The tournament favorite, Team Canada, dropped the ball Friday evening to Team USA in a 4-2 matchup. And if you missed it, you should probably consider your status as a hockey fan. Exhibition game or not, the two teams scruffed it out just like any other game. Looking at the stats, you'd assume that Canada came out on top, but Team USA proved to be relentless in the matchup. Team Canada outshot Team USA 43 to 25 showing that it wasn't Jonathan Quick's first day on the job. Joe Pavelski and Derrick Stepan helped sealed the deal, and backup Quick's stellar performance, each walking away with a goal and assist for the red, white, and blue. And if you missed the action last night it's not too late. The two teams will face off again today, Saturday, September 10 at 7 pm. But before you prepare to watch tonight's game check out some of last night's highlights!
0 Comments
Now here's some food for thought. With a World Cup of Hockey beginning in less than two weeks, and with a quarter of the Bruin's invited to play for their National teams, how has a team that seems so stacked up faced so much struggle in the past two seasons? I guess that's something we just can't figure out, but on the bright side, at least we know that we're coming into a new season with more than enough talent on the bench to make something happen this season.
The B's have players representing five different countries during the world cup starting off with Captain, Zdeno Chara putting on the jersey for Team Europe and Assistant Captain, Patrice Bergeron lacing up with USA's rival, Team Canada. Assistant Captain, David Krejci was invited to play for Team Czech Republic but is still recovering from his off-season hip surgery. Meeting their fellow Captain's at Air Canada Centre, home of the Toronto Maple Leaves, is Bruin's forward David Pastrnak playing for Team Czech Republic, Goalie, Tuukka Rask between the pipes for Team Finland, and newly rostered Bruin, David Backes wearing nothing but red, white, and blue for Team USA. Although the Bruin's have the luxury of getting five of their guys on the ice fighting for their countries titles we can't forget about the two men who were also called to play in the tournament that were dropped from the Bruin's roster for this upcoming season. Both Dennis Seidenberg and Louis Eriksson were offered spots on their respective National teams, obviously showing that there isn't a lack of talent, but we all know there's much more there's more than just talent factored into trades and buyouts, unfortunately. Now we just have to wait and see if the call by Don Sweeney and the rest of the Boston management was the right one. To catch the action pre-tournament games start on Thursday, September 8th with the official preliminary games facing off on the 17th with Team USA starting off the showcase facing Zdeno Chara and Team Europe at 3:30 pm ET. For the complete schedule and to catch all the action use the link below. Well, we might not have sealed a deal with Brad Marchand just yet, but it seems the Bruins are beginning to fill their bench. Just yesterday the Bruins signed on four players, each to a one-year contract. The most notable of the four is Dominic Moore. The 36-year old defenseman will add the black and gold to his collection of NHL jerseys. The Bruins organization will be Moore's 10th NHL team he has strapped on skates for. So why the toss around? Being the recipient of the Bill Masterson Memorial Trophy in his 2013-2014 season, an award dedicated to sportsmanship, perseverance, and dedication to the game, maybe we have another Bergeron on our hands? He might not have Bergeron's numbers, but at least we know he's shown to be a class act. In addition to Moore, the B's have added three other assets to this 2016-2017 season. Both Chris Casto and Brian Ferlin have been called up to the big leagues after spending their 2015-2016 season with the Providence Bruins. Playing for the P-Bruins for three seasons now, Casto put up career highs from the blue line in his 2015-2016 with seven goals and sixteen assists. Hopefully, Casto can bring the depth to the defensive lineup that the B's have been searching for. Ferlin, on the other hand, has seen some time on the Bruins bench back in 2014-2015 where he recorded time in seven games. The following two seasons Ferlin spent his time on the Providence roster, but it looks like Boston is ready to take him back. And let's not forget defenseman, Alex Grant, another guy that can hopefully step up to the plate and lessen the damage on the defensive side of the game. Grant split his time between Arizona and their AHL affiliate the Springfield Falcons last season putting up 42 points in just 69 games, let's hope this is something to say up his upcoming season because we could sure use some numbers. Now that the B's have acquired some outside talent it's time to get that contract extended on Marchand as we look into the Bruins' future. I think it's about time we just take a minute to appreciate some of the greatness that the Bruins has on it's bench. Now no dig to Chara, Marchard, Rask, or any other of the phenomenal players that make up the Bruins forefront, but Patrice Bergeron is just one of those players that just outshines them all. As a ten year Bruin veteran we've gotten always had Bergy around so I think sometimes we forget to appreciate his greatness for what it really, one of the greatest two way players in the NHL, and I don't say that lightly. In his past 12 seasons with the Bruins this guy has managed to put 238 pucks into the back of net. You might be thinking, well that's not an over alarming number of goals, but it's not just that number, it's all the other numbers behind it including his 380 assists totaling a career 618 points. And behind all of those numbers are a simply humble guy, there's really nothing hate about him. He's that guy that your mom wants you to bring home because he's just an all around good guy (gentleman, take notes). He's that guy who puts 100% into everything he does. He's polite, well spoken, and might get a little scrappy, but it's only when having someones back. Bruins fan or not, you can't help but to tip your hat to this guy. Photo: Boston.com As the question floats in everyone's minds as to how the Bruins will run out onto the ice on opening night, we can't help but to also think about Brad Marchand's contract that is quickly coming to a close. The outstanding forward who racked up 37 goals, ranking 6th in the league in his 2015-2016 season, will quickly be on the open market if the Bruins can't get him to sign an extension. And as a Bruin's fan, this isn't something we want. So what's it going to take?
With other big name offensive players like David Krejci and Patrice Bergeron signed on for the next four years, Marchand could lend a solid hand to the offensive power of this team; a hand they don't want to lose. Right now the Bruins need to focus their time and energy on building a more powerful defensive line; offense is not something else that they want to add to the list. In reality, if the Bruins can sign Marchand for another four or five years then they can spend all of their time and money of creating a solid backbone of defensemen that can ultimately make them a Stanley Cup team once again. ![]() With the start of our beloved hockey season right around the corner with a mere two and a half weeks until the beginning of the Bruins season, the one thing on everyone's mind is, what can we expect? Going two seasons in a row with less than spectacular playoff rounds some Boston fans might be losing a little bit of faith. But are they losing faith in the players or the management? The truth is, faith has been lost in Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs for some times now. And when I say sometimes, I mean, many people have never had confidence in Jeremy Jacobs. Jacobs' reputation has never been something Bruins fans have stood by, but I can say that fans have had much more faith in the staff underneath his belt including President Cam Neeley and head coach Claude Julien, but even this may be shifting after the past two seasons. Compared to the other New England Sports teams the Bruins are quickly dropping to the bottom of the list, so a change is in order. When ranked against these other New England organizations the Bruins to the bottom in most categories including ownership performance, leadership performance, and coaches/managers most admired (Buckley, 2016). And just in case those aren't bad enough, in a category quoted 'In the past year, do you believe (insert team) has changed for the better?' the Bruins were face down on the bottom of the pile under the other four New England teams. So what are the positives of this? Well, I guess it can't get too much worse. On a more positive note, the Bruins have had seen some success in the past ten years it's just a matter of now bringing that back onto the ice. Reference: Buckley, S. (2016). Buckley: fan survey delivers bad news. Boston Herald. Retrieved from http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/bruins/2016/08/buckley_fan_survey_delivers_bad_news_for_the_bruins |
Archives
October 2016
Categories |