Postgame Recap - 12/3: Fall Leaf Collection

I hate Phil Kessel.

No, I mean it.

Not because he's the leading goal scorer in the NHL at the time of this post, for he is a legitimate offensive talent.  Not because he spurned the Bruins' attempts to offer him a contract extension, because eventually that paved the way for the B's to draft Tyler Seguin, Jared Knight and Dougie Hamilton.  And certainly not because he was born in Wisconsin, for he was a member of the US men's Olympic hockey team.

Nope. I hate him because he ruined what could have been an absolutely epic 35th birthday party for me.

A year ago, Heather and I braved the elements and poorly maintained American Eagle aircraft to make the trek up to Toronto for a Bruins-Leafs matchup on my birthday, a Saturday night Hockey Night in Canada game no less.

And we had a blast. Everything was great - the city, the food, the climate controlled underground passageways, the Hockey Hall of Fame, even the people.  And the game itself was great.  For the most part, that is.

Nathan Horton gave the Bruins an early lead before Carl Gunnarsson tied it up late in the first period.  The game was knotted at one a piece into the thrid when Greg Campbell reclaimed the lead for the B's six minutes into the third stanza.  But former Bruins property Kris Versteeg got one back for the Leafs with a powerplay strike in the final minute of play to send the game into overtime.

After a scoreless OT, the game went to shootout. Nazem Kadri beat Tim Thomas on the first shot, but Tyler Seguin equalized with a shot past Jean-Sebastien Giguere. Thomas stoned Nikolai Kulemin and David Krejci couldn't get one past Giguere on the other end.  Then it was Kessel's turn and he slipped one past Thomas.  Michael Ryder was our last hope and he missed. 

Kessel's shot stood as the game winner.

Sure, the Bruins got a point out of the game and perhaps I should be angry at Krejci and Ryder, but it felt like a loss and the fact that it was the petulant Kessel who iced it made it hurt even more.

Fast forward to when the schedule was released for the 2011-2 season and one date immediately stood out: December 3, 2012.

Toronto at Boston.

An Original Six matchup.  The final Saturday night game of the regular season.  The night before my 36th birthday. But perhaps most importantly, a chance at revenge.

Let's take a look back, then, at what went down.

Just the Facts, Jack (Edwards)

• Toronto Maple Leafs (14-9-2) at Boston Bruins (15-7-1)
• Game 24, home game 16
• Bruins with 25 out of a possible 26 points in their last 13 games, going without a regulation loss in the entire month of November
• Second game of a home and home series with Toronto, with the Bruins having won 6-3 at the Air Canada Center two nights prior

John Blue Plate Special

Being a Saturday night game, we figured we'd actually get a good amount of Leafs fans coming down for this game. And because this was going to be the de-facto celebration of my birthday with my hockey peeps, I got to the Fours fairly early, around 4:00.  In fact, Heather and Pete got there earlier and headed upstairs to grab some seats as we also had to deal with crowds watching the various college football conference championships.

By the time I got there, there bar was somewhat full and there were a good number of Leafs fans already enjoying some fine alcoholic libations.  Based on our past experiences, the vast majority of Leafs fans are great people and willing to engage in playful hockey banter. And sure enough, these folks were more than willing to trade friendly barbs with us.  Granted, being able to boast about a certain 35 pound silver chalice gave us all the ammunition we needed, we kept it genial, willing to listen to them blather on about having the league's leading scorer (Kessel) while we thanked them for securing our future (Seguin, Knight and Hamilton) and letting them know that Brian Burke was the best General Manager we've ever had. And for the hate we have for Mike Komisarek, theirs' is apparently greater.  All of which made for, hands down, the most enjoyable pregame of the season to date.

Most surprising, though, was the fact that the vast majority of the Leafs fans at the Fours were not from the province of Ontario.  The ones we hung out with were from New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.  There may have even been a couple from P.E.I. as well.  And every single one of them had nothing but nice things to say about our fair city.  There were a couple of guys from Halifax who came down to see the Christmas tree that the city donated to Boston, a longstanding traditon, which was pretty cool.

And it just so happened that one of them was a former goalie.  It was imperative, then, that we introduced him to Tim Barry, our resident goal tender/goalie apologist.  Needless to say, they hit it off right away.

