pass. But I think in some cases they’re victims of circumstance. They can’t play their games because Claude’s system doesn’t allow for it.

His head up his ass coaching style has many fans angry. He sticks with ineffective lines and refuses to move players even when they’ve gone over a month without a goal (Lucic).

The thing that my buddy Jay pointed out is the money. Jeremy Jacobs just finished paying two head coaches, does he want to again? Really with all the money he’s made post Stanley Cup, he shouldn’t care. Let Cam pick the coach, or even let Cam coach. His former linemate isn’t doing too bad in Washington.

Bottom line, as a fan, I hope they win tonight, catch fire, and go on a deep run. But nothing has me excited. They’ve been playing scared since Game 4. Even them at home, doesn’t excite me.

With Claude it’s like Grady leaving in Pedro. When they lost the game I wanted “Grady Fired” on the front page of the Herald (even though his contract just wasn’t renewed). I want “Claude Fired” front page tomorrow on all the papers if they lose tonight.

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May 10, 2013 · 5:07 AM

Another Running Back?

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A few years back I joked about how excited Big Jeff would be if the Pats drafted Darren McFadden. McFadden went to the Raiders and the Pats traded down to get Mayo, and the rest is history.

Well McFadden’s college teammate and fellow running back Felix Jones went in the 20′s to Dallas. He was pretty good for them. Certainly a reach in the 20′s given he was a complementary back to Marion Barber.

Anyways, the Pats are bringing him in for a visit. I think this is like bringing in Aidai last year. Great if there’s still some tread on the tire, but with the emergence of Ridley and Vereen, I’m not really looking for running back help.

But that was a nice distraction for a day while the Bruins flew back to Boston. Here’s hoping they close out the series at The Garden tonight.

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May 9, 2013 · 5:02 AM

Hat Trick Makes It Three

Back in the early 2000′s I went to a ton of Bruins games. DJ Larry moved to Florida and JC inherited half of his 304 season tickets with OB. Most games I went to I wore a hat I didn’t care about on the off chance I’d see a hat trick. Last row balcony didn’t matter, I’d be sending my hat towards the ice.

Never happened. The Bruins were a joke. As they sat in the 10th spot in the East the Bruins demanded their playoff money from OB. He paid, they didn’t make the playoffs, and that was the last of the season tickets. “No, don’t put the money to next season’s tickets, send me a refund check.”

I’ve made it very clear in these pages it took a while for me to comeback to hockey. That lost season combined with the Joe Thornton trade put me off from the Bruins. I’ve chronicled my return to hockey too. It was two years before the Cup. I started paying attention and liked this new team.

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This season was an up and down. They started so strong but limped to the finish. I questioned how good they could be in the playoffs.

But I have to say that last night’s game was one of the best I’ve seen in sometime. Not saying I like our team going down 2-0 early, but they battled back.

As I’m watching the back and forth in overtime I thought to myself, even if they lose this has been an awesome game. Then Krejci, who I said the other day has been astounding, stuffs home his third goal of the night. Bruins win 4-3.

And somewhere, I hope, a hat someone else didn’t care about found its way to the ice. Yes, even on road ice. Bruins take the commanding 3-1 series lead as Conference foes Pittsburgh and Montreal are struggling.

Maybe it’s finally starting to break the right way for the Bruins.

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