Hub Hockey

Sobotka Assigned Back To Providence

"Boston, MA -- Boston Bruins General Manager Peter Chiarelli announced today that the club has assigned forward Vladimir Sobotka to the Providence Bruins (American Hockey League). Sobotka was most recently recalled to Boston on Friday, February 27 and was a healthy scratch during today’s 4-3 overtime loss to the Capitals.

Sobotka has played in 23 games for Boston during the 2008-2009 season and recorded 1-3-4 totals. In 26 games with the P-Bruins this year, Sobotka tallied 13 goals and 15 assists. He split the 2007-2008 season between Boston and Providence. With Boston, he saw action in 48 regular season games and contributed one goal and six assists and added two goals in six postseason games. With Providence last year, he had 10-10-20 totals in 18 regular season games and added four assists over six postseason games." -Official Bruins Press Release

Shawn Thornton Mic'd Up

Thanks to YouTube user and huge Bruins fan Dafoomie for posting this video. Shawn Thornton was mic'd up during the Bruins/Ducks game on Thursday night and I have to say completely out shined Marc Savard during the All-Star Game. The best part of the whole video is when he screams at Niedermayer before getting hit and then calls him an "old man".

Bruins Lose To The Capitals On A Fluke 80-Footer In OT

Game Sixty-Three
Boston Bruins vs. Washington Capitals
February 28th, 2009 @ 12:30PM

	1	2	3	OT	F
Boston Bruins	1	1	1	0	3
Washington Capitals	1	1	1	1	4

(credit: AP Photos)

Bruins Battle The Caps For East Superiority But Fall In OT
Marc "The Playmaker" Savard Ends His Night With 3-Assists
Thomas Has A Great Game (28-Saves) Minus The 80-Foot Goal In OT
Kessel & Hunwick Both Have A 2-Point Night (Goal & Assist Each)
Lucic Sits Out Due To An "Upper-Body Injury" From The Ducks Game
Bergy Once Again Was The Best Bruin On The Ice Today
WHY THOMAS? WHY?

Savard & Lucic Injured?

(click on each of the above images to view them full-sized)

Fluto over at Bruins Blog (Boston.com) is reporting that Milan Lucic and Marc Savardare questionable for tomorrows afternoon game against the Washington Capitals with upper-body injuries. Both players were pulled for the game last night before the start of the 3rd period, mainly as a precaution. There has been no real details released on either players current status so all I can do is speculate. To me it looked like Savard might have injured his shoulder after his "fight", or more appropriately titled wrestling match, with Niedermayer in the second period. Both players really didn't throw any punches but did go down hard to the ice with Savvy's shoulders/back taking the load of both of the players weight. As for Lucic, I think him being pulled from the game last night was for his own safety since players may start "head hunting" for him and also because it looked like he may have messed up his right hand (see pictures above) during a beatdown of Mike Brown. I don't think anything is broke but being able to ice your hand right away rather than waiting until the end of the game can make a huge difference for the type of swelling that was already showing seconds after the fight.

Also noteworthy, neither player attended practice today. Also missing was Blake Wheeler who may be getting a "maintenance day" after blocking a shot late in the 3rd period that seemed to be painful.

Duck, Duck, Goose (Egg): Bruins Shutout The Ducks 6-0

Game Sixty-Two
Boston Bruins vs. Anaheim Ducks
February 27th, 2009 @ 7:00PM

	1	2	3	F
Boston Bruins	1	4	1	6
Anaheim Ducks	0	0	0	0

(credit: Reuters Pictures)

Bruins Go Hunting: Shut Down Ducks 6-0
CONRATUALTIONS THOMAS! 100th Win As A Bruins Last Night
Timmy Made 35-Saves Last Night And Go His 4th Shutout Of The Year
Ryder Brings The “Toe Drag” Back (2 Goals & Assist)
Kobasew Follows Up Tuesday’s Fight With 2-Goals Tonight
Hunwick Grabs A Goal & Assist While Playing For An Injured Ward
Shawn Thornton Was Mic’ed Up During The Game (Video Please?)
Bruins Go 2-for-4 On The PP & Keep Ducks Scoreless On 4 PK Chances
Lucic, Thronton & Savard Each Dropped The Gloves Last Night

Game Preview: Bruins vs. Ducks

(Without Dean Porter Portman the Ducks got nothing on the Bruins.)

