Bring On The Habs

The Bruins quest to return to the Stanley Cup finals for the second year in a row, and for the third time in the last four years, took a big step forward this past Saturday when they beat the Red Wings 4-2 to win the series decisively 4-l and setting up a second round series against the rival Canadiens.What made this series encouraging from a Bruins fan perspective is that besides the power play being a strength, compared to past playoffs where it was a glaring weakness, is that this series was never in doubt even after they lost game 1.

While the playoffs began with a 1-0 loss for the Bruins, the B's responded with a convincing 4-1 in game 2 and then took a stronghold on the series by winning 2 games, including coming back from a 2 goal deficit in game 4, in Joe Louis Arena.  If there is one thing we have learned about the Bruins over the past four seasons is that they are never fazed by any deficit whether it be in a game or in a series. The Bruins continue to play within their system and more times than not their depth proves to be too much for the opposition.

It certainly does help to have a Vezina trophy finalist in Tuukka Rask between the pipes, but what makes the Black and Gold so dangerous is their ability to wear down an opponent over 60 minutes.  The Bruins may not have one individual flashy goal scorer, but they roll out three lines on a nightly basis that are all capable of scoring and more importantly are probably the best three lines in hockey at playing two-way hockey, with Selke trophy finalist Patrice Bergeron leading the way.  If any stat is indicative of showing the depth of the Bruins is that in their five first round games, they had ten different goal scorers.

Another encouraging sign for the Bruins is the one thing that worried fans the most coming into the playoffs, being the youth on defense, has steadily improved as the regular season ended and the playoffs began.  Dougie Hamilton, Torey Krug, Matt Bartkowski and Kevan Miller have all been playing some of the best hockey of their young careers as of late and are slowly but surely making Bruins fans forget about injured defenseman Dennis Seidenberg.  Add in the fact that Justin Florek, who came out of nowhere to fill in admirably for Chris Kelly on the third line, and Carl Soderberg playing as well as probably any third liner in the NHL, and the future looks bright for the Bruins, not only in these playoffs but for the years to come as well.

What makes these playoffs for the Bruins potentially extra special is the B's have the chance to go through the entire playoffs playing only Original Six teams if the Bruins can beat the Canadiens this series, the New York Rangers in the Eastern Conference Finals and then potentially the Chicago Blackhawks in the Stanley Cup Finals.  However since I do believe the Canadiens pose the biggest threat to the Bruins in the Eastern Conference, I won't look too far ahead.  Montreal played the Bruins better than any opponent this year and regardless of the year they always play the B's tough in the playoffs.  Due to the fanaticism of their fans, playing in the Bell Centre is always one of the toughest arenas to come out of victorious as a visiting opponent, and because of that having home ice advantage may come in handy in this series more than any other series the B's may potentially have to play in these playoffs.

Whenever the Bruins and Canadiens face-off against each other, whether it be in the regular season or playoffs, it is different than any opponent the B's play. For instance last year when the Bruins played the Blackhawks in the finals I truly believe there was mutual respect amongst both franchises and fans.  One only had to see the ad Blackhawks owner Rocky Wirtz took out in the Boston Globe after Chicago won the Stanley Cup to see the mutual admiration between the cities and teams. When the Bruins and Canadiens play each other however there is legitimate animosity between the fans and teams, and that's what makes this rivalry so intense.  In the early 2000's I think it is safe to say there was no greater rivalry in professional sports than the Yankees and Red Sox, but in the past few years it appears that rivalry has become diluted, and from a Boston fan's perspective I think the Bruins and Canadiens rivalry has only intensified since then.  One only had to see how fanatical Canadiens fans can be when they asked for Zdeno Chara to be arrested after his hit (pictured below) on Max Pacioretty in 2011.  If you are a Bruins fan I highly recommend you tune into some Montreal sports talk radio this week and during the series, because it is highly entertaining just to see how crazy their fans can be.  I fully admit Boston sports fans can be loud and obnoxious, but Montreal fans tend take things to the next level. 

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Since the Canadiens and Bruins finished their games in four and five games respectively, there is a chance that we may have to wait until next Saturday for the series to start, but if you are a hockey fan, or just a sports fan in general ,I hope you spend your evenings this week watching the other first round games.  My previous Rant was about how great the NHL Playoffs are and this past weekend proved that again.  Last night in particular the Anaheim Ducks looked down and out for almost the entire game, yet in the final 2 minutes of regulation  with their goalie pulled they were able to score 2 goals to tie the game and then ended up winning both the game and series overtime.  Needless to say these playoffs have been nuts.  

