Hub Hockey

Bruins (Tuukka Rask) Shutout The Rangers

Game Fifty
Boston Bruins vs. New York Rangers
January 31st, 2009 @ 1:00PM

	1	2	3	F
Boston Bruins	0	1	0	1
New York Rangers	0	0	0	0

(credit: Getty Images)

Bruins & Rask Shutdown The Rangers For 1-0 Win
Manny Who? Tuukka Rask Gets First Career Shutout: 35 Saves
Savard Gets The Bruins Lone Goal On A Tip In The 2nd
How Is Alicia Sacramone Is Even Hotter Now
Lucic & Wideman Grab Assists On Savvy's Goal
Do You Think Rask Will Get More Playing Time Now?

Fernandez Injury Update: Is His Knee Back In The Picture?

Fluto Shinzawa of The Boston Globe reported earlier today, via The Bruins Blog, that the Bruins standout center David Krejci was not in attendance at practice today at Ristuccia Arena. Later on it was confirmed that Krejci had received the day off for what Claude Julien classified as a "maintenance day". Krejci currently is ranked 2nd in points, goals and assists on the Bruins this season and is one of the only "go-to" players for the Black & Gold that hasn't been injured yet. Hopefully, everything is alright and that Krejci is just using his time to rest since you can never truly trust the initial reports on injuries in the NHL these days.

Another Bruin who has seen his fair share of so-called "maintenance days" this season is the Marian Gaborik of the Boston Bruins, goaltender Manny Fernandez. Fernandez hasn't started since January 8th against the Ottawa Senators and has only dressed as the backup for the team only three different times since then. During all of this the Bruins have recalled and assigned two different goaltenders in and even reports of Manny's locker being emptied started to spread via the interweb, sparking trade rumors.

Well contrary to what many thought, including myself, the days passed and Manny remained a Bruin. The trade rumors vanished and more details were reveled on Manny's status. Back spasms is what we were told that caused his disappearance and the coaching staff and management made it clear that it was in no way connected to last season's knee injury which cost him the entire year. But now as Manny still remains out of the lineup, more details revealing a possible more serious injury have come in.

Matt Kalman of The Bruins Blog (not the Globe associated one) reported today on Manny's status, quoting the goaltender as saying:

"This is linked to my knee, obviously, from last year." -Manny Fernandez

So what is a real deal here? I don't know about you but hopefully this at least puts an end to all of you people out there who still would prefer the Bruins to trade Thomas over Manny. Or the people who think Manny is too valuable to trade this season. Face facts, the guy will be plagued with injuries the rest of his career. But I am in no way am I saying he is not a good goaltender or doesn't deserve to be on this team but Thomas in clearly more valuable to the B's then him right now. Plus, after this years performance so far, this newest injury update is only going to lower his stock even more. I say trade while the return is still worth it and move Manny for some help up front.

I did it again didn't I? I started Manny trade talks again, but this time what do you guy's think. Should the Bruins move Manny while his value is still high or should they hold on to him for the playoffs? And why?

Ward Wednesday: "Super Bowl" Bet Finalized

Last week during "Ward Wednesday", Toucher & Rich finally revealed their idea for a Super Bowl bet between Aaron Ward and the shows own Adolfo Gonzalez. The bet stipulations went as follows, if the Steelers won Adolfo would have to lay head first in a sleeping bag full of used Bruins jock straps. But if the Cardinals won, Ward would have to spend a single night in Adolfo's cesspool of a room. Ward seemed reluctant and showed interest but never committed to a solid answer.

Now jump to this past Wednesday where the Super Bowl bet and it's stipulations were finally set in stone. The bet will have no spread and Ward and Adolfo will go old school and just pick who will win straight up. Ward's got the Steelers and Adolfo has the Cardinals. The only change to the bet is that Ward has asked and was granted that if he does lose, he will follow through with his part of the bet after the season is over so that he can avoid missing any playing time in case he gets some type of Adolfo bacteria disease. So who do you guys want to win, Adolfo or Aaron Ward?

