The Ionic Mayor Mumbles

Last year he called the Winter Classic the "World Classic" when the NHL announced that the outdoor hockey game between the Bruins and the Flyers would take place at Fenway Park. Well, just as you thought it was safe to say that he wouldn't comment on the Beantown sports scene, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino (aka Mayor Mumbles) proved once again that preparing for a speech is "overrated".

The scene took place yesterday afternoon when the statue of Bobby Orr's Game-Winning Goal from the 1970 Stanley Cup finals was revealed outside the TD Garden entrance. The speech was the only ionic event on Monday, especially after the lackluster performance by the Black and Gold in Game 5, and no that is not an understatement either.

Check out the clip from CSNNE via YouTube:



Of course many of you will note that he had another blunder when Mumbles noted that Jason Varitek "split the uprights". This is in reference to the Patriots two Super Bowl wins in which Adam Vinatieri kicked the game-winning field goal.

But maybe Mumbles can make up for it down the road. Maybe he can note that Vinatieri caught four no-hitters or that he was instrumental in the Red Sox comeback against the Yankees in the ALCS in 2004.

As far as the Bruins, well they might be in danger of blowing a 3-0 lead themselves against the Flyers. I won't jump to conclusions right now, but they need to show a better performance right off the bat in Game 6 tomorrow night. Otherwise, Bruins fans might have to relive an "ionic" Flyers moment for a foreseeable future.

"Great Moments" in Bell Centre History: A fitting ending to a Centennial Drama

We all know that the Montreal Canadiens were a complete mess during their Centennial Season in 2008-09. Actually if you think about it, the Habs have been celebrating their 100th season since 1993, when Patrick Roy and company led the to their last Stanley Cup victory. I'm sure we'll get into the "Curse of Patrick Roy" but we should with this segment now. First a word from our "sponsor"...



The Date: April 22, 2009. The Scene: Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinal against the Boston Bruins, with their heated rivals carrying a 3-0 series lead.

"A history" lesson in "Great Moments" in Bell Centre History

We all know -- at least in the state of Massachusetts -- that Patriots Day is a tradition every third Monday in April. We also know that school children get that day off -- at the K-12 level the whole week -- while the Red Sox always have a game in the late morning and of course, who can forget about the annual Boston Marathon.

Well, the last few years the Bruins have played on Patriots Day as well. Is it a co-incidence? I won't go into that, but you can make that judgement for yourself.

Rosie's Rebounds: Hall vs. Seguin

With the first pick in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, the Edmonton Oilers select…

Okay, we won’t know quite yet whom the Oilers will select with the first pick, but we do know that it will either be Taylor Hall (Windsor Spitfires) or Tyler Seguin (Plymouth Whalers) from the Ontario Hockey League. So why can’t the speculation begin now?

This should be the most intriguing choice since 1987 (from a Canadian Hockey perspective) when the Buffalo Sabres took Pierre Turgeon of the Granby Bisons of the QMJHL as the No. 1 overall pick over Brendan Shanahan (London Knights, OHL), who was picked second by the New Jersey Devils.

Both players went on to have a long and successful career. Turgeon scored 515 goals and tallied 1327 points in his 19-year NHL career with the Sabres, Islanders, Canadiens, Blues, Stars and Avalanche, while Shanahan scored 656 goals and gathered 1,354 points in his 21 seasons with the Devils, Blues, Red Wings, Rangers and the old Hartford Whalers.

The major difference between the two, however, is the playoff success. Turgeon never made an appearance in the Stanley Cup during his career and only played in the conference finals once in 2001 with the Blues (he could have played in two conference finals if it wasn’t for Dale Hunter’s cheap shot in 1993 in the Patrick Division Finals, see video below). Meanwhile, Shanahan won three Cups with the Red Wings.

More News and Notes from the Winter Classic

Hope everyone had a great holiday season! Here are a few links to catch up on for this year's Winter Classic.

Fenway Park is nearly ready for the event as the final touches are being placed for the event. You can view those over at NHL.com as they provide a photo gallery of the event.

