Postgame Recap - 11/26: Man, Oh Manitoba

November 21, 1995.

Just over 16 years ago, on a Tuesday night, the Bruins last hosted an NHL franchise hailing from the capital of the Canadian province of Manitoba.  Courtesy of a hat trick by Jozef Stumpel (sorry, Patty!) the B's would go on to defeat the original (at least the NHL version) of the Winnipeg Jets by a score of 5-4 in the first season at the brand new FleetCenter. The Bruins also got goals from Ray Bourque and Chelmsford homie Steve Leach while Medford native Keith Tkachuk (2 goals), Teemu Selanne and Current Blackhawks/Versus/NBC commentator Eddie Olczyk scored for the Jets. The immortal Scott Bales manned the crease for the Bruins while current Edmonton Oiler Nicolai Khabibulin tended the Winnipeg net. Also playing for the Jets in that game was one Shane Doan, currently the only player still with the franchise including their relocation to the Arizona desert in the 1996-7 season.

The Bruins would take a 5-3 decision in Winnipeg on the last day of 1995 with Cam Neely and Ted Donato chipping in with 2 goals a piece against onetime Bruins netminder Tim Cheveldae as Craig Billington got the win.

And that was the end of NHL hockey in Winnipeg.

Until now.

The demise of the Atlanta Thrashers led to the relocation of the team to the middle of Canada and the rebirth of the Winnipeg Jets name.  Though the new team is a completely separate entity from the team currently toiling in obscurity in Glendale (the Coyotes are the official inheritors of the original Jets history, including retired numbers), the fanbase has taken to the new version with a fervor that few other markets can match.  They play in the MTS Centre, the smallest arena in the league, but tickets are pretty much sold out for the entire season and the few that are available can be had for a hefty sum.  The team is not all that great, having been picked by the pundits to finish somewhere near the bottom of the standings, but they had been somewhat hot of late, with a 4-0-1 record coming into the game.

Which brings us to this past Saturday night. A long holiday weekend tilt, the second half of a back to back homestand against the reborn Jets.  Let's see how it played out.

Just the facts, Jack (Edwards)

• Boston Bruins (13-7-1) vs. Winnipeg Jets (9-9-4)
• Bruins riding an 11 game point streak, having lost in a shootout a day earlier to the Detroit Red Wings, halting their 10 game winning streak
• First game against the Jets since they relocated from Atlanta

John Blue Plate Special

I had flown back from Baltimore earlier in the day, having spent the Thanksgiving holiday with my family at my wife's in-laws.  I had missed attending the Detroit game, but thankfully I was able to watch it on the national NBC broadcast (which was great, I may add).

Having got home fairly early, we were able to get home and unpack and get some stuff done around the house.  But because we had to get up at 6:00 am, we were all somewhat exhausted.  My wife and son fell asleep and I relaxed with some NHL network.  Around 3:30, I headed out into town for the game.  A quick jump on the orange line and I was at the Fours, meeting up with Heather.  

The downstairs was pretty much full, as I had expected given the slate of college football games on the schedule.  So we headed upstairs and were able to land a couple of seats at the bar fairly easily.  Perhaps it was residual tryptophan in people's blood streams or the fact that many season ticket holders gave up their seats for the night, but the pregame crowd was lame.  No energy whatsoever.  Saturday night games are special and ever-increasingly rare and here was a game against a Canadian opponent still with some of that new car smell and people could have seemed less excited. Add to that the fact that Heather was feeling a bit under the weather and the whole scene left something to be desired.

With my partner in crime not having much of an appetite, I had carte blanche to order whatever I wanted off the menu. I went with the Bobby Orr, teriyaki style with cheese, peppers and onions.  I dare you to find a better pregame meal in the city.  Good luck, because you won't.

Couture Corner

Nostalgia is big these days.  Reebok, through their purchase of CCM/Koho, has been able to capitalize on this wave by reissuing some of the sweaters worn by many of the defunct and relocated NHL franchises including such teams as the Hartford Whalers, Minnesota North Stars, Quebec Nordiquies and, of course, the original Winnipeg Jets.

I fully expected to see one or two Teemu Selanne and Keith Tkachuk replicas and sure enough, when I walked into the Fours, I was greeted by a blue #13.  But I wanted more.  And thanks to a conversation with fellow 307 resident Cornelius Hardenbergh, the bar was set: Dale Hawerchuk.

Did I find my white whale?

You'd better believe it!

Circa 1982 Dale Hawerchuk Winnipeg Jets away replica

A close cousin to the disco era New York Rangers uniforms of the late 70s, the Jets wore this design from their inception to 1990. Not the greatest look in my book, but simple and effective.

What else did I find?