Anyways, besides "the bet" this weeks interview was one of my personal favorite "Ward Wednesday's" in recent history. The guys kicked it off with a discussion on ugly jersey's in the NHL focusing on the Bruins mustard yellow "Pooh Bear" thirds from a few years ago. Ward even went on to say that those jersey's could be the all-time worst jersey's in history and looked to be designed by a "2nd grader".

Then came up the topic of the who comes up with the imaginative nicknames that every hockey player seems to have these days. Ward wasted no timing blaming Chuck... or should I say Nicholas Kobasew for this years crop of terrible nicknames. This is so because even though we know him as Chuck, his real name is Nicholas so the guys figured they could come up with their own nicknames to this season since Chuck has done it his whole life.

To listen to this weeks "Ward Wednesday" audio and tons of other original show content, head over to the Toucher & Rich page at WBCN.com. The show updates the site regularly now and so I don't have to post the audio anymore.

WARD WEDNESDAY (01/28/09) AUDIO

Bruins Lose In OT After 3rd Period Comeback

Game Forty-Nine
Boston Bruins vs. New Jersey Devils
January 29th, 2009 @ 7:00PM

	1	2	3	OT	F
Boston Bruins	0	0	0	3	3
New Jersey Devils	1	1	1	1	4

(credit: AP Photos/Charles Krupa)

Devils Start & Finish The Bruins Via Jamie Langenbrunner's Hands
Kessel Returns To Action Tonight With 2-Assists
Savvy Finishes The Night With 2-Points (Goal & Assist)
Ference Grabs An Assist In Only his Second Game Back
Chucky Shows Up Again With A Goal: Where You Been?
Is It Just Me Or Has Lucic Been Invisible The Last Two Games?
Thomas Struggles But That Still Doesn't Stop From Making 27 Saves
Thornton Drops The Gloves In The 1st Versus Bryce Salvador

Game Preview: Bruins vs. Devils

(To K-Tapp's credit, I believe he was with Boston when they started dating.)

Game Forty-Nine
Boston Bruins vs. New Jersey Devils
January 29th, 2008 @ 7:00PM

PREVIOUS GAME RECAP:

• The Bruins of earlier this season have finally returned and I guess decided to show up Tuesday at the Garden to take on the closest team to the Black & Gold in the standings, the Capitals. The Bruins started out slow after Savvy was sent to the box within' seconds in the first, resulting in a power-play goal but would quickly rebound. It seemed as if that goal was wake up call and Bruins finally answered it. It might have been the fact that the team was actually a team again too, getting back Andrew Ference, Milan Lucic and Patrice Bergeron on the same night.But overall the Bruins defense was back to its shutdown self and the offense was clicking again. Even though the Bruins just got by the Caps in OT, this was a huge win to kick off a week in which the B's will face-off against the 2 through 6 placed teams in the Eastern Conference (in order).

GAME QUICK HITS:

• The Bruins will face-off against the New Jersey Devils tonight for the second time this season. The first meeting saw the Bruins win a hard fought 2-0 game giving Tim Thomas The Devils are the hottest team in the league right now, riding a current 6-game win streak, defeating some not too shabby teams along the way. This is the second game in what is sure to be the toughest week in hockey for any team in the league as the Bruins run the gauntlet facing the 2nd through 6th seeds in the Eastern Conference, in order, in the next 7 days.
• Phil Kessel and Michael Ryder are set to return tonight. Kessel has missed the last 6-games with mono, while Ryder missed the last game with flu-like symptoms.
• Zdeno Chara currently sits at 299 career points and only needs one more to hit the big 300. I say a 105 MPH slap shot should do the trick.
• Third jerseys will make a return tonight at the Garden for the 10,000th time this season. I am a fan of the new thirds but come on, they are alternate jerseys not the teams home ones.
• GM Peter Chiarelli and the Jacobs are currently in-talks and working on a new contract extension. Hopefully the Bruins will seal up this newest New England mastermind with a solid contract.

