Tag: NHL

An Emotional Hockey Moment for Your Friday

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Normally not a “sad stuff” blog but always good to do a bit of reflection.

Hockey man. Those who haven’t put the skates on just can’t quite understand why a moment like this is intense as it is. Why the passion for this game gets to this level for players, former players, fans, coaches, and of course, the mythical “hockey parent”. The game-play itself comes with a thrill that is second to none (no combination of Rugby, clumsy forays into various martial arts, or blacktop hooping have come even close for yours truly), the lows feel like the lowest parts of your life even if you’re in the second grade, and the highs feel like you’re in a packed arena hoisting the cup, even if you’re in a small rink in Hingham in front of 40 some odd, tired spectators.

So I get this kid. I get why it meant the world to him to meet Carey Price. I get why it was his mother’s last pursuit to make it happen.

Cheers to Carey price. Cheers to hockey.

(P.S: I still hate the Canadiens.)

The Bruins Just Dropped the Best Team in the NHL and Now Have a 15 Game Points Streak

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I’m in. This team is legit, I am convinced.

Bruins v Lightning is always a heavyweight bout, especially with the Lightning already over 100 points on the year and its not even March. Thats insane! The Bruins were literally 19 points behind the Lightning in the standings heading into Thursday night. It was the first time two teams with point streaks of at least 14 games had faced off in NHL history. And the Bruins took Tampa Bay behind the shed and beat them with a garden hose, 4-1.

Granted, Tampa was coming off of 3 straight OT games and was playing back to backs, but hey a win is a win and that was a statement win.

“If it wasn’t for Louis Domingue I think this game could have been 9 or 10-1,” Jeremy Roenick said on the NBC Sports postgame.

They’ve been rolling lately, but after Wednesday nights W filled with clutch goals, hard hits, and Zdeno Chara ass beatings

and Thursday’s dismantling of the best team in the NHL

I am all in.

The Bruins showed up in a big moment once again and looked excellent all night, yet only lead 1-0 after the first 2 and a half periods. Domingue was standing on his damn head once again, but after a Noel Acciari goal the flood gates opened. The Bruins scored 3 goals in 1:28 seconds to open up a 4-0 lead and Domingue proceeded to lose his shit on national TV.

It’s only one game, but the Bruins showed Thursday night that they absolutely can play with the best of the best.

David Puddy Bobblehead Night Looked Awesome, Puddy Took a Digger

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FIRST of all, lets just get this out of the way. Don’t make it weird guys. David Puddy is low key YOKED. Was not expecting that from my guy Patrick Warburton.

I blogged about this last week and I was legitimately crestfallen that something this awesome was happening 4 hours away from me. Too lazy to drive down to New Jersey on a Tuesday night, BUT I will be hawking eBay later today looking to snag me one of these bad boys.

The AAF Apparently Needed a $250M Investment Just to Make Payroll in Week TWO

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Yahoo – For all the good publicity the Alliance of American Football received early on, it’s still a startup business. Like plenty of other startup businesses, the AAF might have been underfunded to start. The Athletic’s David Glenn, citing multiple sources, reported that the league was in danger of not making payroll last week, just the second week of the league’s existence.

The crisis was averted. Glenn wrote that Carolina Hurricanes majority owner Tom Dundon will be introduced as the AAF’s new chairman after investing $250 million to the AAF. The NHL owner’s investment allowed the league to meet its financial obligations...

“Without a new, nine-figure investor, nobody is sure what would have happened,” one source told Glenn at The Athletic. “You can always tell people their checks are going to be a little late, but how many are going to show up on the weekend for games when they don’t see anything hit their bank accounts on Friday?”

Isn’t this the first thing they teach you in business school? How to fund your business and keep the doors open? Thats like Day 1 stuff.

Look I am all for capitalism and people trying to make money and I really want the AAF to succeed, but without any big names like Tim Tebow playing, the only chance this league ever has of making it is if the NFL acquires it. The NFL would have to decide after over a decade of having no minor leagues (RIP NFL Europe) that they want to buy the AAF as a talent pipeline.

