This old addage never fails to deliver. It's inevitable - a former Bruin will return with another team and inflict harm on the Black & Gold. Goals scored by ex-B's always hurt more. Game winning scores are the ultimate insult.
So, with that in mind, I'm intoducing a new segment to this blog, the Lobel Prize. This is where I give a rundown of the eligible candidates (Bruins alumni) on the other team and what they did to claim a stake (or drive a stake) in the award for the evening.
So, let's take a look back on this past Saturday night.
Just the facts, Jack (Edwards)
- Regular Season game #12, home game #4
- Boston Bruins (7-3-0) vs. St. Louis Blues (7-1-2)
- First meeting against a Central Division opponent
John Blue Plate Special
Got to the Fours around 4:30 and was able to procure spots for me, Heather and Pete at the downstairs bar near the Louis Tiant/Carlton Fisk picture.
Seeing that the last time we had the Larry Bird in a wrap with bacon was a resounding success (2-0 shutout over the Leafs), we went with the "if it isn't broke, don't fix it." route and ordered it again.
However, we did order up a plate of potato skins beforehand. While they were delicious in and of themselves, I don't think we'll be doing that again anytime soon based on the game result.
As a quick aside, one of the regulars at the Fours who I've had a few drinks with in the past said that his friend John Carter was with him. I asked him if it was the same John Carter who played for the Bruins in the late 80s. He flashed a John Carter hockey card and sure enough it was.
Now John Carter was not an extraordinary player by any means, but he was another local boy done good, a Winchester native who donned the spoked B.
What makes him stand out in my mind was that when I was at my third Bruins game at the old Boston Garden with a youth group, I bought a game program, one of those old Goal magazines. And at this particular game, the PA announcer, Joel Perlmutter, made an announcement that if John Carter signed your program, you won a gift certificate.
I flipped to the proper page and sure enough there it was - John Carter's autograph! I went with a chaperone down to the customer service office and got a gift certificate. I think it was $50 to the Scotch and Sirloin on Causeway Street across from the Garden. But I was like 12 years old and I thought it was so cool that I won something and got a player's autograph to boot.
I relayed this story to John. I think he honestly appreciated it.
Seeing that the last time we had the Larry Bird in a wrap with bacon was a resounding success (2-0 shutout over the Leafs), we went with the "if it isn't broke, don't fix it." route and ordered it again.
However, we did order up a plate of potato skins beforehand. While they were delicious in and of themselves, I don't think we'll be doing that again anytime soon based on the game result.
As a quick aside, one of the regulars at the Fours who I've had a few drinks with in the past said that his friend John Carter was with him. I asked him if it was the same John Carter who played for the Bruins in the late 80s. He flashed a John Carter hockey card and sure enough it was.
Now John Carter was not an extraordinary player by any means, but he was another local boy done good, a Winchester native who donned the spoked B.
What makes him stand out in my mind was that when I was at my third Bruins game at the old Boston Garden with a youth group, I bought a game program, one of those old Goal magazines. And at this particular game, the PA announcer, Joel Perlmutter, made an announcement that if John Carter signed your program, you won a gift certificate.
I flipped to the proper page and sure enough there it was - John Carter's autograph! I went with a chaperone down to the customer service office and got a gift certificate. I think it was $50 to the Scotch and Sirloin on Causeway Street across from the Garden. But I was like 12 years old and I thought it was so cool that I won something and got a player's autograph to boot.
I relayed this story to John. I think he honestly appreciated it.
The Couture Corner
St. Louis used to have one of the better sweater sets in the league until Reebok came along with thier horrendous "Edge" system. Now they look like crap, including the cutout areas on the napes of their necks used to showcase the Reebok logo.
So when I ran into this guy on the way out of the building after the game, I had a bit of a smile on my face:
Pavol Demitra. Prolific scorer. Had his best years in a Blues uniform.
The call?
So when I ran into this guy on the way out of the building after the game, I had a bit of a smile on my face:
Pavol Demitra. Prolific scorer. Had his best years in a Blues uniform.
The call?
Good!
But then there was this guy:
On the surface, this looks like a 1973-4 Bobby Orr sweater.
But take a closer look. Name on the back. Lace-up collar. Sleeve stripes way too wide.
Not saying they are fake, per se, but they don't come close to what they should be. The Bruins switched to a v-neck collar for 1973, they did not have names on their backs at this point and the gold stripes should be much narrower.
Hey, I love the fact that people flock to buy Bobby Orr sweaters and that stores are carrying them. But if you're going to do it, do it right or don't do it at all. I've seen a bunch of these around lately (3 at this game alone). Most people have no idea that these are supposed to be from a specific season, 1973-4, when the Bruins were celebrating their 50th anniversary, as evidenced by the shoulder patches.
