The short bus arrives for the B's "Special" Teams

Before I start, let me just say... At least we are now officially in the playoff hunt, as the point (should have been two) the B's got last night pushed them into the number 8 spot in the playoff picture.

That said, here is the trip on the short bus.....

The Bruins gave up a short handed goal, and a power play goal with less than thirty seconds left which pretty much sums up their effort last night. Tim Thomas played well in spots, but lacked the effort we have been seeing in the past few games. Thomas made some outstanding saves, but coupled them with the same old Tim Thomas we have seen in the past. Shoot upstairs, as the Blue Jackets did twice in the first period, and you will score. Be patient with the puck and Thomas will go down, now he does every now and then go down and make an amazing stop while on the ice, but it is only a matter of time before the rest of the original 30 figure out that if you shoot high your chances of scoring increase drastically.

This photo says it all, it is of the tying goal. Yes the Blue Jackets had a five on three power play, which was a direct result of Chara being used way to much by Dave Lewis. Chara had been on the ice for three shifts in a row as the B's tried to protect a lead, Brad Stuart is called on a questionable trip (looked like the Colombus player tripped by stepping on Stuart stick in the replay) but none the less it was called so deal with it. The coaching staff did, they thought well we will send Chara back out. The result? Well one tired defenseman, and one crafty forward (Rick Nash) and you get the lazy man's penalty, as Chara is beat going to the net and has no choice but to hook Nash. That gave the Blue Jackets just what they needed, a 5 0n 3 advantage and a scrambling Thomas who finds himself way out of position leaving Federov with a wide open net to shoot at.

The winning goal in OT was a complete lack of control by both the players and he coaches. Teh coashing staff decided to to a complete four man line change with the puck barely over the red line, which resulted in the puck being at the Boston bench, the players coming off, afraid to touch it in fear of a penalty for too many men and the players coming on not being over the boards yet. Colombus recognized this and David Vyborny picked up the puck stepped around the last guy at the Bruins door and walked in alone beating Thomas like a whipped mule. Thomas showed his frustration by shattering his stick on the goal post before storming off the ice. I wouldhave to agree that Thomas should have been mad for being left out in the cold by his fellow Bruins, but to display it publically was a little overboard, after all, how many times have we seen Thomas let in one that he should have saved? Ever see Muzz or Savvy smash their stick and storm off the ice?
Looks like we are still in need of a goalie, I don't think Thomas has what it takes to get through the playoffs, he may get us there, but we will be limping if he does.

The B's play grinch to the Habs

The Bruins pulled out another win over the streaking Habs on Saturday night. Boston Jumped out to an early two goal lead, only to see it disapear by the mid way point. Once again the penalty killing continued to improve, and what seemed like a good night for the power play, after Sturm scored an earlier first period goal, turned ugly early in the second when the B's gave up a shorthanded goal, the Habs 11 shorthanded goal of the season. (sounds like they should take more penalties to me)
Thomas looked solid in net once again, making some saves that he should not have (which is something we have not been used to here in the hubcap of hockey.) Thomas stopped 20 of 22, and should be buying Christmas dinner for the boys, as they held the habs to four second period shots ( Thomas was 3 for 4 in the second, which does not boast well for the GAA, but turned out to be enough to get it done) .
The boys looked as if they had a chip on their shoulder, with Muzz getting into it with Koivu in the first, after the Habs captian took a liberty on the back of Muzz's leg. Murray tried to get the midget muskovite to throw down, which would have been Murray's first fighting majore since 1995, but Koivu was to much of a pussy and he just turtled until help arrived.
This was a big win for the boys, going into the Christmas break, in third place in the Northeast (hardest division in the NHL in my humble opinion) and in 9th place, one point out of a playoff spot in the East.
Now is the time for the big playoff push, deals will be made and we are likely to see at least one of the three free agents (Sturm, Primeau, Stuart) get moved. What they will get in return is yet to be seen, a power forward (someone like Joe Thornton would be great, I know in my dreams) or a solid number one goalie, which despite Thomas's play of late, we are still without. Thomas is getting close to that breaking point, where he completely falls apart due to fatigue. It happened last year just in time for January and I would hate to see it happen now with the team surging.
Time will tell, hopefully history only repeats itself when it comes to the Redsox and Yankees.

Bruins Blank the Canuck, Canucks blank the Bruins..... Huh?

Tim Thomas recorded his first shut out of the season, completing a 2-0 blanking of the Vancouver Canucks. Thomas made 39 saves, including a 14 save third period. The Bruins where badly outplayed for the majority of the second and all of the third period where they failed to muster even a single shot on goal. 13 of Boston’s measly 19 shots came in the first period which saw the Bruins Jump out to a two goal lead, both coming on the power play which continues to improve. Glen Murray scored on a 5-3 just 19 seconds into the first penalty, with an absolute laser beam which found its way just under the cross bar from the left point position, Vancouver goalie Dany Sabourin (0-7 in his NHL career) did not stand a chance, as the puck was in and out of the net before he had time to react.
The Bruins Penalty killing was superb last night, killing off all six Vancouver power plays, including three in the final fifteen minutes of the last frame.
The team showed some resilience, being able to hold onto a third period lead is something that has punished the Bruins this season, and last night looked like it was going to be simply a matter of time before the puck went in the net (of course Boston was the benefactor of two quick whistles that eliminated two Vancouver goals, including one with less than a second left.). At least we can say that the Bruins will keep you on the edge of your seat, that is not always a good thing, but it sure is entertaining when they come out on top.
The fruit salad lines continued last night, with Kermit… I mean Dave Lewis, juggling as if we where still in October, and Barnum and Bailey where still ruling Causeway street. Not sure what has sparked the act of juggling, although it work in Ottawa, last nights lack of offense in the second and third periods should be more than enough reason to stop the juggling act. This is just one more thing to throw into the column labeled “Lewis what the hell are you doing?” which I am sure has been the subject of at least one email from Peter C.
Next game, Saturday against the HABS, This time somebody better cover that Samsinov guy, WHY CAN’T WE GET PLAYERS LIKE THAT?

I'm Baaaaaaack and so is the OFFENSE

Sorry for the long delay in posting, things have been a little hectic around here for the past few weeks. Went back to MA for a couple of days at Thanksgiving, then started my new job with the Inspector General, which has sent me to Florida, Colorado, Southern VA and back again over the past three weeks. I know I can’t complain, Florida was warm, Colorado was snowy but cool (I am going back at the end of January and I plan to hit the slopes then if I get a free afternoon.) Virginia is Virginia and I could have done without that trip, but that is life. Anyway, that is my excuse and I am sticking with it.

Now on to the B’s

We have had a good number of games since my last post. In fact they went 2-3 since my last post which SUCKS! But we will give them a little reprieve on bashing, as they played one hell of a game last night in Ottawa. Sturm got his goal production back on track with his second career hat trick, Bergeron had five assists, Savvy had a pair and Muzz netted one for good measure.
Thomas looked solid, his goals against is now 3.09 which is supposedly not bad for the new and improved NHL, even though the league average is only 2.82 (don’t forget this includes all those back up slouches with GAA’s in the high three low four range (aka Dan Cloutier (3.82), and the league leader is resting comfortably at 1.96 goals against (Hasek). The top five goalies all have GAA’s between 1.96 and 2.15 What should stand out is his save percentage which hovering at .904 which at one time was great (puts Timmy at #14 in the league but at least it is above .900, which the Bruins have not seen in a long time.)
Now on to what I did not like about last night. First, I did not like the fact that the Sens goon squad took a two runs at one player (Primeau) and no one stepped in until Primeau gathered himself and tackled the offender himself. The result was matching penalties for the most part, with the Ottawa player getting an extra two for the first hit from behind. (Should have gotten the gate for the elbow to the head, but oh well that is hockey) What the Bruins lacked though was someone to throw out there who can stand up for the spoked B and pound some fists against the oppositions face.
The second thing I did not like was the exact same thing as the first. Near the end of the game Ottawa once again tossed out a cheap shot with an elbow to Marc Savard’s head. Paul Mara did grab the offender as soon as it happened, but he failed to throw even a slight jab to the face, instead he just tossed him on the ground (I know some of you hate Neely, but you have to admit, if that was Neely and not Mara the Ottawa player would have left the ice in need of medical attention, not just because the zebra gave him five minutes and a game for a cheap shot.) (For those of you who feel the need you may insert Terry O’Reilly in Neely’s place, either way same result.)
The third thing all relates to the first two. OK so they showed composure and did not pound the hell out of anyone and they got two power plays out of the deal, not bad right? WRONG, they got pussy hooking and slashing penalties to eliminate both the ensuing power plays, now if your going to go out and do that, at least slash the hell out of the guy who was responsible for the cheap shot, what the hell are the coaches teaching these kids today? What happened to the good old rule of thumb in hockey, an eye for an eye, or tooth if you prefer? What is this basketball……. No never mind they actually fight in that sport, well sort of… good effort on the scoreboard boys.. Now just stick up for yourselves.

Who doesn't like the new NHL scheduling

That's right kiddies, if your a Bruins fan, you have to love this new NHL scheduling. Hell if we could play Toronto every other game, the Bruins may have one of the best record in the NHL. After lastnights win, the Bruins now have beaten the Leafs in four straight. Not only did they beat the leafs, the shook that third period implosion we have seen by scoring three unanswered third period goals.
The team looked good last night, the lone Toronto goal coming on a bad bounce off the boards that was coupled with a lost edge by Thomas. Other than that public enemy (Ok my enemy) number one was on. Thomas in his 20th consecutive start, made some solid stops keeping his team in the 1-0 game going into the third period, setting them up for the comeback.
Brad Stuart continued his hot streak, scoring the tying goal with a rocket of a wrister midway through the third period, continuing his quest for a big free agency pay day in July 9Unless of course management tosses him up as trade bait late in the season, stay tuned...)
The rookie line of Kessel, Chistov,(ok not really a rookie) and Hogan got more ice time than usual last night and we even got to see Phil the thrill nock Hal Gill on his ass in the third with a decent hit.
The penalty kill was on lastnight, killing off all three Toronto power plays, including a four minute high sticking penalty.
Unfortunately the power play continued its slide, going 0-3. What was once our strong suit, we are now seeing that the power play has become a dump and chase, meaning we dump it in, they ice it and we chase it.
Overall good game, showed the ability to play hard even when loosing and make a solid come back to win a tough division game.