Inside Hockey Radio show host and NESN.com's James Murphy has ran a series of great features over the past week or in anticipation of the event. You can read his latest feature on why Bruins legend Cam Neely and why he would have loved a chance to play in the event.

Speaking of Inside Hockey, columnist Jake Duhaime has also provided some great coverage in hyping the event. His latest piece can be found here, and you can view his video below from the first skate at Fenway.

From the Flyers' official website, here are some facts and tidbits on the game. You can also view a photo gallery in which members of the Flyers visited the venue, while they were in Boston a couple of weeks ago.

More later...

Savard and Hartnell appear on "The Price is Right"

For those of you who missed out on "The Price is Right" yesterday, here is the clip that features Bruins forward Marc Savard and Flyers forward Scott Hartnell from the Showcase Showdown.

More Later...

Rosie's Rebounds: 12/4/09

From yesterday's Inside Hockey version...


Thoughts on the Ovechkin Suspension

Didn’t we just talk about a game misconduct last week with Alex Ovechkin? Well it looks like Déjà vu all over again this week.

As Inside Hockey’s Brad Kurtzberg stated this week, the league did the right thing in suspending the reigning back-to-back Hart Trophy winner. And surprise, surprise, I am on the same page with this argument.

Inside Hockey coverage of Leafs-Bruins

In honor of Phil the Thrill returning to Boston, Inside Hockey is keeping you up to date with toight's game between the Bruins and the Leafs.

Find out how Kesselmania is hitting Boston from yours truly, while Alex Linsky has an in-depth preview of tonight's game and don't forget to check out his morning greaseboard for last nights daunting defeat against the Habs.

Bruins Sign Marc Savard to Contract Extension

Bruins forward Marc Savard has signed a contract extension with the Bruins. For more info on this, you can read my updates on Inside Hockey, and don't forget to read Alex Linsky's Bruins Armchair GM too.

The Bruins Theme to date and Great Moments in Bell Centre history

So I've been searching for theme songs of the 2009-10 Boston Bruins season to date. I had until 10:00 p.m. tonight (that I set for myself) to find something. This is what I came up with...



Maybe this will change, but as of right now, the Undertaker's theme stands.

Part two of my blog tonight has something to do with WWF, WWE or whatever its called these days. No it is not Vince McMahon singing "Stand Back" but this has to do with a "Great moment in Bell Centre history."

And to begin the series - still trying to get Molson to sponsor this - let's go back to November 9, 1997. As the Survivor Series took place at the then Molson Centre, the main event featured to fierce rivals, with honor contempt for one another: Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart.

Rosie's Rebounds: 11/6/09

Shootout Controversy in CCHA

Last weekend in game one of the Nebraska-Omaha vs. Bowling Green series, the game was decided by a shootout in Omaha. Little did anyone in attendance know, that the end result would create a lot of controversy.

In overtime, Bowling Green freshman forward Jordan Samuels-Thomas – who netted a goal early in the third period – was called for a penalty with 16 seconds to go in OT. Nebraska-Omaha would not score during that span, thus the game goes into a shootout.

When the CCHA implemented the shootout last season, one of the rules stated that a player who was not on the ice at the end of overtime, would not be eligible to participate in the shootout.

Well, the referees must have forgotten the rule and Samuels-Thomas was able to participate in the shootout. Not only did Samuels-Thomas enter the shootout, but his goal happened to be the game winner, and thus give Bowling Green the victory in the CCHA standings (wins in shootouts don’t factor into the regular standings).

This cost UNO a point in the CCHA standings, but again if Samuels-Thomas doesn’t participate, the end result could have been different. But, we will never know that.

Topping Rock Em’ Sock Em’ Techno?

As you all know, Don Cherry was the opening act of the 2009 Rosie Awards with Rock Em’ Sock Em’ Techno. The next week, WWE owner Vince McMahon tried to steal the spotlight with “Stand Back”, but to no avail.

But quite possibly, this one could have topped both Vincent Kennedy McMahon, and Cherry.

