Finally the Bruins have gotten on the board with a fight last night in Chicago. Nice work by Gregory Campbell to try to spark the boys. Not much of a scrap, but good on Soupy to get it started. The fight I wanted to talk about happened Thursday between Pittsburgh’s Arron Asham, and Washington’s Jay Beagle. It was a bit of a one sided affair, and the fight got the hockey world talking. Personally, I thought it was a good scrap, and had to be done, but others don’t see it that way.

The fight started after Beagle cross checked Kris Letang, then hit him up high hard enough to knock his helmet off. Asham was on the ice, and in his role as enforcer, he went to Letang’s aid. My buddy Brendan and I had a somewhat heated debate about this Friday. It’s Brendan’s position that Letang A. didn’t do enough to Beagle to require Asham’s aid, and B. It’s not like he’s Gretzky. People can hit Kris Letang. My position is Arron Asham is an enforcer. It’s his job to protect teammates on the ice against any perceived injustice. Asham starts picking and choosing who he sticks up for, and we have a system that breaks down, and chaos reigns supreme. As far as Beagle being a non-enforcer? Well, it’s not like Asham beat up Alexander Semin. Beagle is a big guy that’s been in a scrap or two. He will definitely think twice about any liberties he might want to take with Penguins players or any team’s players for that matter after the beating he took, moving forward. Beagle rang the bell, Asham answered it. These two teams will have a lot of time to think about things as they don’t play each other for over a month. You can bet your bottom dollar DJ King will be in the Caps line up when they meet again. Asham has to answer to someone for this beating.

One more thing about this fight and you can get back to whatever it is you were doing before you stumbled across this madness. The Pittsburgh Penguins announce team of Paul Steigerwald, and Bob Errey, and the whole organization for that matter, has got to be the most hypocritical in all of sports. Let’s say for a minute that Trevor Gillies beat up Paul Martin in the same way Asham beat up Beagle the other night. Steigy and Errey would have been coming down from the press box with pitch forks with Mario Lemieux right behind them. When it’s their guy, who showboated like a punk after turning out Beagle’s lights by the way, they are talking about team toughness and so forth. Can’t have it both ways Pittsburgh. Either way, I’m looking forward to this rematch.

We are now 9 games into the NHL season, and there has been a
total of 1 fight. One. Uno. That’s not a lot. It was a decent scrap in
yesterday afternoon’s contest between LA’s Kyle Clifford, and the Rangers
Brandon Prust. I am not here to offer any analysis on why there has only been
one fight, I’m just saying, there hasn’t been many.

http://youtu.be/NpGTNXVIHGM

The Flyers and Bruins sure could have used one the other
night. I was certain Andy Ference and Zac Rinaldo were going to have it out at
one point, to no avail. I am not sure if Rinaldo told Ference global warming is
a sham, or what, but after Rinaldo finished his check on the North End’s
Favorite Son he said something to him that really pissed him off. Maybe he was
asking if Ference got noticed in the women’s department of Marshall’s buying
that gawd awful yellow shirt he was wearing for his day with the Cup. My word,
I had no idea Andy Ference was a cross dresser. Tree hugging hippie yes, but
this cross dressing shit is going a bit far. At any rate, I would have liked to
have seen that tilt. Rinaldo can throw hands (and I suspect he’s probably taken
the soon to be waived Jody Shelley’s spot) and Ference, when prompted, is good
for a spirited bout.

While we’re on the topic of the Bruins and Flyers, I have to
say, the banner ceremony was pretty cool the other night. I have mixed emotions
on all the players skating with the cup one last time. On the one hand it was
cool to see them with it on home ice. On the other, they didn’t earn the right
to skate it around in front of the home fans. It was a nice touch having Recchi
there, and I thought Neely killed with his speech. The home crowd took the
opportunity, not all, but some, to boo owner Jeremy Jacobs. Nice work Boston,
way to be classy. Like him or not, the Bruins won the Cup. Stop booing.

