Your Teammates Are Zombies - We Knew That!

Steve Mason's team is made up of the living-dead: indeed, the way that they play defense, most nights, you wouldn't have any trouble whatsoever believing that! But hold off your Flyers-bashing horses for a second, now - because this is about art...!

Franny's art!

 Airbrush artist Franny Drummond helped make Mason's helmet design come to life. (Nov. 6)

Somehow, though, the idea came to all parties involved to make the few, elite, selected 
Philadelphia Flyers to grace goalie Steve Mason's helmet all look like zombies! 
Shouldn't Steve's defense (especially) feel insulted?

Maybe not!

After all, what could possibly make more sense than this: 
evolving from their brain-dead Broadstreet Bullies ancestors, 
they became brainless hordes of zombies on ice!
(Remember. also, that their farm club is the Phantoms!)

Proof, also, that you don't need to be a genius 
in order to know how to skate!

But that's another story...

He Dekes, He Scores...

''Ohh, Corey Perry pouring it on 

like a readied mule...!!'' 

would say that old CBC broadcaster time forgot...!

The NHL season is beyond the half-mark (scheduled to take an Olympic hiatus for close to a month just about now, in fact: and, then, there will be only a month and half of, ah, ''activity'' left there before the damnable playoffs (the tournament as European players call it) begin...) and one can see the organisation trying to persuade the masses that this is, indeed, the ''coolest game on ice''...

Please watch some evidence of that, 

brought up to our attention by the powers-that-be, 

right now: 

All Rights - NHL Properties: just promoting them here! 

Now, in hockey language, to ''deke'' an opponent is to deceive him: to fake a move, say, going to the left, when the intent was to go to the right all along... And the next thing you know, the deception bears fruit and you can score a relatively easy goal on the fraction of a second that follows.  What makes Corey the Quack's score so ''spectacular'' indeed, is the mere fact that he ultimately scores it from his knees; hence, his deception was very nearly ruined and it could easily all have been for naught, as he lost his balance in the process of realizing his dastardly manoeuver there...!

Other ''gorgeous goals'' hastily (one presumes) collected for this promotional presentation flaunting the merits of the ''bruising game of chess on ice'' that hockey truly is, include a tally from behind by one Tampa Bay Lightning man Martin St-Louis...  A ''score between the legs'' by Nathan Gerbe... Boyd Gordon ''scoring from the floor''... And hated Philadelphia Flyer Claude Giroux somehow being fortunate enough to ''lodge it in the net'' while falling down all over the ice (much to the image of the Flyers' season, verily - but that's another story...)

Is that truly ''impressive'' now, folks?

If a sport can only sell its merits upon one of two things (its physical rudeness or its basic component being deception over fair play, giving way to all sorts of plain lucky sequences like those listed above) then, perhaps, it is not a true ''sport'' at all... hmm?

It unquestionably is the ''coolest thing on ice'' though - as it claims so candidly.
I mean, what are the other options for that blustering title: curling and skate dancing aren't remotely close to being serious contenders, seriously now...! The NHL can tout it high and loud: they own that niche all to themselves. However...

Stanley... Bah!

Blackhawks-Flyers - for the gnaaargh-yecccch-pukey cup!
Who the hell wanted THAT! Of all the dreamed final match-ups, NONE had the broad street bullies being a part of the dance - and few had the pukefaces from the Windy City there either!  What it comes down to is, basically, Chicago punks versus Philly thugs!  And anyone who disagrees with that assessment is either a fan of either team involved - or a nitwit!  (Granted it could be BOTH - but that is another story!)  I mean - anyone seen the way Pronger plays - is that a gentleman on ice or a barbarian on skates...!  And from the other club - Toews - wasn't he the nice kid who beat up his cabbie some hot summer day last year, venting his frustration that his club flunked out in the playoffs (he's just a wet-behind-the-ears punk with a bunch of others young punks and they think that they are ''entitled'' to more, that they were destined for more, right away - they have ASPIRATIONS...!  And if anything impedes that - take it out on poor unsuspecting cabbie who actually WORKS for a living...!  PUNKS - and thugs! Case closed!

