Tag: Stanley Cup Finals

Zdeno Chara is Leaving the Bruins, But He’ll Always Be a Boston Legend

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NBCSports Boston – In a stunner on Wednesday afternoon, Zdeno Chara signed a one-year, $795,000 deal with the Washington Capitals. “We are extremely pleased to have Zdeno join the Capitals organization,” said Capitals GM Brian MacLellan. “We feel his experience and leadership will strengthen our blueline and our team.”

Originally reported by Ken Campbell, Chara confirmed the move with a tribute video to Boston fans on his Instagram page.

“My family and I have been so fortunate to call the great city of Boston our home for over 14 years,” his caption reads. “Recently, the Boston Bruins have informed me that they plan to move forward with their many younger and talented players and I respect their decision. Unfortunately, my time as the proud captain of the Bruins has come to an end.”

Zdeno Chara is carved into the Mount Rushmore of Boston Athletes in the 21st Century right alongside Tom Brady, David Ortiz, and Paul Pierce. Chara will be forever beloved by Bruins fans because he chose to come here when he was at the top of his game and the B’s were coming off a last place finish. I still vividly remember sitting in my buddy’s living room that July day in 2006 when Chara (and Marc Savard) signed a massive 5-year contract to come to Boston, which was something the Bruins never did when I was younger. So it was monumental for a guy like Chara to even sign with the team, let alone become a franchise legend, a 14-year-captain, and of course bring the Bruins their first Stanley Cup in 30+ seasons. Not to mention anchoring the defense to two more Stanley Cup Finals appearances.

Chara was an elite defenseman, played the powerplay and the penalty kill, was a captain for over a decade, had the most terrifying slap shot in the league, and he was a physical force. Hell the Canadiens legitimately tried to have him arrested up in Canada for nearly decapitating Max Pacioretty back in 2011. He was also the most intimidating enforcer in the NHL well into his forties with 30 fights in his Bruins career alone.

Chara will be remembered for a lot of things, primarily this iconic photo with the Cup.

He’ll be remembered for his dominance on the ice as one of the best defensemen in the NHL (3x First Team All-Star, 4x Second Team) and then while in Boston becoming the best in the league when he won the Norris Trophy in 2009. Chara will always be the center of some hardcore Boston sports bar trivia too as the owner of the hardest shot in the entire league at 108.8 mph.

Aside from all of the personal accolades and team success though, it was the absolute grit and determination of Big Z that made him a fan favorite. He was always the hardest working guy wearing the spoked B and was routinely setting the bar during the Bruins annual conditioning tests even as he was the oldest player on the team.

The one sight I’ll never forget and one that will be played in his Hall of Fame reel is the ovation Zdeno Chara, with his jaw wired shut, received before Game 5 of the 2019 Stanley Cup Finals, less than two days after breaking his jaw. Chara took a puck to the face in Game 4 and needed surgery to insert metal plates into his jaw and he didn’t even miss a game.

It seemed like the writing was on the wall for Chara this offseason unfortunately, as the Bruins appeared ready to move on after his playing time had started to dwindle. With a bunch of young defensemen the Bruins want to develop or at least evaluate at the NHL level, the team was likely less concerned about the money they’d have to pay Chara and more concerned with kickstarting a youth movement. The Bruins may have also wanted to avoid the optics of having their captain playing 3rd or 4th line minutes assuming Don Sweeney and Cam Neeley didn’t want to stick Chara out there as a Top-4 defenseman at this point in his career.

This is the worst part of getting older as a sports fan; watching your idols get older with you. They get older, sometimes they break down physically, sometimes they move on to other teams, and eventually they all retire. I’m over 30 so Chara has been a pillar of the Bruins for nearly half of my life, which is insane to type. He may not have won as many championships as Tom Brady or Big Papi, but he was just as monumental in changing the culture of an entire franchise and putting yet another Boston team on the map after years of mediocrity.