CREASE REPORT:

• Bruins: Tim Thomas (21-5-4) will more than likely get the start in between the pipes tonight. Thomas has started the last 7-games during the absence of Fernandez and has posted a record of 5-1-1 so far. After winning his second straight ASG, Thomas jumped right back into things on Tuesday shutting down one of the hottest offenses in the league (34 save night). Backing up Timmy will be the constant recall Tuukka Rask who has yet to see any playing time this season.
• Devils: Scott Clemmensen (20-9-1) and Kevin Weekes (4-4-0), or Brouder's replacements, have filled the skates of one of the all-time greatest goaltenders pretty damn good. Both the goalies have combined for a 6-game win streak currently, which has been anchored by the play of Clemmensen. Look for Clemmensen to keep things rolling tonight and get his fifth straight start for the red hot Devils.

INJURY REPORT:

• Bruins Injury Report: LW Marco Sturm (knee) is the only Bruin currently on the IR. G Manny Fernandez is out of action for a few days with "general soreness" in his back. C Petteri Nokelainen is going to be a game-time decision tonight with an undisclosed injury.
• Devils Injury Report: G Martin Brodeur, on the IR with a torn tendon in his elbow, is the only Devil who will be missing tonight.

GAME PREDICTIONS:
(post your predictions in the comments section)

• Chris: Bruins 4-2 (Empty Net Goal)

BRUINS BLOGROLL GAME PREVIEWS:

• Boston Bruins Official Preview
• Stanley Cup of Chowder
• The Hockey Blog Adventure
• Kynch's Boston Bruins Korner
• Here Come the Bruins!

Cry Baby Coaches, Terrible Calls & Extreme High-Fives

Well Hub Hockey contributor Pat Cedrone pointed this comment made by Washington Capitals head coach Bruce Boudreau out to me earlier today. Now let me start by saying I was not at this game but I did watch it on Versus and had quiet a few friends in the stands that night. Plus I have been to a good amount of games at the Garden myself over the years so I know what I'm talking about so save your "you weren't there" crap.

""The more you see it on the replay, just to see how tough he is -- he went in fast and hard. I was a little disappointed in the [Boston] Garden faithful, I mean, booing him when he was down. There wasn't a person in the stands that could have taken that kind of hit and got back up."" -Caps Head Coach Bruce Boudreu

Anyways, clearly the majority of the fans in attendance, as well as myself at home, were boo'ing the hooking call on Chara that lead to Ovechkin slamming into the boards and not the fact of Ovie being injured. I'm sick of Boston fans always being received as some of the worst fans in the sporting world. This is far from the truth and as a die hard Bruin fan and follower of the Sox and Pats I think I would know. I'm not saying we are angels but just because a small percentage of fans may have no class and go too far, that doesn't reflect the majority of us. And this goes for every teams fan bases. But back to this incident. I have asked numerous friends who attended the game about what was going on during this whole incident in the stands. They all explained to me that when the penalty was originally called the place erupted because they strongly disagreed that Chara deserved to be sent to the box (ie: the boo'ing). But after Ovechkin didn't get up the atmosphere changed and the place went quiet until Ovie finally got to his feet, in which the fans cheered as he skated off the ice. Now Boudreau, how in anyway was that boo'ing a player who is injured? Especially from a Bruins fan base that has dealt with some serious injuries in the past two seasons (Bergeron anyone?). Wake up and stop crying over your own player hurting himself.

Now onto the call itself. BULLSHIT! You can't stick lift anymore in the NHL? Because that is what Chara was originally trying to do before Ovechkin threw his stick up in the air to shake off Chara which made himself lose an edge, ultimately being at fault for his own misfortune. And that's what I mean when I said above that Ovechkin hurt himself. Not once did Chara's stick touch Ovechkin's hands in that whole play so save your "parallel to ice" rule because there was no contact to the hands. There wasn't even contact when Ovie threw his stick up. I've watched, and you could say even studied, this play and this is just a terrible call in my books. Honestly, you need to even ask yourself if that wasn't Ovechkin, would the call have been made. I understand the NHL tries to protect their stars but how about protecting the integrity of the game. I don't know, maybe that's taking this a little too far but I'm just sick of bullshit calls. It's terrible that he went down hard and might have injured himself but how can you in anyway blame Chara for this? Baffles me.