Atlanta Thrashers Andrew Ladd and Bryan Little home replicas

I almost felt bad for these guys.  Here they were to support the team they had (seemingly) rooted for only to have the franchise move to greener pastures north of the border.  But for whatever sense of sympathy I might have had for them, it was undone by the fact that they chose to purchase these sweaters.  First introduced in 2003 as an alternate, this design became the home sweater in 2006 and survived the Reebok edge revamp the following season.  I don't mind the color of the body; In fact, I kind of like it.  But the asymmetrical sleeve treatment along with the "Atlanta" down the left side just plain sucks.  The hemline striping and the crest are great, but this just screams "small market shenanigans".

Benoit Pouliot Sudbury Wolves home replica

Before Benny was on his way to being a first round bust in Minnesota and Montreal, he was skating for the Sudbury Wolves of the Ontario Hockey League.  Coming off a monster season in junior (he went 29-38-67 with 102 PIMs in 67 games), he was drafted #4 overall in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft.

The Row 11 Rundown

Being a Saturday night, Bill and Carol weren't in attendance, but we had John Barry man seat 11 and Chris was the designated Kasper representative.  Charla and the kids weren't there either.  And Heather had to make an early exit as she wasn't in the best of shape due to illness.

Doosh of the Day

After a brief hiatus, we are back with DoTD.  And this time the award goes to the bitchy girls in row 10 (big surprise) who showed up 5 minutes into the game and decided to enter the section while play was going on in our end of the rink, clearly not paying any attention to the signs imploring ticket holders to wait for the whistle.  Granted, the lack of an usher working at the entrance didn't help, but I also didn't need nor appreciate the bitchy retort when I asked them to grab a seat after their prolonged failure to find their actual seats and sit down so we could see the action on the ice.

The Bob Lobel Prize

When the Bruins acquired Rich Peverley from the Thrashers near the trade deadline last year, the gave up forward Blake Wheeler and defensemen Mark Stuart in return.  And Saturday night marked their first return to the Garden ice since that transaction. 

Wheels had an assist on the first Jets goal, recorded one shot on goal and finished with a -1 rating.

Stu also had one shot on net, but finished a +1 on the night.

In all, neither had a major impact on the game.  No real harm done.

The Home End

Perhaps showing the effects of playing a tough game against the Red Wings a day earlier, the Bruins came out of the gate looking a bit sluggish and it showed with Tim Thomas giving up two goals midway through the first.  But Zdeno Chara potted a power play strike from the right faceoff circle to cut the deficit in half a few minutes later. Chris Kelly struck for second period two goals, the first a shorthanded effort, to give the Bruins the lead before Brad Marchand sealed the victory with an empty netter at the end of regulation.  In doing so, the Bruins were able to extend their point scoring streak to 11, garnering a remarkable 23 out 24 possible points in that span.

Up next: A home and home matchup against Phil Kessel and the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Postgame Recap: January 26 - Sunrise? Sunset.

The Florida Panthers are in town.  And that means one thing: Dennis Wideman is in town.

Let's see how it played out:

Just the facts, Jack (Edwards)

• Regular Season game #49, home game #24
• Boston Bruins (27-15-7, 1st in Northeast Div.) vs. Florida Panthers (22-21-5, last in Southeast Div.)
• Fourth and final meeting of the season with the Bruins looking to sweep the series 4-0.

John Blue Plate Special

Looking out the window of my office all day long, I watched as the snow turned into sleet into rain.  Any sort of precipitation typically makes for a hellacious commute on the Pike, so I was pleasantly surprised to get into town in under an hour.

Even better, the Four's had this on the menu as a special:

The buffalo chicken spring roll.

I am forever indebted to the genius who invented this.  The Fours had introduced buffalo chicken rangoons a few months ago as a special appetizer, but I never managed to be at the bar when they were serving them, only going by word of mouth via Heather.  Assured by the staff that they were homemade, I endeavored to try them as soon as I got chance.

So when I sidled up to the bar and Heather told me that the rangoons were available in spring roll form, I had her put in an order for me.  And they were worth the wait.  Tender chicken, hot sauce and creamy cheese all tucked into a spring roll wrapper and fried, served with shredded lettuce and additional hot sauce.

We shared 3 orders between the two of us.  They were that good.

Suffice to say, anytime these are available, I'm going to order them.

The Couture Corner

Florida is another of those teams with weak travelling fan support, so my bar was set fairly low. Their current uniforms utilize the worst template offered by Reebok as part of its Edge system, only slightly better rendered than those of the Edmonton Oilers and Nashville Predators.

But I was pleasantly surprised to see this on my way out after the game:

 Mid 90's John Vanbiesbrouck Away

"Beezer" as he was called, was Florida's first pick in the 1993 expansion draft.  After backstoping the Rangers for a number of years, including winning the Vezina in 1986, he yielded the number one spot to Mike Richter, still forming one of the best goaltending tandems in the league.  When teams could only protect one goalie in the expansion draft that stocked the Panthers as well as the then-Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, the Rangers protected Richter and traded Vanbiesbrouck to Vancouver for a player to be named later.

