Nathan Horton Ready To Go

Report from NHL.com

After a brutal hit from Aaron Rome left Nathan Horton concussed and unable to play in the Bruin's Stanley Cup chase, he's finally back, and cleared for the upcoming season.

Bruins Talk

This offseason has been a fairly quiet one for the Bruins, but this team falls under the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" category.

Benoit Pouliot and Joe Corvo are the only two who have been added to the team. Benoit, a 24 year old left winger who is a fairly well-rounded offensive player. He has bounced around the AHL and NHL, but seemed to hit his stride with the Habs last season. He did some decent work with the AHL affiliate of Minnesota, scoring almost 40 goals in 3 seasons with them, and was a good call-up for the Wild. Last season, with the Habs, he played in 79 games, and tallied 30 points, with 13 goals and 17 assists. He's an aggressive type, a guy who's not afraid to take a penalty or two for his team.

Joe Corvo was a solid pickup for these guys, a very offensive-generating defenseman. When the Bruins picked up Tomas Kaberle, they got him SOLELY for quarterbacking the powerplay. Clearly, he was a massive disappointment, and it was an udder disaster for their front office, who had been after Kaberle for awhile. With the numbers Corvo's putting up, he could be a solid replacement for Kaberle. Corvo bounced between AHL and the NHL for a bit, but has been a consistent NHL'er since the 2006 season. One particular season of his that impresses me was his 2008-2009 season with Carolina, where he played in 81 games, put up 38 points, which includes 8 powerplay goals. I am 99.99999% sure that Corvo will be the defenseman that this team needs.

With the loss of Michael Ryder, I think the Bruins lose a little bit of an all-around edge. I'm NOT saying "without Ryder, the Bruins will plummet below the Islanders in the standings". All I mean is that Ryder was a presence on the ice that any team would be lucky to have. As far as the Bruins offense goes, just look down their roster. Guys like Marchand, Krejci and Horton amongst others jump off the page as those who are looking to have monster seasons. I think out of all of them, Marchand will want it the most. 2010-2011 was considered Marchand's rookie year, and he was completely overshadowed by Seguin (My thoughts on him later...). After Marchand's performance in the postseason, I am convinced he will be the man to beat. He's aggressive, ticks people off, scores goals, moves the puck beautifully, and knows how to set up plays. I really think if their offense fires on all cylinders, they will be a machine this year.

My final thoughts will be on the wunderkid Tyler Seguin. I believe that Seguin WILL be a gem in the Bruins organization, but I believe that Julien knows exactly what he is doing when he doesn't play Seguin. Tyler Seguin started the season out very strong, got a lot of ice time, and scored a bunch for them. But around mid to 3/4 through the season? He completely plateaued. Seguin finished the season with 11 goals, 11 assists, and a plus/minus of -4. Not exactly the wunderkid that the local talk radio made him out to be. That's not to say I don't like this kid. He's very fast, has soft hands, and can make the plays that have to be done. But like a caller on 98.5 said, "Julien's NOT going to change his entire playoff outlook for a 19-year-old rookie." The flak Julien got from not playing him was absurd. Julien knows what he's doing. He gave Seguin a taste of the professional life, and gave him the shifts that eased his transition into the NHL. Now that Seguins got his feet wet, we'll see if he really is "the next Bobby Orr" (as another 98.5 caller described him....).

Bottom line, this is an extremely deep team, and the city of Boston is hungry for more. With the Cup in the 617, the city's eyes will certainly be watching when the puck drops this fall.

Chris Drury retires from NHL

Former BU Terrier and 1998 Hobey Baker winner Chris Drury retired from the NHL today at the age of 34. Drury was a Terrier from 1994-1998 and was a freshman on the '95 national championship team. Drury finishes his NHL career with 255 goals and 615 points in 892 games with four different clubs(Colorado, Calgary, Buffalo, and New York Rangers). Drury won the Calder memorial trophy for the best rookie with Colorado in the 1998-1999 season and was know for his ability as a clutch goal scorer in the NHL with an astounding 64 game-winning goals, 17 of which came in the playoffs. Drury is the all-time goal leader at Boston University with 113 goals and 100 assists. The only player to have both 100+goals and 100+ assists at the school. He is the only hockey player to even win the Hobey and the Calder memorial. The Rangers bought out his contract this off-season for 3.3 million and Drury was unable or unwilling to hook on with another team and will now end his 12 year playing career. Congrats on a great career Chris and hopefully we see you more around campus now.

