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Ever put an album on that just takes you way, way back?
For me, that’s “Hot Damn!” by Every Time I Die. The album came out when I was an angsty youth (Yikes, that’s kinda scary and makes me feel real old), and just before the start of the 2003-04 season, the final season before what would become the first and less painful of two lockouts I can vividly recall with a venomous tone in my voice. And on an album loaded with favorites from ETID, I’d have to go ahead and dub “I Been Gone A Long Time” my favorite off the LP, and perhaps my favorite song ever written by the club, and exactly how I feel as I write this blog. My friends, when it comes to the lockout blogs and prolonged offseason thoughts, I’ve been gone a long time.
It’s been over a week since I last posted, and I wish I had a good reason as to why I’m not aggressively tackling the lockout from all angles. To be honest with you, this lockout business depresses the hell out of me. And I don’t mean a “Oh, gee, life’s a bore,” kind of depression, but literally like “I’m a homicidal maniac that’s going to cry and dance in blood soon,” kind of depression.
OK, I’m probably not going to kill anybody or cry any time soon, but man, life is incredibly boring without the National Hockey League. Sure, I’m fortunate enough to live in an area loaded with AHL play and college hockey, but don’t even try to kid yourself and tell me that it’s the same, or even close for that matter.
Believe me, I’ve tried, and it’s simply not the same.
But even if I want to go and check out the farm, it’s no walk in the park.
Providence, the AHL affiliate of the B’s, play 70 miles, 80 minutes away from my house. Manchester, the affiliate of the defending Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles Kings play 40 miles, 60 minutes away. I don’t care for trips to Connecticut, so that counts the Sound Tigers and Whale out, and I’m never going to Worcester.
Sorry, Worcester, you just make me uncomfortable.
Essentially, I’m out of luck, and it’s all ‘cause of those damned Lowell-turned-Albany Devils! For those unaware, the Tsongas Center at UMass-Lowell, the home of the Lowell Lock Monsters/Devils from 1998 to 2010, was located a whopping 15-20 minutes from my house, and that was with traffic. And to be honest, there was never traffic, and that kinda explains why the team upped and moved to Albany to be closer to the Devils’ homebase in New Jersey. Now, if the Devils were still here, I’d be churning out Lil’ Devs (and their opponents) blogs at a rate that’d make Todd Cordell look over his shoulder at all times.
Alas, they’re not, and here I am, an incredibly bored hockey writer that’s not down with listening to AHL games on the radio or huddling over scrambled feeds of European contests. As crazy as it may sound, catching a feed of a Plzen HC game doesn’t seem worth the Czech-born trojan that’s sure to lodge itself deep into my ol’ reliable Dell laptop.
(Have you ever read something so rantish? This lockout is literally decimating my soul.)
Anyways, let’s just jump into a crazy group of topics, shall we?
You’re a mean one, Mr. J
It’s not a shock to me that last week’s meetings between the NHL and NHLPA seemed to take a nosedive once B’s owner Jeremy Jacobs decided to stop collecting his hot dog money from Buffalo and the TD Garden show up.
The 72-year-old Jacobs, ranked No. 634 on Forbes’ list of billionaires, is clearly intent on squeezing out every last nickel and dime out of these talks, and the act undoubtedly grows tiresome. I guess being the 634th richest person in the world doesn’t do it for some. Please note that I’m probably the 4,583,302,204th richest person in the world.
Must be tough, Double J.
Both sides of the coin: Recchi’s lockout advice
Interesting comments from former Bruin Mark Recchi in the Boston Globe today. Recchi, who played for the Bruins from two and a half seasons, is an owner of the Kamloop Blazers (WHL), and as somebody that’s been on both sides of things, thinks that players should ‘cut their losses’ and agree to a CBA as soon as possible.
“My advice,’’ mused Recchi, part owner of the Kamloops Blazers junior squad in the Western Hockey League, “is that the longer it goes, the worse [the offer] is going to get [for the players]. Hey, I’m an owner, too, so I see both sides. We lose money on our team, and obviously that’s not the same, the money’s not nearly as significant as in the NHL, but the business dynamics are similar. We’ve lost money every year we’ve owned it.’’
As the interview went on, Recchi noted that the players "always get the money," and think that the same will be the case even with a new CBA.
Well that’s a different take. Check out the rest of the story here.
A year ago yesterday, Milan Lucic ruined (wrong) Buffalo’s Ryan Miller
Back in 2005, I was at a game at the TD Garden when a puck came trickling back down into the Ottawa zone with a Bruin rushing towards it. Now, instead of prepping for a breakaway chance, the Sens' Dominik Hasek came racing out to meet the forward in a game of chicken, and when neither party would back off, Hasek went down and sent the B's forward flying over him. There were no penalties on the play, and the game carried on with the Senators ultimately demolishing the Bruins by a lot to a little.
In Nov. last year, I saw the same play happen, but with a goaltender, Ryan Miller, apparently forgetting how to defend himself with a forward, Milan Lucic, barreling down on him. Or so we're told. Miller, seeing Lucic coming, did in fact prep for a bump, and when it came, the sporting world shook with apparent shock that Lucic didn't put the brakes on a scoring chance despite No. 30 coming 20 feet out of his net. OK.
Leaving the game with a head injury, Miller was healthy enough to talk to reporters after the loss, a no-no for any injured player, and called Lucic a "piece of [expletive]."
The outcry followed when Lucic wasn't handed a suspension, and when Miller returned to action, it seemed that anybody that came within ten feet of a goaltender was whistled for goaltender interference. But perhaps lost in the hoopla of the incident was that Miller returned to be, uh, better than he was before the hit.
From December on, Miller went 26-15-7 and posted a .918 save percentage. Before the hit? A mediocre 5-6-0 record and .909 save percentage. But how about when Miller was shelved and forced Jhonas Enroth to anchor the Sabres' crease for almost a whole month? They went 3-5-1, a 38.8 point-percentage, a minor change from the Sabres' 45.5 point percentage prior to Miller's injury.
Essentially, it's (not) crazy to think that he didn't actually kill Miller and the Sabres, but did prompt them to trade a top-six center for an agitator (Steve Ott), and sign the worst defensemen in the NHL, John Scott. The impact's not leaving Buffalo any time soon, huh?
But Patrick Kane is making Tyler Seguin an alcoholic!
Remember when everyone was being an idiot and said that Patrick Kane joining Tyler Seguin with EHC Biel was going to be "very bad" for Seguin because of Kane's alleged drinking/partying problem? Hey, what's it like to be incredibly wrong? In the three games since Kane joined the club, the 20-year-old Seguin has tallied five goals and added two assists, and sits third among Swiss League forwards with 23 points on the year.
Biel's also scored 20 goals since Kane arrived -- three (Yes, three) games ago.
Oh, and at the club's pro shop, fans are able to get a special edition of NHL13 that features the Boston winger on the cover, donning his EHC Biel stripes.
Say what you will about B's play-by-play announcer Jack Edwards, but the dude absolutely nails it with this rant on the NHL lockout.
Again, I know not everyone is the biggest fan of Jack's style, but when he delivers with passion, like in this video, the guy makes some undeniable points that should hit a nerve with any hockey fan.
B’s youngsters dodging injury bug at every corner
The Bruins and their prospects seem to be dodging injury bullets left and right here. First it came with 2012 first rounder Malcolm Subban favoring his knee in an overtime loss against the London Knights two weeks ago, and then came Russian prospect Alexander Khokhlachev blocking a shot with his face in Team Russia’s game against the OHL this past week.
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