I cannot emphasize enough what a special time of year this is if you are a sports fan, hell the NBA playoffs are even extremely entertaining so far, and as a B's fan I cannot wait for the next chapter in the Bruins-Canadiens rivalry to begin.

P.S.  I was fortunate enough to attend the game 5 of the Bruins-Red Wings this past Saturday and once again I was blown away by the energy in the building.  In my previous Rant I mentioned that an NHL Playoff game is one of the best sporting events to attend in person and this Saturday only further enhanced my opinion on that matter.  Below are a few of the pictures I took.

April Madness

I will always go on the record saying the NCAA Basketball Tournament is the best tournament in sports, but coming in a close second is the NHL Playoffs.  The main reason why I prefer March Madness is because of the one and done format and there are teams from all different conferences ranging in skill ability, whereas in professional sports like the NHL, where there is a salary cap, each team in theory should have close to equal skill sets and have a relatively equal chance of winning a title.  As we all know this isn't the case because some teams have better scouts and manage their money better than others, but for the most part there is great parity in the NHL when it comes to the teams that make the playoffs. As a result of the parity in the NHL Playoffs, the chances of the underdog winning a series is better than in any other professional sport and that is why I love watching the games so much.

What makes hockey and the NHL Playoffs so unique is it's such a team sport, whereas the NBA, who is also in their playoffs now, is more of an individual driven sport.  Another reason why I love the NHL Playoffs is the Stanley Cup.  If I were to win one trophy as an athlete it would be the Stanley Cup. When a player hoists the Stanley Cup, you can immediately tell how much that player sacrificed to win that trophy.  Since nearly every NHL Playoff series seems to go 6-7 games, the teams that end up playing for the Stanley Cup have to play nearly 3 more months of hockey on top of the taxing 82 game regular season.  In addition to the extreme joy and emotions associated with hoisting the Stanley Cup, the party that ensues after is unbelievable.  The hockey player more than any professional athlete relates to the common man, and when the Bruins won it in 2011 it was awesome to see the team bring the Cup to bars in the days following to share it with the fans.  Add in the fact that each player gets a day with the Cup during the off-season and has their name is forever etched on its side, to me there is no better trophy to win in sports.

If there was a perfect example of how awesome the NHL Playoffs are, last night was it.  All three games last night (St. Louis-Chicago, Dallas-Anaheim and Columbus-Pittsburgh) all entered with a team (St. Louis, Anaheim and Pittsburgh) leading a series 2-1 and as a sports fan one of the worst things that could have happened is if all three games ended with the series at 3-1.  However, the sports gods were in full force last night and provided us with three extremely entertaining games and when all was said and done all three series were all tied up at 2-2. What made last night so entertaining in particular was in each game there was a lead of at least 2-0 and in all cases the team losing came back to tie the game, and in the case of Columbus and Dallas, ended up winning the game.

Finally, I've been to almost every possible sporting event and I can honestly say the best games to see in person are a college basketball game with two highly ranked teams and an NHL Playoff game.  What separates these two sporting events from the others is the energy in the building.  If you watched the NHL games last night, you would have seen fans on their feet at HOCKEY game in cities that aren't known for their love of hockey, in Columbus and Dallas. There is something special about the NHL Playoffs where a switch is turned on and the fans become electric and each shift the players skate with unbelievable energy and intensity.  Even watching the NHL Playoff games at home on television like I did  last night you could  feel the energy from the arenas on the couch in my house.

As awesome as these first round series have been so far, the best part is this is just the beginning of the NHL Playoffs and we still have a good two months left.   Buckle up.

P.S.  One way you know it's officially April Madness is when Marc-Andre Fleury becomes a complete sieve like he did at the end of last night's game against the Blue Jackets.

Boston Took Back The Finish Line

This past week in Boston was an emotional one; from the one year anniversary of the Marathon bombings last week on April 15th to running of the race yesterday.  As a person who has called Boston home for the entire 30 years of my life, Marathon Monday has always been in many ways a high holiday.  As a kid it meant having school off, in college at BC it meant having a big party with fellow students while cheering on the runners as they finished up Heartbreak Hill, and as an adult it has meant meeting up with friends around the city and enjoying what always seems to be one of the first real nice days of spring. Last year however as we all know everything changed.  Four lives were lost and nearly 300 people were injured and many wondered as a result if one of the most celebrated events in Boston would ever be the same.