Can't be explained??? YES IT CAN!

I start with a quote from the bench boss. "Can you guys explain this one to me?" This was his answer to the Boston Globes Fluto Shinzawa when asked how the Bruins where able to win with the way they got man handled in the first and then blew a 4-1 lead and a 5-4 lead.

I hope Fluto's answer was something like this, "No Asshole that's your J-O-B"

Lewus didn't know why, despite a first period pounding where the Canadiens had14 shots, his team held a one-goal lead. Simple answer there Davey, the other teams goalie was having a terrible night. The first goal was a decent goal and there was not much that Huet could do. The second goal however should have been a sure sign to our stellar coach that things where not right with Huet letting a puck in from behind the net, playing his angle to far of the post and Muzz made him pay. "I just threw it at him, seeing that he was out of position and it went off the back of his leg an in"
Hmmm the players could see he was off, why not the expert eyes of our coach.
One reason the Bruins blew the first lead was the play of Chara. I did not start to count his misplayed pucks until the second period, where he had 6 misplayed pucks that lead to scoring chances. Not to mention his two penalties. Now if that was any other player on the roster, Lewis would have had them on the bench for at least a shift asking them what was wrong. Not Chara though, he does not have to answer to Lewis the mortal.
I give Lewis credit for noting that in the first period the kid line was flying, unlike the rest of the team, so they earned a regular shift..... Regular shift? Lewis should have put them out there on extra duty and passed the smelling salts around to the other lines.
The first period was the worst period I have seen the Bruins play all year. Yup ALL year, even worse than opening night when Florida slapped us around the woodshed.

I will give credit to the players, and of course Thomas (Yes he let in a couple of soft five hole goals, but he made up for those in the first period by keeping his team in the contest. (Nice work Timmy, just remember, we don't have the offense to get 6 goals every night.)

I hope the boys don't get today off, I hope the coaching staff stresses that this was one of the teams worst performances even though they won. They came out flat in the first, blew two leads, one 3 goal lead and another one goal lead in the third, not sure wich of those is worse.
If this was my team they would be skating their balls off for the first twenty minutes of practice to make up for the no show in lastnights first period. Then we ask the Captain to explain to us why he looked like a rookie who had never played in the Bell Centre before, looking around missing the puck. Hell we pay your a zillion dollars a season, which to me spells out that YOU DON'T GET TO HAVE A BAD SHIFT for get about the whole game.

Bottom line is WE SUCKED Montreal must be pissed and we stole one from them at home.... As a Bruins fan nothing is better than THAT!

ICE time at a Premium

OK now I know there are those people out there who believe that Defense is the way to a Stanley Cup. I can say that I do somewhat agree, however think about this, a 0-0 game does NOT win you a Cup now does it.
What you need is a balanced effort from the whole team, you should have a line that goes out there and produces a scoring chance just about every shift. They may give up one or two but the will certainly score at some point.
Case in point is the Bruins line of Kessel, Tenkrat and Chistov. Dave Lewis is scared to play these guys or so he says because of lack luster defense. Well if you plop them down in front of a Chara and Stuart pairing on D you may turn out ok. Give these kids a chance and we may be surprised at the result. Continue to hold them back cutting ice time from 17 to 9 to less than 5 (against Carolina) and you will get exactly what we have now. Three young kids who wonder if they have what it takes. If Kessels habits are that bad, send him to Providence for the rest of the year, let him tear up the AHL focus on D and then bring him back with confidence next season. Sitting him on the bench is only going to fuck with his head and we all know where that will get us.
Bottom line play him or send him packing. But don't play head games with him, sitting on the bech does little for anyone except make them think to much.
For the record Phil "the Thrill" has more points now than Joe did his entire rookie season, and we all know how he turned out.
My dislike of Dave 'I won in Detroit, and was still asked to leave" Lewis is growing. Now we know why they tossed him from behind the bench in Detroit. Can you really see this guy giving a motovational speach? Not me....

We shall see how the boys respond to the Carolina blow out tonight. Hopefully they snap out of it.

Rally Caps Come thru again

Once again the B's put on their rally caps for a shootout win over Tampa lastnight. Looking back at last season, seems the boys in black have actually figured out how to score on a breakaway.
Phil the Thrill got the game winner in the shootout, even though it took four shootouts and 6 other skaters in this one before Dave "Muppet" Lewis let Kessel have a go at it. Lewis keeps harping on the kids defense, which we all know is his weakness, but hell put the kid out there for every shootout, we also all know he can shoot and has some incredible moves.

The defense looked sloppy in the first period lastnight, making me wonder why we like Stuart so much, I counted no less than three give aways in the first period alone. The paring of Stuart and York was lack luster at best and hopefully Paul Mara will not be out long.

Thomas played a good second period and an all-star third, the first period was marred by a five hole goal, and from where I stand, anytime a goalie is beat five hole and it is not due to a deke on a breakaway, means only one thing YOU SUCK!
Thomas completely redeemed himself with the save of the year, give him an ESPY now. Even though ESPN did not show it in their top ten (they opted for another nice save Thomas made of Lecavier in the third). Not sure why they did not show the diving, twisting save on the goal line but I can not recall a more amazing save than that one. Kudos Timmy, (even though your still not starting goalie material.)

We will see when they decide to give Hannu another shot. Thomas is set to go Saturday in Carolina and after that we have Montreal which is a must win if we want to climb out of the North East Division cellar .

Bruins rake the Leafs 4-1

Goaltending was hot, defense was on top of their game, and the Bruins once again beat the leafs by more than a one goal margin. For the second game this season and the second game in a row, the B's out scored an opponent by more than a goal.
Goaltending was on with 45 saves, easily Tim Thomas's best effort and maybe the start of Thomas fighting for his job. Everyone knows that Boston is in the market for a goalie and I am sure no one knows it more than Thomas. (well maybe Hannu). When his job is on the line, it seems that Thomas is at his best. I still do not feel that Thomas is an NHL #1 goalie, a solid backup yes but he has shown signs in the past that he can not play ten or so games in a row without a let down due in part to fatigue. Thursday will be the real test as this will be Thomas's fourth game in seven nights.
Glen Murray had the goal of the night when he ripped a slapper from the top of the circle over Razor's shoulder on the short side. It was a thing of beauty!
The goal gave Murray 12 goals (putting him just five goals of the league lead) in 22 games putting him on pace to score 45 goals for the season. Not bad numbers seeing that we have yet to reach the halfway point. Muzz seems to have found his nitch again after having a dismal season last year with just 24 goals. We all know that this was a direct result of moving Joe, but that was then and this is now. Muzz seems to have found comfort in the form of Marc Savard who has a team leading 21 assists, 6th best in the league.

The power play was once again a disappointment going 0-3 with only six power play shots on goal, most of those coming on the second power play where the B's did everything right in the second minute getting four quality shots off from various angles.
The penalty killing was on shutting down the leafs on 6 man advantages, to include a 5-3 for more than a minute and a half. The Bruins best penalty killer was Thomas, even though he needed to control his rebounds a little better, he still made the first save and that is all you can ask of your goalie.

Yes I am Alive

Sorry folks, the updates have been missing for the past week, I was away for the holiday and believe it or not had no time to myself. Hell I did not even get a chance to talk to March and, March's mom was actually in the same house I was and I still did not see her.

Any hooo, the B's won one and lost one (badly) while I was at home. The handled Toronto pretty well after getting booed out of the rink by the vault faithful on the classic Friday after Thanksgiving noon time game. Which was likely their worst game of the year, which speaks volumes for how they rebounded against the leafs. I will say it again (I think I have said this at least twice before in this space) MAYBE we have turned the corner.

We will see tomorrow night how they react to the win, with a return trip to Toronto to have a grudge match against the Leafs.

TWO in a ROW???????

Holy SHNIKIES! The boys have put together THREE in a row and are now actually .500
Yes you should be excited, at least that is what the gents from the Boston Globe think. I pefer to take the it is about dam time approach. After all we are ONLY .500 (first time since game 2 of this mess we are calling a season).
It is funny how last week everyone in town was ready for Tim Thomas to be hung from the Tobin bridge, and now they are talking about how great he played in the last two games. I give Tim "let em in" Thomas credit for playing fairly well against the Caps and making some solid saves lastnight, but the goal he let in was simply aweful, yes it was on the power play, but it went five hole and SHOULD have been stopped. What is the first thing every coach tells their youngsters? "Stick on the ice" If Timmy had just listened to that first coach, he would have had his stick on the ice and MAYBE even a shut out (highly unlikely, but MAYBE).

The rest of the team on the other hand played very well. They skated hard, moved the puck well and played both ends of the ice, beating Toronto to loose pucks.
The kids (Kessel, Tenkrat, Chistov) played well lastnight, they where flying and had a scoring chance on almost every shift. Why Dave Lewis decided to sit them out for the last eight minutes of the game, we will never know. I am sure he will use the pressure excuse, but that is getting old. Cutting the last few minutes down to two lines (Boyes, Bergeron, Strum and Muzz, Savy, and Axe) was not something I wanted to see. It nearly cost us as both lines looked like they had lead weights on their feet and the Bruins where definitely hanging on to that 1-1 tie. I personally thought that OT was going to get ugly, but needless to say the boys pulled it out and we walked away with two points.
Overall pretty well played game. Was it our best? Not by a long shot. Was the coaching still making questionable moves? Who knows, we won didn't we.