Game Sixty-Two
Boston Bruins vs. Anaheim Ducks
February 26th, 2008 @ 7:00PM

GAME PREVIEW:

• Coming straight off a blow-out victory over the Panthers (6-1) the Bruins look to continue their success and momentum swing against the Western Conference staple Anaheim Ducks. Even though they are a team created after a movie and have been involved in lawsuits over their name, this is no team to take lightly. Since joining the league in 1993 the Ducks have become a dominate franchise with an already storied past, winning Lord Stanley two years ago. This season though the Ducks have had a rough time living up to their usual success and are currently battling for the 8th and final playoff spot in the West. But things are looking better for them as they are coming off back-to-back wins against the Sabres and Blue Jackets, and show no signs of slowing down. It also doesn't hurt either when you go 5-0 against some tough Northeast Division teams this season. But how will they stack up against the powerhouse of the Northeast, the Bruins when the two teams meet for the one and only time this season. The Bruins have recently hit a rough patch in a nearly perfect season by going 2-4-2 in their last 8-games. But things look to be turning around in the last few games. The team has most of their top lines back intact and look to be rolling on all cylinders again. But tonight will be a test for the Black & Gold who haven't had great success against Western Conference teams this year only going 7-4-2. Which Bruins team will show up tonight? And will Tim Thomas get to celebrate his 100th career Bruins win in front of a Garden crowd?

GAME QUICK HITS:

• The Hub Hockey crew will be at the Joshua Tree in Davis Square tonight to celebrate one of our very owns birthdays and watch the Bruins game. So come buy and join us if your in the area.
• Let's start a new streak! I guess the Bruins recent troubles along with the start of Red Sox Spring Training has already sidelined some of the B's bandwagon fans as an eight game home sellout streak ended Tuesday night. Good, maybe I can get tickets for less then $45 now.
• Jack Edwards BINGO Night 2: Will NESN continue with Boston's newest craze tonight? Only time will tell, but just in case make sure you print out your "official" BINGO pieces.
• Voting continues for this season's 7th Player Award over at NESN. I wish they would tell us the current standings but I guess we would have a whole new All-Star Game type controversy again.
• With the trade deadline now less than a week away rumors and talks are heating up. Well thanks to Stanley Cup of Chowder you can keep informed on who exactly the B's have been reported to be looking into with some great trade prospect recaps (Jordan Leopold, Erik Cole & Keith Tkachuk).
• Don't forget Hub Hockey is now on Twitter so come and follow us!
• Also don't forget about CameronFrye.com which is now back up and running after a brief down period. Thanks to Cameron also for making it known that this is Hub Hockey and not Hub OF Hockey. People make that mistake a lot and we are two different things/people. So for the record, I'm Chris from either Hub Hockey or Hub Hockey.com.
• Finally, looks like fans of Toucher & Rich and readers from here and Stanley Cup of Chowder accomplished their mission as the Aaron Ward Wikipedia page has been locked for all editing. I will post something later this week on some of the funniest additions added to it between yesterday and today.

CREASE REPORT:

