This, Headline Made Me Laugh

My first thought when I read this: 'Oh Ryan Whitney was invited to try-outs!'


It's an announcement for Bobby Ryan and Ryan Whitney.
Yeah ... sorry. I found it amusing.

Unbelievable News

Well, it is for me anyway.

Reports are surfacing that BC & BU will be taking part in the NHL's 2010 Winter Classic at Fenway Park.

BC is a definite go apparently. The Terriers should be the second. BU makes the most sense to play because of four reasons:

1. Fenway is practically part of the BU campus (I could see it from where I lived last year).
2. They just won the national championship.
3. The BU-BC rivalry is the only college match-up suited for Fenway.
4. I'm really biased and love my Terriers.

HOW COOL IS THAT GOING TO BE?! Now I need to get tickets ... even if I have to sell my soul or something along those lines.

Another Terrier Moves Up

BU assistant coach, Dave Quinn, was named head coach of the AHL's Lake Erie Monsters. He's replacing another former BU alum, Joe Sacco -- who was named head coach of the Colorado Avs.

Good to see another BU alum move up. A national championship will bring about these opportunities.

I wonder how many offers Jack Parker has gotten in his career? A ton I'm guessing.

Quote of the Day

My mom put a picture of [the Stanley Cup] in my crib when I was born. She told me that anytime you start something, you should do it the best you can and finish at the top.

-Kris Letang

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At Last

Well, the kids did it. I held off on writing about it because I needed it all to soak in. Even now, it's hard for me to coherently write everything I'm thinking. I'll be brief: what a series. Seriously. Momentum swung back and forth; just when you thought one team had it, things shifted. For myself, it went kind of like this:

Games 1&2: Not again.
Games 3&4: New series. We got this.
Game 5: FML.
Game 6: I can barely watch the second half of this game.
Game 7: S:EIG@%!%$&A! YES.

How do you not love that though? Yes, obviously I would have liked to just win it in four games and avoid all the nerves. But it's much sweeter when you've battled for it.

This was my first Stanley Cup; I say that because the last time Pittsburgh won I was only around four years-old. It is awesome, and I want some more ASAP.

Other than that, just some thoughts:

+ How great is Dan Bylsma's story? He went from assistant in the AHL last season to head coach of the Stanley Cup champs a year later. I'll admit I was wrong about him. I wasn't the biggest supporter of his move to the NHL (although I do stand by the fact that his success was also because of the players making a 'motivation' adjustment). I always liked the guy, I just didn't think he'd be able to do what he did. But it worked out just fine.

+ Marian Hossa. No, I don't really feel bad for you. Maybe a little, but that's about it. I also don't really believe that you have 'no regrets.' I know I'd be kicking myself. Try again next time.

+ Naturally you have to give props to the Red Wings. They're pretty much a model for what a team should be like in the NHL. They're a hard team to beat, and it's something to say you did so.

+ I'd happily like to point out, Game 7 was all about the WBS alums: Maxy Talbot, Marc-Andre Fleury and Dan Bylsma. Represent.

+ Say what you want about Sid; he deserves this. Sure, he whines. But he is unreal. And he (along with Malkin and Ovechkin) helped revive the NHL. I think all hockey fans can respect that.



Love you Stanley. xoxo

The Best Game On Earth

It can make you the happiest person in the world, or it can break your heart
For most of us, each year usually brings the latter
But when the time comes, and your team wins that Cup, it is completely, 100% worth it
This truly is the best game on earth.

Jack's Not Happy

BU head coach, Jack Parker, seemed a little upset about Brian Strait skipping his senior year and heading to the pros.

In an interview with USCHO, he said:

A lot of guys who are good players in this league have gotten to be NHL players, and there’s no reason to think he won’t. But will he play next year? It all depends. They’re in the Stanley Cup finals right now; they’ve got a pretty good team. They’re telling him that they’re going to lose all these defensemen to free agency — that they’re not going to sign them. And they may lose some of them, but it doesn’t mean they won’t sign another free agent. They don’t know who they’re going to get in the draft or who they’re going to trade for. I think he thinks it’s best for him.

I don’t think there’s any question in my mind that the only reason you should leave BU is to go play in the NHL — not to go play in the American Hockey League. What he’s going to give up next year and what he could have had here next year is something he’ll never get back, no matter if he plays 10 or 15 years in the NHL.

I do like when players stick out all four of their college years, but as I said in an earlier post, Strait is ready. He's solid and smart. Would it have hurt him to stay his senior year? No. But I don't think it's an awful decision by him.

Strait will not play in Pittsburgh next year. I mean, stranger things have happened I guess, but I'm fairly confident he will be in the AHL. I don't see anything wrong with that. He will adjust to a faster game than what he's been used to. After he develops a little more, he will be in the NHL. I'm not worried about the kid.