Bruins Make a Move

To me our top priority is not scoring, however I will accept the addition of Stanislav Chistov for a 2008 third-round pick, that actually belongs to the Phoenix Coyotes (came over in the Mara for Boynton deal) So if you want to make the Mara deal even better than getting rid of good old hook 'em, hold 'em, Clothesline 'em Boynton we added another player who at one time was a fifth overall pick. Of Course Chistov has been a wash out West with our feathered friends, but who know's look a Joe Thornton. He sucked here and then went to San "JO"se and was a superstar.... (Now if you believe that, go into your bathroom, kneel in front of your commode and raise the seat all the way up. Place your big ass head full of shit on the rim and slam the cover on your noodle repeatedly until you knock all the shit out from between your ears, or you pass out. Which ever comes first.)
Any hooo, we gave up little and got what potentially could be a solid first or second line player. I think we may like to see him out their with Phil the thrill, the two of them both have that extra gear that one of these days will make them a force in this league. Once Phil settles in and finds his groove I think we will be looking at least a 30 or 40 goal scorer on a consistent basis. He sure can shoot, hitting the net has been an issue, but let's not forget that the boy is just that, a boy... 19 is hardly NHL ready.

Keep an eye on the trade wire, I have a feeling you will see a goalie headed to Bean town by weeks end, which means the exit of either Boyes, Sturm, Brad Sturt or PJ Axelson.

Goaltending takes another hit

Hannu Toivonen went tumbling down the other night, al the way down to the Providence Bruins, where he continued to slide deeper into non-existance. Hannu turned an ankle in the baby b's loss and is likely out for a couple of weeks. Sound familiar? Thank goodness it was not his bad ankle that he hurt, it was his good ankle..... Hmmmmm so now we have a struggling goalie who has to take a couple of weeks off to heal a sprained ankle, the sam injury that kept him out for the entire campaign last year. Sounds like Peter C will be working the phones overtime this week. So now the Bruins have some ECHL kid listed as the second goalie, Hell why not put him in there and see if he can do it. What have we got to loose, the other three have gotten their taste of what no defense if like why not this kid. Baptism by fire is always a good welcome to the NHL.

Well now onto the positive, we took another win against Ottowa, good thing they are one of the teams we play eight times, we may actually get a chance to have double digits in the win column before the All-Star break.
The Bruins played with some heart, Muzz netted two, the rookie Petr Tenkrat made his first appearence rememberable as he netted a nice goal.
I liked the line of Tenkrat, Kessel and Primeau, seemed that Peter and Phil actually fed off one another and I even saw Kessel hit someone in the corner.
This week should be interesting as we have games Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Monday. Win all four of those and we are right back in it. Anyone who thinks that this is going to happen, is on crack and I would like to talk to you about some property I have for sale!

U-G-L-Y!

Usual poor showing in net
Got beat to every loose puck
Lack of energy
You know the result.

That pretty much sums up the game last night. Thank goodness Razor had to leave the game, otherwise the score may not have been as close as it was.
I give credit to the B's for not giving up after getting shelled in the first period, not that 10 shots is being shelled, that would be shelled as in the leafs leading 3-0. So does this mean that now Thomas is going to be sent to Providence? Brian Finley came in for the second and third period and unfortunately absorbed the loss that Thomas dam well earned. Finley stopped all but two of the shots he faced, although he did not look very comfortable in the net and at times looked scared. I hope Peter C is working the phones today in search of a goaltender. The price the B's will have to pay went up last night for sure, any GM who has half a clue will be sure to ask for something solid from a team who is desperate and I believe we now qualify as such.
If I had to guess, I would say that Marco Sturm may likey be the trade bait, as he is in his last year of his contract and if he had a clue he would not resign with this bunch.
Stay tuned for trade updates!

Going Down?

This could be the new hub cap of hockey moto, however it refers to the demotion of Hannu to the broken spoked P. Hannu Toivonen was sent packing, as if a stint in Providence will actually help him improve his game. What he needs is some solid play in front of him. The issue here is not goaltending alone, it is an issue but from my eyes it appears that total team defense is in need of an overhaul, not just the keepers.
This is pretty ironic seeing that Hannu was thought to be the answer as shown in the early part of last season before he suffered a season ending injury. Hannu's performance last year prompted the B's to ship Andrew Raycroft to Toronto where he has been a big part of the Leaf's early success this season, Raycroft's numbers look like this, (8-4-2, 2.73 GAA, .911 save percentage) .
Toivonen will be replaced on the roster with Brian Finley who was chosen No. 6 overall (by Nashville) in the '99 draft. An injury kept him out of the 2001-'02 Nashville lineup, coupled with the lost year, is liekly what has kept him from fulfilling the high-end potential that Nashville and others saw in him.
Finley had a decent camp, but obviously something was not quite right as he was sent to Providence and not given the chance to show what he had, hind sight now says that Peter C should have stuck with three goalies on the roster, at least for the first part of October.

Latest word out of wilmington is that Finley may get the start against the leafs.

THRASHED!

That's all there is to say about the game last night. Out shot in the opening frame 21-8 leaving them down 2-0 was not where the Bruins needed to be. Thomas played well in the second half of the period but got caught twice by the Atlanta power play (4 for 11 on the night) in the opening minutes, and with Boston not being the best comeback team in the NHL, that turned out to be a back breaker. The Bruins where determined to see if they could beat the team with the second best record in the East (Behind only Buffalo, who is just simply RED HOT) playing short handed. This was an attempt to show all of the nay sayers that they actually did have a better team than last season. (note to management: You changed some names, and added some talent but when it comes down to it you have the same poor product.) When you are ranked 30th (OUT OF 30 DAM IT!) in the penalty kill it is likely not a good idea to take 11 penalties in a game, even if your Buffalo!

Here is a little comaprison of what we had last year and what we have this year.

We lost Joe Thorton (this still to this day PISSES ME OFF)
We gained Marc Savard (no Joe but he is a decent set up man)
Advantage 05-06 Bruins

We lost Samsinov
We gained two guys who are no longer here
Advantage 05-06

We lost Andrew Raycroft
We gained Tuukka Rask (19 and supposed to be DAM Good, but has yet to play in the NHL)
Advantage Dead even Raycroft bit the big one last year, but may be better than what we have now)

We lost Hal Gil (THANK GOD!)
We gained Zdeno Chara
Advantage 06-07 BY FAR!

We lost Nick Boyton
We gained Paul Mara
Advantage Dead even, both players get dumb penalties.

We lost David Tanabe
We gained Shean Donovan (This is who we signed with the money we saved)
Advantage 05-06 (land slide there)

We lsot Brian Leetch
We gained Jason York (This is who we signed with the money we saved)
Advantage 05-06

We lost Brad Isbister
We gained Mark Mowers
Advantave (this one looks even)

There are a few other player whom we parted ways with, Zhamnov (we all know who one on this one); Mariusz Czerkawski, Fitgerald, Green, Slegr, Moran. We did not really replace any of these guys with anyone, we went with younger blood that was already in the system. Based on the play of Dempsey and Lashoff I will give it to the 06-07 crew.
Advantage 06-07

Bottom line is that our roster last year looked much better than this year's squad. Just because the names have changed does not mean that the team has. We brought in the same caliber players for the most part and lost some key parts of a franchise in the process. It will take YEARS for this team to overcome the mess that MOC left. Anyone know if the Bruins have drug testing for management? They should!

Look for Peter Chairelli to pull the trigger on a goalie in the coming weeks. Anyone else wonder why Atlanta played Hedberg against the Bruins, meaning he got his third straight start in front of Kari Lehtonen (who you could argue is the best goalie in the league?) Maybe they are showing Hedberg off as trade bait?

Mery Go-Round Lines again tonight?

Will coach Lewis change his line-up tonight or will he go with what seemed to work for the most part over the last two games?

The lines in yesterday's practice showed no difference, other than the absence of Jason York who will undergo surgery today on a balky knee. The Bruins are not saying when or how he hurt his knee, other than it just needs to be cleaned up.

No word on what we will see for defense pairings tonight, with Yourk out, we will likely see Jurcina in the line up again tonight.

B's Grab a Roller Coaster Win

The Bruin's fueled by a Marc Savard 4 point night beat Tampabay 6-5 in OT. It was not a win they or anyone else expected to pull off after a dismall start by Hannu Toivanin. Hannu let in 5 goals on 21 shots and two of them where of the extremely soft variety, and where what you call back breakers, coming just seconds after the Bruin's rallied to tie the game TWICE!

Thomas came in for Hannu in the third and stopped the seven shots he faced. It should be a matter of days before we see a deal in Beantown for legit starting goalie. At this point we will likely see Thomas get shipped out if the deal includes a goalie. Not to much stock around the league in a goalie who has been pulled for poor performance in his last two starts.

Kudos goes out to the whole team on this one as they never gave up and kept pushing forward.
The line of Muzz, Savvy and Axelson has really seemed to take off of late. They had a combined ten points against Buffalo and last night was pretty much the same thing. Muzz with the game winner, Savvy with two and two and Axelson with one and a couple of assists.
The "FORMER" top line of Sturm, Bergeron and Boyes was a no show last night as far as offense goes. Strum and Boyes had one shot each and Bergy has two. Can't score if you don't shoot. Someone on that line needs to pull the trigger.

Phil Kessel finally got a real goal, being set up in the slot by Mowers for a quick wrister through Dennis five hole. It is only a matter of time before this kid's confidence is there and he starts showing the Hub Cap of Hockey why he was thought to be the #1 overall pick for a good part of last year. Yes his defensive game needs work, but hell if he can score 30-40 goals then we will take the lapses in D, after all is that not why he is skating with Premaue and Mowers? They certainly are not out there for the great offense abilities they have.

Next game is against Atlanta on Monday.
The Bruins finished their six game home stand 3-1-2* (which if you think about it is not all that bad, unless you remeber that the two OT or Shoot out losses should have been wins!)

In case your wondering YES there are 60 Minutes in a hockey game... Bruins Please take note

That's right kiddies, once again the Bruins failed to play a full game and it cost them. For the first forty minutes the Bruins fooled us all into believing that they had actually turned the corner and where about to hand the red hot Sabres their first regulation loss of the season. I personally could not believe what I was seeing, less than 6 minutes left in the game and the Bruins where dominating the Sabres at every level, the score was 4-1, they where out shooting them, they where even out skating them. Then out of no where, the wheels fell of the bus and it came screaching to a hault.
What happened? They just stopped skating, coaches stopped coaching. The final five minutes of the third period turned what was Boston's best performance of the season into one of their worst let downs in team history. (Of course nothing will surpass blwoing a 3-0 series lead against the Habs, but this was dam close)

The Bruins remain adimant that they did not sit back, simple fact is that they just lost their control of the game... Hmmm the following is a quote off the Bruins blog that to me says, WE SAT BACK AND TRIED TO WIN BUT DID NOT.

