The NHL’s Western conference produced a few surprises last season with the #8 seeded Los Angeles Kings eventually being crowned the conference’s champions. As many as 11 teams were in the race for playoff spots late into season, and a couple of the division titles were heavily contested. The conference doesn’t appear to have gotten ...
Former Blackhawks center Eddie Olczyk will be enshrined in the United States Hockey Hall of Fame. A former third overall pick of the 1984 draft by Chicago, Olczyk played 16 years in the NHL spanning six teams — Chicago Blackhawks (1984-87, 1998-2000), Toronto Maple Leafs (1987-1991), Winnipeg Jets (1991-1992, 1995-1996), New ...
The reviews are in – this year’s free agency period gets…a yawn. The free agent crop was thin going into this offseason, and player movement has slowed to a crawl now that the Zach Parise and Ryan Suter sweepstakes is over. But how much does this free agency period even matter? The 2012 offseason is ...
The Year of the Los Angeles Kings: Celebrating the 2012 Stanley Cup Champions By Andrew Podnieks. (2012, Toronto: Fenn/McClelland & Stewart. Softcover. Pp. 160. $19.99. ISBN 978-0-7710-5510-4.) Forty-five years in the waiting, hockey fans in Los Angeles finally have something to celebrate. Dustin Brown and Drew Doughty – with a little help from ...
As I was walking around the Prudential Center concourse before Game 5 between the Kings and Devils with my black #32 Jonathan Quick jersey on, one word rang clear over and over again. “Go back to LA, bandwagon fans.” “I bet they can’t even name who #27 is, bandwagoners.” “The Kings don’t even have ...
And just like that it was all over. The Habs defeat the Leafs 4-1 in the season’s last game in the city where the sport was conceived. The fans were loud and proud of their favorite team but the game itself was not much to write about, especially not from a Leafs perspective. I mean, ...
Earlier on Thursday, Tim Thomas was named the NHL’s First Star of the Month for November. Last season’s Conn Smythe and Vezina Trophy winner posted a perfect 9-0 record, three shutouts and a .941 save percentage for the Boston Bruins during their best statistical month since January 1969. Pass along more credit to the forwards, particularly the line of Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and Tyler Seguin who combined for a total of 19 goals and 22 assists in 13 games. And don’t forget the captain, either. During the streak, Zdeno Chara went off by scoring four goals and assisting on ten others.
Though it was the players on the ice garnering much attention and praise for the Bruins’ 12-0-1 record in November, the key piece to the winning streak, in this writer’s opinion, never suited up for a game.
Bruins’ coach Claude Julien was as much of a vital component to their success as any player. Seriously.
Statistically speaking, the Boston Bruins are not the best team in the NHL. Despite being the team that has scored the third highest amount of goals (64), has the second least amount of goals allowed (39) and has the highest goal differential of any team in the league (+25), the Bruins aren’t even in the top ten.
Blame it on their 3-7 start; a product of a lazy hockey when the team got a bit too comfortable after their summer with the Cup, showing little signs of passion and not playing effectively for the full 60 minutes. Eight straight wins later, good enough for an undefeated November, and the Bruins have turned things around in a big, bad way.
It’s amazing how quickly the blissful memories of winning a Stanley Cup can be forgotten. Hockey is a “what have you done for me lately” kind of business, and after earning eight of a possible twenty-two points to start the year, people are wondering what’s wrong with the Bruins. Are they really suffering the from ...
It has been a nice, enjoyable offseason for the Boston Bruins. Apparently, that’s what happens when a team with a manageable salary cap wins the Stanley Cup. Even though there have been some departures in Boston, the majority of the championship team remains intact. Still, repeating as Cup champions is one of the most difficult tasks in all of hockey. While it may be premature to say that the Bruins will repeat as Cup champions, there are plenty of predictions that could be made for the upcoming 2011-2012 season.