I think it's safe to say whenever the Boston Marathon occurs that we will always remember what happened on April 15, 2013, but the way yesterday transpired it is apparent the city has built itself back up.  Besides the great weather, it was awesome to see the large crowds on the sidewalks and the race packed with tens of thousands of runners all running for great causes.  The true sign however that I knew Boston took back the finish line however was when Patrick Downes and Jessica Kensky Downes crossed the finish line together (pictured above).  Both Patrick and Jessica lost their left legs last year during the explosions by the finish line last year, but just 53 weeks later they were able to cross the finish line together in handcycles.  As a BC alum in particular it was great to see a fellow Eagle in Patrick accomplish such a feat knowing all obstacles he and Jessica have had to overcome.

Between Patrick and Jessica and all the thousands of others who were able to finish the race along with an American male in Meb Keflezighi winning the Marathon for the first time since 1983, it was truly a special day.  The only way the day could have possibly gone better was if the Red Sox pulled off another massive comeback, but I will let that one slide given the way the organization honored all the first responders and victims the night before and then ended up coming from behind to beat the Orioles in the ninth inning.  All in all it was an awesome day and one in which I am proud to call myself a Bostonian.

Below I have posted a few pictures that I was able to take at the bottom of my street at the 25 kilometer mark in Wellesley.

The Roller Coaster Week That Was BC Athletics

So I realize I haven't had a Rant in a week, and the main reason is that there appeared to be a lot going on in a short amount of time and I didn't know which topic to blog about, so I finally decided to do a comprehensive piece today that quickly hits upon a variety of topics starting with the BC spring football game last Saturday and ending with the NHL debuts for Johnny Gaudreau and Bill Arnold this Sunday.

So last Saturday (April 5th) my father and I spent the afternoon at Alumni Stadium taking in the annual Jay McGillis spring football game.  Like with any spring game no matter who your team is, it is very hard to judge how a team is based upon a spring game.  First off everyone plays for the same team, secondly it is not a legit football game, there is a lot of situational football with a scoring system that I think nobody understood and finally there were a fair share of players who sat out.

As for my thoughts based on what I saw, it was a tale of two halves. In the first half the offense dominated.  Tyler Murphy, the quarterback transfer from Florida, showed off his speed on a few scrambles and Myles Willis, David Dudeck and Tyler Rouse all ran the ball well.  Although Murphy is cable of throwing the ball, due to BC's lack of a go to receiver I think you will see a lot of running the ball as we saw last year, but I think with Murphy's speed there will be the added element of the option in this year's run game.

The second half was dominated by the defense with Sean Duggan anchoring the squad.  Duggan appeared to be all over the field, which is a good sign since the Eagles have to replace their defensive leader in Kevin Pierre-Louis from last year.  My one real negative thought in regards to the defensive play was that the secondary dropped a few interceptions that they should  have easily had.

Finally, I actually thought the crowd wasn't that bad.  I'm sure if you see my pictures from the game you may say it looks like no one is there, but that was because the whole crowd was behind the sideline I was sitting on.  I have been to a handful of spring games in the past decade and I thought this was easily the biggest turnout.  I know some people mentioned there was a lack of young alumni presence, but I thought as a whole the turnout was good.  Also, I am smart enough to know BC is never going to get 100,000 like Alabama does. Finally congratulations to Dominique Williams on winning the Jay McGillis scholarship.  This year's recipient is extra special because Williams comes from McGillis' hometown of Brockton.  Below I posted a picture of Williams receiving the scholarship.

From the gridiron to the ice, it was a week of extreme lows and extreme highs for the BC hockey team.  The week started off with a tough loss to the eventual National Champion Union.  Even though BC got off to an early 1-0 on a Johnny Gaudreau goal, it was clear from the first puck drop that Union was going to be really tough.  I won't really comment too much on the game, because it is tough to recap a loss of such magnitude but I think we can all agree that not being able to score on the 5 minute power play in the 3rd period and having Union score shortly after they killed the penalty was the back breaker.  The one encouraging sign is the team did fight to the literal last second as they almost scored which would have tied the game as time expired. The tough part about this loss is there are two teams that have played BC really tough the last two years and those teams are Notre Dame, who knocked BC out of the Hockey East playoffs and Union who ended the Eagles' season in the NCAA Tournament for the second year in a row.