I don’t think we were sitting back…we ended up chasing the puck a lot and they got a hold of those pucks and they scored on those [chances]. We should prevent those…it’s definitely a tough way to lose like that…we earned a point, but it could have been two…it’s always tough when you are leading the whole game and in the end the [other] team puts pressure on you and you are protecting the lead. We’ve got to learn to be more poised and patient with those times. We made some mistakes in our zone and didn’t get those pucks out. When you make one, two, three mistakes in a row, usually that is not good. That’s how they earned…two points.”
Captain, Zdeno Chara, after the Sabres game
To me the sentences above contridict one another... where you sitting back or where you not? Protecting the lead to me reads "sitting back" they got away from the style of game that won them two periods of hockey and that is what cost them. They simply stopped skating and tried to defend the lead with pure defense and with Thomas or Hannu in net, you can NOT let any team build up shots, let alone the Sabres.

Kudos to Marc Savard on a three point night. He played one hell of a game, shame on Kessel, he had a chance to end it in OT and he missed the net, granted the ice was likely bad and the pressure was high, but this is one aspect of the game this kid is suppose to bring. He'll bounce back but it would have been nice to see him finish it. I know time... it takes time, not sure the Bruins have much time left.

The power play looked much better, scoring twice on four tries. They jumped to 19th overall. penalty killing was better, however they remain at the bottom of the original 30 on that one.

More to post after today's practice at NOOOOON TIME.

Tonights line break down

The lines for this evening according to what was seen at practice today are as follows:

Sturm-Bergeron-Boyes (first time this season we see this trio)
Axelsson-Savard-Murray (not sure that Axlesson should be there)
Primeau-Kessel-Donovan (like to see Phil in the middle but third line center? not much ice time there)
Hoggan-Mowers-Brookbank (what can I say, I like this line, they work hard and add energy)

Lashoff-Chara
Alberts-Mara
York-Dempsey

Thomas

New and Improved

I have made some changes to the blog, the sidebar now has some stats and a bunch of hockey links. Most of them are Canadian folks so it is genuine hockey stuff and not someone spewing garbage like ME!

Less than twelve hours until we see if the shuffle works.

Some interesting trade talk is going on according to the Canadian press. Seems the Bruin's are not afraid to toss Hannu into trade talks, as they feel that Tuukka Rask may be their real goaltending future (Tuukka was aquired in the deal with Toronto for Raycroft, which left many Toronto fans up in arms). Teams the B's are looking at dealing with are Philly, San Jose (not sure if Muzz would end up there as that may cause an issue with Cheecho, who is very happy to be Joe's go to guy and would likely not be happy with any change to their chemistry) The Sens, of course this would be tough to do inside the division, but because of Peter C's past you have to count them in.

Barnum and Bailey pulled out of town two weeks ago but left the JUGGLER behind

Seems that the circus left town and forgot to pack the juggler. Yup the cure all for the Bruin's is going to be to start juggling lines on a nightly basis. Not that I do not agree with mixing it up (both line wise and in the corners that is) But Dave Lewis has got to give his forwards a chance to gel. The team had a solid effort against the Sens last week, and I would have liked to see them go at it with the same line up and see if they can not produce another couple of goals. Boston had several chances that missed which could easily be chalked up as timing issues. You will never get your timing down if you don't play with the same guys. But then again I'm not the coach, nor am I even qualified to act as such.

Thursdays line up will include Kessel centering Axelson and Murray. The second line will see Savard on the left wing with Bergeron in the middle and Boyes on the right. There seems to be no change in the third and fourth lines from Saturday, and the defensive pairings will be a game day decision based on Alberts return or not. (I would go with not, Dempsey seems to be playing well above managements expectations and should be given another chance to show what he's got under the hood)

My next post will follow the game on Thursday.
Have I mentioned that I HATE THIS TWO GAMES PER WEEK AND ALWAYS ON THURSDAY AND SATURDAY! GOD DAM IT THOSE TV NIGHTS ARE USUALLY GOOD! WHY THE HELL NOT HAVE A TUESDAY NIGHT GAME WHEN THERE ISN'T SHIT ON TV!
Not to mention the fact that this will be the second time we see the Sabres this season and we still have not played everyone in our division. Who the hell makes this schedule anyway? GOOD LORD PEOPLE IT AINT ROCKET SCIENCE! (If it was we could always give the job to Joe Junuea.

Thomas gets it done

Yes I said it. Tim Thomas played a heck of a game last night, stopping 35 of the Senators 36 shots. The one that slipped by was on a two man advantage with two guys whacking away on either post. Nothing Thomas could do about it. Tim made some nice saves, including the one he made diving across the net catching the puck with his glove after he muffed a clearing pass and found one of the Senators point blank with an empty net. Still not sure how he got it but it was a hell of a save.

Player of the game honors of course go to Chara, scoring the game winner on the power play fir his second of the season and for his play in the defensive end, at one point he hit all three forwards on the ice within 15 seconds of each other. Then came his wrestling match with the Senators resident tough guy Neil. Neil did not dare drop the gloves, that would have been great to see Z get his first fighting major with his old team. That my friends would have made a statement to the rest of his team, BRUINS, this is what it means to wear the C. No more old friends, former teamates means just that, former, meaning its on whom ever you are.

PJ Axleson (BH's favorite Sweed) had a very nice goal on a give away in the slot. Picked the corner in the third to tie the match at one.

Kessel looked even more confident last night and showed that it is only a matter of time before he begins to dominate the offensive zone. I would like to see him hit a little more, but then again that is not what we are paying him to do. He led the team in shots on goal and had three of four quality chances. Just needs to fine tune it and they will soon find the back of the net.

Speaking of the the back of the net, goal scoring is definitely where we need the most work. The B's have a piss ant 19 goals, no other team has less, Colombus has 19 as well, but they have the excuse of being an expansion team. Welcome to he HUB OF HOCKEY, the only original 6 expansion team in NHL history.
NESN showed Peter Charelli after the horn sounded in the third, he had his fist to his face, almost like he was trying to hide his smile. Smile Peter, your team finally played 60 minutes of hockey and actually won.

All in all good game by all, including Thomas. Yes I said it!

I have to say I do hate this new NHL schedule though, we play on Thursdays and Saturdays and noting in between. This is like the fucking NFL one god dam game a week! What the hell is this. Come the end of the season they will end up playing seven days a week to make up the 82 game schedule. Not to mention the fact that they do not play all the teams in the league, what the hell is up with that!

And Another One Bites The Dust.....

I must say that I was pretty happy with the overall performance of the boys last night. Minus of course Tim Thomas who showed his true ability when he muffed the first Montreal shot of the game putting his team down one, and then the back breaker with 1.2 seconds left, which I still can not understand how he did not save, as he was practically on top of the Montreal player who shot it under his arm.

The power play was nothing to write home about, however they did score (1-8 on the night) they did have good movement but seemed to move the puck to much last night instead of shooting.
Both Chara and Kessel scored, Chara's goal was a nice shot, and Kessel's goal was a direct result of his hard work in the offensive zone. It was nice to see him using the body.

The inconsistantcies in the refs could absorb as much blame for the loss as the weak defense and short on talent goalie. How the ref did not call a slash on Montreal when the players stick was clearly parallel to the ice (as the rule states) and the Boston play (PJ Axelson) buckled over like he just got kicked in the nuts point blank, is beyond me. Then for the ref to follow up with a non call on a 1 0n 1 between Kessel and a Montreal defenseman when Kessel put the puck through the defensmans legs and went to step around he was clearly grabbed and pushed down to the ice, no call. Then less than a minute later, our D (lashoff) does the same thing, minus pulling the player down and he gets called. It is sad, but the inconsistancy in calls is going to kill our sport. either call them all or don't call them at all. It will ruin our game if the ref is allowed to give it away as he seemed to do lastnight. I hope the league reviews the play and assess the so called fines they have for referee's who do not make calls they are suppose to. This would be a prime case to use in a training video. It is simple guys just make the call.

Next game Saturday..... Hope we see Hannu and his new dooo in the net.

At least we are not Phoenix!

Yup, that's rught kiddies, we are not the WORST team in the league, in fact there are two teams in the TSN rankings lower than that of the hub of hockey. Philly and Phoenix round out the bottom three. the B's called up Matt Lashoff due to the injured Stuart, which means that Chara goes back to the point on the power play, which basically puts our PP back at square one. HELLLLLLO.... This did not work for the first 20 plus power plays why the hell do you think it will work now? Chara is much better suited down low with his bog arse in front of the net screening the hell out of the goalie, not to mention the fact that it takes two opposing defensemen to move his big ass. Good lord I thought Dave Lewis was an understudy to the great Scotty Bowman.... We may have figured out why he only served one year at the helm in Detroit and don't believe the hype that he did not want the presure or the time on the road. THAT"S ALL BULLSHIT! Who in their right mind would be an assistant coach instead of a head coach? Give me a freaking break!

My crack intelligence skills came in handy this week as I uncovered the Jacobs family's welcome letter to coach Dave Lewis.

Dear Mr. Lewis,
The Jacobs family would like to welcome you to Boston. Our team sucks as you will soon find out. Don't worry, we will keep you around long enough to put full blame of our sucking on you, and then pay you 700K to sit at home and play nice to the local media much like each of your predisessors. Well except that Don Cherry guy, and everyone knows he doesn't know shit about hockey, or was that fashion? Either way you do your part, (i.e. blame the officials and injuries) and we will do ours (i.e. Raise ticket prices and rip suckers off with ten dollar beers.) We hope you enjoy your stay here in the ASS crack..... I mean hub of hockey.