Now that is NOT what the NHL wants representing them in the grand finale - no sir! But that is, most probably, what the NHL DESERVES to have representing the overall organization in their marquee event, the final showcase of theatrics on ice that they are...

Of all the dream clashes that could have been (Boston-San Jose - at last... Or Boston-Detroit, a match-up of Original Six teams that actually have retained some class, unlike the Hawks or the Habs!  The Hub of Hockey versus Hockeytown - what a great finale THAT would have been! And we would have also been better served by Pittsburgh attempting a repeat versus whomever, New Jersey going all the way only to lose (probably four straight) and even by Washington versus San Jose - if regular season standings counted for anything at all - and they do not, any longer, they absolutely do not! But who cares at this point, eh?)

So, instead of any of those great match-ups, we have THIS: Philadelphia and Chicago - a mismatch in terms of power but a totally normal pairing in terms of misbegotten line-ups and rowdy towns!

My prediction: Chicago in four straight.

But, again, who cares!
Aside from ''Chicagoans'' that is...!

Logically, Boston should have eliminated Philly in games 6 or 7, so they shouldn't even be there in the Finals, opposite the damn Hawks! (The B's proved that they could handle the pressure and DISAPPOINTMENT of having to play a game seven when, logically, they shouldn't have needed to, over and over again - in 2009, they had to play seven versus Carolina when they could have easily ousted the Hurricanes in 5 or 6 games.  Instead, they were robbed in the seventh game, in overtime.  This year, they dominate their game seven only to hit three posts and see an insurmountable potential six-goal lead being chipped away little-by-little; because, let's face it, a three-goal lead in today's parity-laden NHL is NOTHING - nothing at all.  Any team can come back from a two or three goal deficit: if given the time.  And the Flyers sure were given that - primarily by the three posts Cruel Lady Fate denied turning into goals for Boston! While the Bruins' sin was, perhaps, to score three goals too early in the game, ironically - as always, it tends to be cruel to the Bruins any which way you look at it: with irony or through fate's eye! But wait 'til next year - with Tyler Seguin (most likely) or Taylor Hall joining their team, and a few tweaks here and there, the Boston Bruins will become UNBEATABLE. But that is, again, another story - for another time; next year, to be precise!) And so, after having dispatched the Flyers in 6 as they should have, the Bruins should have shown the Pens and Caps who's really boss.   For, once again, LOGICALLY - the idiots in Washington and\or the blasé underachievers in Pittsburgh should have steam-rolled all over the Canadiens - and not have taken them too lightly as they so obviously did! Upsets all around, really - any wonder why I no longer watch nor care about any of it, really?

In the west, San Jose finally achieved SOMETHING - but still stayed true to their rep, ultimately - and spectacularly so too; man, being SWEPT by the Hawks... yikes!  It's something akin to the history of the mafia indeed: the Mob, with their best hitmen on tap (what else to call Heatley, Marleau and Thornton - Joe, not the Man, Shawn! JOE.) being pulverized by a bunch of street thugs from some small street gang around the corner..!!!  Pathetic.  And they (the Sharks) had just beaten their most bitter rival, Detroit - FINALLY, after so many tries...! Truly pathetic!  The NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers took action after they saw their dominant team (in the regular season) being dominated and shown the exit door by the resurgent Boston Celtics in this year's playoffs - they fired the coach!  Maybe San Jose needs to change the entire coaching staff - and the GM too!  Otherwise the danger is very real that their ''great player'' Thornton (Joe) will forever remain stuck with the unsightly labels of ''choker'' and ''loser'' - and this is doubly frustrating when one sees a ruffian like Pronger (who helped Anaheim royally frustrate San Jose just a short time ago...!) being affixed with the rep of a ''winner'' - when all he does is be a thug on ice!  An opportunist thug, granted - but a thug and nothing much more than that nonetheless!