The banner itself is kick ass, and I am looking forward to
turning my head slightly up and to the left to see it every night this year.
Now with the banner up, and the page turned, it’s time to get down to business.
Every team in the league is gunning for Boston right now, and they have to be
ready every night, for every team’s best game. Other than the fact that it’s
very hard to repeat in the NHL, I don’t see another reason why the Bruins can’t
raise another banner next October. Tampa is in town tonight for a game 7 rematch.
Let’s see if the Bruins bring the game they need to bring, or if we’re talking
about firing everyone, and the team having no heart tomorrow morning.

Alrighty! Let’s put the negativity of the summer and my last two posts behind us shall we? Why? Its back. Hockey is back! NHL Network has been showing a couple of preseason games a night, and it’s great to see their commitment to the pre- season. It was also great to see Kathryn Tappen in studio, not dressed like a pilgrim. I think so far, the MVP of the pre-season has to be Brendan Shanahan.

Shanny is the new Sheriff in town for the NHL, and he’s wasted no time dolling out his brand of justice. I’ve said before that hitting from behind is a huge problem in the NHL, and the re-written rules on boarding seem to corroborate my story. Shanahan doled out some serious justice the other night in the form of a 5 game suspension for Calgary’s PL3 and a 10 game seat in the press box for Philadelphia’s Jody Shelley. Of course, had either of the incidents involved Trevor Gillies, he would have been drawn and quartered, and possibly stoned to death on the site of Chuck Wang’s alleged Lighthouse project. Brendan Shanahan is sending a message: The old ways will not be tolerated, and I WILL make you respect one another.

Good on the NHL, and Shanny for handing out these suspensions. I have seen both hits, and neither (especially the Shelley hit) were called for. Listen, I get the PL3 hit. He’s trying to prove to Calgary that he’s a tough kid, and will do whatever to make the team. He hit another enforcer in Matt Clackson (doesn’t make it right, but at least it wasn’t one of the Sedins) from behind, and very high. While there was no need for it, I at least understand it. Jody Shelley’s hit, on the other hand, was completely uncalled for. He’s made Philly’s team. He’s not going anywhere, except for the press box because his coach hates tough guys. He friggin creamed Darryl Boyce from behind, and gave him a nasty cut to boot. Hockey is a physical game, that’s why we like it, but these types of hits need to be taken out of the game. It looks like Brendan Shanahan is on a mission to do just that.

I really don’t want this to come across as cold, and selfish, but does anyone else worry that the recent deaths of enforcers in the NHL will have negative ramifications on the ice? The harsh reality is that we live in a world of knee jerk reactions. Someone gets killed on a road; speed bumps are installed the next day. Could we be witness to some radical changes this season with regards to fisticuffs?

The concussion issue is a hot topic in the NHL right now. “Things had to be evaluated” when Matt Cooke attempted to kill Marc Savard, and now that Sidney Crosby has been shelved for an extended period of time with his concussion, the talk for change with regards to head hits, and the need to address how concussions are treated has reached a deafening level. While I agree concussions are an issue, these men also accept they have a dangerous job, and it kind of goes with the territory. Fighting was up last season, and in kind of a Catch 22 situation, I think both fighting, and concussions will continue to rise. Something needs to be done about this game, but it’s not the fights.

For me, I think the game is way too fast, and body checking has become too predatory. I don’t want to go back to the water skiing off a guy in the neutral zone, or the clutch and grab of the pre lockout days, because that hockey was a little too dull for me, but I do think the game needs to be slowed a bit.

The trouble is, these players these days are so big, and so fast, how do you effectively slow the game back down, without stifling the talent on the ice? What with players all wanting to get in on the booming Scott Stevens-esque body checks instead of simply separating someone from the puck, the recipe is there for concussions from the big hit, but the fights go up as well. It seems even legal body checks in the NHL need to be answered for, and when the bell gets rung, you know the tough guys are going to answer it. In the knee jerk reaction department of the NHL, I can see there being an extra 2 minute penalty for fighting after a legal hit being tacked on, or if you’re Trevor Gillies, an automatic 30 game suspension for doing anything.