What say the powers that be?
No good!
As for what I wore, well, let's just say that you know a game is special when the fans break out their Bobby Orr sweaters. And there were plenty to be seen, including mine.
The Row 12 Rundown
Not much to report from the cheap seats for this one. Being a Saturday night, Bill & Carol were not there. As mentioned earlier, Pete was seat 11 du jour. John Barry was there, but he was in the second Kasper seat alongside Chris.
Doosh of the Day
Some nights it's just going to be hard to find a Doosh of the Day. Saturday night was one of them.
But after thinking long and hard, I'm going to nominate the vast majority of Row 11. Seems that these people (10 plus of them) were out for the night together and they just so happened to go to bruins game as their means of socializing. It was readily apparent when they showed up with 10 minutes gone in teh first period and kept getting up and leaving via the wrong way. And the concept of waiting for the whistle? Whatever.
Numbers are not hard to understand. Your ticket gives you a section number, a row number and a seat number. All you have o do is look up on the wall at the really big numbers to find your section. Then you go up the stairs to your assigned row. If you can't find you row, hey you might actually resort to, I don't know, counting. Then you can count the seats to find your particular one.
The tricky part is figuring out which aisle to enter the row from. If the row has 20 seats and your seat is between 1 and 10, go in from the low number side and vice versa.
Sadly, most people apparently do not have this cognitive skill.
The Clothes Line
For the first time all year, I was stumped. I looked all around, walked the concourses before, after and during the game and not once did I see any sweaters of distinction. Even against a low profile opponent, I had a greater expectation.
As for what I wore - well, if you owned a replica of what the greatest player in Bruins history wore when he scored the most famous goal ever scored in the history of the NHL and it just so happened to be against the Blues, well wouldn't you wear it?
The Lobel Prize
And here it is, the first installment of this new feature. So let's meet the nominees:
- Brad Boyes, Forward 2005-06 to 2006-07, 144 games played, 39 goals, 64 assists, 103 points, 55 PIM
- Vladimir Sobotka, F, 2007-08 to 2009-10, 134 GP, 6 G, 16 A, 22 P, 64 PIM
Sobotka, traded to the Blues in the offseason for the rights to Boston University defenseman David Warsofsky, scored the first goal of the game at 16:40 of the first period, had 2 shots on net and was a +1 for the game.
Boyes, traded to the Blues for the immortal Dennis Wideman, fired 3 shots on goal and finished a -1 for the game. But it was his goal in the 3rd round of the shootout that gave the Blues the victory and extra point in the standings.
So who gets the award? I'm going with Sobotka. Boyes is known to have the ability to score, but Sobotka's meal ticket was his overall pluckiness, not his scoring prowess. But netting the goal, he gave the Blues a lead that would last well into the third period. It looked like it would stand as the game winner, save for some inspired play by he Bruins 4th line to tie it up late.
Boyes, traded to the Blues for the immortal Dennis Wideman, fired 3 shots on goal and finished a -1 for the game. But it was his goal in the 3rd round of the shootout that gave the Blues the victory and extra point in the standings.
So who gets the award? I'm going with Sobotka. Boyes is known to have the ability to score, but Sobotka's meal ticket was his overall pluckiness, not his scoring prowess. But netting the goal, he gave the Blues a lead that would last well into the third period. It looked like it would stand as the game winner, save for some inspired play by he Bruins 4th line to tie it up late.
The Home End
The Bruins were playing their second game in as many nights, having lost to the Washington Capitals on the road the night before. After being down 3-0, they managed to pull even with some inspired play in the 3rd period before Newton native John Carlsson gave the Caps the lead for good en route to a 5-3 victory. Tim Thomas saw his GAA soar above 1.00 (1.05 to be exact) before he was replaced by Tuuka Rask.
With back to back games, it was assumed that Tuuka was going to play one of the two games. Timmy started Friday night, so it was Tuuka time on Saturday.
On the other end of the ice, Jaroslav Halak was in net for the Blues. The goalie who I thought Montreal should have kept (over Carey Price) had been stellar so far this year, matching Thomas with 3 shutouts thus far and backing St. Louis to a five game winning streak.
The Bruins were completely out-hustled for most of the game facing a one goal deficit before the grinders evened the score courtesy of a Greg Campbell goal. Both teams had chances skating 4 on 4 in overtime, but I don't think anyone in the building had much confidence in Tuuka winning the shootout having had a good amount of rust and St. Louis featuring a good number of scorers. It also didn't help that David Krejci was rendered hors de combat after a T.J. Oshie check sent him into the boards headfirst and gave him a concussion on the way down.
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