Sincerly
JJ and little Charlie


Can't wait to see the paper bag fans again this year, seven games in and we already know we suck! Glen Murray should be shipped out any day now, as he is the leading scorer and that is what JJ and Chuck you Farley like to do (Thank's B this one fit in nicely!)

Defense is looking a lot like an emergency room

The B's D is looking a little depleted this week, with injuries to Stewart, Alberts and Mowers. Sturm is also nursing a "bruised" thigh, sound familiar? Cam Neely had a "Bruised" thigh that ended his career. (shut up March, he was what he was and you can not deny that he was a scoring force up front)

We almost had reason to celebrate yesterday, as Phil Kessel was looking out for the Bruins future and hit Tim "Let 'em in" Thomas in the eye with an ice chip, which sent Thomas to the locker room early. Hope around here is that he is OK but his vision is still not 100% because that will mean he either gives way to Hannu, or he will at least not over react to the puck because he can not see it.

Two more days until we attempt to right the ship...... I would love to see a between periods interview with JJ now. The old man should be jumping up and down on little Charlie's desk asking him why ticket sales have once again dropped.

So last season was "it's called Bruins"
interpreted: Sucking is called Bruins

This season it is "The hub of hockey"
interpreted: The hub cap that has been sitting on the side of the Mass Pike for the last two years!

I guess I did not miss much!

The B's lost 6-2 to continue on their doward spiral. Only bright spot was that Kessel netted his first NHL goal. If you missed it and want to see it, here is a link to the ummm.... highlights? Well I am teaching a class for the next thirty days, so postings will be short and not likely sweet seeing that the B's have all but fallen in the toilet! god I hope no one flushes!!!!!!!

Despite a 2nd period let down B's get it done

The Bruin's home opener ended up on the positive side of the record tonight, notching a 3-2 victory over Calgary. The B's came out flying, with Boyes scoring a nice goal on a feed from Savard just 18 seconds into the opening frame. Only a few moments and one shot later, Muzz netted his first of two on the night to give the B's a 2-0 lead.
The first period ended with the B's leading 2-0 despite being outshot. The vault crowd was actualy thinking they had seen the end the scoring funk.
It was good to see Jeremy Jacobs at the game tonight, at least he can say he came to a game this season, even if it is his only one, that will put him at 1 more than last year. I also give him kudos for doing a between periods interview on the New England Sports Network (NESN) they asked him about getting it done and Jacobs responded by saying that he believes in this team and he wants results now, he feels that the team simply needs to believe in themselves and that they need action now to bring the fans back (so all of you who have been boycotting the games, it has worked, JJ has obviously seen that without us he is the proud owner of a cash suckig machine and that does not boast well for the bottom line. Speaking of, the interviewer busted JJ's balls about being over the cap, which Jacobs explained was because of the 4.5 tied up in Zhamnovs salary that will not come off the books until January due to the rules on unable to preform.

The second period was all Calgary as they cut the lead to one, until the final three minutes when the Bruins actually got their first shot on net. The flurry, started by our hard charging fourth line resulted in a penalty to Calgary (which in the first five games was a bad thing for the B's) The Bruins quickly capitalized on the power play when Muzz took a diving snap shot and sent it into the back of the net putting the B's back up by two.

The third period saw the B's looking like they where going into that dreaded defensive lock which in the past few games has resulted in a loss. The Flames netted their second goal of the night and pressed hard for the third, but Boston stood tall and with quality checking and forechecking, coupled with some key saves by Hannu to hold on to the victory.

All in all we played two solid periods of hockey, and got a win. We still need to get a full 60 minute effort, especially seeing that Buffalo is coming to town Saturday, coming off a 9-1 shilacking of the Rangers this week. Neither Chara nor Kessel netted their first tonight, however both had a couple of solid chances, Chara more so than phil, as he just missed one on the power play (1-3 on the night).

I will miss the Saturday game, so MARCH the comments on that performance are up to you.

Less than twelve hours to get it right

Well twelve hours from now, we will know the result of what a week of preparation between games has done for the B's. Sturm is likely a no show for the home opener as he took a Brad Stuart shot to the foot in practice yesterday and Lewis said he was planning to go without him.
The latest rumor has Murray on the trading block, (not that we would get much for him, or at least that is what it seems.) likely suitors would include of course San Jose, Edmonton and Carolina. Not sure what cap room each has nor what the B's would get in return. He is a tough trade with a 4 mil salary on top of a lack luster year.
No word on who will be in the net tonight, but this is certainly a sign of who the coaching staff is looking at as their potential number one goalie (not that either has shown they are ready) My guess is Hannu, he did not get the season opener start, and he does have a better save % and has certainly played better than Tim "let-em-in" Thomas. Who in my opinion remains to show that he is no better than a backup goalie.
Forward lines should be announced later today after the morning skate, I imagine you will see the likes of Preimue, Axelson and Donovan skating with one of them on each of the first three lines. The fourth line will remain, as they are the only ones who have been doing what is expected and that is create energy (which means they don't have to score, and we know the Bruins have no issue with that)

Mixing it up

Well the coaching staff has had three days to make some changes and I am sure the lines will not be the same ones we saw a week ago. The next two days will be used for fine tuning the new combination.

Interesting tactic used in yesterdays practice, the coaching staff had each player try and skate alone from one end to the other against five players and the goalie. I hope they got the point, that no one player can beat a team. Coach Lewis gradually added players until it was five on five allowing the players to see how much easier it is when you play as a team and use the outlet pass to your advantage.

Less than 48 hours to the home opener! We need to take three or four in a row to right this ship!

How can you blame the keeper?

So we dropped another one 4-1 lastnight and our friends at the Boston Globe
seem to want to put the blame on the keeper. Well once again the Bruins where their own worst enemy. Yes they scored A power play goal, but they failed to keep themselves out of the box when needed and they allowed 13 shorthanded shots throughout the game. Good thing this was not one of the last few games where they could not even generate any powerplay shots, as they at least accomplished that. The new look power play mustered five shots on its first attempt and netted a goal on only its second look, by Glen Murray.
Goaltending according to the stats should be given at least a B as Hannu stopped 35 shots. How the hell can you put blame on a keeper if they make 35 saves? If he had stopped the other 4 he would have been close to a 40 save shut out and he would have been a hero. Hell even if he had a shut out with 20 saves he would be getting praise instead of blame. Well I am not sure what game good old Fluto watched but I saw two goals that Hannu maybe should have gotten (one broke off his glove which is just bad luck, and the other was a partial breakaway which is more or less the fault of the defense for a bad change.) The other two goals where a complete team break down, hell one of them was scored on the third whack at Hannu's pad beside the net. Penalty or not that guy should have been on his as after the first whack.
Coach Lewis seems to think that they just need to gel more as a team, well five games on the road should be enough for them to gel.... The home opener is next week, they loose that one and all hell is going to break loose at the Jacobs house, as daddy Jacobs will be pissed when home game two is not a sell out.
Bottom line is they need a power play that works and they need to capitalize on the odd man rushes. 39 freaking shots on net by the other team is not going to win you many games! Even if you had Marty Broduer in his prime. Remember the average is one out of ten goes in. Hannu had a bad night, he let one more in than he should have on that formula. So as averages play out we should have only lost 3-1 Good lord men WE FREAKING LOST because we did not play as a team! March I hope you held off on that ten game plan!

The POWER is OUT

Once again the Bruins Power Play failed to generate any offense for the Bruins. The boys blew a two goal lead with a little more than five minutes left. Time was definitely not on Bostons side, as it was only a matter of time before the Blues figured out that Thomas goes down on his knees when the puck is behind the net. He did this twice late in the third and the Blues capitalized on it for both goals. This one is not all Thomas's fault, as the Defense could once again not break up the cycling down low. Tomorrow's game in Long Island will speak volumes as to how the Bruins respond. They have now lost 3 of 4 and are a pittiful 1-20 on the power play making their power play good on 5%. I think it is time to move some guys around, put Chara down low, put Muzz up top with Stuart and see what happens. Something has to give, or we are likely to be the only team in the league that does not sell out their home opener, or at least fill all the seats (much like those sell outs last season that showed tickets sales selling out but NESN's broadcast showed an awful lot of empty seats.) Kessel play ok for a 19 year old and had a nice assist on Bergeron's goal. He also got a stick to the face and a shoulder that sent him on his ass at the end of the first. Welcome to the big leagues kid, your moves are getting better and I will go out on a limb and say he gets his first on the island this weekend. Should have had it last night but he made one to many moves and lost the biscuit. This team needs to play 60 minutes not 55 and they need to start banging some bodies, the Blues where hitting everything that moved and Boston was sitting back waiting. Someone should have pounded Guerin into the boards after his hit from behind on Savard, but no one did anything. One scrap last night betweenn Guerin and Hogan (Hogon got the beating but he also gave up about 30 Lbs to bill. Plus Bill got the extra two so who really won?)
Well next update will be Monday and hopefully it will be after a B's win.

POWERLESS, PLAY!