For that Big Z will always be remembered as a Bruins legend.

The Masters Has Been Postponed. We Officially Have Nothing to Watch Anymore

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The Roni strikes again. This now makes the NBA, NHL, MLB, MLS, XFL, Fast and the Furious, March Madness, the Boston Marathon, and now the biggest golf tournament in the world all postponed and/or cancelled. I literally prayed to the golf gods and the twitter gods yesterday when a commercial for The Masters came on…while I worked from home amid mass hysteria.

What the hell are we all going to watch now? Everybody better start enjoying books real quick because there’s not much else left. I’m not a doctor or a scientist so I’m not going to question the decision because there is obviously a massive health crisis happening in this country right now. It’s probably for the best to just punt on the spring and we’ll all regroup for the greatest summer of TV programming ever created. Imagine the NBA Finals, Stanley Cup Finals, The Masters, MLB, and NFL Training Camp all going on at the same exact time? It will make Sweeps Week look like public access television in comparison.

With that being said I am left here to twiddle my thumbs and scroll through twitter all day and night. Theres only so many World Star videos a man can watch and I’m already pretty over the Toilet Paper heist stories. My advice is to watch *everything* in your Netflix queue, even that shit you don’t actually care about, but tell yourself you do because you’re cultured. Like that documentary on yoga thats been sitting in my queue for months. I’ve done yoga once in my life so why did I save a documentary on yoga in my queue? Because I had zero intention of watching it unless oh ya know the entire country shut down and every sports league ceased to exist for the foreseeable future.

If you need somewhere to start, check out The 300s Top 30 TV Shows of The Decade.

So that and mass amounts of video games will be played. The big guns at EA, Sony, Activision, Microsoft, Nintendo, Rockstar etc. would be wise to offer some discounts on their titles because I am liable to buy half a dozen vidyagames right now.

This is like the reckoning for all of our short attention spans. We’ve all been constantly stimulated by TV, internet, sports, and our phones 24/7 for the past decade and now we’re all being forced to entertain ourselves for the first time. Godspeed boys.

The Bruins Laid an Egg in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals

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What an absolutely devastating loss in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals. So, so disappointing because it is ridiculously difficult to win the Stanley Cup. Even reaching the Finals in hockey is the hardest of any sport because it is such a grind. The players know it too.

And like the sick fuck that I am, I took a seat at the bar and just watched the Blues players celebrate and parade the Stanley Cup around TD Garden until after midnight.

I should have known this was not going to go well after nearly getting trampled on Canal Street. I legitimately felt like Jon Snow in the Battle of the Bastards when he’s just suffocating under the pile of bodies.

Or maybe I should have known when the bar I finally ended up at for puck drop had a guy in a 2011 Bruins champs shirt drinking a glass of red with the game.

That goddamn enigma Jordan Binnington was on his game last night and completely changed the series with his save on a Marchand shot in the first, which absolutely goes in if Binnington is wearing a jersey thats one size smaller.

There were just so many missed opportunities in this game. The Bruins dominated the first period and had nothing to show for it but an 0-2 hole. They just could not bury their chances.

Tough break for Tuukka Rask who played out of his mind for the past two months, but gives up four goals in the biggest game of his career last night. Its hard to pin the first two on him since the first was a deflection and the second was when Marchand left him out to dry (we’ll get to that in a second). Tuukka did not have a great game, but he did make a save that would’ve been played on the championship DVD highlight reel if the B’s came back.

Tuukka had zero support from his best players yet again as Marchand and Pastrnak were complete no shows in the Stanley Cup Finals. Really disheartening to see as we kept saying for the past two weeks that if the first line could just wake up the Bruins would cruise. Well, that line never did wake up as Marchand finished with two goals, one of which was an empty netter and the other came on a 5-on-3, while Pastrnak had two, and Bergeron had one. Maybe it was injuries catching up to them, I don’t know, but for guys like Pasta, who had 38 g’s in the regular season, and Marchand, who had 100 points in the regular season, to only notch two goals apiece in seven games had the Bruins dead in the water.