And to be honest, this is the way it should be.  I love engaging opposing fans in a jovial manner over drinks before and after the game.  People that travel to see their team play on the road deserve a measure of respect, provided they act respectfully as well. We've had great exchanges with fans in Chicago and Toronto and likewise visiting fans from Toronto, Washington and even Buffalo have been fun to talk to.  It certainly helps when you know your players and history with regard to the other team, but even the most neophyte of fans can get along if there is mutual respect.

Unfortunately, more often than not, there is some idiot on either side that spoils it.  Usually its some drunken imbecile who takes umbrage that someone who ever venture on the road to support their team would have the audacity to show up in our building while having never been on a road trip themselves or don't know jack about their own team.  No, its more important to defend the home turf from someone who would never, ever pose any sort of threat otherwise, than it is to act as a decent human being and a properly mannered hockey fan.

I might be losing ground on my stance here, but I'm not going down without a fight (no pun intended).

As for our dining selections, I was greeted by a plate of dark chocolate raspberry cookies that Heather had baked, the recipe having been used specifically for my birthday proceedings. Absolutelt delicious. We split a Bobby Orr, teriyaki style, with Heather agreeing to the addition of cheese (normally witheld) as another token of birthday salutations. As always, it was fantastic.

Couture Corner

Games against Toronto get me giddy.  With a Saturday night home date, I knew that Toronto fans would be there en masse and thet meant unabashed sweater porn.

But wait, there's more.

The Leafs made a major change to to their third sweater design for the 2011-12 season, ditching the design they wore for the past 11 seasons that was based on what they wore in the early 60's for a new one that is based on the sweaters they wore when the won the Stanley Cup in 1967.

The old Leafs' third sweater was one of my all time favorites, but the new ones are stunning as well.

At first glance, they look somewhat similar to what they normally wear, but a closer look reveals a more pointed crest with a different (and much improved) font. The sleeve and hem striping is bolder and a white stripe has been added down the sides of the pants.  I know these are subtle differences, but when the primary home is close to simplistic perfection to begin with, the slight modifications make the alternates stand out.

When Toronto officially released the new design to the public, they also offered up a list of the 14 games that they'd be wearing them.  Surprisingly, there were a bunch of away games included. And, as luck would have it, the Bruins were one of those teams that would don the old home whites, along with Original Six bretheren in Chicago and New York as well as fellow rivals Ottawa and Buffalo.

The Leafs actually wore their thirds at home against the Bruins on November 5th, a 7-0 shutout for the B's which a bunch of our 307 crews was fornutate to be at.  But when I saw they were going to bring them along for the game on December 3rd, I got excited.  Often, the Bruins wear their white uniforms at home once a season, either at the request of the away team or for photography purposes.

So while a bunch of my friends were across town at the 2011 American Outlaws Winter Ball, getting gussied up and having fun while raising money for a worthwhile cause, I got dressed up myself in my hockey formalwear, in this case going with the 1967 inspired Bobby Orr.

And there were a host of other fans in attendence that broke out their Saturday night bast as well. Let's take a look at some of the highlights:

Circa 1993 Wendel Clark Maple Leafs away replica

Circa 2005 Darcy Tucker Maple Leafs away replica

1997 Sergei Berezin Maple Leafs away replica

This easily takes the award for "most obscure sweater" of the night.

2007 Milan Lucic Vancouver Giants (WHL) home replica

Old school Looch at its finest.

Circa 2000 Curtis Joseph Maple Leafs alternate replica

2006 Eric Lindros Maple Leafs away replica

80's Mike Milbury Bruins away replica

You really need a loafer in your hand to complete this look.

1996 Bill Ranford Bruins away replica

Tought to see it in the picture, but why on earth would anyone ever buy this unless you missed your chance when he was with the Bruins 10 years earlier.

Guy Lafleur Canadiens away replica

Bill Barilko Maple Leafs home replica

Who in their right mind wears a Habs sweater to a Bruins/Leafs game?  Really?

As for the Barilko, as much as he never wore this particular sweater, he's one of only two Leafs players with their numbers retired (Ace Bailey's #6 is the other) having won 4 cups before he died in a plane crash.

