Boston Bruins Report: 2d Edition 2007-08:

Game 7 v. NY Rangers (10/20/07):
The game was moved up three hours to accommodate the fans who wanted to see the baseball game. Seriously, if this game went head-to-head with the Sox, there would’ve been about 14 people who tuned in. As it was the turnout consisted of friends, family and the last of the diehards. Prior to the game, the Bruins honored Travis Roy with the ceremonial first dropping of the puck, and made a very nice contribution to Travis' foundation that assists people who have suffered spinal cord injuries. He's an amazing guy.

Even though it’s very early, Rangers have stumbled coming out of the gate, which is surprising considering they were the big players during free agency auction. Manny Fernandez and Henrik Lundqvist started in goal, and for those among you who appreciate tight checking, defense and great goaltending, this was definitely your night.

The Bruins had a lot of chances to score, especially on the power-play, but they were fruitless. They had six minutes of power-play time in the first period all for naught. The Bruins played virtually the entire second period a man up or a man down as four penalties were called on each team. Neither side could really mount a sustained attack. Things calmed down in the third period and the Bruins survived a late penalty to take the game into overtime. Manny Fernández was outstanding in goal for the Bruins, turning aside 25 shots over the first three periods and another in overtime. Lundqvist was no slouch either, as he stone cold robbed Marc Savard on wrist shot from the left of the Rangers' net. After 65 minutes, the outcome of the game would be determined by the shootout, where the Bruins' secret weapon, Phil Kessel, was poised to strike once more.

Both goalies turned aside, the first three shots they faced. Now it was Kessel's turn, and he sent everybody home happy as he has done a number of times in the past when he roofed a wrist shot over Lundqvist's shoulder for the game-winner. For Bruins fans, seeing Manny Fernández have a big game in goal lifted everyone's spirits, because so far he's been anything but a stopper and he's a guy who needs continual encouragement or else he'll be liable to fall into a black hole. Hopefully his good front will continue. Bruins won a thriller 1-0.

Game 8 at Montréal (10/22/07):

Every now and then, a team is bound to have a real stinker and such was the case on Monday night when the Bruins traveled to Montréal to face the Canadiens for the first time this year. The B’s had gotten off to a surprisingly good start, so perhaps the result of this game was an opportunity to take stock.

Manny Fernández got the start in goal against Christobal Huet, and if there's one thing that's pretty clear is that the Bruins have trouble winning face-offs. The first two goals Canadiens scored were virtually identical: the Bruins lost the draw, and a goal scored immediately off the face-off. If that was not disconcerting enough, the Bruins' physical style of play was more than matched by Canadiens. At one point, Scott Thornton tried to stir the pot by taking a run at Mike Komisarek (6-4/240) and harmlessly bounced off of him. If it weren’t so comical to see, it would’ve been a huge embarrassment.

Christopher Higgins scored Canadiens’ first goal midway through the first and Alexei Kovalev scored at 6:28 of the second. Those were the goals that came off the draw. The B’s maintained their intensity through most of the period but Canadiens took control as the period moved into the later stages. Steve Begin banged in a rebound at 17:48, and it was all downhill after that for the Bruins. The roof caved in and they wound up losing 6-1. Dennis Wideman was the lone goal scorer for Boston on the power-play early.

Fernandez gave up 6 goals on 20 shots. Granted, not all of them were his fault still…it’s really odd that on Saturday he was a brick wall and two nights later was a slice of Swiss cheese.

Game 9 vs. Chicago (10/25/07):

After Monday night fiasco when Montréal, he was back to the touring board for coach Julien and his charges. The media made much of the fact that Julien was less than thrilled with the inability of his forwards to accept the price that comes with being an immovable object in front of the net. He must've gotten his point across, because when the Bruins came out on Thursday night to face the Blackhawks they did not resemble the pathetic bunch that one up to Montréal on Monday night.

After a number of years at the bottom of the barrel, the Blackhawks have now begun to build a highly talented group of players. It's really a shame that their myopic, tightfisted owner, William Wirtz, practically ruined one of the NHL's flagship franchises. Now that Wirtz is dead, maybe the team will employ some novel concepts such as televising home games. As long as Wirtz was still around, Jeremy Jacobs was a distant second as professional sports' worst owner. It borders on fiscal insanity to think that, in this day and age, an owner with incredibly deep pockets would deny the hockey fans in his community an opportunity to regularly tune in to his team's home games. What's Chicago, the third largest television market in the country? The idea of hurting the gate by televising home games is to behave like a technological and cultural dinosaur. It is no accident why the Blackhawks haven't won the Stanley Cup since 1961, and much of it had to do with the legacy of Wirtz. He may have been a philanthropist and beloved in many circles, but the great hockey fans in Chicago may have a different opinion on the matter. Can you imagine in Boston/New England, if Bruins fans were not allowed to watch home games? The Bruins would have gone out of business about 30 years ago. Before there was NESN, TV38 popularized Bobby Orr and the Big Bad Bruins and transformed what was a niche sport at best, into a cultural phenomenon for a generation of kids. Anyhow, I digress.