Listen, I don’t have the answers here. I’m just a guy typing away on my new laptop, while the baby sleeps. I do agree the NHL needs Sidney Crosby playing, and not concussed. I am a Crosby fan. There, I said it. I like his game, and I like the fact he understands what the role of Captain means. He’s taken matters into his own hands a couple of times with his fists, and I like it. He needs to be on the ice, and so does Marc Savard. Sadly, I think we’ve seen the last of Savvy, and hopefully Crosby can return to form. I am against taking drastic measures to regulate the physical nature of hockey. After all, it’s one of the main reasons I watch. I’m even more against more regulations on fighting, but I do think something needs to be done about the speed of the game, and how it relates to concussions, and head shots. The NHL Brass needs to address those issues, before some knee jerk reaction to three enforcers dying over the summer regulates fighting right out of the game in the name of safety.

With the good news of today being Brad Marchand has sobered up enough to put his name on a very shrewd deal from the Bruins, and the even better news that hockey is indeed right around the corner, I’d be remiss if I didn’t touch on just how awful the 2011 off-season was. What started with the overdose of a current NHL enforcer in Derek Boogaard, ended with 44 players and coaches of a KHL team perishing in a plane crash. In between were the apparent suicide of Winnipeg Jet Rick Rypien, and the suicide of recently retired player Wade Belak. To say the least, this has been as awful an off-season as you could ever imagine. Hopefully, we don’t see one like it again.

Photograph by: John Russell, Getty Images, Calgary Herald

A lot has been made about the three deaths preceding the Lokomotiv plane crash. I have read article after article making the correlation between enforcers, depression, drug use, and suicide. Personally, I don’t think there’s a relationship, it’s just a really shitty coincidence that all three were of the enforcer mold. After reading all these articles, I’m left to wonder, why?

Why does a guy like Derek Boogaard wind up killing himself with pills and booze? Why does Rick Rypien allegedly take his own life? Why does Wade Belak, a man by all accounts, a larger than life type personality that loved life, his family, and hockey hang himself in a Toronto hotel? What do these guys have to be depressed about anyway? They were all young, and well paid to play a game for a living. A game that I would give several limbs to play professionally and I’m not the only one. Is it because they fight for a living, and take too many shots to the head? I don’t think so. I think it’s the fact depression is a dark and terrible disease, and in a moment in time, dying seemed better than living.

When my daughter Caroline was born, I was so excited! She was an angel sent to me, and I was lucky to be her father. Soon after the initial excitement wore off, and I got into the daily routine of trying to keep a newborn alive, work, and be a good husband, I found myself in some very dark places in my mind. For a few weeks, all I wanted to do was sleep, and cry. What did I have to be so sad about? I have an amazing wife, a great job where I am respected (no, really) and the most beautiful little girl in the whole world looking at me to be her daddy. Was I overwhelmed, or was it male postpartum depression? I can’t say for sure, and I have since gotten it together mentally, but it was not pleasant for me for a while there. The point I’m making, and there is one, is that even in my darkest hour, it probably wasn’t nearly as dark as Boogaard’s, Rypien’s, or Belak’s worst day. I couldn’t imagine hurting myself, or Caroline or anything, but I can’t help thinking of just how dark the recesses of their minds must have been to drive them to the things they did.