• Bruins: Tim Thomas (26-8-5) continued his great season against Florida on Tuesday night grabbing his 26th win of the season. Many fans have overlooked the fact that the team has a pretty wide GF/GA average when playing in front of Timmy. Also, Thomas has been pretty consistent night in and night out. I think Thomas will likely get the start tonight in hopes to add on to the Bruins current momentum swing. Timmy currently sits at 99 career wins as a Bruin. Manny Fernandez (14-4-3) has had some rough breaks lately after an almost spotless beginning to the season. First came a return to the injury reserve for the often hurt keeper and then a string of bad games but the team in front of him, which added up to a 0-1-2 record in February. Even though times have been better for Manny, people can't overlook the fact that he has only played in 4-games this season where the Bruins didn't get at least one point.
• Ducks: Jean-Sebastien Giguere (16-15-4) will likely get the start tonight after coming off back-to-back wins against Buffalo and Columbus. Giguere has been touch and go this season though posting a below .500 win percentage and gaudy 3.09 goal-against average. But at times we see shades of the dominate Cup winning Giguere that most of us remember. So the question is who will show up tonight? Jonas Hiller (14-12-1) has been backing up Giguere this season and has actually been splitting time with the one time All-Star. Hiller has looked solid this season putting together some impressive numbers but has ran into his fair share of trouble, such as his current three-game losing streak.

INJURY REPORT:

• Bruins Injury Report: RW Petteri Nokelainen (eye) has missed six games since suffered a serious eye injury due to a high-stick against San Jose two-weeks ago. RW Chuck Kobasew missed yesterdays practice but no word on the reason why. Kobasew got into his first fight of the season on Tuesday night and this can simply be chalked up to a rest day to heal some wounds. LW Marco Sturm (knee) is out for the rest of the regular season and playoffs while recovering from knee surgery.
• Ducks Injury Report: C Samuel Pahlsson (mononucleosis) is day-to-day with the "kissing disease". Pahlsson hasn't played since January 31st and is still waiting to be medical cleared to even resume practicing. D Kent Huskins (broken foot) has been out of the lineup since December 19th with a broken right foot and is also waiting for medical clearance to begin practicing again. D Francois Beauchemin (torn knee ligament) had a season ending knee injury back in November but has shown great improvement and could return at some point this season. LW Brad Larsen (sports-hernia) will be out for the rest of the regular season while recovering.

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

• Chris: No prediction tonight!

Must See In The World Of Custom Hockey T-Shirts

Welcome HockeyTShirt.net, a great new website that reviews custom hockey shirts from all around the league. This is their premiere episode and features a Bruins related tee from Sully's Brand. The shirt being reviewed in this episode is the "Lucic Fight Club" shirt that Sully makes and honestly after watching this video I might even go buy one. Maybe I'd even try to win one as the HockeyTshirt guys are giving one away free to who ever answers the trivia question they reveal at the end of the video (one winner only).

Anyways, these guys know their stuff and are funny at the same time so it makes for a great video. I honestly can't wait to see more episodes and what else is out their in the world of custom hockey shirts. Also, keep an eye out for the Hub Hockey episode as one of our shirts will be featured on their site in the near future.

2-Seconds Of Fame: The Hub Hockey Story Part 2

Thanks to Hub Hockey follower Budd for this video. And once again we didn't create Jack Edwards BINGO and just reposted it but the man himself mentioned us so it doesn't matter because one of are blog goals were met. Now Timmy Thomas just needs to mention us and then I can die happy. Sincerely, Jack Edwards biggest fans.

Ward Wednesday: The Birth Of Aaron "Wham!" Ward

Today was that day of the week again, when Aaron Ward calls into the the Toucher & Rich Show for everyone's favorite player guest spot in Boston "Ward Wednesday". First off, thank you Evan from Stanley Cup of Chowder for making this another great show appearance for Ward and giving us fans something to do over the next week (more details on this in a little bit). Anyhow, Ward joked this week about the trade deadline again, new details on his and Adolfo's Super Bowl bet and fan stories about Adolfo making out with "girls" at bars.

But the main story this week is about how Aaron Ward thinks hockey legend and friend Brendan Shannan created the nickname "Wham" for him while they played together with the Rangers and on top of this, messed with Wardo's Wikipedia page to mention it.

"He also made headlines in the early 90s for popularizing the sports term wham."

Ward said that no one else really new of the nickname so it was between Shanny and former teammate Matt Cullen (or both) when figuring out who made the addition.