It boggles my mind how Boston lost this series. Despite a no show in the Finals, Marchand still finished the season as the league leader in playoff points with 23, the Bruins had a historic power play at 32.4% (nearly double the league average), and led the league with a 2.12 Goals Against Average in the playoffs. And they still lost.

Not to completely bury Marchand, but he also was responsible for the second goal when he picked the absolute worst time to change lines I’ve ever seen. Even worse, this came just a few nights after the B’s lost a game on another poorly timed line change. Tony Amonte ripped Marchand for his lack of awareness on the play.

What a nightmare of a game that was. It would seem like the Red Sox are just about ready to pack it in for the season too.

How many days left until Patriots training camp?

It All Comes Down to Tonight. Bruins. Blues. Game 7. Here’s Your Keys to the Game

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Game. Seven. It all comes down to tonight. Its time for the Bruins to put the Blues out of their misery on home ice. I also fully expect the Blues and their meathead coach to try and decapitate someone tonight if things don’t go their way, so head on a swivel boys. Theres a lot to get to so here are your keys to the game from betting lines, to stats, to storylines and more.

Betting Lines

Bruins are -175 favorites to win Game 7 with an over/under of 5.5 goals. That sounds like a lot of goals for a Game 7 with two hard hitting teams playing in front of 2 pretty solid goaltenders. I’m taking the Bruins and the under.

Ticket Prices Have Come Down

…to a completely reasonable $1,400 to get in the door! So if you’re poor like me, come find us down by the Garden drinking a few Bud Lattes.

Matt Grzelcyk is Back Babyy

Bruins defenseman Matt Grzelcyk has been medically cleared from a concussion and is likely to play in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final on Wednesday, coach Bruce Cassidy said.

“He’ll be a game-time decision,” Cassidy said. “But looks like he’ll go in.”

While this means that my Quinnipiac brethren Connor Clifton is likely getting the short straw here, Grzelcyk has been a real difference maker for the B’s in the playoffs this year.

The Numbers Are in the Bruins Favor

The Bruins are 6-1 all time with an opportunity to clinch the Stanley Cup. That’s the best record of any team in NHL history with a minimum of five chances to do so.

Historically Rask is downright awful in Game 7’s, but this postseason he has been downright dominant in elimination games.

In Game 7s, Rask is 3-2 all time, and the numbers aren’t pretty: a 3.18 goals-against average and an .877 save percentage. But his numbers in elimination games this postseason are a different story: In wins over Toronto (twice), Columbus, Carolina and St. Louis (in Game 6), Rask is 5-0 with a .973 save percentage, including a shutout against the Blue Jackets.

Experience Matters

The Bruins have a core built around guys that have won (and lost Stanley Cups) like Brad Marchand, Zdeno Chara, Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci, and Tuukka Rask. The Blues only have one player on their team thats won a Cup in Oskar Sundqvist.

“It’s the best thing in the world for the team that wins, and it sucks for the team that loses. Being on both sides of it, you realize how hard it is, and just how shitty it is to lose. It sticks with you forever,” said Marchand. “Winning and losing sticks with you forever.

Bruins Fans Want the Power Play

I’m not saying to go out there and start diving like the Canadiens, but listen to me guys, we want the power play. Sure its always great to have an extra man on the ice, but the Bruins have been historically good on the PP during these playoffs.

The Bruins’ power play (32.9 percent) remains the best in the NHL postseason since the New York Islanders in 1981. They’re 7-for-21 in this series, and the power play has been a difference-maker in all three of their wins.

Bruce Cassidy Has No Time for Your Candy Ass Questions

Don’t Forget About the Ice Crew

The St. Louis Blues GM, Doug Armstrong, apparently f-bombed one of the ice workers at the Garden yesterday for not doing his job up to Armstrong’s standards. The ice worker’s response was the most Boston thing ever.

