Posted by Gayle Simone, Sun Staff
Well, it's Wednesday and tomorrow night is the home opener for the Bruins and this hockey fan is very excited.
I went over my parents house for dinner the other night, it was great, Mom is such a good cook- let me rephrase that - she is OUTSTANDING; Dad and I were chatting about sports and the topic of the Bruins came up.
Dad said that although he is not completely convinced the owners are committed to bringing a Stanley Cup back to Boston, he is still not counting out this team just yet...
You know what, he's right. (Well, if you know my Dad you can say, well that he's always right.)
But anyway, some of the things Dad and I were discussing were:
The Bruins have not only started the season with a 5 game road trip, but they also played at many of their opponents home openers - which can cause delays in the start of the game and also cause the home team and their fans to be even more pumped for the game than usual - hence why I am getting PUMPED for tomorrow night's tilt! Not too mention I can't wait to see the new Jumbotron the TD Banknorth Garden has installed.
Oh and another comment by the wise one, AKA my dad, it is only five games into a very long season...
I did however tell my dad, the same thing I have been saying since day one ... I am still not convinced or satisfied with the tandem in net.
Hannu Toivonen and Tim Thomas have let up a combined 20 goals already - That is so not good, but then again it would be nice if the forwards and/or D-man could score a few goals ...the whole team combines for 10, yup that's it...
According to BostonBruins.com - Dave Lewis, AKA Charlie Chaplin, has mixed up the lines in the last practice - Axelsson-Savard-Boyes; Kessel-Bergy-Murray; Donovan-Primeau-Sturm (-Brookbank); Hoggan-Mowers-Stastny
OK, not sure I like Sturm on the checking line and Axy on the first line - I mean I know Lewis wants to shake things up, but and that is a big BUT - as much as I love Axy - he is a better defender than Sturm and the checking line has 3 goals and 1 assist thus far; while the top line of Boyes-Bergy-Kessel has 3 goals and 3 assists; and the second line of Murray-Savard-Sturm also has 3 goals and 3 assists - I don't think the lines are the problem...
Moving on to some random hockey notes and rants....
Did anyone catch the 9-1 beating Philly took at the hands of the Sabres? I have to admit - I know it's still early, but Buffalo looks better than they did last year and their alternate jerseys are much, much, much less hideous than their current ones....what do you think??
By the way, anyone else notice that Andrew Raycroft is playing they way he did his rookie year in a Leafs uniform?
Rayzor is off to a solid start, with a 3-1-1 record and 1.94 goals-against average and .936 save percentage.
I said all along that the Bs gave up on him way too early and put too much stock in Toivonen; who by the way has not earned the #1 job in Boston yet and has posted a 1-2 record in 4 games played, 3.44 GAA and .892 Sv% .... oh and by the way - Rayzor has given up 10 goals in 5 games, including a shutout and good old Hannu has let up 11 -hmmm Dale Arnold this question is for you.... "Do you still think Toivonen is MUCH better goalie than Raycroft?"
OK, so thanks to MaLockFan - I now have the best picture of Hal "No Skills" Gill ever... I almost want to post that picture everywhere! It's a classic, it really is...
So, anyone going to the game or going to watch it on NESN? I might DVR it just so I can hear how Dale calls the game, thank god the team is home for 6 games - that means no Jack Edwards. Even my dad said he is a horrible play-by-play guy. But unfortunately we still have to endure Rob Simpson - ughghg....
I did watch the first 2 periods of the Buffalo game, lost interest after that. Not much of a game really, but at least Drury's tearing it up for my fantasy team.
I actually like the those blue uni's they were wearing, those were cool.
Unfortunately I'll miss watching Thursday's B's game. They may not be a bad thing, the only game I've seen so far is the opening night blowout.
Rob Simpson was bad early last year, but he got alot better and grew on me.
Watching NESN classic really made me pine for The Boston Garden (as crappy as it was) and for Cusack and even Sanderson. No offense to Dale but I just don't like his homerism announcing.
Isn't Steve "psycho" Lyons looking for a job? I like my announcers with limited PC.
I was surprised to see that their are plenty of tickets left as well. Even freebies such as 12 and under and student night is not bringing them in. Attendance is down all around this year..Colorodo broke a steak of sell outs. Only 8,000 at Chicago
B's will be hurting as well. Has hockey become so PC and clean that its lost its attraction and is dying?
On a whole, the NHL is doing better than they expected attendance wise. There are plenty of teams doing very well, you just mentioned a few of the struggling ones. Chicago has been terrible for a while, you can't blame those fans for not filling the place up. Colorodo has been spoiled from all their winning, I'm not suprised that they broke their streak now that alot of their big stars are gone. Would you want to see Jose Theodore in net after watching Patrick Roy for all those years? No Forsberg, Blakic, Foote, ect... those are some big losses.
I don't think it has anything to do with cleaning up the game. The game is the best it's been a while with the new rules. Not every team is going to sell out every night, it doesn't happen in any of the major sports.
Wow, I have a lot to comment back to... Although I am disappointed that no one has commented on the Hal "No Skills" Gill photo...
I also, only watched part of the Buffalo/Flyers game - it did get kinda boring after that - and I have to agree MaLock the blue uniforms were much better than the traditional ones they are wearing this year!
As far as Dale - anything is better than Jack Edwards...
Anyway, I have to agree with Dan, ticket sales and attendance are up all over the NHL and I think the Bs have to prove they are a legitmet team before they start selling out games, they didn't exactly start the season off strong if you know what I mean.
I don't think the league has gone too clean, I guess I'm a different kind of hockey fan, though I like some fighting - nothing beats the PJ Stock/Stephen Peat fight when they had the punch counter at the bottom of the screen - but that is not why I love hockey and I think when it over powers a game it's more exciting for the occassional fan JMHO.
I love hockey for the physical play, the guys skating ability and the energy on top of it... to me there is nothing better than seeing any hockey game live over any other sport...
Anyway, I will be at the game tomorrow night and I can't wait to see the team live on their home ice in front of their fans - ME ESPECIALLY LOL