It's okay Coach. We'll all miss him too.

Best Out of One

There are some people who live in a dream world, and there are some who face reality; and then there are those who turn one into the other.
- Douglas H. Everett

Game Five Awful

Game Five was so bad I had to give myself time before I wrote about it. Seriously. Thinking about it now still makes me cringe. I wish Game Six were being played in five minutes just so we can move on.

Yeah, so Detroit chewed up the Pens and spit them out on Saturday night. The 5-0 score pretty much says it all, but there are a few things I want to touch on:

+ Marc-Andre Fleury. He just wasn't good. I'm not placing all the blame on him because the entire team was just ridiculously bad, but it definitely wasn't his best showing. Bylsma made the right move by pulling him; I might have done it one goal earlier. I'm not worried about the kid though. He's a different kind of 'mental' than most goalies I've met. He'll be fine. One this is certain: he needs to have the game of his life on Tuesday, and should the Pens force it to seven, he needs to have an even bigger one then. If all else fails, put John Curry in. Simeon Varlamov anyone?? ;-)

+ There's been talk about how Detroit is a bunch of old guys who get tired, blah blah. Well, Pittsburgh certainly showed its age by acting like babies on Saturday. They completely lost their heads and took stupid, selfish penalties out of pure frustration. It was like they were looking for the fastest way to dig their own grave. The Pens have my heart, but to see them act like they did is embarrassing. Lock it up boys. No one is going to feel sorry for you if you behave like that.

+ Just a quick comment on the Hossa situation. I'm not angry with him because he took less money to play for Detroit. The big reason this whole saga pisses me off is how he went about it. For one thing, he told Pittsburgh he wanted big money to stick around. So Pittsburgh offered him big money. Oh - then he decides he doesn't want that anymore. But above all, he publicly came out and slapped his former team in the face by literally saying he had a better chance on Detroit. It's like, "Hey, good times guys, but you're not going to win the Cup next year. You're not good enough for me. Okay, thanks. Bye." Maybe he got confused and still thought he was in Atlanta. I mean as you can see, Pittsburgh is a pretty legit team. OH - and then there's that whole loyalty thing that I'm pretty big on. So in any case, it's not that he took less money to go to Detroit. Yes, that's cute. It's just the way he went about it.

So yeah, Saturday night was bad. Really bad. How Pittsburgh responds will be key. They can either use Game 5 as motivation or they can use it as discouragement and watch the Cup slip from their fingers. Going home will give them a big jump, and anything can happen in a Game 7. They need to get their confidence back to where it was in Game 4 -- when you could see that they realized they could beat these guys. And (fingers crossed) if they make it to seven, they will need it more than ever at the Joe. Because believe it or not Pens, you CAN win in Detroit.

Do it.

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Strait Moves On

This lady is happy this morning after seeing that Brian Strait has signed with the Pens. Actually, it's bittersweet. I would have liked to see him stay and help out the Terriers for his senior year, but he's only going to be moving to my other favorite team so I'll live with it. I'm actually a little surprised he didn't stick around for his last year considering he was named one of the captains for the upcoming season. But why not go out on a high point (aka after winning the national championship)?

I think Strait's ready. He's a smart, solid defenseman. I always liked how he played; he's someone you feel comfortable having out on the ice. He'll more than likely be playing for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton next year or two, but that will give him plenty of time to adjust to the pros.

Good luck bud. See you in the WB. BU will miss you.

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Dr. Juice

I was just reading ESPN's latest blip about the NHL starting their investigation into the accusation that some guy sold Caps players steroids.

It made me think of this: Maybe this has come up before, but did anyone realize that the same guy who more than likely helped juice up Barry Bonds is the team doctor for the San Jose Sharks?

This guy seems like a winner:

Ting is a fellow who came to the attention of the California medical board twice before; once because of his dispensing dangerous drugs to friends and athletes. Ting's two sons, walk-ons for USC football, suddenly quit the team last year under suspicions of juicing.

So the Hockey Gods Hate Me...

This headline spells out one of the big reasons why the Red Wings are such a good hockey club:

Red Wings' Locker Room: Detroit has a 2-0 lead in series thanks to its unrecognizable players

When you have everyone on a team stepping up, you'll win a hockey game. For example, when you have a kid out of college scoring his first two NHL goals and a guy playing and scoring after getting his appendix out on Wednesday, that'll give you some extra jump. The Penguins can't focus on how Sidney Crosby isn't producing as much as they'd like; everyone else has to start making up for it. Depth is important -- especially when you're playing a seven game series in June.

Anyway, it's time for the Pens to move on from the past two games. The worst thing that can happen is that this gets to them mentally. They've been down two games before; no big deal.

Get it done boys. The hockey gods have been awful to me since they gave me a BU championship; but I refuse to lose to the Red Wings again.