Do It for Chara

Zdeno Chara’s career is on the 17th or 18th hole at this point and the guy is literally putting his body on the line playing with a broken jaw. Nobody wants this more than Big Z and it would amazing to see the captain go out with 2 Stanley Cups on his resume with a win tonight.

Red Would Really, Really Like to Experience Winning a Stanley Cup With Actual Bruins Fans Around

Last time the B’s won the Cup I was on the other side of the world (upstate NY) and was forced to watch Game 7 in an empty bar. Tonight I’ll be down by the Garden with thousands of other Bruins fans, so lets get it done.

Even the Ice Guy in Boston Doesn’t Take Any Shit from the St. Louis Blues

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The most Boston response of all time. Oh you’re the GM of the St. Louis Blues who are about to play in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals? Go piss up a rope, I’m working here. This is exactly why I’d either get murdered or become King if I ever moved to a new city. There’s just a certain blunt, straight to the point, sarcastic charm around here that we all lovingly refer to as being a Masshole. Never change, Boston.

Bruins Force Game 7 for Winner Take All Stanley Cup Finale

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The two sweetest words in sports; Game. Seven. It all comes down to Wednesday night as this series flipped on its head for like the fourth time last night. I know its obvious that when a team wins they normally look different than when they lose, but the Bruins have looked like a completely different team in Games 1, 3, and 6. Last night the B’s were aggressive, but they weren’t chasing hits, they cleared the puck effectively, and they were able to consistently enter the Blues zone with the puck, which is something they’ve struggled with mightily in their losses.

Great moments are born from great opportunity

Apparently Patrice Bergeron delivered a Herb Brooks type speech before the game and I NEED to know what he said.

Bergeron has always been the quiet, classy, lead by example type of guy, but every Bruins fan knows that you don’t become the player Patrice Bergeron is without some fire. Bergeron has been on the Bruins since 2003, he played for a last place team in the disaster that was the 1-year long Dave Lewis era, he won a Stanley Cup in 2011 and he lost a Cup in 2013, so he has seen it all and he realizes this could be the last shot for this group.

Tuukka is on the verge of rewriting his legacy

For the past week people have been saying Tuukka needs to steal a game if the Bruins are going to win this series and he was A+ in net last night with 28 saves. Hell the one goal he allowed he technically made the save. So while its hard to say a goalie stole a game in a 5-1 win, Tuukka carried the B’s on his back early last night. If the Bruins win Wednesday night, Tuukka’s legacy is going to shift from a pretty good goalie who couldn’t win the big one to an absolute gamer who shined in the 2019 playoffs to lead the B’s to a Cup when their top 2 forward lines were non-existent.

Marchand and Pasta FINALLY get it going

Heading into Game 6 Marchand (100 pts in the regular season) had 1 goal in the series, which was an empty netter so it doesn’t really count, and Pastrnak (38 goals in the regular season) had ZERO. So for both of those guys to score last night was huuuge because the Bruins have got this far with next to no production from their two best offensive players. Its crazy they’re even alive at this point, which speaks to the excellent depth this team has. So you gotta feel good heading into Game 7 with Marchand, Pasta, and Tuukka all having their best game of the series last night.

The Blues have to be one of the dirtiest teams in the league

Throwing cross check cheapshots in Acciari’s face in the final seconds of the game just trying to incite a riot. I’m all for tough physical play, but these guys are dirtbags. Robert Bortuzzo got tossed with a 10 minute major for that, but that doesn’t carry over obviously so whats he care? And that goddamn wink…

I have to admit I did not know a ton about the Blues heading into this series, but I have very quickly developed a strong hatred of everyone on this team and their coach. I want blood, but I’ll settle for the Stanley Cup.