But I also find it hilarious that they’re almost going out of business in Week TWO after the peacocking about beating a regular season NBA game in the ratings on a random Saturday night and after Mattes faced the wrath of AAF Reddit (yes its a thing) for saying he wasn’t watching.

 

It’s a decent concept, but not exactly anything groundbreaking. I’d be curious to see the market specific TV ratings as it compares to competitors’ programming in the same time slots. Because not to sound like a complete arrogant dickhead, but we watch the New England Patriots up here. They have the greatest quarterback and the greatest coach of all time. So I’m not exactly fighting over the remote to watch Christian Hackenberg throwing ducks for 2 hours.

My point being, the smartest thing the AAF did was put these teams in cities where there isn’t established NFL competition. I know they’ve said they’re not competing with the NFL; they’re complimenting it. But even if they’re not competing with the NFL directly, they’re still competing for the attention of the NFL fan, which is why I’d be curious to see the TV ratings in those non-traditional football markets. Markets that are starved for the sport. It’d be like putting a Big 3 League residency in Seattle. There’s an appetite for it.

So while I wish the AAF all the best, aside from watching a few minutes of a game at the bar, this whole story doesn’t exactly inspire confidence. Not to mention they got Vince McMahon licking his chops with the XFL closer to kicking off every single day.

The 300s Continues to Grow: Introducing Two New Bloggers

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As The 300s continues to grow its footprint in the sports entertainment world we’ve been creating more and more content so naturally I’ve been on the lookout for additional personalities. Guys that are funny and knowledgeable yet possess a healthy dose of sarcasm; guys you’d want to have discussions from the cheap seats with. With that being said we’ve brought on two new bloggers that will jump in and help us build out our writing, podcasting, and videos. More updates on the specifics coming soon, but without further ado lets meet the new guys!

Jimmy Lips
@Jimmy2Lips

Bringing you a New York state of mind from the Jersey side of the Hudson River. I moonlight as a researcher for MLB and NHL Network. In my spare time I like to perform “B.O.B. (Bombs Over Baghdad)” for karaoke.

Dom

Will be moving to DC and then to some foreign country soon to live out my life as a Boston curmudgeon abroad. Went to QU for a film degree I used twice.

 

The New Jersey Devils Are Giving Away David Puddy Bobbleheads and They’re Amazing

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NBC Sports – The relationship between the New Jersey Devils and David Puddy goes back 24 years when Seinfeld aired the legendary “The Face Painter” episode, with Puddy supporting the team through the red, white and green art on his face.

On Feb. 19, you can take the face-painted Puddy home in bobblehead form when the Devils take on the Pittsburgh Penguins during the team’s ‘90s Night.

Gotta let them know you’re out there, it’s the playoffs. New Jersey and New York have the absolute best Seinfeld related giveaways, especially the Brooklyn Cyclones with their incredible swag each summer. (I’ll let Papa Giorgio tell his story of how he missed out on the legendary Keith Hernandez clock another time)

I am a diehard Seinfeld fan so this bobblehead speaks to me. Hell I once went all the way down to City Hall on my lunch break to meet the one and only Soup Nazi.

I’m not even a Devils fan, but I might have to expense an Amtrak down there on The 300s company card my debit card to pick this up.

Bravo, New Jersey. Bravo.You might have an absurdly complicated turnpike system as means of getting around your state, but goddamnit did you hit this out of the park.

PS – Some of the best Seinfeld theme nights and giveaways below:

 

Bruins Rookie Trent Frederic’s Father is a Confirmed #HockeyDad After Son Brawls in NHL Debut

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Bruins rookie Trent Frederic made his NHL debut Tuesday night and he wasted little time trying to make an impression, dropping the gloves towards the end of the second period. Frederic went all Happy Gilmore on Brandon Tanev’s face and wouldn’t ya know the rook’s parents were in the stands. How did Dad deal with seeing his baby boy fist fighting a grown ass man in the NHL? LOVED. IT.

That is a #HockeyDad through and through. Doesn’t matter how many goals you score or how much tape you hit, if I’m waking up at 4 am to drive you to practice, you are going to defend the honor of our house.

Full fight below.