 I feel so terribly for the people in these three men’s lives that are left behind to pick up the pieces and wonder what happened, and was there anything that could have been done for them. My guess is that no, there wasn’t anything they could have done. Like I said, seemingly they had it all. Great lives as professional hockey players or in Belak’s case a recently retired professional hockey player. Belak leaves behind a wife and two girls. Imagine being that family right now. Imagine Wade Belak being so depressed that the thought of leaving them behind was outweighed by the fact he just couldn’t go on living anymore. Simply heart breaking. Hopefully these men will be remembered as the great people they seemed to be, and not remembered simply as three enforcers that died, two by their own hand in the summer of 2011. In the meantime, the rest of the world goes on. The hockey community mourns their passing, and we pray it doesn’t happen again.

The Boston Bruins just set a brand new Stanley Cup playoff record during the first period for the fastest 4 goals: 4:14 to be exact. Well done Marchand, Lucic, Ryder and Ference! Now please, boys – allow this penchant for easily manhandling Vancouver to survive the next 6 hour plane trip.

The previous record was 55 years old! In 1956 Montreal accomplished the feat vs. Detroit in Game 4. It was the 6th final series in a row for the Canadiens and the 3rd for the Red Wings. The Habs went on to win the series 4-1.

Also, when Brad Marchand scored the first goal of the night (his 9th of the playoffs) he broke the standing Bruins’ record for most playoff goals by a rookie. An eventful evening to say the least!

Heck of a blowout in Beantown so far – we’ll see what the 2nd and 3rd periods hold. From where we’re sitting, however, it looks like the Bruins will get their Game 7. We hate being right all the time.

He was the unlikeliest of sports heroes: A beloved hockey enforcer.

The death of Derek Boogaard has left hockey saddened, shocked and full of questions. With the exception of at least a few of his 184 career fight opponents, and most certainly Todd Fedoruk and Trevor Gilles, the “Boogeyman” was well loved by players and fans alike. Found in his apartment Friday morning by family members, details and claims surrounding the cause of death have been well reported. We’ll reserve judgement until the facts are in but absolutely irrefutable is the way in which Boogaard stood out in many ways from his fellow hockey tough guys.

This season had been Boogaard’s first as a Ranger, but a memorial is being held tonight in Minnesota where he was a fan favorite for five years. His year was cut short by a concussion suffered at the fists of Ottawa’s Matt Carkner back in December, but a month prior he scored his first goal in 253 games played New York and his future with the franchise was contracted through 2014. He was meant to be part of the game for a long time to come.

His heart and grit on the ice. The work he did with charitable organizations like Boogaard’s Booguardians and the Garden of Dreams Foundation. And least of all the lasting impact that his brain study results (along with those of Bob Probert and Reggie Fleming) may have on this game we all know and love. Your legacy is secure, sir – and you’ll be sorely missed.

I’m back! Like the bad penny you can’t shake, or the burning pee you may have picked up on shore leave in the Dutch West Indies, I am back. For those of you that noticed, and have been wondering where I am thank you for the concern. All is well; I just had a major tech issue. For those of you that didn’t notice, well, just shut up and read.

OK, so where have I been you ask? For those of you that don’t know, MOL and I are expecting a little girl in February. A girl is good, because our girl’s name we had picked out was Robert Gordon Orr. Worked out good. Anyway, we cleaned out our old office, and it is now the baby’s room. In the transition from the baby’s room, to the back room, I could not get my PC re set up. Everything I tried failed, and then I went to Prague and Paris. Then I got back from Prague and Paris, and I couldn’t get my PC set up…..probably because I thought I was dead. I thought that, because I couldn’t power it on anymore. So, long story short, the cable guy was here Thursday for an unrelated matter, and he must have figured out what was wrong with my PC because I was going to move it this morning to make way for a new PC, and the fucking thing powered right up, connected to the internets, and was all, “hey bud. Let’s party!” Now as MOL paints a rocking chair in the baby’s room, I am back in the saddle again.