If there was a silver lining to this year's Frozen Four loss it was that nearly 24 hours after defeat BC fans had a lot to cheer for as Johnny Gaudreau won the school's 3rd Hobey Baker.  This award came as no shock as Gaudreau was hands down the best player in college hockey this year scoring a nation leading 36 goals and 44 assists to finish the season with 80 points which was 15 more points than teammate and linemate Kevin Hayes who finished second in the nation in points with 65.  The celebratory weekend continued for Johnny Hockey and BC teammate Bill Arnold as they signed professional contracts with the Calgary Flames on Friday and were able to make their NHL debuts Sunday night against the Vancouver Canucks.  And to anyone who has watched Gaudreau this year it was no shock he scored (which you can watch below) his first NHL goal on his first ever shot.  While many are skeptical on the type of player Gaudreau will be in the NHL based on his size, or lack thereof, I always counter with the line about how you can't hit someone who you can't catch.  Add his hockey IQ,  and unbelievable stick handling skills to his speed and I am confident Gaudreau will have a strong NHL career.  It also helps that former Eagles Brian Gionta and Nathan Gerbe, who are also both small, have had very good NHL careers.  As for the team Arnold and Gaudreau will be playing for, watching the game Sunday it appears the Flames have a long, long way to go to becoming a playoff contender.

Now transitioning from the ice to the hardwood.  The Jim Christian hire came with much skepticism, as was noted in my previous Rant, but the one thing Christian made clear in his introductory press conference is he needed to hire a staff with ACC experience and had roots in recruiting New England, and Christian followed through on his promise with the hiring of former Maryland assistant coach Scott Spinelli.  Spinelli is a Leominster, MA native and graduate of Boston University and has spent the last three seasons on Mark Turgeon's staff with the Terrapins.  Prior to coaching at Maryland he also worked with Turgeon at both Wichita State and Texas A&M.  I think this is a solid hire, and hopefully will help BC in the recruitment of local kids, an area in which the program has struggled with immensely in recent history.  It would be nice if Christian could also add Danya Abrams to his staff, as I mentioned last week.  I think it always helps to have a former player as part of the staff.  Also, Abrams has strong knowledge of the current team having been a part of the radio broadcasts for the past couple of seasons.  

Finally, it was tough to see Ryan Anderson and now potentially Joe Rahon transfer. It doesn't come as a shock as it has been rumored since Michael Vega's article during The ACC tournament, but I was hoping Christian would be able to convince them to stay (although Rahon's isn't official yet).  It will also be very interesting to see if Olivier Hanlan will declare for the draft.  If Rahon actually does in fact transfer, it may be real tough to convince Hanlan to stay, since he will literally be a one man team and I have to imagine staying next year will only hurt his draft stock. With that being said I hope he does decide to stay and hopefully Christian can also bring in a strong transfer who can play right away.  

Finally I will end this Rant on a positive story.  This past weekend Catholic School rivals Notre Dame and Boston College took the diamond in Chicago as opponents but were both fighting for a common cause.  Fellow BC '07 alum and former Birdballer Pete Frates was diagnosed last year with ALS and this past weekend both ND and BC joined forces to raise money to help Strike Out ALS as all ticket proceeds went towards the Pete Frates #3 Fund.  It was nice to see former BC Manager and current Notre Dame Manager Mik Aoki help set this weekend up, and it was even nicer to see Notre Dame do away with their green uniforms for the weekend as they wore red jerseys this weekend in honor of ALS awareness.  As for the series, Notre Dame took 2 of 3 from the Eagles, but needless to say the outcome to a backseat to awareness this series created.  Finally, if you weren't able to attend but want to contribute to the Pete Frates #3 Fund, here is the link . 

Let the Jim Christian Era Begin

Well after two very long weeks, Brad Bates finally hired former Ohio University head coach Jim Christian to be the next head man for Boston College men's basketball team.  Unfortunately the excitement Bates has regarding this hire is not mutual amongst fans and alums.  While I think everyone agrees Steve Donahue had to be let go as BC's coach, I am not sure Christian is that much of an upgrade.  This was BC's opportunity to make a splash hire, but in my mind this hire was a complete flop.  I am not saying Christian will fail as the head coach, but I don't think he's the guy who will take the team to the next level and make the Eagles a constant fixture in the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament.

The question now becomes who could have Bates hired for this to have been considered a home run?  In my mind it would have been Jay Wright.  With Buzz Williams leaving Marquette in the now weakened Big East for a lower level basketball school in Virginia Tech, I thought Bates could have used a similar tactic to lure Wright from Villanova to BC.  I know the chances of Wright, a Pennsylvania native who currently coaches at a school where basketball is the #1 sport by a landslide, leaving Philly for Boston would have been slim, but I was hoping Bates could have made a financial offer that he couldn't refuse.  Also, as I joked on Twitter I was hoping Bates would let Wright know that the BC head basketball coach gets free suits at Eastern Clothing of Watertown.  Ed Cooley, the former BC assistant and current Providence head coach, was another guy I thought Bates could have convinced to leave the Big East and come to the ACC. While Cooley is a Providence native and currently makes $2 million annually as the Friars head coach, I was really hoping that the BC brass would have realized that this was the time to open up their checkbook to get a guy like Cooley or Wright to come to Chestnut Hill.  If BC wants to take their basketball program to the next level they have to make a commitment financially both in terms of the salary of the head coach and upgrades to the practice facility. The other name that was thrown around that would have been a home run hire was Ben Howland, but the chances of him leaving California for the East Coast was very unlikely, and now that the Cal job is open I think it's only a matter of days until he is announced as the new coach of the Bears.