Here we go again. I hope that this is not a sign of things to come. We had a solid game on Saturday against Tampa, then we come out and completely fall apart against Atlanta. Goaltending was not really the issue last night, as Hannu may have been able to grab one or two of the goals (i.e. the Hossa through the legs goal) but for the most part if you do not score, your goalie has nothing to do with whether or not you win or lose.
Last night started off looking like it was going to be a solid effort by the boys, they controlled the puck for the most part and Hannu made a few good saves in the first and we had a couple of scoring chances. Then came the second period, the penalties started piling up, and this was a good thing, as it was on Atlanta, or was it? Our power play SUCKED and we went 1-8 with a dismal 7 shots, that is less than one shot per power play for those of you keeping track. If you watched the game (which believe it or not the Thrashers did) you could easily see that the Bruins where having Chara skate the puck out of their end pass it to Savard on the wing and he would dump it around the net in hopes of Muzz or Strum getting it. After the first three time Atlanta’s D cut off the pass you would think they would stop that approach, but NOPE they continued to do it and Atlanta continued to watch it happen and pick off the dump. Why in the hell is Chara skating the puck out of the zone? In case you have not noticed, he is NOT the most graceful skater. Why not let Bergeron skate it out of the zone? We all know he can skate it, in fact that may draw one or two guys to the puck more and actually open up the ice a bit.
The only line last night that was worth a dam was the fourth line (Mowers, Brookbank and Hogan) this threesome along with Paul Mara where the only guys on the team that did not end the night on a minus (they where all even at 0) The first line is not gelling, they had four shots which is weak at best, Savard needs to pull the trigger instead on trying to force the pass to Muzz (was this not the reason they said they traded Joe? He was not shooting when he had the chance?) The second line needs to have a little more confidence in Kessel, he was open twice for Bergeron who instead opted to shoot, one of them on a two on one. Yes Kessel did not play a great game and he missed backhand chance while all alone in the slot, and NO Lehtonen did not get a piece of it, unlike what the media wants you to think, Kessel just had the puck roll of his stick. Phil did show some signs of greatness, but those days are still a season or two away. What I would like to see him do is throw a hit, he needs to bang some bodies, he seems to pull up and not complete his checks, this could be because in NCAA hockey you often get called for finishing a check if it is not right after the player moves the puck, well this is the NHL there is more leeway in fact the rule states two seconds which is a long dam time!
The defense was sub par once again and York and Dempsey should find some pine in hopes that they get the message that they actually have to play D. Well we try again tonight (Thomas will likely be in net) I will have more tomorrow on how we are shaping up!

Weekend Round Up

The B's debut on Friday night left many of us scared, the defense was weak at best, goaltending was stuck somewhere between Pee-Wee and Bantams and our scoring lines looked lost. Kudos goes out to the third and fourth lines as they saw limitted action but actually skated hard when asked to. I know no one wants to hear it BUT I TOLD YOU THOMAS WAS NOT A GOOD CHOICE! He played one of the worst games I have seen him play. His angles where off, he miss played pucks, left large uncontrolled rebounds and even allowed a goal while trying to argue for an interfearence call. OK Timmy lesson learned if the whistle does not blow watch the dam puck and when you get set and still miss it don't try and blame the ref... Yes he was interfeared with but he also set himself for the shot and just plain missed it.
The powerplay was weak, as we had ten shots miss the net. Bergeron had six on his own which I am sure was due to his lack of play in the past at the point. I like the idea of him being out there on the point but I think they should use Muzz in that role. Put Muzz out there and then you choose Chara or Muzz but one of them is going to get the shot. Put someone like Wayne Premeau in Muzz's spot down lown, he is big and has shown that he can bang the garbage in.
I did like what Kessel Potentially has, I am sure he was nervous being his first game in all, which is what led to him coughing up a puck that eventually turned into a goal. He did however show some flashes of speed and some moves that will come once the confidence is there. Let's remember this kid is just that a kid and we should see some magic in the comming season once he gets his legs. All in all the effort was not there and they deserved to loose 8-3 or more.

Saturday's effort was 110% better, at least for the first period. They came out flying against a pumped up team on home opener ice. They scored two quick ones and had some solid goaltending from Hannu, stopping a Martin St.Loui break-away and making two more game saving saves late in the period. we saw Phil Kessel get his first point (all be it a second assist, it was still his first and that seemed to excite more than just Phil as both Chara and Boyes went out of their way to give him that extra slap on the helmet)The second period saw a bit of a lapse on D and the forwards where not skating as hard (chalk it up to conditioning I guess) the result was a 2-2 tie and what looked like a potential back breaking opening road trip for the B's. With a fragile fan base, the team could not afford to loose a second game in a row this early in the season. The third period was better, not quite as good as the first but the team skated harder and it paid off on a nice goal by Bergeron fed from Boyes it was good to see them back to passing quick and shooting on net.
Quick scare (for me at least) when I noticed Mower taking Kessels shift late in the third I first thought equipment problem but after missing three shifts I thought shit the kid is hurt. Turns out Dave Lewis did not want to subject him to playing a defensive role with the game on the line. read one of two ways... Coach has no confidence in the kid or the coach thinks the kids psyche is hurt by the good old Boston media that made a point to finger his loss of the puck giving up the 5th goal the night before in an 8-3 loss. Way to go KPD you are showing how much of a moron you really are.
GAME 3 WEDNESDAY!!!

GAME ON!

Tonight is game one for our beloved Bruins. Tim Thomas will get the nod in net (I think I would have gone with Hannu, give him a chance to win the #1 spot and make Thomas fight for it. Thomas plays better when faced with the fact that each game may be his last as a starter)

We have high hopes as noted, we should make the playoffs, but let's not forget that we where ranked 24th in offense last season and we did not do much to correct that. Yes we got Savard but he is a set up man and if Muzz does not get out of his 05-06 funk we could be in trouble. Kessel could add a nice sciring punch, but remember Jumbo Joe had less than ten points during his first season and many people had him labled as a flop (If your one of them please refer to WHO WON THE MVP AND SCORING TITLE LAST SEASON, Then place your head on the rim of your toilet slamm the lid three times and FLUSH!)

Here are my picks for the Western Conference:

1. Anahiem
2. San Joe -se(not a typo)
3. Dallas
4. Calgary
5. Detroit
6. Edmonton
7. Minnesota
8. Vancouver

I don't plan on doing any cup winners until at least the all star break, but my odds on favorite is Anahiem. and for Joe's sake San Jose is a close second.

DROP THE PUCK!

Tonight is opening night! I plan on sitting on the couch with beer in hand watching real coverage of hockey (aka TSN Canada) Looking forward to hearing Don Cherry bash every team going and praise the likes of Tie Domi, Donald Brashier, and Chris Simon (Three names that I am sure top every teams free agent wish list).

This blog is a fucked up, I have been trying to post for two freaking weeks and the dam thing was not publishing. I finally got it to work today and who the fuck knows if this one will post.

Here are my picks for the Eastern Conference:

1. Buffalo
2. Carolina
3. Ottowa
4. Philly
5. Boston
6. Jersey
7. Atlanta
8. Tampabay

Not making the playoffs will be Toronto (sorry folks but Ottawa is the only Canadien team going this year) Montreal, Pittsburgh, Isles, and the Caps.

Go ahead tell me I put Boston in too high.... I see them being in the middle of the pack and this is based off of how the preseason went and the fact that Hannu should be solid in net. That said if goaltending slips you can move Montreal to number 8 and bump everyone else up one notch.

Why do we love them so?

First off WELCOME to Brendan! He joined us on Saturday at 0111 that is 1:11 am for you civilians pukes.

The question was posed to me by March's brother in reference to the good old B's. Well I am not sure why we love them so, we (Beantown) have always been nuts for hockey, even before the days of Bobby Orr, back then it was the Big Bad Bruin's and win or loose people knew they where going to get entertained. I know for our (March, B and I) generation it was Ray Bourque, Cam Neely, Andy Moog and Reggie Lemlin (OK so not so much Cam for B and March but F* you its my blog) It was the pain in the ass that Ken Linseman was, it was the pugalist nature of LB, it was Taz who would stop skating just to drop someone for looking at him the wrong way, it was "Nifty" and the Chief, Espo, and Shore... the list goes on and on. It was making it sooooo close but never quite getting there to push it over the top it was the fact we made the playoffs on a regular basis and we actually had a chance (Granted many of those first round victories came against the forever 500 whalers, who by the way have more cup finals appearances and cups than the B's in the last fifteen years) but if you look at what we have put up with over the last five plus seasons you really wonder why do we love them? The raise ticket prices, they put out a team that might make the playoffs, they raise concession prices when the team does poorly so that they can say "look we did not raise ticket prices) They finally clean house this year and tell Harry "thanks for your help now sit down and shut up" but what do they do for a follow on? They blow the roof off the ticket prices and make us all pay for it. Why do we love them so???? Not sure but I think it is some kind of addiction, must have been all those TV38 broadcasts back when subliminal messages where being sent out through our TV sets, because it sure isn't for the entertainment value anymore!

Long time no TYPE

HI ALL, Been a while since I have been here, I have been busy as hell, between work and the soon to be born Brendan I have been pretty swamped. Not much new here, I will be the proud papi of a bouncing baby boy on Sept 25th, or sooner. Seems that you can now choose your childs birthday, as my wife has told me that if we do not have the baby by next Monday that he will arrive by appointment. I told her that if she has a long labor I am going to be mad, I do not want to spend my birthday in the hospital, and for those who know me, you know I am all about me... For those of you who don't shut the hell up I'm just kidding. Well back to our woes, the B's lost 5-0 lastnight, OK so Chara, Savard nor Kessel did not play, but come on boys, you could have at least scored, what happened to Boyes, Sturm, and Bergeron? NO GOALS I hope they played a bunch of youngsters and our vets saw little ice time. because if not we are looking at another early draft pick (of course we would have to trade Chara, Savard and Kessel for not performing first, that is unless they all turn out to be Zhamnov then we will have to pay them and look like fools) I don't think that either will be the case, and personally I can not wait to watch the opener. I am a little pissed that they held out Chara and Savard, Kessel had an excuse, has a bum hip that he was nursing so I give them a pass on that one but hell this game was as close to Boston as they get for the pre-season and they should have come out with all the available talent to show the faithful that they meant business...... Unless of course we are all about business and this is all just a new marketing plan...... Sign big names then make you buy season tickets because they will only play some nights and those nights will not be disclosed until the pre-game skate...... I thought we fired MOC and Harry quit? RIGHT? GO B's..... Welcome Brendan! MARCH come on down for a CIGAR my friend!

Confused

How the hell are the Bruins bosting about having a full roster going into training camp for the first time in the last decade if they only have 19 guys on their roster? Slap me in the face and shit on my head, but I thought a full NHL roster was at least 21 guys. Who the hell are the other three (I say three because good old Zhamnov is one of the 19), and I won't even go near the comments on who the hell some of the rostered players are.... Good lord I think March and I may have a chance at wearing a B's Jersey this year and we would actually be expected to play, not just reap the rewards of a 400K minimum salary and hundreds of groupies (and those are just the one's that Muzz has cast off to us as simpathy pussy)

Well good news came out this week, the teddy bear has officially been stuffed (in the trash that it is) THANK GOD, the bold gold (as management once called, I rather call it pissed on yellow) was bad enough, and actually grew on me as a color, but the freaking teddy bear logo on the front was down right embarassing. The only other logos I have seen that rank worse are the new Buffalo logo and the old crusty fisherman the Ilse had, which they thankfully tossed in the trash.