I wished to see Phoenix go far this year, for some obscure reason (blame it or pin it on Wile E) - and they, of course, never did, so it would have been refreshingly new had they obliged.  Heck - Nashville (did they even qualify for the playoffs - lol) and Columbus - anyone of those EXCEPT the damn same towns year in and year out, please!!!  Seeing Vancouver compete, though, was almost as -yawn- exciting as seeing Calgary and Edmonton get into a deep run into the playoffs - which reminds me to say again, as I subconsciously do every year; thank God Winnipeg doesn't have a team anymore!  But that is another story! (How long can it remain that way, too: nobody knows!)

At least the aberration that was the lone remaining Canadian team in the hunt did not reach such absurdism as seeing them reach the finals... sheesh!  The Habs were not taken seriously enough by anyone who played them -and with such good reason- and that allowed them to reach the third round... the THIRD ROUND... sheesh!  ONE team should have put an end to that nonsense - and that was arch-rival Boston.  People in Montreal were clamoring that this was the best playoff run since 1993 - the year that they last STOLE THE CUP.  They were reminded then, ever so slightly, what happened in 1994, when they defended their theft in a series against... BOSTON.  This reminder was simply due to the dubious achievement of having managed only a single shot on goal during an entire period - something they did two times before, in a series against Buffalo (they lost the game 3-0 - just as they lost two games to Philly by the exact same score! Great to see irony being cruel to the Habs as well - sometimes.) and in a game against the Bruins in the 1994 series...  But, guess what, the "defending champs" Habs actually stole that game too, even though they managed only one shot on goal in one of the three periods, at the end of it they had stolen the game by the score of 5-2...!!!  What depraved DUMB LUCK is that.  Or puck luck.  Or yuck puck luck!  Still - justice was served that year - the Boston Bruins defeated the Montreal Canadiens in the 1994 playoffs, making it clear that the 1993 cup was stolen and rightfully belonged to the best team in 1993... which was the Boston Bruins! 

This year, it came so close that the Bruins would have had the same opportunity to inject some more common sense and a dose of REALITY back into the craniums of the Canadiens fans...!  They would have welcomed the opportunity to do so - only Pronger's Phills wanted it for themselves and had, seemingly, that bitchy lady luck on their side...!  Again, wait 'til next year...

Let us remain on THIS YEAR a while longer: for the aberration on ice (of seeing the Habs skate past both Capitals AND Penguins) was having such crazed fans making nonsensical statements as "it's the year of the underdog; the west has the top two teams remaining, but the east has the bottom three still competing" (at the time, the Bruins-Flyers series endured and the damn Habs had shocked and stunned the Pitt into elimination just the night before.)
Sheesh!  The fact that the bottom teams beat the top teams in the east does NOT guarantee that one of them -the one that eventually does reach the finals- will topple one of the top two from the west...!  I swear, sometimes, partisan fever must be affecting the thought process... I am sure of it!  It affects journalistic ethics and so-called "ethical" pros as well - we will see that shortly... Once again, that is, because I remember mentioning it before, on another post...

In the end, of course, the Habs were defeated in five games by the team that Boston had beaten in every way and facet of the game - and should have eliminated too!  But lady fate (another bitch, as we saw before) had to make it so that they got Carter and Giroux back while we (yes, we! I'm with the Hub of Hockey - or had you forgotten that? I can multitask - think and simultaneously support the worthier, hard luck and hardest-working team: Boston!) we lost Sturm and then Krejci as well...! 

But still - when confronting these same lucky Flyers, the Habs lost in FIVE. 