Maple Leafs away replica

This one left me stumped.  The style is from the early to mid 70's, as evidenced by the lack of a nameplate, but no Leaf wore #32 until Ron Zanussi wore in in 1980.  By then, players had names on their backs.  So I have no diea what this one is supposed to be, but it does look sharp nonetheless.

circa 2009 Tomas Kaberle Maple Leafs home replica

2011 Dion Phaneuf Maple Leafs alternate replica

circa 2009 Phil Kessel Maple Leafs home replica

 As bad as Kaberle was, at least he can say he won a cup in Boston, which is more than he ever won with Toronto.

The Phaneuf sweater is simple and classy.  Phaneuf? not as much.

The Kessel one? Hey, I didn't buy it.

1926-7 Toronto St. Pats Replica

Before a game, I usually pick a particular sweater design or player for the opposing team as my desired target.  The challenge varies based on who we are playing (let's face it, there isn't much to choose from with the newer franchises), but some team force me to set the bar high.  Toronto is one of them.  So, before the game I told Heather I wanted to find a St. Pat's (the predecessor to the Leafs) sweater. 

We weren't even into the arena before we found this guy.  Maybe I should have set the bar higher?

Mid 90's Doug Gilmour Maple Leafs away replica
2009 Jonas Gustavsson Maple Leafs home replica
2007 Mats Sundin Maple Leafs away replica

These were some of the aforementioned Leafs fans we hung out with at the Fours for pregame.  Quality hosers.

The Row 11 Rundown

As we head closer to ski season, the Saturday appearances by the Hoyts draw to a close and Saturday was no exception.  Kathi, Charla and the kids took the night off and even Cornelius missed out on this one (he had a wedding or something - clearly his friend, or his fiance, was not a Bruins fan).

But we did have Robyn in seat 11, which was nice.

Doosh of the Day

Originally, I was going to give this out to the guy at the bar who kept saying "Leafs suck".  But he was in actuality a Canadian wearing a Leafs sweater who purported to be a Bruins fan.  His whole story was sketchy and he was a fraud hater, so I'll give him a pass.

So, in his stead, I will give it out to the DB who tried to gain access to the private party upstairs at the Fours after the game despite there being a sign on the door clearly stating that the upstairs was closed.  And props to Tina for playing the role of enforcer.

The Bob Lobel Prize

Fortunately, Kessel did not ruin this game for me. He did land five shots on goal, but none went in and he finished a -2 on the night.

The Leafs also have former Bruins first round draft pick Joe Colborne on their roster (16th verall in the 2008 Entry Draft). but he never played a minute for the Bruins in the regular season, thus making him ineligible for the prize.

The Home End

After storming their way through the month of November without a regulation loss (their first month like that since the 1969 season), it was reasonable to think that the advent of December might bring different results.  For this night at least, it was more of the same.  The game was fairly close through the first two periods, with the Bruins holding 2-1 lead.  But the B's extended their lead early in the third on a Johnny Boychuk slapshot.  And midway through the period, the Bruins has a solid two minutes of constant pressure in the Toronto zone.  Though they didn't score, they had their way with the Toronto defense, maintaining possession at will.  And you could see that the Leafs' will was crushed.  There was no way they were going to get back in the game.  Perhaps losing their first three matchups with the Bruins (by scores of 6-2, 7-0 and 6-3) weighed on them as well.  Whatever hope they may have had was completely dashed when Nathan Horton added an insurance goal late in the game.

So the Bruins continued to roll on.  Next up was a date on the road with the best team in the conference, the Pittsburgh Penguins, now bolstered by the return of Sidney Crosby.  Needless to say, this one was highly anticipated.

Road Trip Recap - Part I: Sweet Home Chicago

Chicago.

One of the truly great American locales, the Windy City has so much that appeals directly to my core: great food, amazing architecture and original six hockey.

Is there any movie that
captures the Windy City any better?

It's also the backdrop to two of the all-time greatest comedies ever made: The Blues Brothers and Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Not a day goes by in my life where I don't make a reference to or quote a line from one of these films.  I fell in love with these movies at a very early age and they helped define my sense of humor ever since.