Finally, a quick note to Versus. If you are going to have play-by-play announcers of other teams call your games, try to choice wisely. I say this because could Joe Beninati (voice of the Capitals in Washington) have been anymore pro-Capitals last night? I mean even Jack Edwards showed love for both teams when he recently called a Bruins game on Versus. And we all know Jack loves the B's. So much so that he likes to give "extreme high-fives" when they score. Boudreau and Beninati are the douche-bags of the day here at Hub Hockey.

Kessel Has Been Cleared To Play

"Phil Kessel, who made it through the entire practice today (his first since being sidelined with mononucleosis), was cleared for contact yesterday. Kessel said he felt fine today and looks forward to get back into the lineup. Kessel wore a protective wrap around his midsection to protect his spleen as a precaution.

Kessel remained on the ice for some solo skills work. Kessel is in line to play tomorrow against the Devils.

"Hopefully after today and after tomorrow's morning skate, he should be able to come back," Claude Julien said.

Kessel last played on Jan. 10 against Carolina. Kessel said he didn't feel like his usual self for several weeks before he was diagnosed.

"I thought I had it for a while," Kessel (24-17--41) said. "I went in there probably about a month before. They said no, but I knew I had it. Whatever, though. It's finished now."" -Fluto Shinzawa of The Boston Globe

Marc Savard Meet & Greet Postponed Due To Weather

Just a quick update on the event that was suppose to take place at iParty in Brighton today. The event has been rescheduled for this Friday (January 30th, 2009) with all the same previous details.

Hometown Heros: Bruins Down The Caps In OT

Game Forty-Eight
Boston Bruins vs. Washington Capitals
January 27th, 2009 @ 7:00PM

	1	2	3	OT	F
Boston Bruins	1	1	0	1	3
Washington Capitals	2	0	0	0	2

(credit: Reuters Pictures)

Krejci Scores "Fluke Goal" (See Below) In OT To Seal Win For The B's
Thomas Continues Where He Left Off In The ASG: 34 Saves
Shawn "Dangles" Thornton Ties Up Game At 1-1 With Backhand Goal
Thornton Ties Career Single Season High In Goals At 4
Bergeron Grabs Assist On Great Play To Setup Tying Goal In 2nd
Savvy Scores & Ties Game, Shows Us A Preview Of His "Sturm Face"
Ference Looks Rusty But Has Overall Good Return Game
Bruins Play Solid End-to-End Game After Caps First Goal

I'll admit it was a crappy deflection of a Capitals skate but when did that become a "fluke" in the NHL. Re-directions happen basically in every game and now its categorized as a fluke? I wonder if the fact that Alexander Ovechkin playing tonight had anything to do with it. Also, that penalty on Chara for the so-called "hook" was bullshit. And the only reason Ovechkin went down so hard into the boards was because he tried to sell the call. Terrible call and terrible play.

Game Preview: Bruins vs. Capitals

No game preview tonight because I was too lazy to write one up but you can hit up all of the usual suspects for theirs. But I did want to chime in on my prediction tonight when the bruins take on the Capitals at the Garden. I see the Bruins winning this one in impressive fashion, riding an unstoppable post-ASG performance by Tim Thomas. Also, look for Bergeron to have one of his best games of the season as he returns back to the wing tonight for the first time since breaking into the league.

Also, I know the video above is about Bergy's last season injury but come on... how can that not pump you up for tonight's game? Good job as always on the videos Andrew.

GAME PREDICTION:
(post your predictions in the comments section)

• Chris: Bruins 4-1

TSN Week Sixteen Power Rankings

(credit: TSN.ca)

"Taking a look at each team's MVP, best defenseman, goaltender, defensive forward and rookie as well as breakthrough players and disappointments in this post-All-Star edition of the TSN.ca NHL Power Rankings.