Where have I heard that before... "en cinq petites parties"... eh? AH YES - in a Montreal rag of a mag, the one that was trying to be all prognostical about the then forthcoming 2009-2010 season - while being all off the mark about the recent past!  For, incredibly, they went to print with a false piece of data concerning the epic 2009 playoff confrontation between the Boston Bruins and Carolina Hurricanes (a team with, at the time, still several cup winners on its roster.) This was a series that went SEVEN GAMES, plus an overtime period in the seventh (and there were some more extra periods there, during the course of the series - the Bruins, basically, making the same mistake that the Capitals and Penguins made with the Canadiens THIS YEAR: they were not taking their opponent seriously and were, truly, thinking ahead to the NEXT ROUND already... This series came as a surprisingly CLOSE and HARD'FOUGHT battle that went on and on and would be decided by pure damn LUCK - again.)  However, the rag of a mag from Montreal, in its recollection of the recent series, stated that it had lasted only 5 rather than 7 games - for, obviously, the editorial team behind that rag was still reeling badly from THE SWEEP!  As it was indeed, to begin the 2009 playoffs, the Boston Bruins had totally outclassed the Montreal Canadiens and had swept them in four straight - or should I say "en quatre petites parties" now...!  And so, now, it is sooooooo ironic that the Canadiens, after seemingly accomplishing so much in "triumphing" over two giants, the juggernauts that were the over-rated Capitals and full-of-themselves Penguins, would lose en cinq petites parties - TO THE TEAM THAT BOSTON HAD IN THE ROPES, to boot!  That pretty much renders null and void all the so-called triumphs, does it not?  I am sure that the fanatiques will say otherwise...

 They are probably still wearing their jerseys, even now; and will continue to do so throughout the summer...!

Go Habs Go - go home, yo!
Go to the mini-golf near you!
Bastards!

Good riddance!

Who cares who wins that Stanley thing now...!
It won't be you, obtuse Habs -
it never could have been you!

Biased Media = Lousy Broadcast

It was painful to listen to, most times; but one had simply to turn off the sound and enjoy some fine classical music instead while watching the action on ice as the mighty Boston Bruins defeated in dominating fashion the hated Montreal Canadiens. Alas, for me, my location had me forced to tune in to the RDS broadcast (or worse yet: the CBC's!) and not the NESN broadcast - and so it was more of the same biased crap that I had to listen to, game after game, before I wised up and tuned out...!

An example: game one, right after Phil Kessel accepted the short pass from Milan Lucic to seal the B's victory by scoring the insurance goal into an empty net - what happened then, hmm? A frustrated Canadien (the Komi, I do believe) dared ruin the celebration of the sealing-of-the-deal goal by roughing Kessel -Kessel! The finesse guy! You don't rough up a finesse player, pal; it's an unwritten rule and a time-honored one at that- and he brought Kessel all the way into the boards too, as all that young Phil wanted to do was the same as when he scored all of his goals in the last two years; celebrate it with his teammates. But no - the Habs think they have a right to avoid their just desserts and thought they do unto their rivals what they would never accept them doing it unto their own guys, be it Kovy or Saku-Le-Fou! *lol*
(Sorry - couldn't resist!)

And so, the goal celebration -and game one win celebration, be it temporarily- were ruined by the unsportsmanlike behaviour of those execrable Habs... And what does their local play-by-play guy call, at that point? "And now Milan Lucic attacks Komisarek FROM BEHIND..."
WHAT THE...?!? How many games has this guy called, let alone seen, over the years...? Is it customary then, you so-called expert you, to see an NHLer celebrate his team's scoring the insurance goal by jumping an opponent from behind - for no reason at all?!? The fact was, all Lucic did was step in and defend his smaller teammate, a teammate who doesn't do any of that rough stuff usually, and he grabbed Komisarek and threw him off his teammate with conviction, as to say "you want to "dance" - do it with someone like ME!"