Short take

Been pretty busy the last few days, and this place is actually making me work this week, so I will need to keep this short.

Good News:
Bruins signed Bergeron
Harry Siden is out of the country
Hal Gil and Nick Boyton have been shipped out of town
Zedno Chara is on his way in town
Bruins inked Phil Kessel
Glen Murray now at least has a constant pairing on a line with him.

Bad News:
I actually have to do some work
I got like four hours of sleep lastnight Thanks to (Work, Beer, hockey Beer, Work) in that order which made work that much more fun.
Pluto is no longer in our solar system
No one has drown Bin Laden in pigs blood
Castro is still alive.
Chavez is still alive and thinks Castro is God.
The Jacobs family still owns the Bruins and continues to raise ticket prices.

Peace OUT!

Almost Done.. and a look at salaries

Well today's Boston Globe is reporting that the Bruins are close to signing Bergeron. This of course is something that should have been done a long time ago. It will be interesting to see what the kid comes away with, now I am a BIG Bergeron fan, but that said has he proven himself to be worth the 4.5 million they are talking about signing him for? Yes he had a great year last year with 73 points, and he plays with grit. His rookie year consisted of 31 points and he was only 18 years old. If you take a look at other former Bruins who scored 73 points and add the 24% to the salary that the players "rolled back" after the lockout you would be paying 5.58 million a year to guys like Keith Crowder who had 70 points in 84-85; Tom Fergus who had 73 points in 84-85; STEVE KASPER who had 70 points in 87-88; Dmitri Kristich who had 71 points in 88-89; Ken Linesmen who had 81 points in 85-86; Peter McNab who had over 70 points each year from 76-83; Brad Park 79 points in 77-78; Barry Pederson 116 points in 83-84; VLADIMIR RUZICKA who had 75 points in 91-92; and Jozef Stumpel who had 76 points in 96-97.
That said, times have changed since many of these players had there 70 point season, so take out 116K (roughly 2% for each years average cost of living increase) and you get the following salaries:

Keith Crowder 3.2 Million in 1985
Tom Fergus 3.2 Million in 1985
Steve Kasper 3.5 Million in 1988
Dmitri Kristich 3.6 Million in 1989
Ken Linesmen 4.4 Million in 1986
Peter McNab 3.3 Million in 1983
Brad Park 2.3 Million in 1978
Barry Pederson 3.3 Million in 1984
Vladimir Ruzicka 4.42 Million in 1992
Jozef stumpel 4.5 Million in 1997

To put these salaries in perspective, here is some information on Wayne Gretzky’s salaries:

In 1985 Wayne Gretzky’s salary was 850K (Canadian!!!!)
In 1987-1992 Gretzky made 2.0 Million with the Kings.

With that said do you think that the issue with high salaries has been corrected by the salary cap? Nope, it only means that those players at the bottom of the pile are getting even less.

SCARY isn't it!

Accountants

I know I am not the only one with this gripe. Last week I took the fam damily to the Outer Banks of NC for what has become our annual beach trip, we do the whole rent a house on the beach thing, even though I have grown to hate the beach, well not really, I just hate how the sand sticks to everything and does not come off, of course unless you go in the water and then YOU HAVE TO WALK ON THAT SHIT AGAIN and it gets all over you AGAIN.

OK Back to good old accounting. Here I am sitting at the beach doing my best to fry myself (did a dam good job if I don't say so myself, funny how SPF 30 does little when baking on the beach for a few hours) and my cell phone rings with that nice Uncle Sam supplied ring tone. I instantly get the ugly eye from my wife as this the last call I got with that ring tone was the one putting me on alert for a possible return to work due to the whole no liquids deal that hit the fan earlier in the week. I answered and like a true professional scum bag got up and walked away from the fam damily and head off down the beach to talk (like being away from my family was going to make this conversation secure.. not sure why I do that, they can be trusted more than some fat chick who has no right to wear a bikini lying on a towel with her roles touching on either side) Well it was not the dreaded call to come back to D.C. it was the dam accounting folks saying my travel card balance was 60 past due. I make a futile attempt to tell them it was not and that it was paid in full on the 15th which is after the statement date. The asshole on the other line simply says well then that is still considered outstanding until next month. Then had the nuts to say can you FAX me proof it was paid. HELLLLLLOOOO ashole I am on a fucking beach, oh wait let me pull out my handy dandy James Bond FAX machine, I forgot I had Q shove one in my ass just in case some fucking moron from accounting called! So I explain that I do not have access to a fax and that I paid them two days after receiving my travel payment from them.
To make a long story short, I ended up having to get my bank to FAX a copy of the payment to the acounting department, listen to the wife bitch about how she had to take all the beach shit back by herself while I was as she stated "working" (This is where I knew I was going to be in trouble) Any hooo I ended up wasting like three hours trying to get it all fixed and my account now that I am back at work still shows the balance being outstanding even though the payment shows on the account. With a nice call to accounting, I was again told that the payments will not clear the account balance until the statement is closed this month.

Bottom line is I wasted a half a day with this goat rope, my division chief was under the impression I was not paying my card off, and my wife was pissed off for the rest of the week, and this could have all been avoided if the accounting assholes did not sit on my travel voucher (which was submitted the first day back from travel) for three weeks before paying me, but hell that is somehow my fault.
If your in a corporate accounting office and your office practices this method of madness FUCK YOU..
Otherwise have a nice day!

Random SHIT

So Harry Sinden is FINALLY gone! Yup he “retired” today, funny how this comes once Chiarelli has settled in, and a few months after the Boston Globe interview in which owner Jeremy Jacobs stated that “Harry Sinden is old and will not be around for long” He later stated that he was inferring to the fact the Harry was old and some day would die, and until then he would have a job in the Bruins organization. Well he did not die ( and I would not wish that on anyone, well on Harry at least) and he still has an “advisory” role with the team, aka sit down, shut up, and don’t say a word unless asked, doing so mean you keep your salary and you go away quietly.

This week has been SLOW at work, I hate when I am between classes, as there is little for us to do and man you can only surf the internet for so long before you get bored (of course if they would change the no porn rule at work I could stay busy for hours)

I have a gripe I need to put out there, and if you don’t like it don’t read this shit, after all the blog is called ‘Time To Vent” for a freaking reason.
I own a 2005 ford five-hundred. I bought it in January of 2005 and all was good, it rode great and is a cross between Ford owned Volvo and Jaguar X type. It was designed by the engineering teams who designed the Volvo s-80 and the Jaguar X-type sedan. I was happy with it, until I hit 20k miles. Since this “high mileage” mark, my car has been in the shop for every reason you can imagine. The struts have been replaced, the rear sway bar was bent (how the hell that happened no one seems to know) the blinkers have both gone haywire at separate times, blinking a three times the normal speed, just shy of looking like a strobe light, last week the brake lights stuck on, the drivers window made a nice loud sweeeeeaaaak when opened, and the trunk required you to pull on it two or three times before it would loosing and finally open. Needless to say I am ready to drive it off a cliff in a fit of rage, but of course that would require me to purchase a new car and I kind of like not having a car payment seeing that this one is paid off (thanks to big Jack and his Christmas gifts he’s been handing out since retiring). I am planning to put my vehicle woes in writing and sending it to Ford, I am sure that will do little, but it may get me a sympathy vote for an extended warranty. I will keep you posted to the out come.

On to the deck. I am building, well having a deck built, but I am acting as the general contractor to keep the costs down. This means I pull the building permit schedule the inspections and order the materials. Well the guys that where sent out by the builder to construct the deck are some pretty good guys, they have been great, they put together the materials list contacted the supply company and got me their discount, so all I had to do was pay for it (that would have been great if they covered that too!) They even scheduled the first inspection (the footing or hole inspection) for me. So the County sends out a gut on Monday to check the holes to ensure that they where 24” deep and he shows up sticks his tape measure in the hole and says, “You failed, this hole is only 23 and 3/8 deep.” He would not allow the guy to stick a shovel in and scoop the dirt out that had simply gone back in the hole from the heavy down poor we had the night before. What a fucking prick. So we had to pay a second $35 bucks for some fat ass chick to come out the next day and not even pull out a tape measure, she just looked in the hole and said looks good to me, you pass. I wanted to say WHAT THE FUCK BITCH at least pull out your fucking tape measure and make me think that the County was not just filling some quota of permit failures, that is BULLSHIT. I love to see my tax dollars used so wisely. (Have I mentioned I am writing this at work, this is a direct result of the County wasting tax dollars, resulting in me wasting federal tax dollars, it is a vicious cycle). Anyway the deck can now move forward and by the time I return from OBX next week I will be able to sit out on it smoke a cigar and enjoy an ice cold Sammy or two (or three or four or five)