The Bruins started Tim Thomas in goal which was a pretty good idea after Fernández' performance on Monday night. These teams will once ancient and honorable rivals, and the rivalry was never better than in the late 60s and early 70s. When both teams were filled with stars and competing for Stanley Cup. With expansion and regionalization, these teams get together now but once in a blue moon. The last time the Blackhawks came to Boston was in January of 2003. Maybe that's not so good for hockey. But it doesn't take much to rekindle an old flame. Late in the first period, there was a scrum in front of the Bruins' net that turned ugly. After the usual pushing and shoving and name calling, Zdeno Chara and David Koci (renewing a Slovak-Czech turf war of sorts) took their hostility to higher level. These were two rather large men who decided to settle the differences by beating each other up. Chara got the better of things, as he reduced Koci to a bloody pulp within about 20 seconds. This was real old time hockey, as the bull crew had to come out with shovels to scrape off the blood from the ice. That's hockey. It was nothing dirty, illegal or outside the code of what is considered acceptable. Both players went off for repairs, and after a brief respite in the penalty box, returned as if nothing had happened.

After a scoreless is first period, the Bruins came out in the second on fire. Phil Kessel made one of those highlight reel type moves coming down the ice, slipping the puck around a defender and scoring. It was a very pretty goal. Shortly thereafter, Chicago went the power play and Jonathan Toews (one of their bright young stars) banged in a goal to tie the game. The Blackhawks put a flurry on in front of Thomas, but he stood tall. The Bruins spent half of the period with players in the penalty box, which didn't help matters out. At the 14-minute mark, Kessel made another breathtaking rush down the ice with the puck and slipped it past Nikolai Khabibulan to put the Bruins ahead two to one.

In the third period, move, the Blackhawks continue to press in the Bruins end of the rink, but Thomas continued to stone their efforts. Glen Metropolit scored his first goal as a Bruin at 7:08 to give the team a little breathing room. At the end, the Blackhawks pulled their goalie in a desperate attempt to gain the equalizer. The Bruins did score an empty net go, that was called back because of a hand pass. However, it mattered for naught because it was the Bruins' night tonight and they skated away with a 3-1 win.

Between Toews, Patrick Kane and Brent Seabrook, the Blackhawks have done a fantastic job in rebuilding the game with three absolute studs for the future. Like the Bruins, they've made the mistake of throwing good money after bad, and have spent years trying to recover. Now it looks as if building a team on high-priced free-agent duds has gone the way of the Edsel, for both teams. This Blackhawks team ought to be very enjoyable to watch for many years to come. Let's hope that the great fans in Chicago get to watch the team's games at home and here the booming sound of the foghorn every time they score.

Game 10 v. Philadelphia (10/27/07:

Even in a violent endeavor such as the sport of hockey, there are codes of what is acceptable and what is not. If there is one play that hockey fans and players particularly detest it is when the puck carrier has his back turned toward the boards and is cross-checked into the boards, often causing serious injury. Such was the case as occurred on Saturday afternoon when the Bruins played Philadelphia at the Garden. As time was running out in a scoreless first period, Patrice Bergeron chased after a puck behind the Philadelphia net to the right of the Flyers’ goal. His back was turned toward the boards when Randy Jones of the Flyers took a lunging step, crashed into Bergeron and smashed his face into the boards. Patrice was immediately knocked unconscious and had to be immobilized before being removed from the ice. It was a frightening moment that took about 15 minutes of heart-stopping anxiety as he was surrounded by doctors and other medical professionals. Those in attendance at the Garden as well as those watching on television could really have not cared less as to what transpired on the ice thereafter.

Hockey fans around here have very long memories. We remember the tragic case of Normand Leveille, who was born with a congenital ticking time bomb inside his brain waiting to explode. On an October night in 1982, the Bruins were playing in Vancouver. Leveille was 19 years of age at the time and just beginning to fulfill the promise that justified his selection as a number one draft choice just 18 months earlier. In that fateful game, Leveille was checked hard into the boards on a completely legal and legitimate play late in the first period. In between periods he complained of dizziness and the training staff alertly saw that he was exhibiting signs of having a stroke. It was nothing caused by the hit, it did trigger a brain aneurysm that could have happened if he simply sneezed one day.