Hart: Marc Savard
Norris: Zdeno Chara
Vezina: Tim Thomas
Selke: David Krejci
Calder: Blake Wheeler
Breakthrough: Phil Kessel
Disappointment: Patrice Bergeron

Key Injuries: C Patrice Bergeron (concussion), LW Marco Sturm (lower body), D Andrew Ference (leg), RW Phil Kessel (mononucleosis)."

Lucic, Ference & Bergeron Return TONIGHT!

While attending the AHL All-Star Game in Worcester, MA yesterday, Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli dropped jaws when he announced that Milan Lucic, Andrew Ference and Patrice Bergeron would all return to the B's lineup tomorrow night against Washington. Lucic has missed the last seven-games with an undisclosed shoulder injury and was expected to return post All-Star Game. Same goes for defenseman Andrew Ference who has been out of action since November 18th with a broken right tibia. But no one expected Bergeron to return so soon after suffering his second concussion in 14 months. We knew he would be back but many thought mid-February at the earliest. But anyways Bergy has passed the required neuro-psych tests and will be playing wing tonight according to Fluto Shinzawa, the position he broke out into the league playing.

Other injury notes, Manny Fernandez will miss the next few days due to what Claude Julien called, "general soreness" associated with his back spasms. Julien also explained that this is a move agreed upon by himself and upper management in hopes that the rest will benefit Manny and a faster recovery.

Some other injury news came out of the Bruins practice yesterday in Wilmington, where the B's hit the ice as a team for the first time since last Wednesday in Toronto. Michael Ryder sat out of practice with flu-like symptoms yesterday but Claude Julien said there was a "99-percent chance he's going to play". Early signs today are showing that Ryder won't be available though.

Finally, for those of you who have been under a rock lately, Marco Sturm is officially done for the year with no chance of returning in the playoffs. We all knew i but I guess some of us still had hope for Sturm to have a quick recovery and be back in the playoffs (knock on wood).

Anyways, with the current injuries and RETURNS, here is tonight's projected lineup:

Milan Lucic	Marc Savard	Chuck Kobasew
Blake Wheeler	David Krejci	Patrice Bergeron
P.J. Axelsson	Stephane Yelle	Shawn Thornton
Matt Hunwick	Petteri Nokelainen	Byron Bitz

Zdeno Chara	Aaron Ward
Andrew Ference	Dennis Wideman
Mark Stuart	Shane Hnidy

Tim Thomas

Tuukka Rask

That's right, there is no typo here. Matt Hunwick will be playing wing alongside Nokelainen and Bitz tonight if Michael Ryder doesn't feel fit enough to play. If Ryder does play, look for a rotating seven defenseman unit, which would come in handy considering tonight will be Ference's first night back.

Finally, I won't have a game preview tonight due time constrants but head over to Stanley Cup of Chowder for a preview that's almost as good as mine (haha).

Rask Back In Boston On Emergency Recall

"BOSTON - Boston Bruins General Manager Peter Chiarelli announced today that the club has recalled goaltender Tuukka Rask from the Providence Bruins on an emergency basis. Rask will join the team for practice Monday at 2:00 p.m. at Ristuccia Arena in Wilmington, MA.

Rask has started 34 games this season for Providence and has posted a 19-15-0 record with a 2.46 Goals Against Average and .918 save percentage. His 19 victories are the third most in the AHL. This is his third recall to Boston this season, and he has served as the team’s backup goaltender in two games (1/10 vs. CAR and 1/13 vs. MTL).

Rask played in four games last year for Boston and registered a 2-1-1 record, with his first NHL game and first NHL victory coming on November 20, 2007 in a 4-2 win at Toronto. He was recalled on four occasions last season and dressed as a backup for 16 games while playing in four." -Bruins Official Press Release

Hub Hockey Opinion: This is the third time Rask has gotten the call this season but he has yet to start in a game. Notable is that neither Manny Fernandez or Tim Thomas was at the Bruins practice today at Ristuccia Arena. Thomas was excused from post All-Star Game activities so he has a reason to be missing. Manny however, was practicing with the team before the ASG and even backed up Thomas in Monday's game versus the Maple Leafs so his absence is a little more questionable. But he could just be taking the long way home from his ASG break "vacation". Rask and goaltending coach Bob Essensa took shots from the B's today.