Bruce Cassidy does it again by pulling rookie Karson Kuhlman off the discount rack

I am a humble man and I will admit when I was wrong. I thought it was crazy to leave David Backes up on level 9 last night for an untested rookie who hasn’t played in a month. Sure Backes is older and slower, but the guy is playing against his former team (who seem to hate him now) in what is likely his last shot at a Cup. I’m pretty sure that guy would die for the Bruins in Game 6. But that doesn’t necessarily means he’d be effective, so Bruce went with Kuhlman and he rewarded the coach with an absolute SNIPE of a goal. Well played.

Jon Hamm spit in the hockey gods faces last night

I love me some Jon Hamm so don’t take this the wrong way, Don. Its one thing to wear wacky scarves, its an entirely different thing to shave your playoff beard before Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals. That is an absolute crazy person move. Remember when Tom Brady got a freaking haircut before the 2007 Super Bowl and we all groaned? Yea, you don’t worry about your hair or your beard during a playoff run. Insanity.

The officiating remains infuriatingly inconsistent.

Look I get why some of these calls are made. In a vacuum and because of his reputation, this Marchand sweep is almost always going to be a penalty, but why is this any different from the Acciari non-call in Game 5?

This is how these series get out of hand. I guarantee Marchand’s thinking well if they’re not going to call it I might as well do it. Same thing with every Blues player head hunting and boarding every Bruins player any chance they get. Granted they did actually call that dirty and dangerous boarding call early in the first period, but theres so much not getting called its hard as a player to know what the hell is going to be a penalty.

Good job good effort

Even though the Bruins mopped the floor with the Blues, the St. Louis fans were still chanting like they’d won the damn game. If you guys want to be Seattle and hang your hat on being “the loudest fans” then you do that. I’m going to worry about adding another championship to my resume.

The Bruins Got Hosed Last Night and Are Now On the Brink of Elimination

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I hate to blame the refs for a loss, but here we are.

Even if you’re not a big time hockey fan you can watch that play and immediately realize something illegal probably just happened. To make matters worse, Acciari was hurt on the play and was slow to get up as play continued and the Blues were able to score the pivotal, game deciding goal.

Even the Bruins official Twitter account couldn’t believe the non-call.

I’ve had Blues fans chirping me on Twitter all night long saying plenty of calls were missed the other way, Bruins fans need to stop complaining, all the way up to the insanity of saying Acciari embellished getting slewfooted and smacking his head on the ice. These people are outside of their minds like any serious sports fan is so I don’t fault them, but I for sure will dust them on Twitter all the same.

St. Louis:

Me:

Well now the disinformation campaign begins as the NHL released a statement last night saying: “We don’t make comments on judgment calls within games.” Then the league actually  tweeted out a video of the neato goal, yet clipped the start of the sequence (the trip) which is kind of an important part of the play.

To make matters worse, the officiating seems to have a clear line of demarcation from when it started shifting in the Blues’ favor; Craig Berube’s bitching to the media. Well even Bruce Cassidy has had enough as he went scorched earth policy on the refs and the league  last night.

Berube was predictably a lot more calm and deferential considering the refs have embarrassingly played into his comments.

Alright well now that I got that off my chest I can move on, but it had to be said; the Bruins got screwed. Now we move onto a do or die Game 6 that I did not see coming after the way the B’s handled St. Louis in Games 1 and 3. The Blues have played hard (bordering on dirty at times), they’ve dominated 5-on-5, and have seemed like the team willing to fight and die for that inch, which is what you need to win the Stanley Cup.

Granted the Bruins have guys like Zdeno Chara playing with broken fucking jaws so they’re not exactly slacking either, but we need more. We need more from the top 2 lines. Brad Marchand scored 100 points this season and he’s been a ghost in this series. Marchand has just 3 points and 1 goal, which came on an empty netter in Game 1. What makes that even more infuriating is how good he had been before the Finals; he is the leading scored in these playoffs with 21 points. Some people have speculated he injured his hand during that goddamn scrimmage the B’s had during their 11 day layoff. God help me if thats true. The guy we absolutely hands down need more from though is David Pastrnak, who has been a complete no show in the Finals. He has 2 points in this series and 0 goals. That is unacceptable for a guy who had 38 goals in the regular season.