Gotta tell, it’s good to be back. First off, Prague and Paris was friggin amazing. Prague was so old and had beautiful people, and architecture everywhere. The food was amazing, and the people were all super nice and spoke English. If you drink beer, go to Prague. They love it over there. Every place we ate at, it was the cheapest beverage on the menu. Oh, and the goulash? Oh my word. It’s like pizza here. Everywhere serves it, but each has a different take on the gravy. Just incredible.

The hockey games were pretty cool too. I mean, the first game sucked for the Bruins, but the second was much better. In the interest of fairness to both fan groups, I am glad they split. It would have really sucked if the Bruins lost both games, or if the Coyotes fans that came even farther than Bruins fans saw their team lose two; it would have been a real bummer. The O2 Arena was a nice big clean place, with excellent site lines. One of the better buildings I have been in for a hockey games, and again, the food was pretty darn good too.

Did I mention I met Milan Lucic? Oh, I will now. Sunday we had a stroke of luck and sat right behind Mr. and Mrs. Lucic. They were super nice people, and I saw Mrs. Lucic in between periods and asked her if she would sign something for Louis, the 9 year old kid with us that was desperate for an autograph. She said, “Mama’s autograph isn’t worth anything. We’ll get Milan to do it.” They told us to stay in our seats when the game ended, and they’d take us over to where the players come out to meet him. I also told her we had named our little girl dog after her son because she’s tough and scrappy, and after laughing for a minute she replied, “Maybe I will tell Milan you named the dog after him. Probably not that it’s a girl!”

When the game ended, we waited for Mila to come out, and Mrs. Lucic introduced me and Louis to him. He was very cordial, and thanked us for coming all the way from Boston for the game. I was blown away. I mean, here this kid is, the third star of the game. The last thing he probably wanted to do is meet two total strangers, but he was super nice, and thanked us for coming. No one on earth quite like a hockey player. After taking a picture with us, we got out of his hair so he could get some family time before getting on a plane back to Boston. To say it made Louis’s trip, is the understatement of the year, and it was pretty darn cool for MOL and I as well!

The next morning we flew to Paris where we stayed for another couple of days. I was fully prepared to hate Paris because of all the horror stories you hear about the French being rude and whatnot, but I was totally blown away. Everyone was incredibly nice to us, and again, it is such an old and beautiful city, it’s hard not to have a good time. The only drawback wads the timing of our visit coincided with the first day of a national strike in protest of raising of the retirement age. We could get around the city via the Metro, but all the museums and things were closed. Kind of a bummer, but our hotel was at the base of the Eiffel Tower so, with a view like that, it’s hard to complain.

Now then, to hockey matters. I have been encouraged by the Bruins start this year. I really like this team, and I think they are going to be superb this year. Around the NHL I have been following the Islanders very closely, and out west, I dig the Blues. Darren Pang is one of the best color guys in the league, and he makes the broadcasts very interesting. Hockey is back, and so is Goonblog!

When last we met, dear reader, I was asking for everyone’s help. Marc Savard was in dire need of a group hug from the Goonblog community, and I think he got it. Ready to move on with the season we gave Savvy his hug and went about our daily business. Well, now it seems you can give Savvy a hug, just make sure you talk quietly and meet him in a dark room. Savvy, it seems, will be out indefinitely after some Post Concussion Syndrome symptoms reared their ugly head before camp. It has to make me think these PCS annoyances are the reason Savard is still even in the black and gold.

I wish Marc Savard a speedy recovery, as I think the Bruins are a better club with him, than without. This injury does open the door for Tyler Seguin to start the season at his natural center position (potentially. He’s been playing wing with Recchasaurus, and Bergeron with success) and it most definitely leaves the door open a crack for Joe Colborne to make the club. I guess it’s a good problem to have when a club has too many young kids that can play ready and waiting when a veteran like Savard goes down eh?