Seattle Just Got an NHL Franchise

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We all knew the day was coming to get the NHL to 32 teams. Vegas joined the league last year in what wound up being the most successful run by an expansion franchise in their inaugural season ever. Seattle will begin play in the 2021-2022 season, the same year my Islanders get their new arena in Belmont. Seattle’s arena situation is a bit different though. They would be playing in a newly renovated KeyArena, which is going under a $700 million overall. When construction is finished, the rink will seat 17,400 for hockey and 18,600 for basketball (pending they’re able to convince the NBA to bring home the Sonics).

Bringing the NHL to a total of 32 teams comes with some obvious changes. First of all, it would require a bit of realignment in the pacific division. The Western Conference currently sits at eight teams in the Pacific with seven in the Central, and if you’ve recently seen where Seattle lines up on a map, you’ll know that they’d have to be placed in the Pacific for this to make any sense. This will require movement from one of the existing Pacific teams, which most experts are pinning on the Arizona Coyotes to make the jump to the Central.

The expansion of a Seattle franchise also will require another expansion draft, a process that seemingly worked out very well for the Vegas Golden Knights last time around. All teams will be able to protect a certain combination of players like in the previous Vegas expansion draft. Bill Daly has confirmed June 2021 for Seattle’s draft. All I can say is if the Seattle franchise can select half as decent as the Golden Knights did, we’ll be in for a competitive team right off the bat.

Finally, the team will need to settle on a name. The Seattle Metropolitans is one I keep seeing thrown around, based on the history the name has with the city.

Over 100 years ago, the Seattle Metropolitans were the first American franchise to ever win the Stanley Cup, before the NHL was even formed. Some are pushing to reinstate that name for the incoming team, but as a lifelong New York Mets fan team, I do not wish that bad juju on anyone.

Bruins Start Practice Late Then Release Statement Saying Tuukka is Taking a Leave of Absence

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First and foremost, hopefully this leave of absence isn’t for a serious issue or a family matter. The guy has not been playing well so it’s hard to tell if this is related to his play and a possible mental health day, but hopefully there’s nothing serious going on behind the scenes.

With that being said, this is odd. The Bruins started practice 20 minutes late and their franchise goaltender is nowhere to be found? Only for the team to release a cryptic statement saying Tuukka is taking a leave of absence? Again, I hope all is good on the home front, but just a weird situation all around.

We’ll update it when we hear more, but for now the Bruins will be relying on hot and cold Jaroslav Halak (he was very cold last night giving up 5 goals) and a player to be named later between the pipes.

The Bruins Just Dropped Their Winter Classic Jerseys

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Love the subtle nod to the Bear working tirelessly on these new digs. If we’re being completely honest here, I have to say these 2019 Winter Classic jerseys are solid if not spectacular. The Bruins are clearly looking to evoke memories of their jerseys from the 1930s when they rocked the brown and gold stripes with the large block B on the chest.

They tweaked the sleeves and the stripes above the logo slightly to give it a more modern look, but overall if you’re a history buff you should appreciate the throwback.

I do love the attention to detail on the collar though with the Bruins Stanley Cup winning seasons marked by shamrocks as they’ll be playing at the home of the Fighting Irish in South Bend.

LOVE the new patch though. That is an excellent patch. It’s unique, the green pops against the Brown, and it’s subtle yet instantly recognizable because of its relevance to Chicago and Notre Dame where the game will be played.

I think the matching winter hat is a no questions asked must buy item though.

Overall its a pretty solid sweater, I think I’m out on dropping $100 for one, but that also might be because of my PTSD from the last Winter Classic. I froze my balls off at Gillette as the Bruins got stomped out 5-1 by Montreal while I sat there in my brand new and immediately tainted Winter Classic jersey.

This is the face of a man completely unprepared for the thrashing he is about to see.

Thank christ someone in the marketing department said hey guys we have to work these jerseys into the normal rotation as a third alternate otherwise we will never sell a single one of these, even at Marshalls. So after a couple of seasons of seeing the sleek jersey mixed in, the sting has come off enough to regularly rock these again.

I think they should have owned it and gone with the old school yellow pooh bear jerseys, but what do I know.