So luckily for the Bruins they’ve been losing these games without the “best line in hockey” doing a damn thing. If those guys can wake up and pop a couple goals then the B’s are right back in this thing, but with Game 6 on Sunday night we’re running out of time for that to happen.

Zdeno Chara is On the Ice Right Now. I Repeat Zdeno Chara is Skating at Bruins Practice

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What an absolute savage. I pull a hammy while running or I tweak my knee at mens league softball and I bitch about it for a week. Zdeno Chara breaks his freaking jaw and he’s back at work 3 days later. Its still not entirely clear if he’s a go for Game 5, but if Big Z plays tonight we are all unable to complain about a minor injury ever again.

Bruins Miss Opportunity to Go Up 3-1 and Land a Decisive Blow on Jon Hamm and the Blues

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The Bruins missed a huge opportunity to put the Blues on the mat last night so I guess the gentleman’s sweep is off the table. The difference between a 3-1 series and a 2-2 series is night and day so I don’t love going back to Boston tied. Although I’ll take the Bruins playing best of 3 with home ice advantage.

I was definitely a bit rattled last night though when I saw the St. Louis hype video they played right before the game. Every sport does this when they pull a local celebrity out to do a voiceover for their team, but St. Louis has a goddamn hammer in their back pocket.

An encouraging sight last night was Tuukka in his post game presser with the media because he looked unfazed. As he should, its hard to pin any of those goals on Tuukka really. He was a confident, defiant, snarky asshole and thats exactly what I want to see from my goalie.

“They were desperate…they were the more desperate team.”

Listening to the NBCSports Boston postgame last night they said it was reported that Chara was “advised not to play” but didn’t specify whether that meant if he was cleared or not. Either way it was odd to see the captain sitting on the bench, never getting a single shift in the third period. Granted that puck to the face looked gruesome, I’m not sure why he wouldn’t be given a second of ice time? Concerning to say the least.

I’m really starting to despise this Blues team though. Coming in they were known for hard hitting, but a lot of what we’ve seen over the last 4 games has crossed the line. The Matt Grzelcyk hit, the cross check to David Backes’ face, and not to mention all the flopping. Tarasenko could have won an Oscar for selling that elbowing penalty in the third period, and Binnington looked like the Life Alert lady last night.

Holy shit do the Blues seem to hate David Backes. Did he burn a Missouri flag on his way out of town or something? It seems odd for this Blues team to be taking shots at their former captain every single chance they get and not just clean hard checks either. Can you imagine the Bruins taking liberties on Chara if he were to finish out his career somewhere else?

Charlie Coyle remains King of the South (Shore) with another goal last night, giving him NINE goals in this playoff run. Insane.

Heading back to Boston its great to see Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron starting to get hot over the last 2 games. They started off non-existent in the first 2 games of the series, but you’re starting to see more of the playmaking in the last 2 games that made them the most dangerous line in hockey.

The Blues responded in Game 4 as they looked like a team playing with their hair on fire. The Bruins tried to respond and keep pace, but they couldn’t do it for 60 minutes, they lost their captain and anchor defenseman for the third period, and St. Louis caught some lucky rebounds.

All in all a frustrating game to watch, but I still have faith the Bruins pull this one out. Originally I had them in 6, but I could easily see this series going 7 now. See ya at the Garden boys.

PS – Grab your Bear Force One shirts for the stretch run!

Bruins Go for a 3-1 Lead and Inch Closer to Declaring Prima Nocta On Gloria

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Chirping Blues fans about their new victory song “Gloria” has become a new favorite hobby of mine. Something that has been built up as the end all be all song of celebration for the city of St. Louis. And I would love nothing more than for Boston to stomp out this city yet again and declare prima nocta to claim “Gloria” for ourselves. Get it done boys.