As it is, of course, Komisarek fears Lucic and loathes him with a passion for it: Lucic kicked his butt earlier in the season, showing him up big time then... The Komi was so badly beaten, he missed a considerable amount of playing time after the scuffle. Ever since, he's dreamed of some kind of chance for revenge - and he knew his teammates, tough guys Laraque and Stewart, would never get the job done either... So he tried to avenge himself, at first, by picking on Lucic's smaller goal-scoring linemate. When that didn't work, he tried his darn-best to mount the courage to go for a rematch - and with his team all but eliminated, he thought it was time to do just that in game four. A single punch to the jaw and Lucic had won the rematch as well. Finally, out of exasperation, The Komi made his last pathetic appearance of the season (and most probably as a hated Hab as well) when he high-sticked himself out of the game, the series and surely out of town as well, in the last few minutes of game four - he couldn't match Milan Lucic's brawn, so he used his stick instead! He got an automatic five minutes and ejection from the game, as Lucic was cut on the left cheek then - 'tis the only way The Komi could ever put a single scratch on Milan Lucic, I tell ya! PATHETIC.

But even more pathetic of all, was again the play-by-play description of it all! Aye, I confess, I'd stopped the music (much in my own disfavour - but at least, I'm doing it to myself, so it's okay then!) and "peeked" at the commentating that was being done by the so-called "impartial experts"... No underlining whatsoever of The Komi's pathetic attitude - instead they spoke of the refereeing...! Right...
I went right back to Beethoven, right there and then!

The Boston Bruins deserved to win LAST YEAR's series against these pathetic Habs - and they deserved to win both playoff encounters during the all-around sad Joe Thornton era (sad with unfulfilled expectations, quite inexplicably at that...! The San Jose crowd knows all about that now - eh? Bwah-ha-ha. Keep him, your Joe; we don't want him anymore!)

What's more, the Boston Bruins deserved to win more oftne than 22 times on Montreal's rink, all-time, during the playoffs... The winning streak they have going against the Habs currently (all but one game in the regular season and the four straight in the playoffs that amount to a sweeter-than-sweet sweep and nine straight wins overall) deserves to continue next season and the NEXT FEW SEASONS in fact! Verily, it should reach the 20-to-25 games plateau, I say; just to TRULY get the B's even! One has no idea the amounts of INJUSTICE ON ICE that the Boston Bruins have had to swallow down over the years against various opponents (Buffalo in 1993, New Jersey the following year and Florida the year after that, I do believe... If memory serves me right!) but none, NONE moreso than this hated rival: the Canadiens! A team with the most moronic fanbase of all: they actually boo their own when they lose to a far superior team like the 2009 Boston Bruins! And one year earlier, after stealing victory from these same Bruins, they were moronic enough to go on a rioting spree throughout their city, one that rose to the astronomical amount of in excess of 2 MILLION DOLLARS IN DAMAGES...! The Canadiens employees are saddened to see their team lose and make such an early (and so well-deserved) exit this April - but I am 100% sure that every other Montrealer with a business, city employees and insurance brokers alike too, are TRULY ELATED that they lost and had NARROW A MOMENT OF JOY for their stupid fans this year - giving the latter no cause to RIOT in the process, as absurd as it sounds!

But absurdism is found in every nook and cranny of the Montreal Bell Centre, I tell ya: starting with the spelling there (it remains english, no matter what; but they still feel they are complying with the silly LOI 101 and other restrictions by spelling both Canadians and Center with an "e" at a most strategic place: "centre" is French, but only if you pronounce it that way... But anyway...!)
More absurdism: the fans, in their incoherent chanting and booing; they cheer the rough stuff their Habs do on the ice, and boo the ensuing penalty it cost them! But then they will also boo when the B's are not penalized for doing much less than the Habs did - that's logical, eh. Thank God none of these people is actually refereeing the game; impartiality would rule the proceedings - not! It would fly out the window, rather!
Even the mascot is incoherent: Youppi was seen cheering when the Habs were called offside?!? Is he HIGH, underneath that orange fur?!? At least Blades The Bruin knows what's going on...!

And so do I...!
And in the light of this second sweep of the Canadiens by the Bruins in recent years -remember 1992! I sure do; and Shane Hnidy appears to me now as the second coming of... Jim Wiemer! But I am digresisng again-and so I can honestly say that we need to see more of this in order to be reminded that YES - there is still some JUSTICE in this sorry world of ours... sometimes!