"The Unsung Hero": Peter Chiarelli's Top 10 Bruins Moves

(About two weeks ago I ran a "Caption This!" contest in which the main prize was a chance to be a guest blogger for Hub Hockey and write a Bruins related post on whatever subject you wanted. I received an unexpected huge response and ended up not being able to decide on just one winner, so I went with two. So without any more explanation needed I present Jason Silva, one of the winners of the contest, and his guest post. Jason went with one of the most forgotten Bruins subjects this season, the impact of GM Peter Chiarelli to the Bruins recent success. Enjoy...)

"The 08-09 Boston Bruins are off to a start fans in the Hub of Hockey have been dreaming about for a long time. Too long. With a solid coaching staff in place and tremendous depth throughout the organization all contributing to this seasons success, perhaps one man who doesn't receive the credit he deserves in the media and maybe even from the fans is the man who put this all together... General Manager Peter Chiarelli. Chiarelli took over the reigns as Bruins GM in the off-season before the start of the 06-07 season. By the time Chiarelli came aboard officially the B's had already snagged top UFA's Zdeno Chara and Marc Savard. The Bruins would go on to be a mediocre team, at best, that season under newly hired head coach Dave Lewis. Chiarelli blew his first big decision as GM by hiring Dave Lewis, a man who couldn't coach Paris Hilton how to be a skank. After the 06-07 season Chiarelli would own up to his mistake, he axed Lewis and went on to hire Claude Julien as new head coach and hasn't looked back since. Let's take a look at the Top 10 decisions made by Peter Chiarelli, in my opinion, to get the Bruins to where they're at today.

10. January 2nd, 2008 - Trade of Brandon Bochenski and 2008 6th round draft pick to the Anaheim Ducks for D Shane Hnidy.
Analysis: Bochenski was doing a whole lot of nothing for the Bruins and was stuck in Julien's dog house. Hnidy was added as a depth defenseman and played outstanding for the Bruins ultimately making Andrew Alberts expendable. Hnidy isn't afraid to stick up for his teammates by dropping the gloves and play physical when needed, which is something we didn't see enough from Alberts.

9. UFA signing of Blake Wheeler.
Analysis: Chiarelli pulled out all the stops to land this guy, even having guys like Neely and Bourque contact Wheeler to try and sell him on what it is to be a Bruin. Probably didn't hurt having ex-teammate at Minnesota Phil Kessel on roster.

8. June 6th, 2007 - Trade of Petr Kalus and a future draft pick to the Minnesota Wild for G Manny Fernandez.
Analysis: Kalus played well in 9 games with Boston, posting 4 G 1 A = 5 P totals. A lot of the fan base was upset after this deal, thinking Manny's best days were behind him. When Fernandez went down with a season ending injury after only a few games the deal looked even worse and the fans were pissed. Look at Manny now, him and Tim Thomas are the best goalie tandem in the league and our old friend Petr Kalus hasn't seen NHL action since being dealt. Things have a funny way of working out!

7. Hiring of former Bruins Cam Neely and Don Sweeney to key roles within the organization.
Analysis: Sweeney does an amazing job with the young guys especially with the development camp every summer. What can you say about Cam Neely? He's been instrumental in the development of young players like Milan Lucic and Blake Wheeler. These 2 being part of the organization just add to the appeal of being a Bruin.

6. July 1st, 2008 - Signing of UFA Michael Ryder.
Analysis: Chiarelli took a lot of heat after this signing, especially with Ryder's cap figure at $4-million, but he knew what he was doing. Reuniting Julien and Ryder... Genius.