Vanbiesbrouck ended up being the Panthers first true star player, backstopping them to the 1996 Stanley Cup finals, only to lose to the newly relocated Colorado Avalanche 4 games to 1.

The call?

Good!

 The Row 12 Rundown

Charla, Kathi and the kids were there, but Tim, Maureen and Patty were missing in action.  Probably suffering from jet-lag after their epic road trip to see the B's play in Colorado and LA.

Doosh of the Day

Look, during his time here I was not a huge fan of Dennis Wideman.  Was he prone to gaffes? Yes.  Did he cough up the puck at inoportune times? Yes.  Was he easy to scapegoat anytime anything went wrong on the ice? Yes.  Was I glad that he got traded for Nathan Horton and Gregory Campbell? Yes.

Did I boo him every time he touched the puck the other night? No.

In fact, no one should have.

Look, Wideman had many faults.  The fact that we gave up on Brad Boyes prematurely hurt.  But he had promise as a puck moving defenseman.  And for all his faults, the Bruins were a better team with him than prior to his acquisition.  So it should go without saying that Wideman doesn't deserve the boos from Bruins fans.  It's classless.  It reflects poorly on us as fans.  He's gone.  Let it be.

So, for all those "fans" who insist on booing Wideman, I'm making you the Dooshes of the Day.

The Clothes Line

So my buddy Joe Grav texted me that he had nabbed a pair of tickets to the game.  That meant one thing: this sweater was going to be in the house:

Yep.  2006-7 Shean Donovan home

Look Joe, I don't care if you got it dirt cheap off the discount rack after we didn't re-sign him, he sucked.  Take the money you saved and have a jersey shop switch the nameplate to someone more deserving - Shawn Thornton, Kenny Baumgartner, Rick Tocchet, even Michal Grosek.  How about a fellow BC guy like yourself such as Brian Leetch? Ok, maybe not. Hell, even Mikko Eloranta is more deserving than Donovan.

Clean it up, buddy.

Then there was Joe Grav's friend, sporting this doozy:

2007-8 Glen Murray Home

The first year of this sweater style was also the last year of Glen Murray's hockey career. Muzz was pretty good player for the Bruins, first coming up with the club as a rookie in 1991-2 before being traded in 1995 to the Penguins with Brian Smolinski for Shawn McEachern and Kevin Stevens in one of Harry Sinden's worst trades. That trade would have been so much better if it had happened about 3 years earlier, you know, when Stevens was a scoring machine and McEachern was a decent two-way forward.  But Harry thought getting a couple of locals would keep bringing the fans into the Garden, even if they had little tread left on the tires.

But, to their credit, they re-acquired Muzz along with another former Bruin, Jozef Stumpel, from LA in 2001 in exchange for the aforementioned Eloranta and Jason Allison.  Paired with Joe Thornton and Mike Knuble, he enjoyed his best years scoring-wise including a 44 goal campaign in 2002-3.  Alas, while his teams were strong, they never made much noise in the playoffs.

Finally, in 2007-8 he sustatined an severe ankle injury that effectively ended his career.  He was bought out by the Bruins the following season, the hit having a major inpact on the Bruins' salary cap.

Back to the sweater in question ,though, I have to give a thumbs down.  While it does deserve some credit for being the only version of this sweater that I've ever seen, it would do much more justice to wear a Murray sweater from the 1995-2006 era or even better, his #44 from the 1991-2 season.

The Lobel Prize

We already know that Dennis Wideman plays for the Panthers.  But let me also remind you that they also have 2 other former Bruins on their roster: Marty Reasoner and Byron Bitz.

Reasoner played collegiately at BC and was acquired from the Edmonton Oilers in the Sergei Samsonov trade in 2006.  That was the same trade where the Bruins got the Oilers' second round pick that was used to slect Milan Lucic in the 206 NHL entry draft.

Bitz was drafted by the Bruins in 2003 and eventually became a fourth line grinder.  He had size and grit and wasn't afraid to drop the gloves when need be.  Not bad for an Ivy Leaguer from Cornell.

So how did they fare in this game:

Wideman: 19:05 TOI, 5 shots, -1
Reasoner: 17:13 TOI, 1 shot, +1
Bitz: DNP (Injured Reserve)

Little to no harm done.

The Home End

This game could have very easily been a letdown game.  They had just got back from the west coast on a 2 game road trip, culminating with a 2-0 shutout at the hands on the Kings.  It was the last game before the all star break and they were playing a relatively weak opponent.  And Tomas Vokun is a pretty decent goalie who's capable of stealing a game for the Panthers.  But to their credit, the Bruins came out strong and built a 2-0 lead, eventually yielding a 3rd period goal but holding on for the win.

Heading into the break, the Bruins had a 4 point cushion over Montreal for the division lead and were in third place in the conference standings.  Tim Thomas' goaltending has been stellar thus far and the team defense has been solid.  If it keeps up, this could be a promsing spring, for once.