I'd been itching to hit Chicago for a long time., having been there twice in the past. The first time was in 1998 during Senior Week in college as part of a 'baseball across the midwest' trip I took with a couple of my good friends. We took in a Cubs game at Wrigley the only way it should be done: on a weekday afternoon in the bleachers.  The Cubs lost to the Phillies 10-5 despite two Sammy Sosa home runs, but I had an absolute blast.  The bleachers were general admission seating, the sun was shining on a perfect 80 degree day, I was drinking afew beers and I had the best hot dog I'd ever had in my life - a kosher dog with mustard and sauteed onions on a poppy seed bun.  After the game we did some walking (Grant Park, Michigan Ave., Navy Pier) and then we grabbed dinner at Harry Caray's (the original steakhouse) where I had the best veal parmigiana of my life.

My second trip to the Second City was in June of 2009 for a United States National Team World Cup qualifier against Honduras at the renovated Soldier Field.  The US came from behind to win the match 2-1 as they continued their march to the World Cup finals in South Africa.  We had spent much of the pregame at Fado, an Irish pub downtown, but after the game a bunch of us wanted to sit down and get some real sustenance.  As we exited the subway at the Grand St. stop on the Red Line, we literally bumped into the Weber Grill. Now, for those of you who know me, I am a complete and utter Weber slut.  Besides owning four of their grills, I also own two of their cookbooks, two sets of their utensils and various pieces of weber-branded apparel.  My day could not have ended on a higher note - sharing some absolutely fantastic barbecue with some great friends at the Mecca for the Weber lifestyle.

Way back in 2009, when the NHL schedule came out, one date stood out right away: December 18.  That was a Saturday.  The Bruins were playing the Blackhawks in Chicago.  I called Heather right away about a possible road trip.  Unfortunately, it just wasn't going to work out.  My son's first birthday was on the 17th and there was no way I was going to miss that nor was I going to miss his party we were going to have on the 19th.  Due to the way the NHL schedules inter-conference matchups, a trip to Chicago would have to wait at least two years.

The silver lining to that was that we were able to celebrate my 35th birthday in Toronto for Hockey Night in Canada in 2010, a trip that I blogged about extensively here.

I'll go. I'll go. I'll go

Fast forward, then, to last June.  The NHL schedule came out on the 24th and almost immediately Heather and I got together on the phone.  The date was set - Saturday, October 15.  The Bruins were going to play in Chicago.  After we checked in with our respective spouses, it was a go.  And as an added bonus, a bunch of our Section 307 family wanted to go as well.

Now, my first rule of road tripping is to never book flights or accommodations before having game tickets in hand.  Being a Saturday night (one of a very few home Saturday night games at the United Center) against an original six team who only makes an appearance there a minimum of every two years, I knew that this was going to be a tough ticket to get, never mind that we needed to get seven of them all together.

I signed up on the Blackhawks website for advance single game ticket sales to get in on any presales they might have.  Alas, when tickets did go on sale through the Blackhawks website, the only thing I could find was standing room only.  That just wasn't going to work for our entire group.  We had called in a big favor through a friend with connections for our tickets in Toronto last year, but we didn't really want to go that route again so soon.  That meant going to the secondary market.

Rather than going to a bunch of sites I'd never heard of before, I went to StubHub and was able to get 7 tickets in section 307 of all places.  Perfect.  Tickets in hand (or on the way), Heather and I booked flights.  Because of work commitments, Heather and I had to work all day Friday, but the rest of the crew (The Barrys, Paula, Patty and Tricia) was going to fly in early and do some sightseeing beforehand.  I was able to get direct flights out of Logan to Midway via Southwest for a pretty good price. The only drawback being that we'd have to catch an early flight back on Sunday.  Oh well.

Heather was able to line us up a hotel along the Magnificent Mile via Hotels.com.  Prices for rooms were somewhat high, perhaps due to the Bears playing at home on Sunday night.  Nonetheless, we got a fairly decent price and we were going to be close to the rest of the crew and near a bunch of places we wanted to see while in town.

With all the logistics lined up, all we had to do was wait for the season to get underway.

Next up: Part II - We're on a Mission for Dogs

Postgame Recap - October 23: A New York State of Bind

Just the Facts, Jack (Edwards)

• Regular season game #6, home game #2
• Boston Bruins (4-1-0-0) vs. New York Rangers (2-2-1-0)
• First Original 6 matchup of the season for the B's.
• Bruins riding a 4 game wining streak, all with Tim Thomas bewteen the pipes

John Blue Plate Special


Saturday nights are always tough when it comes to scoring a seat at the bar.  Face it, Bruins fans are no strangers to a libation or 5 before a game, especially on the weekend.  Add in the fact that it is college football season and the chances of landing a spot grow even slimmer.