Thanks to Inside Hockey’s own Jake Duhaime who posted this on my Facebook wall, this video from the Boston College Hockey team is now worth noticing – I can’t give you points Jake right now, but this was the least I could do.

Before the Beanpot in 1986, the BC hockey team participated
in the “Beanpot Trot.” And thanks to the modern marvel that is YouTube, we have the video (and of course I have to thank Jake).

Take a look at this yourself…



 …Now compare that to the Super Bowl Shuffle from the Chicago Bears. Somewhat similar isn’t it?



While 1986 - the year yours truly was born - had some interesting moments, the year also saw some laugh out loud material, in both a good way and an embarrassing way.

Rejected 30 for 30 Concepts

While searching twitter on Wednesday, I found this trending topic based on ESPN’s 30 for 30 documentaries that they’ve been running. And thanks to twitterverse, the sarcasm continues.

With series such as King’s Ransom, the documentary on Wayne Gertzky’s trade from Edmonton to LA, and the history of the USFL, users on twitter have been coming up with rejected ideas for the show, with the hashmark #rejected30for30concepts.

Yours truly came up with a few possible rejections - both hockey and non-hockey related. I’ll share a few of those with you.

- A quarterback in the making:The Ryan Leaf saga
- The NHL’s best season: A look into the 2004-05 campaign
- The Jim Balsillie Papers
- History in the Making: The saga of Smurf Turf at Boise State
- What a Rush: Rush Limbaugh’s career on Sunday NFL Countdown
- Centennial Leaders: The Habs 100th season

I can go on and on, but I’d rather give you the best tweet I have seen regarding this topic.

And here it is:

Playoffs? The Jim Mora Story.

Rebounds of the Week

Here are your rebounds of the week for November 6, 2009

Player: Patrice Bergeron, Boston Bruins – Bergeron didn’t have a bounce back week stat wise, but he finally got his team a goal after being shut out for 192 minutes and six seconds in last night’s 2-1 shootout loss to the Montreal Canadiens.

Team: Los Angeles Kings – While some hockey pundits expected the Kings to make a run for a playoff spot this season, very few teams expected them to do this well early on. The Kings trail San Jose by two points in the Pacific Division Standings. They are 10-4-2 overall, and are 6-2-2 in their last 10.

Game: Boston University @ Northeastern Tonight – I had to go with this since I will be at Matthews Arena along with my collegue Kevin Edelson for tonight's contest. Northeastern hasn’t played in two weeks when they lost to New Hampshire and UMass-Lowell. Boston University is coming off a split against UMass-Lowell. Should be a great game at the “New Barn”, which is sold out.

Note: Northeastern came out victorious in last night's game 1-0

Bruins-Devils Pregame

Good morning from the TD Garden. We are currently having server problems over at Inside Hockey. We'll get those fixed as soon as possible, but for now, here are a few notes from today's morning skate.

- Martin Brodeur, the all-time winningest goaltender in NHL history, has the night off. Yann Danis will start in net for the Devils.
- Tim Thomas will start for the Bruins.
- The Devils have not lost a game away from the Prudential Center (aka "The Rock") yet. They are 5-0 on the road, but only 1-4 at home.
- The Devils lost last night to the Buffalo Sabres 4-1.
- The Bruins are looking for back-to-back wins for the first time this season. They are 2-0-1 since Milan Lucic and Marc Savard have been out of the lineup, both due to injuries.
- Tonight marks the first night of a six games in days stretch for the Black and Gold.

Locker Room Reaction: Bruins

Flyers' new villain: Jack Edwards?

We all know that Boston Bruins play-by-play announcer Jack Edwards, is just a bit biased when calling the action. When the B's are playing their hated rivals, the Montreal Canadiens, Edwards doesn't stop there. In fact he takes it further.

However, even though Edwards had his Revolutionary War rant against the Habs in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals last year, and was unhappy about the Habs jerseys when they played the Bruins on Super Bowl Sunday - remember in the end he said: "The final, the Bruins 3, the inmates 1." -  his incident in Philadelphia on March 29, tops everything.