Just a few thoughts as I watch the Hall-less Oilers play the Calgary Flames.
Check out Boston Bruins coach Claude Julien get thrown out of a recent game.
Claude Julien ejected (sorry, I can’t figure out how to embed it).
Now, I was a referee 15 years ago and I’ve read enough of Kerry Fraser’s blogs to know that the referees in the National Hockey League get yelled at a lot. To get thrown out of a game you must have had to say some pretty filthy and insulting things.
For instance:
Mark Recchi (Getty Images)
One of the greatest sporting events of the year will take place on Wednesday.
The seventh game of the Stanley Cup Final.
On Monday night, Mark Recchi recorded three assists as the Boston Bruins defeated the Vancouver Canucks 5-2 to force a seventh and deciding game.
It will be the first time since May 31, 1987 that a seventh and deciding game is played on Canadian soil. That year, in the greatest hockey game in the National Hockey League that was ever played, Jari Kurri scored the game winning goal for the Edmonton Oilers as they defeated the Philadelphia Flyers by a score of 3-1.
In game six Monday, the Bruins scored four times in 4:14. Canucks’ goaltender Roberto Luongo, who was pulled after the Bruins made it 3-0, gave up two very soft goals, one to Brad Marchand and the other to Milan Lucic. In the process he gave yup three goals on eight shots.
There were also some other interesting storylines in game six. Prior to the game, Bruins’ forward Shawn Thornton took a slapshot on Luongo from center ice. I’m not sure if it rattled Luongo at all, but CBC’s Don Cherry made an excellent point in the first intermission that Canucks went after Thornton whatsoever.
Daniel Nestor (Wikimedia Commons)
One of the most underrated athletes in Canadian sports history will be going for his tenth grand slam title in tennis tomorrow.
Toronto’s Daniel Nestor hasn’t won a singles’ grand slam title, but has won multiple times in men’s doubles and mixed doubles. Let’s not forget as well a Gold medal at the 2000 Summer Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia with Sebastien Lareau.
Nestor and Max Mirnyi of Belarus, the second seeds in the men’s doubles competition at the French Open, will be taking on the unseeded pair of Juan Sebastian Cabal of Colombia and Eduardo Schwank of Argentina. Cabal and Schwank cannot be taken lightly however as they recently defeated Mike and Bob Bryan, the number one seeds in the world, in the semi-finals.
The match can be seen on TSN at approximately 9am Mountain time tomorrow morning, following the women’s singles final.
Here are the other events I’ll be watching:
Raffi Torres (Bing Images)
If the Vancouver Canucks are going to win their first Stanley Cup in franchise history, they’re going to have to do it with strong goaltending, impressive special teams and timely scoring.
They got all of that in game one of the Stanley Cup Finals tonight.
Former Edmonton Oiler Raffi Torres scored with nineteen seconds left in the third period from Ryan Kesler and Jannik Hansen as the Canucks won Game One of the Stanley Cup Finals over the Boston Bruins 1-0.
Canuck goaltender Roberto Luongo made 36 saves for his third shutout of the 2011 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Tim Thomas (Getty Images)
The Boston Bruins got a great game from their goaltender, Tim Thomas, and are only one win away from heading to their first Stanley Cup Final since 1990.
Thomas made 33 saves and had a sparkling .971 save percentage as Boston defeated Tampa Bay 3-1 in game five of the Eastern Conference Final. The Bruins are now leading the Lightning 3-2 heading to Tampa Bay Wednesday night at the St. Pete Times Forum.
The Bruins got goals from Nathan Horton, Brad Marchand and Rich Peverley to go up by one win in the series.
An area of concern for Boston remains the power play however. The Bruins were 0-4 Monday night and are a pitiful 7.1% in the postseason.
Tim Thomas (Wikimedia Commons)
Tim Thomas recorded his first shutout of the 2011 Stanley Cup Playoffs Thursday night as the Boston Bruins blanked the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-0.
The Bruins got goals from David Krejci and former Calgary Flame Andrew Ference in the shutout win to take a 2-1 series lead.
Another area of strength for Boston in game three was in the faceoff circle. Krejci and Patrice Bergeron combined to win 31 of 46 draws.
Bruins’ head coach Claude Julien was highly praised for outcoaching Guy Boucher, but I think the players had more to do with the win in game three.
Tyler Seguin (Bridget Samuels, Wikimedia Commons)
Once in a while, you just get one of those games in the Stanley Cup Playoffs where everybody scores. The goaltenders aren’t all that bad, but the stars on each team just shoot the puck with remarkable efficiency.
That was a prime example Tuesday as the Boston Bruins defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 6-5 to tie the Eastern Conference Final 1-1.
But it was the play of Boston Bruin rookie Tyler Seguin that deserved significant recognition on Tuesday. Seguin, who is only 19 years of age, recorded a remarkable four points in the second period–two goals and two assists. While playing even strength with former Montreal Canadien Michael Ryder and former Ottawa Senator Chris Kelly, Seguin was a very respectable +3, impressive because a major reason why he was benched for the first two Bruins’ series was because head coach Claude Julien was concerned about his defense.
Rich Peverley was much better on the faceoff circle for Boston in game two. He won 15 of 20 draws after losing 10 of 16 draws in game one.
Patrice Bergeron is expected to return for the Bruins for Game Three Thursday in Tampa, so it will be interesting to see who Julien takes out of the lineup. It shouldn’t be Seguin after his great performance Tuesday. My thinking is it will either be Gregory Campbell or Dan Paille.
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