My one huge gripe with the Christian hire isn't necessarily that he came from the MAC, a conference where he has had great success both at Kent State and Ohio, but when he had a chance to coach on a bigger stage like when he was at TCU, he didn't do much to prove that he could coach at an elite level.  I would rather have had Bates hire a guy who was an unknown than to hire a guy whom we know what his ceiling is mostly going to be.  That is why Joe Dooley, the current head coach at Florida Gulf Coast and who was considered another finalist in the BC coaching search, would have made me more excited.  Dooley came within one win of having the Florida Gulf Coast back in the NCAA Tournament, and having spent the previous 10 years as an assistant at Kansas under Bill Self he became known as one of the top recruiters,including getting many kids from the East Coast to go to school in Lawrence.

The other direction I wouldn't have minded Bates going was giving a long time assistant at one of college basketball's elite programs a chance.  For instance Jeff Boals, a long time assistant for Thad Matta at Ohio State, to me would have made more sense than Christian.  Matta's assistants, including Archie and Sean Miller, have had great success as head coaches, and I am confident Boals will make a great head coach one day.  Ironically Boals, an Ohio University alum, appears to be the front runner to replace Christian at Ohio.  Other programs I wouldn't have minded Bates taking a look at assistant coaches are Michigan State and Michigan. Tom Izzo and John Beilein have been the models for consistency in college basketball and I don't think it would have hurt to have taken a look at some of their assistant coaches to see if anyone was ready to take their careers to the next level.

My final point I want to touch upon in this Rant is to compare Christian to a coach I think BC fans should look at for a comparison.  This coach is Brad Brownell, the current head coach of Clemson. Both Brownell and Christian are relatively the same age, and both coaches came from coaching mid major schools in Ohio prior to making the jump to the ACC.  Brownell made the NCAA Tournament in his first year as the head coach of the Tigers in the 2010-11 season, and after two tough years he finally had the Tigers competitive again, leading them to the NIT Semifinals and finishing with a record of 23-13.  Brownell appears to have rebounded well from his recent struggles and if he can get Clemson to the NCAA Tournament next year it will give me hope that Christian will have similar success at BC.  If Christian can convince Hanlan, Rahon and Anderson all to stay, which is still a huge question mark, BC could have a potentially good season if they can play better defense and be more consistent on offense.   However, expect after next season for the Eagles to have a huge drop off, as they will lose just about everyone who is part of their current core, which leads me to my next point.

Jim Christian has to hire a staff that has experience not only in recruiting elite players, but recruiting players in New England.  One of Donahue's failures as a head coach was he surrounded himself, after the departure of Joe Jones to BU, with a staff that was made up of coaches with only Ivy League and Division III coaching experience.  If you watched the NCAA Tournament this year you would have seen numerous players who came from the New England area, yet didn't even consider going to BC.  When Steve Addazio, another coach who came from the MAC, took over the BC football program he stated he wanted to build a fence around New England in terms of recruiting and so far he has lived up to his word.  Having coached in Ohio and Texas for the majority of his career, Christian does not appear to have much experience in recruiting the Northeast and because of that it is key that he finds an assistant who has this experience.  One potential assistant coach whose name has been thrown around is current BC basketball radio analyst and former BC player Danya Abrams who was part of the famed Elite 8 team in 1994.   While Abrams does not have the coaching experience needed to be a lead assistant, I think it would be good for the team to have a former player on the staff.  Also, having called BC games on the radio for the past couple of seasons Abrams is knowledgeable about the current team and could be helpful to Christian in that regard.

Needless to say I am not thrilled with this hire.  I was really hoping BC would have hired a prominent coach, but unfortunately that wasn't the case.  I hope Christian is able to shut up the critics, but I am very skeptical that he will.  As I tweeted yesterday, I will still support and root for Christian and the BC basketball team, but I am worried there won't be much to cheer for.  On the bright side, at least there is one team that plays in Conte Forum that always gives us something to cheer about, and I am looking forward to see them play next Thursday as they go for the school's sixth national title.