The Bruins' coach was a true class act: he spoke of no malice, no revenge plan, no ill feelings towards the organization that kicked both him and one of his star players, Michael Ryder, out of town - by the way; thanks, CH, now both are serving the BOSTON cause very well! In fact, Julien hesitated to even use the word JUSTICE in both case, especially in Ryder's case... Of course I just did use the word, without any hesitation at all, but it is in the BOSTON BRUINS' case against the rivals they've had, especially the Habs - after all, Ryder and Julien are only two individuals implicated in the larger picture which is, itself, but a tiny reflection of the much larger picture that is the neverending (but soon to end anyway - by the Grace of God!) battle between GOOD and EVIL...! But I am digressing, aren't I? *lol*

The Bruins can target the Stanley Cup next: and no team, no organization deserves it more than they do. They've had seven magnificent twenty goal-scorers this year (eight, I say: after all, Zdeno Chara got 19 and scored his 20th on the very first playoff game he played - and it was the game-winner too!) but it is true that, under Don Cherry, the Bruins established the record "never-to-be-broken" as he always says: ELEVEN twenty-plus goal-scorers on the roster, in the late 1970s! And that team, though dominating too, was robbed of a championship. Still, the fanbase in Boston is so classy it stood and applauded the enemy camp, the CH, when it paraded with the Stanley Cup in the venerable Boston Garden (maybe not the same year though - gee, I hope not!)

This year, Marc Savard, Patrice Bergeron, Chuck Kobasew, Phil Kessel, Milan Lucic, Blake Wheeler, Zdeno Chara, Mark Recchi, Steve Montador, Tim Thomas, Michael Ryder, David Krejci, Chuck Kobasew, Shawn Thornton, Stephane Yelle, PJ Axelsson and the rest of this formidable line-up can aspire to accomplish what that other great Bruins team, somehow, wasn't fortunate enough to accomplish themselves.

Me, of course, I wanted to see it done back in 1993 - when Dave Poulin (not Krejci) was in town. The hired guns were Dave Christian and Brian Propp - not Recchi or Ryder. The pillars on defense were Ray Bourque and Don Sweeney, not Aaron Ward and Dennis Wideman. And the main man was Cam Neely - not... well, this 2009 edition of the B's is well-balanced and they rely on a total team effort to get it done (that is why it is so impossible to counter them too!)

At least, if the 2009 edition of the Boston Bruins does win it all, Cam Neely is still a part of the club - in some function... So are Bourque and Sweeney. They'll get to hoist the Cup - as Bruins - yet...!

Onwards - with the opposition likely being pesky Rangers, Penguins and... hmm... Ducks or Canucks, the rest of the way...!


+++

Winners of 8 of their last 10...

The Boston Bruins are the Hottest Team in the NHL!

With an All-Star goalie, and a group of young, hungry, players, 2007 is the year of the Boston Bruins!

The Bruins are going all the way to the Stanley Cup!

Celebrate their road to the Cup with this 100 card collection of ONLY Boston Bruins HOCKEY CARDS!!!!

That's right, this auction is for 100 mint condition Boston Bruins cards from 2006-07 NHL Fleer Ultra, 2006-07 Upper Deck Series 1 Hockey, 2005-06 Upper Deck Rookie Update Hockey, 2005-06 Upper Deck MVP Hockey, 2005-06 Upper Deck ICE Hockey, and more.

This is the perfect set for Bruins fans, or as the ideal gift for the most rabid Bruins follower that you know. I guarantee that you (or the recipient of your gift) will love these cards!

You will receive the stack of cards pictured below, shipped safely and securely to the address of your choice.

Go Boston!!!!

Payment: We accept electronic payment through PayPal. We will also accept payment by check or money order through the mail when you are not able to pay with PayPal.