The person I am most excited for, and hoping makes the club, is Brian McGrattan. I called for this signing in my Eastern Conference preview because the division is loaded for bear, and the Bruins should be too. Shawn Thornton has done an admirable job doing the heavy lifting fighting as a light heavy in the heavyweight division for a couple of seasons now. The Bruins are counting on Milan Lucic developing into a power forward that can police the ice when he has too, not being the second tough guy. Put it this way, while Milan is certainly a tough kid, I would prefer he not fight the likes of Colton Orr again. That’s why you sign a guy like McGrattan. I say keep him as the 13th forward, and any time they play in the division, he gets a nod on the 4th line with Gregory Campbell, and Shawn Thornton.

I am looking forward to the pre season tilt at the Garden tonight. I went to the first rookie game, and it was nice to be back in the building. The pre season tilts are always a good time, as I feel like a kid on Christmas with a new toy. Prague is a couple of weeks away, and I got MOL a new digital camera for our anniversary last week, so expect lots of pictures upon my return. Hockey is back!

For a couple of mornings last week, I was reminded, as the Grateful Dead sings “not a chill to the winter/but a nip to the air” that fall is almost upon us. What does this mean? Football. No wait. Hockey! In around 50 days or so, I will be heading to Prague to watch the beloved Bruins open the season against the Coyotes. It can’t come a moment too soon as I have begun to watch the Red Sox this week, and apparently I haven’t been missing anything. More importantly, I have been absent from blogging for a while, so If I could, here are some random thoughts I have been kicking around, both hockey and non hockey related.

First off, apologies for the absence. I won’t even try to come up with a good excuse. You know, people get busy. Having said that, I saw Hot Tub Time Machine recently, and I highly suggest you watch it too. Not to spoil it for anyone, but after seeing the movie, I feel totally ill prepared for time travel. HTTM turns the time travel theory on its ear, and I guess I wasn’t prepared for it. Ending totally blew my mind the first time I saw it because I felt like it was only half over. Trust me on this. Great movie, but it will make you question how prepared you are for time travel, and make you reexamine everything you thought you knew about the time travel movie genre.

Did you know since the lockout, Marc Savard is 15th in the NHL in points? I didn’t either, and after reading that, it really made me more convinced trading him is the wrong move for the Bruins.

Speaking of the Bruins, what the hell are they going to do if Tyler Seguin isn’t ready for the NHL right now? If they find themselves in a position where they don’t think he can make the team, they are going to be in a very sticky situation. If after the 9th game he looks out of place they’ll have to return him to Junior, and I can only imagine what that will do for his confidence, as well as the PR nightmare it would create here in Boston. One of the nastier side effects of the CBA is getting cheaper, younger talent to the NHL faster, and I hope for Seguin’s sake, he is in fact NHL ready.

DJ King recently signed with the Capitals as protector, and policeman for Ovie and the gang. I am excited to see King in the Eastern Conference as he is a tough kid that will take on all comers. It makes the Eastern Conference even tougher too. AHL fans may remember King from his days as a Worcester Ice Cat. I remember he and Mike Commodore had one of the best fights I have ever seen at any level in the Centrum many moons ago. Good to have Kinger in the East.

In other movie news, get yourself to “The Other Guys” if you are a Will Ferrell fan. MOL, Vanessa and I saw it a couple of weeks ago, and all gave it two enthusiastic thumbs up after.
In music, much to the delight of Dave, I am really into the Tragically Hip these days. I used to give Dave a ton of shit every time he tried to play them for me for a couple of reasons. 1. Its fun to get Dave going, and 2. See number 1. Great band and I owe Dave an apology, and a long uncomfortable hug.

There are still some good tough guys out there looking for work. I wonder if at this point they will have to get camp invited to find work. Note to PC and the Crew, I think Brian McGrattan is still looking for work. He’d look good in black and gold.

I realize this is all over the map, but then again, when isn’t this blog all over the map? I hope everyone has been enjoying their summer. I don’t know about you, but I have grown weary of constant sweating and could use the smell of a hockey glove warmer in my life right now. If only I had a Hot Tub Time Machine.