5. Trade of Brad Boyes to the St. Louis Blues for D Dennis Wideman.
Analysis: The first of many controversial moves to be made by Chiarelli. The media and fans ate him alive after this one, especially after Wideman had a sub-par end to the season that year and was a healthy scratch for the first game of the following season. Since then Wideman has evolved into one of the top puck moving d-men in the league with a flare for finding the net. Obviously we miss fan favorite Brad Boyes but at this point we have scoring up front and defense is more of a concern. Wideman will be a future All-Star for the B's.

4. August 2nd, 2007 - Signing of Milan Lucic.
Analysis: Luuuuuuuuuuuuccccccc.... Need I say more?

3. The Decision to not trade Phil Kessel at last years trade deadline.
Analysis: It was widely speculated that Boston would move Kessel at last years deadline, possibly to acquire Marian Hossa or possibly to acquire a top 4 defenseman. Well, thank Chiarelli this didn't happen. Can you imagine? What would are offense be like this year without Phil Kessel? If we had got Hossa he would have left in free agency and more than likely we'd be left with nothing. Also, remember Kessel was instrumental in Blake Wheeler signing with Boston so its possible that if Phil Kessel weren't here Wheeler could have signed elsewhere.

2. The Decision to keep Tim Thomas and trade Hannu Toivonen.
Analysis: Wow, can you imagine what this season and last season would have been like without Timmy Thomas? I don't even wanna think about it. He's going to his 2nd straight all-star game. It's hard to believe that a lot of the B's fan base thought Thomas should have been dealt. This guy still doesn't get the respect he deserves. What's Hannu doing these days?

1. The firing of Dave Lewis and subsequent hiring of Claude Julien as head coach.
Analysis: It's hard to imagine where this team would be without Claude Julien. He has done wonders with guys like Savard, Kessel, and Wideman and its safe to say if it weren't for Claude we wouldn't have Michael Ryder and even if we did he wouldn't be producing like he is with Claude as his coach. He is well liked and respected by his players, they want to play good for him and that is more important than anything.

Other Notable Chiarelli Moves:

- Signing of Matt Hunwick: We'd be stuck with Lashoff if Hunwick hadn't developed like he has. That's a scary thought.

- Signing of Stephane Yelle: Great signing after the loss of veteran Glen Metropolit. Looks even better now with a struggling Nokelainen and Sobotka.

- Signing of Shawn Thornton: Signed at the start of the "being tougher to play against" motto. Thornton has done an admirable job."

-Jason Silva

Thomas Makes Save (Play?) Of The All-Star Game

Bruins ASG Recap: Thomas & Savard Help Lead The East To Victory

57th Annual NHL All-Star Game
Eastern Conference vs. Western Conference
January 25th, 2009 @ 6:00PM

	1	2	3	OT	SO	F
Eastern Conference	4	4	3	0	1	12
Western Conference	2	6	3	0	0	11

(credit: Getty Images/Dave Sandford)

Eastern Conference Tops The West In An All-Star Shootout Finisher
Thomas Robbed Of ASG MVP: 3 GA, 18 Saves & 2 SO Saves
Timmy Goes 2-For-2 In All-Star Games (Career Record 2-0-0)
Savard Finishes The Night With 3-Assists
Great To Have Savvy Mic'ed Up On The Bench Again
Were The Canadiens Fans Really Chanting "Thomas" In The 3rd?
Kovalev Wins MVP Despite What The Versus Announcers Think
Bruins Back To Action Tuesday Against Washington on Versus

Thomas NHL Fan Fav Player Of The Week

Tim Thomas won this weeks NHL Fan Fav Player of the Week award by almost a 25% margin. Congrats to Timmy for winning this award for the first time this season after being nominated before in the past. Also, congrats to all of you Hub Hockey readers that voted for Timmy all of last week. Thomas was nominated by the NHL for the award after going 3-0-0 with a 1.00 GAA. Thomas now has the chance at the end of the season to be voted as the Fan Fav Player of the Year.