Since the interview sCoC and Greg Wyshynski (aka Puck Daddy) have covered this bizarre and funny story. But where did this whole "wham" thing start and why? No one may never know but don't worry because Toucher & Rich made sure to remind their fans the importance behind why you should not MESS WITH SOMEONE'S WIKIPEDIA PAGE. Hopefully, acts such as this "wham" addition will be corrected and future terrible lies won't be added. Again for those who may have missed it. Please don't MESS WITH AARON WARDS WIKIPEDIA PAGE! (I hope my readers are not too slow to get what I'm saying here)

Anyways, Ward's next show appearance is on March 4th and HOPEFULLY by then THERE WILL BE no NEW ADDITIONS TO WARD'S BIO.

LISTEN TO THE FULL INTERVIEW HERE

Krejci Live Chat Recap

(photo credit: BostonBruins.com)

David Krejci came and went this afternoon over at the Bruins official site in a great live chat session. The normals questions were asked but I hand picked a few of my personal favorites. I hope you guys enjoy them as much as I did.

"hailey: do you play soccer with the guys before games?
David_Krejci: Yes I play
David_Krejci: Theres a bunch of guys who pretend they are good like Savard, Wardo... you know those older guys

KBALL: What is your favorite video game?
David_Krejci: Rock Band and NHL 09
David_Krejci: I like playing the guitar and singing in Rock Band

Bruinsgirl91: What kinds of music do you listen to?
David_Krejci: Every European likes techno or dance music
David_Krejci: But Ive become a fan of country in the last few years

CTBruins: Krejci, great job this year man...it's awesome to see you step your game up and play as well as you have. You're gonna have a C on your Jersey in a couple of years if you keep it up...
David_Krejci: Thank you
David_Krejci: But I already have a C on my jersey on the back!
David_Krejci: haha, seriously though that is a great compliment"

So Krejci says he loves singing in Rock Band. I can only imagine what Krejci's singing voice sounds like? Does Rock Band have any techno music anyways? And does techno have lyrics? Krejci though topped this with one of my favorite responses ever to a question, when someone mentioned the possibilites of him becoming a future team captain. Honestly, that is the type of stuff that makes players fan favorites. I see a bright future for this kid on and off the ice. (Check out the full chat transcript).

Happy 24th Birthday OTP!

Happy 24th Birthday to Hub Hockey member Pat Cedrone (aka OTP: Overtime With Pat). We will be celebrating, as well as watching the Bruins game, at Joshua Tree Bar & Grille in Davis Square (Somerville, MA) tomorrow night. So feel free to come by and buy Pat a birthday drink. Or just come by and watch the game and have a drink with some other Bruins fans.

WHO: Hub Hockey Crew
WHAT: Celebrating the Birthday of OTP & Bruins vs. Ducks Game
WHERE: Joshua Tree Bar & Grille (Davis Square in Somerville, MA)
WHEN: Thursday, February 26th, 2009 @ 6:30PM

5-Seconds Of Fame: The Hub Hockey Story

Kathryn Tappen spoke the word of Hub Hockey around the 3:30 mark of this video. I have heard that Jack also mentioned us right before the puck dropped in the 2nd period but I didn't actually see it for myself. But if anyone has any video from this then please send it over to us and we will be happy to send you a free shirt for your troubles. In the end, we got credit for something we didn't do (of course pointing NESN into contact with the real creator) but who is really going to complain about being mentioned on NESN and being able to have this great footage in which gave us our 5-seconds of fame?

Hunwick Recalled From Providence

"Boston, MA - Boston Bruins General Manager Peter Chiarelli announced today that the club has recalled defenseman Matt Hunwick from the Providence Bruins (American Hockey League). Hunwick is expected to be practice with the club today at 11:30 a.m. at Ristuccia Arena in Wilmington, MA.

Hunwick was assigned to Providence yesterday, Tuesday, February 24, and recorded an assist in the P-Bruins' 3-2 shootout loss to Manchester last night. He has seen action in 38 games this year for Boston and has recorded 3-12-15 totals and a +9 plus/minus rating. Hunwick skated in three games for the Providence this season, registering three assists.