Shipping: Please add $9.95 US for shipping and handling anywhere in North America. Please add $19.95 US for shipping and handling anywhere outside of North America. Shipping price is fixed - please do not ask for a shipping price discount. We do not do pick-ups. We do not offer shipping price discounts on multiple items purchased - the listed shipping prices apply to each item purchased.

Guarantee: If the merchandise is defective, or not as described, we will replace the item with an alternate. We can offer a replacement only if the item has a physical defect - we will not replace the item if you decide that you do not want it any longer. We cannot issue refunds for any reason.

Condition: The cards are in Nr-Mt condition or better, and have been stored safely in soft card sleeves since they were pulled fresh from the pack.


Contrary to popular belief among those that have known me and where my allegiances lie in the past, oh, 20 years - the preceding was NOT penned by me! At all!
They are, indeed, something taken ad verbatim from some auction on E-BAY...
As a matter of fact, though I am pleased to hear about the current winning streak during which the Boston Bruins have indeed looked unbeatable - I remain pretty much level-headed, realistic and even a tad indifferent about the current line-up's chances to "go all the way up - up - up to the Stanley Cup"!
That used to be my slogan - circa 1988 - when a certain Cam Neely played for the Bruins... It isn't the case anymore.
I view the "cup" as something closer to a damn ashtray than anything remotely close to the Holy Grail (you damnable hockey analyst-blasphemers!)
And I do not think that, in this day and age, ANYONE (save Nostradamus himself) can predict who will rise to take the title - not in this day of near-total parity in the damn league!
It's anybody's cup - or, as I said, it's anybody's ashtray!
And what do I care, anymore?!?
I agree with the assessment that the present-day team has an All-Star goalie (underrated though he is, by the so-called experts) and a quick, hungry team (newest additions Bochenski, Chistov, Kessel, Ward and Ference make the Bruins finally forget about the "losses" of Smolinski, Samsonov, Ruzicka, Iafrate and Wesley...!!!)
Add to that the other youngsters; Boyes, Bergeron, Sturm (whom experts wanted to see get traded - fat chance, "experts"!) and Toivonen too!
And add to that the quality veterans that anchor everyone else:
Marc Savard is better than Joe Thornton (sort of like the same improvement than the time when Adam Oates replaced Craig Janney - more backbone, more bite!)
Zdeno Chara is the true heir apparent to Ray Bourque (Kyle McLaren and Nick Boynton never were...)
Even Mark Mowers is an improvement over the pathetic Martin Lapointe!!!
And even Shean Donovan is an improvement over the vanishing act specialists: either Brian Rolston or Michael Nylander - at least, when Donovan doesn't do a thing, it is not disappointing since not much is expected from HIM! (Besides, Donovans are known for their tendency to pull off vanishing acts; ask Ione Skye! But that is another story...!)
P.J. Axelsson is the closest thing to a new Dave Poulin or Dave Reid
And Glen Murray remains the closest thing to a second coming of Cam Neely

Still - even if these underdogs were to defy the odds and win it all (in the eyes of the so-called expert, they are underdogs, yes - and besides, with parity pervading the NHL, all bets are off: there are way too many possible contenders and even more possible scenarios now to say with certainty that ANY team is a team "of destiny"...) - I would still not celebrate it.
I wanted it to happen years ago - now all of the deserving cast is gone.
I wanted to see Neely hoist the cup - instead, I saw that spineless geek, Mario Lemieux, hoist it twice. Talk about a qualifiable HEIST!
But I digress...

At best, hence, I am lukewarm about the current edition of the Boston Bruins - and I shall not jump on the bandwagon here.
Nor will I buy any hockey (hokey?) cards!!!


Hmm - still... If 300 lunatics can stand up to an army of a million - surely 100 Bruins can beat back 1000 Devils, Penguins, Oilers, Leafs, Canadiens, Senators, Sabres, Panthers, Canucks, Thrashers, Rangers, Islanders, Flames and Hurricanes!!!
Logically...?