Bruins SuperSkills Recap: Chara Breaks Iafrate's Record

(YoungStars Game MVP Blake Wheeler & Hardest Shot Champ Zdeno Chara)

Well the NHL All-Star Weekend SuperSkills Competition came and went last night in Montreal, but not without some Beantown flare. The Bruins entered the historic Bell Centre to the familiar sounds of boo's but not even the restless Canadiens fans/Bruins haters could ruin this day for them. And before the night was over, Black & Gold would have the last laugh in what turned out to be a strong showing by the Bruins All-Stars.

Bruins rookie Blake Wheeler was the first to raise eyebrows when he was named the MVP of the YoungStars Game after recorded a hat trick and a few assists, sealing the deal for the Rookie Team over the Sophomore Team. I personally thought Wheeler was being a little greedy taking the puck end-to-end numerous times and rarely passing, but he left with some hardware so screw everyone else right? Anywho, Wheeler currently has 14-goals this season with the Bruins and ranks third in rookie scoring with 30-points. Keep in mind though that he has done all of this with with a significantly lower time on-ice average than the other top rookies in the league.

(Hardest Shot Competition footage)

Next up, came our captain and two-time defending Hardest Shot Champion Zdeno Chara. Chara came into the event as the heavy favorite, but was definitely feeling a little pressure due to his past success. But he would not disappoint. As the last shooter in the event, Chara would heat up the radar gun with an 105.4 MPH shot, giving him his third straight Hardest Shot crown and also put him in the record books for breaking Al Iafrate's 16-year old 105.2 MPH record. If this victory wasn't already sweet enough, Big Z was also able to win the $24,000 pre-event player/team/league/NHLPA wager for the Right to Play charity (in which he showed pride for with a ridiculous beanie he wore).

Finally, the Bruins star center Marc Savard had something extra to add the SuperSkills mix. Savvy flopped in the Accuracy Competition finishing in last place after going 3 for 8, but as one of the mic'ed up players on the ice for the Versus Network he would refuse to disappoint. Onto the Elimination Shootout, which featured all 36 All-Star skaters, and guess who makes it into the final round...? That's right, the self-proclaimed "passer" Marc Savard beat out 34 other players to make it to the final round. Savvy would go on to lose to Shane Doan, but he still put on a show surprising himself more than anyone else I think. And yes, it's an All-Star Game event with no regular season significance so anyone making a big deal about Thomas' giving Savvy a "free one" in the second to last round is just plain retarded.

So, the main event is tomorrow night as the East will take on the West in what is sure to be a very entertaining game. Hopefully, tomorrow will be Thomas' day to shine for the Black & Gold.

Luck Of The Draw: Thomas' Elimination Shootout Opponents

The Gatorade NHL Elimination Shootout is the final event of tonight's NHL SuperSkills competition and will be Tim Thomas' chance to shine. Thomas, along with three other goalies, will face off against a tough group of shootout specialist in a elimination style shootout tourney. The rules are simple, you don't score you are eliminated. Winner moves on until there is one player left standing.

Yesterday afternoon the four Elimination Shootout goaltenders, including Tim Thomas, Minnesota's Niklas Backstrom, Anaheim's Jean-Sebastien Giguere and Henrik Lundqvist of the New York Rangers, got together to hand pick their opponents from a group of name-inscribed pucks. The names on the pucks were kept hidden so no goaltender had the upper hand. But even though the shooter draw was on the up-and-up, somehow Thomas still got stiffed. I mean just take a look a the list Thomas will face-off against tonight:

• Eric Staal (CAR)
• Mark Streit (NYI)
• Brian Campbell (CHI)
• Jay Bouwmeester (FLA)
• Mike Modano (DAL)
• Ryan Getzlaf (ANA)
• Evgeni Malkin (PIT)
• Alex Ovechkin (WSH)
• Alex Kovalev (MTL)

Interesting fact though, Thomas originally picked Ilya Kovalchuk but then traded him to Niklas Backstrom for the right to face Montreal cover boy Alex Kovalev. The goaltenders were allowed one trade each. Great to see Thomas trying to have some extra fun with the event and giving the fans what they want to see. I just hope Timmy has been practicing and dazzles the fans with some NEW breakdancing moves this year.

Blake Wheeler @ The All-Star Game