Spending the majority of the 2007-2008 season in Providence, Hunwick posted 2-21-23 totals in 55 games. He was recalled to Boston on four separate occasions last year and tallied one assist in 13 games. The University of Michigan graduate was drafted by the Bruins in the seventh round (224th overall) in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft." -Official Bruins Press Release

David Krejci Live "Rinkside Chat" @ 3:00PM

Bruins center David Krejciwill be on hand today over at the Bruins official site around 3:00PM today answering fans questions via a live web chat. Blake Wheeler did this about two weeks ago and it seemed to be a great success. Actually things went so good that Wheeler even got a new nickname, "Big Daddy Wheels". To see how the whole chat process goes, you can check out the Wheeler chat transcript here. So head over to the Bruins website around 3today and chat with Krejci yourself. Maybe you can even make up a nickname for him or ask him if he would ever think about wearing a "Vote for Pedro" shirt during a post-game interview this season. And yes he does look like Napoleon Dynamite (or Jon Heder).

David Krejci has been one of the Bruins break out players this season, currently ranked 2nd on the team in points (59). Krejci though hasn't recorded a point in his last three games but things are looking to improve for him as he got back his linemate Michael Ryder last night.

Redemption Song: Bitz & The Bruins Maul The Panthers

Game Sixty-One
Boston Bruins vs. Florida Panthers
February 24th, 2009 @ 7:00PM

	1	2	3	F
Boston Bruins	2	1	3	6
Florida Panthers	1	0	0	1

(credit: AP Photos)

Bitz Flirts With A Hat-Trick In B's Domination Of The Panthers
B's Take Season Series Against The Panthers (3-1-0)
Timmy Thomas Makes 24-Saves In Another Great Performance
12-Bruins Show Up On The Scoresheet (Good Ole Times Returning?)
Bitz Scores Twice: One Of Four Multi-Point Players Tonight
Bergy Kicks Off The Game With An Opening Minute Goal
Ryder & His "Mega Shield" Return: Goal & Assist
"Psycho Ward" Gets His 2nd Goal Of The Season
"Nicholas" Kobasew Dropped The Gloves In The 3rd Period

Jack Edwards BINGO Update

NESN tonight mentioned us when talking about the original Jack Edwards BINGO. We are honored to be on NESN and thank them for mentioning us. But we just re-posted the game and are not the original creators, I real creator is a member of the BostonDieHards.com message board named "acr". I am trying to get into contact with this user so if anyone knows him, let him know to get in touch with me at HubHockey@gmail.com. I don't want anyone to think I was trying to take credit for this masterpiece and he deserves the credit that is due to him.

Anyways though, this a great thing NESN did bringing this to the mainstream. Here are both the original and NESN remake versions of the game. Can't way to play tonight and later in the week we will be running contest later this week where all participants will get a different board and the winner will receive a free shirt courtesy of Hub Hockey.

Go here to get the NESN remake of Jack Edwards BINGO, now known as "Jack BINGO", and keep track of all of tonight's "Edwardisms" with us. Post them in the comment section tonight as they pop up in case we miss anything. Also, feel free to add new ones that might be said tonight.

UPDATE (8:29PM): Credit also goes out to the Bruins fans over at the HFBoards, another great Bruins message board that "acr" was/is? connected too.

(Original)


(NESN Remake)

Game Preview: Bruins vs. Panthers

(The B's need to go for the jugular tonight if they want to win, and yes I went there.)

I already did a game preview this week for a Bruins versus Panthers matchup and when starting to write tonight's I got bored so I decided to scrap it. Its tough writing about a matchup that you just watched less than a few days ago all over again. So instead of re-listing all the same (sometimes) boring facts I did on Saturday, I have opted to instead just bring back the mailing it in style "Open Net" discussion. Like before, just post your predictions and thoughts in the comment section of this post. Hopefully we can get a good discussion among fans going tonight, especially with the B's recent bad luck and the trade dealine getting closer. Also, I want to see some more game predictions (I got B's 4-2).

Also I have heard that there could be a piece on "Jack Edwards BINGO" tonight during the pre-game or intermission reports, so look out for that.