Where we stand, five weeks til camp begins

With training camp only five weeks away, I decided to take a look at the Bruins roster and see where we stand. Now new GM Peter Chiarelli has made a valiant effort to rekindle hockey in the Hub and has brought in some talent in Chara and Savard. That said, Savard needs someone who can put the puck in the net, yes Muzz can do that but without a legitimate threat on the opposite wing, Muzz is too easy to cover as we saw last season.
According to BostonBruins.com the Bruins have 34 players on their roster. To me this would mean you have 34 players signed sealed and delivered for day one of camp September 12th. Well taking a look at who is on the roster shows that at least three of those listed are "hopefuls" one is Patrice Bergeron (he had better be there, after signing Boyes, they had better be inking Patrice as he is obviously a much higher caliber player than Boyes) another is Jurcina, now this is an interesting one as he is a defensemen and we seem to have a plethora of D right now. Of the 34 players on the roster there are ten defensemen, now I know you need D to win but five sets of D on your roster is absurd. Break it down a little further and you will see that four of the ten are set in stone, (Alberts, Chara, Mara and Brad Stuart) that leaves six guys fighting for at most four slots on D and that is saying that they plan to carry four sets of defense which may be a little much. Now throw into this mix the fact that Brian Leetch remains out there and would likely play in Boston for the home town discount of a million bucks and you now have six guys fighting for three slots. That said look for Wade Brookbank, Jurcina (if signed) and likely Jason York to fill out our D.
On to the forwards....
The first line will likely be Bergeron (if signed) Sturm and Boyes. Not sure if I keep it that way but it seemed to work last season. Now if Kessel signs and I was the next former Bruins coach I may set a first line of Savard centering Muzz and Kessel (yes he is a center but would likely play wing until he got used to the NHL, this would open up Murray and also give him two set up men, think of the possible out come there, it makes you drool doesn't it). For fun, plus this is my blog and I choose to do so let's say that Kessel does not go back to school so our top two lines would be as stated above in either order depending on who your opponent was. Do you want fast with no much hitting? Well then start the Bergeron line. Do you want one fast as hell guy (Savard) and two guys who can hit anything that moves? Well start Muzz and the boys. It could turn out to be one of the best one two combinations the "Hub of Hockey" has seen in a long time.
Now for the bangers, the third line looks to be shaping up with Primeau (number three unsigned but on the roster player) P.J. Axelsson and Shean Donovan. The fourth line if there is one would likely not see much if any playing time and would likely be one or two guys who are on the bubble splitting time between Providence and Boston.
The bid signing of the summer of course is Chara. He was in many folks minds the cream of the free agent crop and some how Jeff Gorton pulled one out of his ass and landed him. Kudos Jeff, but I think the fact the Chiarelli was coming to town may have helped with that one. Not sure why nobody has thrown up the red flag on Chara leaving for Boston when Chiarelli was sitting in Ottawa "helping" with their frsigning signings. I know that Ottawa is run by a bunch of Canadians but are they really that dumb? Never let someone who is leaving help you do anything, except clean out their office. Thanks Ottawa we owe you one there.
With the signing of Chara instantly made folks in Boston realize two things, the new commitment to winning may not have been bullshit and we are now once again looking like the BIG bad Bruins of old. Well not so fast, I will not throw the bullshit flag on the commitment (I am hopeful) but I will throw it out on the BIG, well kind of. We certainly are big, with an average weight of 202. Wow that reads like a football team doesn't it! Well now for the kicker, Chara's 6'9"frame does little for team height, we are a measly 5'10". That means I am the size of an average Bruin, and my fat ass could shed at least fifteen pounds, Hell when I played real hockey, I was listed as 5' 10" 185 (and I am sure they added some weight there as I would guess I was MAYBE a buck 80 and no more than 5'9") Bottom line is, like my brothers tell me, I still have my hair but some day I will be bald like them and then I will be short, fat AND bald! This makes the Bruins short and fat. Granted that should change after camp as one of the less likely roster spots is that of Chris Collins who is only 5'8" and weighs 195 (Holy crap he is fucking round, or he is freaking ripped like you wouldn't believe!)
Last but not least I took a look at the player place of birth. We have 9 U.S. born players. Three, will see the ice (Alberts, Mara, and Tim Thomas) the other six will likely see the ice but it will have a broken spoked B on it that looks a lot like a P for Providence. We have 13 Canadian players, nine will likely be skating on Causeway and the other four are up in the air as to where they end up. The remaining slots are taken up by players from other countries, Slovakia, Germany, Sweden and Russia if you count Zhamnov (I wouldn't even if he was healthy he would have been gone)
Bottom line is we definitely look different on paper than we did last year, I will give them that, first two lines could look pretty solid, net remains a question mark unless Toivonen picks up where he left off and Thomas remembers to keep the flopping to a minimum, as I am sure everyone has figured out to go high by now. Overall I see the Bruins starting the season ranked second in the Northeast behind Ottawa, or Buffalo, not sure which of those is likely to come out better or worse than last year. I will make my season prediction after the first few games.
Till then..... 33 days until camp opens!

Hotter Than Balls!

Hotter than balls you say? Well after and exhaustive search on Google, I have found that this statement goes along with any tempature that is above 94 degrees. Yup your balls are actually the coolest part of your body, and I don't mean large fireball explosion cool I mean tempature cool. So is hot as balls actually that hot? Not when you think about how fucking hot it is out today! I got in my car this morning and began the trek to work at 0630 and it was 92 fucking degrees already. Yes this was my car thermometer and we know how freaking reliable they are but hell, even if it was off by ten degrees that would still make it eighty fucking two degrees... and the dam sun was still rubbing the crust from its eyes. I can not wait to go to lunch and fry my balls on my black interior (Note to self: Don't by black leather, it cooks your swimmers!)

During my exhaustive research I came up with some fun tempature facts, did you know there is only one state in the country that has a record low tempature that is not negative? Any guesses on which one? Freaking Hawaii. The lowest recorded tempature (since records where kept, not sure when the hell that is but the weather asshole says it all the time so I decided to toss it in) is twelve degrees, now don't get me wrong, that is cold as shit, but seeing that it is still in the double digits it ain't THAT cold. Those poor bastards must have frozen their coconuts that day, literally!

SEVEN MY ASS!

Ever thought about the seven wonders of the world? Well today in a random thought I decided to look them up, well according to more than one source there are not only seven wonders of the world, there are eight seperate categories of the seven wonders, and I was thinking right after my original six tour, and my skiing in the rockies and alps, I would hit the seven wonders of the world tour. Well according to this list of the SEVEN(??) wonders of the world, I have been to 11 of the 56? Fifty six what the hell is that? I guess the “56 wonders of the world” was not a great marketing slogan so they changed it to seven, and added sub categories. By the way, most of these places on this list charge a fee so if you think it is not a marketing ploy think again, you have got to love capitalism!

The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World (0-7)
Can't say that I have ever been to any of these and I can not say that I will never go, seeing that some of these are in the Middle East and Uncle Sam is bound to ship me off there one of these days. Not that I will be doing much sight seeing but hey you never know I may get in to one or two of these places while shooting at some skinnies.
The Great Pyramid of Giza
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon
The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
The Statue of Zeus at Olympia
The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus
The Colossus of Rhodes
The Pharos of Alexandria

The Seven Wonders of the Medieval Mind (1-7)
Haven't been to any of these either, I did see part of the Great Wall of China at Epcot once, so for technical reasons I will mark that one off with an astrict and move it to the bottom of my to do list, and count it for now, hell that is a communist country and I am not putting myself through hours of interrogation just to see some dam wall!
Stonehenge
The Colosseum
The Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa
The Great Wall of China *
The Porcelain Tower of Nanjing
The Hagia Sophia
The Leaning Tower of Pisa

The Seven Natural Wonders of the World (2-7)
Check that block, been to the Grand Canyon. I also thought that Niagra Falls was on this portion of the list but I guess not. Also how come the Great Barrier Reef is on this list and the next one! Something fishy here, Niagra is being added from an admin stand point, and why because this is my freaking blog and I said it should be on there so sit down and shut your pie hole.
Mount Everest
The Great Barrier Reef See The next dam list!
The Grand Canyon YEAH! I been there!
Victoria Falls
The Harbor of Rio de Janeiro
Paricutin Volcano
The Northern Lights
Niagara Falls (U.S. Side, the Canadian side does not count, until you eliminate those French speaking, tree hugging, white flag waving jackasses who live in Montreal.

The Seven Underwater Wonders of the World (0-7)
O.K. the Great Barrier Reef is now only on one list (I must have copied this crap off an Aussie web site) nothing like stuffing the ballot box or anything. Still have not been to any of these, some day if MARCH ever gets me diving, we will make the trip to Australia and go swimming with the Great Whites feeding at the reef.
Palau
The Belize Barrier Reef
The Galapagos Islands
The Northern Red Sea
Lake Baikal
The Great Barrier Reef*
The Deep Sea Vents

The Seven Wonders of the Modern World (4-7)
OK so I have been to the CN tower, I have been to the Empire State Building, I have been to the Panama Canal, and I have been to the Golden Gate Bridge. That make this list close to completion, not sure if I will ever do the Channel Tunnel, just imagine a Ted Williams incident halfway through that bad boy. NO THANKS, not to mention the fact that XM does not work in tunnels and I may miss Mike and Mike while driving through.
The Empire State Building DONE
The Itaipú Dam
The CN Tower DONE
The Panama Canal DONE
The Channel Tunnel
The North Sea Protection Works
The Golden Gate Bridge DONE

The Seven Forgotten Natural Wonders of the World (2-7)
FIVE, what the hell happened to the other two? They are so forgotten that who ever came up with this list forgot to add them? WFT OVER! If they are forgotten, then who the hell cares, Niagara Falls is on this list (must be for the Canadian side as no one goes to the Canadian side unless they went to the U.S. side first and drove across the bridge, just to say they went to Canada. Been to the Bay of Fundy, this place is pretty amazing when the tide comes in, I highly recommend it, the tide comes in something like 60 feet higher than low tide. I was fairly impressed with the whole thing.
Angel Falls
The Bay of Fundy DONE
Iguaçú Falls Krakatoa Island
Mount Fuji Mount Kilimanjaro
Niagara Falls *(Canadian side) DONE

The Seven Forgotten Modern Wonders of the World (2-7)
This whole forgotten theme needs to go, give me a dam break are they wonders or are the not? The Clock Tower (Big Ben) DONE.. “Look kids, Big Ben, Parliament..” For you Chevy Chase fans!
Eiffel Tower
The Gateway Arch
The Aswan High
Dam Hoover Dam DONE
Mount Rushmore National Memorial
The Petronas Towers

The Seven Forgotten Wonders of the Medieval Mind (0-7)
OK is this of the world or of the mind? Either way I’m 0-7 here, unless of course I go there in my mind. Shut up, I can do what I want, after all IT’S MY DAM BLOG and it’s is my mind, well what is left of it at least, not to mention the portion Uncle Sam has brain washed, hell o.k. so it WAS my mind and now I lease it!
Abu Simbel
Temple Angkor
Wat Taj Mahal
Mont Saint-Michel
The Moai Statues
The Parthenon
The Shwedagon Pagoda