Pregame time was originally set for 4:00, but we didn't get started until 4:35 due to a combination of factors including the following:

• Halloween traffic on Rt. 114 in Peabody
• Rt. 1 down to one lane because of an accident in Saugus by Rt. 60
• A 17 wait for an Orange Line train at Sullivan Square

So it was a minor miracle that Heather and I were able to land spots front and center at the bar upstairs within minutes of our arrival.


Here was the bill of fare for the both of us:

• Johnny Kelly in a wrap, sauce on the side, onion rings
• Boneless wings with sides of teriyaki and honey mustard

The Couture Corner


With Rangers in town and a fervent buzz with the local fanbase, surely there would be a plethora of choices to pick from, right?  Wrong.


Slim pickings from representatives of both teams.


What to do? Well, take the 'Better off Dead' angle: If something gets in your way, turn.


So I turned, and lo and behold I see the following:




A late 70's Rogie Vachon LA Kings jersey.


Normally, I hate anything to do with LA. But this was so incredibly random and those Kings sweaters are so under-represented, even with the current throwback craze.


The Russian and American judges make deductions for the purple sleeve numbers (they should match the gold numbers on the back).


The Call upon booth review?

GOOD!


As for my choice of attire, I went with the 1967 Bobby Orr.  Original 6 matchup.   Beat the Rangers for the Stanley Cup in 1972 waring something similar.

The Row 12 Rundown


It being Saturday night (did I mention that yet?), there was a good showing by the 307 crew.  We were graced with the presence of Sue and Eric and Robin was the guest of honor in seat 11 for this one.  No Charla, but Kathi brought the kids along for the evening.


Bill and Carol were not there, as is often the case on weekends (despite the fact that ski season hasn't started yet.

Doosh of the Day

Hey, it's the Rangers. Which means that there are going to be a bunch of loudmouths from NYC as well as spoiled rich kids from BU who break out the blueshirts.  They are fair game.

And of course, the Rangers never have a shortage of players who we despise - Samuelsson, Brashear, Drury...

and of course, this guy:

But that's the easy way out.


The Doosh of the Day award winner must go above and beyond the call of normal douche-iness. And sure enough, we had a winner.  Two, in fact.


Winner #1:




Rangers fan.  When you tell the someone to eff off, that's one thing.  When it's a little kid behind you, well, that's DoTD winning material.


Winner #2: Rangers fan's friend.


This particularly classless DB, decked out in his Bruins sweater, decides to toss his beer down on the people in front of him at the end of the game.


I have a major problem with people who do this.  Way too many times I've seen innocent fans get doused with beer because of the actions of these idiots, more often than not its kids that are the victims.  I cannot stand this.


I caught him in the act and confronted him.  His response? A sh*t eating grin.  Fortunately, the usher at the bottom of the section saw him and other fans notified him as well.  Though I did not see him actually apprehended, I have every reason to believe that Garden security gave him a nice little escort off the premises.

That's Entertainment

The Bruins came out to an incredibly slow start and paid the price for it, yielding 2 goals before they would get on the board.  The Bruins were playing catch-up for the rest of the night.


But the highlight of the night was the Bruins' resident pugilist, Shawn Thornton, dropping the gloves with the undisputed king of NHL enforcers, Derek Boogard.  Thorny isn't a small individual, but he was giving up 5 inches and nearly 50 pounds to the Boogeyman.  And he more than held his own.


So a stick salute to #22.

The Clothes Line



Tonight's winner: Dennis Wideman guy

I know Dennis Wideman was the scapegoat for a lot of the problems the Bruins had in their defensive zone last year.  But I think the fanbase was a bit harsh in singling him out as if the other defensemen did nothing wrong.


That said, if I owned this shirt, I probably wouldn't wear it. Too soon for now.  Give it a few years before you break it out again.

The Home End

The game got off to a good start with the season debut of the one and only Rene Rancourt.  Sadly, it was downhill from there.  Losses sting.  Losses to the Rangers hurt even more.


Up next is an Original 6 matchup Thursday night versus the the Toronto Maple Leafs. Phil Kessel is back in town.  Rene gets to sing O Canada.  This promises to be one of the best dressed games we will see all season long.


Pregame starts at the Fours at 6:00 pm.