UPDATE (1:10PM): NESN.com has posted their own versions of "Jack BINGO". Go over and check it out. Now all I want to do is hear Jack Edwards mention this site tonight and my goal in creating this blog will have been reached.

Sobotka & Hunwick Assigned To Providence

"Boston, MA -- Boston Bruins General Manager Peter Chiarelli announced today that the club has assigned defenseman Matt Hunwick and forward Vladimir Sobotka to the Providence Bruins (American Hockey League). Both are expected to play in Providence's game tonight against the Manchester Monarchs at 7:00 p.m. ET, while Hunwick is expected to be recalled and rejoin the Boston Bruins on Wednesday.

Hunwick saw action in 38 games this year for Boston and has recorded 3-12-15 totals and a +9 plus/minus rating. He was a healthy scratch in the Bruins' last six games. Hunwick appeared in two games for the P-Bruins this season, registering two assists.

Spending the majority of the 2007-2008 season in Providence, Hunwick posted 2-21-23 totals in 55 games. He was recalled to Boston on four separate occasions last year and tallied one assist in 13 games. The University of Michigan graduate was drafted by the Bruins in the seventh round (224th overall) in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft.

Sobotka has played in 23 games for Boston during the 2008-2009 season and recorded 1-3=4 totals. In 25 games with the P-Bruins this year, Sobotka tallied 12 goals and 15 assists. He split the 2007-2008 season between Boston and Providence. With Boston, he saw action in 48 regular season games and contributed one goal and six assists and added two goals in six postseason games. With Providence last year, he had 10-10=20 totals in 18 regular season games and added four assists over six postseason games.

Sobotka was originally drafted by the Bruins in the 4th round (106th overall) in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft. " -Official Bruins Press Release

Hub Hockey's Take: Let the trade rumors begin... There is really nothing else to say on this other than this is either a result of Ryder coming back from his facial injury OR the Bruins are trying to make some room/cap space for a newly acquired player. You guys be the judge on this one, it is too close to the trade deadline to keep talking about potential pickups for me. I have already done my fair share of trade rumors.

Hub Quick Note: Ryder To Return Tomorrow Night

"Michael Ryder, out the last the seven games with multiple facial fractures, is expected back into the Bruins lineup tomorrow night against the Florida Panthers, according to Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli. The winger practiced with the team throughout their just concluded four game road trip, and has been allowed to keep his conditioning close to game-level. Ryder is expected to wear a protectice cage or visor when he does return to the ice.

“My guess is that — and it’s a guess right now, but it’s an educated guess — is that he’ll be in the lineup for tomorrow,” said Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli in an NHL-sponsored conference call this afternoon." -Joe Haggerty from Pucks With Haggs

TSN Week Twenty-One Power Rankings

(credit: TSN Power Rankings)

"For a team that has been balanced and, until a recent slide, has exceeded all expectations, let's turn to The Departed and Detective Dignam: "I'm the guy who does his job. You must be the other guy." Key Injuries: RW Michael Ryder (orbital bone)."

Hub Hockey's Take: The last two weeks have been rough on the Bruins, who have been pretty much unstoppable the whole season before then. The Bruins have gone 1-4-2 in their last 7-games and have even looked great in some of those games, outshooting their opponents but double digits but just can't get the puck by the goalie. Streaks have ended and new ones have began on the team but the days were players were putting up double digits in points night in and night out are gone. So where do the Bruins go from here? First things first, they don't panic because no matter how bad this skid gets, they are still a first place team. On top of this many fans forget where the B's have come from over the past few years and are already panicing and calling for trades and replacements. This is no time to worry, every team has their breakdowns and thank god it is happening now and not in the playoffs. This is something the Bruins need to work through as a team and in the end should amount to an even stronger all-around club. Don't let the losses fool you finally. The Bruins have outplayed their opponents in their last few games and are just getting unlucky. In no time the wins will start piling up again the you will all forget about this rough patch. And who ever is calling for a Julien firing is just flat retarded.