From that point forward, Leveille was permanently disabled, though he and his family have done magnificent work over the years helping those who have also become disabled. Normand remains very dear to old time hockey fans. When he came to Boston to join other Bruins’ legends to close down the Old Garden in ’95, seeing him skate around the ice with help was one of the greatest hockey memories that Bruins’ fans hold dear. He is courage and determination personified.

Boston hockey fans are also familiar with the case of Travis Roy at Boston University who 12 years ago, suffered a catastrophic injury just seconds into his collegiate hockey career. Despite living his life as a quadriplegic, Travis is an inspiration to millions of people worldwide due to his courage and determination, as was evidenced on Thursday night when he came out to tremendous applause to drop the ceremonial first puck.

So when the fans witnessed what happened to Patrice on Saturday, a lot of painful memories bubbled up to the surface. Ironically, the pre-game programming feature Leveille’s story and his remarkable recovery.

After Bergeron was removed to Mass General Hospital by ambulance, there were still 40-plus minutes of hockey to be played. Up to that point, it was a typical Bruins-Flyers game filled with fights and raw physical play. Shawn Thornton and Cote mixed it up pretty well midway through the first. Then moments later, Lucic just pummeled Eaves. However, after Bergeron went out, the Bruins hearts were simply not in it, and who could blame them? Marco Sturm scored first goal of the game on the power-play when he banged in a rebound of Chara’s blast from the point midway in the second period. Generally when Sturm scores a goal he has a powerful emotional reaction. This time it was quite muted. The Bruins went back on the power-play shortly thereafter, and suffered a lapse when Chara mishandled a pass from inside the Flyers’ zone to where he was waiting at the point. Mike Richards grabbed the loose puck, skated in alone and scored the tying goal. About three minutes later, the Flyers won on the power-play when the Bruins were caught with too many men on the ice and Joffrey Lupul scored the eventual game-winner.

Late in the period, Kessel was tripped heading in on a breakaway and a penalty shot was called. Kessel skated down, fired the puck high over the goal and it harmlessly bounced away.

In the third, the B’s had a few chances to score especially late after Thomas was pulled for an extra attacker. Martin Biron had a big night in goal for the Flyers. Under the circumstances, losing a game by one goal was the least of the team’s concerns. There are nights when the numbers on the school board are relevant.

Later in the evening, the Bruins announced that Bergeron suffered a Grade 3 concussion and a broken nose, but his doctors stated that there were no long-term neurological effects for which everyone was thrilled. However, he’ll be out of the lineup for at least a month. The National Hockey League suspended Jones for a mere two games. Granted, Jones does not have the reputation of being a goon on the ice, but it was not an accidental play. The replay showed that Jones found Bergeron in a highly vulnerable position, and used his stick as a lever to drive Bergeron violently face first into the boards.

As mentioned in a previous post, until such time as the National Hockey League recognizes that cross checking players from behind into the boards is a dastardly and possibly criminal act, it'll be just like history repeating. One day, a player may be killed out there on the ice or left a quadriplegic. Then all the blue ribbon panels and commissions and will make recommendations when the answer is as clear as the nose on their faces. Minimally, unless it's conclusively determined that an injury of this type of is caused by a freak accident, players who get caught cross checking an opponent into the boards should be suspended for a minimum of 10 games and upwards depending on the severity of the injury. The offender's team should also be fined as well and threatened with the loss of draft choices if they continue to encourage or enable this form of despicable behavior. This is the third time in a month that a member of the Flyers has been suspended for dirty play. So far, the onus for such conduct has fallen entirely on the players. On one or perhaps two of the occasions, laying blame entirely at the players’ feet is entirely justified. However, the third time -- in less than two months -- strongly suggests that the higher-ups in the organization encourage, or at least condone this sort of behavior. The only way that will stop is when the money comes out of the organization's pocket.

After 10 Games, the Bruins are at 6-4-0-12, fourth place in the Northeast and sixth place in the East. Starting on November 1st, the Bruins face a rough stretch where they play nine games in 20 days against division rivals, three with Buffalo and two each with Ottawa, Montreal and Toronto. We’ll have a much clearer picture of the team after that.

Three Stars:
1. Phil Kessel
2. Tim Thomas
3. Manny Fernandez