Pats jump out to early lead, pound Bucs

The Patriots jumped out to a 21-0 lead after one quarter and 28-0 at the half as the starters throttled Tampa Bay and the backups held on for a 31-14 victory over the hosts. Tom Brady looked sharp going 11/19 with 119 yds and 2 TD's. The defense was the story of the night in my eyes as the pass rush was all over Tampa QB Josh Freeman. Andre Carter was in his grill all night and made a huge impact on the game as well as fellow D-lineman Vince Wilfork, Eric Moore, Gerard Warren, and Mark Anderson. The scary part is that Albert Haynesworth and Shaun Ellis(projected startes) didn't play tonight due to various injuries. Another strong performance from the team as fans begin to feel better and better about the team's odds heading into the second half of the pre-season. Now here are the winners and losers from the game tonight

Winners:

Tom Brady- the Pro-Bowler looked sharp in his first action of the pre-season connecting with Chad OchoCinco and Aaron Hernandez on TD passes

Danny Woodhead/Ben Jarvus Green-Eliis - the RB duo was very effective tonight rushing for over 100 yards and 2 TD's in one half of action tonight

Andre Carter- see above as he was a best coming off the edge tonight

Jerod Mayo- Mayo had five tackles and two sacks and was the clear leader of the defense that had a terrific night

Wes Welker- a strong night for Welker as he made some good catches and took some hits

Stevan Ridley- Ridley looked strong again tonight throughout the second half and lookds to contribute to the team in the regular season

Losers

Ryan Mallett- the rookie looked like a rookie floating a pick six. He did some good things as well but on a great night for the team, he falls into the loser category

Brandon Meriweather- considering he is in a fight for his job with Sergio Brown, Meriweather didn't do much besides make a few tackles after giving up significant catches.

BU hockey pegged as #7 in two preseason rankings

Our BU mens ice hockey team has been slated as the #7 team in the country by two sources, INCH and the college hockey blog. Both have lofty predictions for the Terriers in the coming season with the only concern stated as the ability of the current players to pick up the goal production after losing leading goal scorer to graduation. Obviously these rankings mean very little in August but gives a good indication of the expectations surrounding the team this year. It will be interesting to see how they respond as they fell to .500 hockey after rising to #1 overall very early last season. The countdown sits at 43 days until the exhibition game October 1st at Agganis Arena. Go BU!

First stab at the Patriots 53 man roster

I am a Patriots expert as you all know and heading into the second preseason game I figured it was time to take my first shot the Patriots 53 man roster which will come out in the days following the last pre-season game in early September. ESPN Boston's Mike Reiss and Mike Rodak have given their predictions here. So you can compare the experts opinions with the real expert(myself).

QB(3)- Tom Brady, Brian Hoyer, Ryan Mallett - This is the best depth chart for QB in the league as many teams would love to have Hoyer and Mallett as their backups after their success in the pre-season opener.

RB(5)- Benjarvus Green-Ellis, Danny Woodhead, Stevan Ridley, Shane Vereen, Sammy Morris

- I think Morris is on the bubble but Belichick will keep the veteran to help the two rookies(Ridley and Vereen) along with Kevin Faulk who will most likely begin the year on PUP/inactive list

TE(3)- Rob Gronkowski, Aaron Hernandez, Lee Smith- The top two are locks here while Smith has been getting pushed by undrafted TE Will Yeatman and he could very easily beat him out for that lost spot

WR(7)- Wes Welker, Chad OchoCinco, Deion Branch, Julian Edelman, Taylor Price, Brandon Tate, Matthew Slater - All of these seven had made cases to make the team and have earned a spot that Belichick will give as they all play a different role on the team.

OT(4)- Matt Light, Sebastian Vollmer, Nate Solder, Steve Maneri - The top three are obvious locks while Maneri just edges out Mark Levoir who the Pats try to sneak onto the practice squad after he clears waivers.

G/C(4)-Logan Mankins, Dan Koppen, Dan Connolly, Ryan Wendell -They only keep four here due to the surplus at receiver but keep Rich Ornhberger on the practice squad if he passes through waivers

DT(6) - Vince Wilfork, Albert Haynesworth, Mike Wright, Myron Pryor, Kyle Love, Gerard Warren

DE(5)- Jermaine Cunningham, Shaun Ellis, Andre Carter, Eric Moore, Mark Anderson- I think Anderson was the best pash rusher on the field in the first pre-season game and earned a spot on the team with the speed he showed off the edge

LB(5) Jerod Mayo, Brandon Spikes,Dane Fletcher, Gary Guyton, Rob Ninkovich - Tracey White is the casualty here as he is a special teams ace but serves little help on defense and will be a tough cut for Belichick

CB(5)- Devin McCourty, Leigh Bodden, Ras-I Dowling, Kyle Arrington, Darius Butler

- Butler only stays if Dowling's health doesn't improve. If he gets healthy and some reps in, then Tracey White stays and Butler gets cut.

S(4)- Brandon Meriweather, Pat Chung, James Sanders, Bret Lockett

- Lockett has had a better camp than Sergio Brown and grabs the last spot with Brown landing on the practice squad

Specialists(2) - Stephen Gostkowski, Zoltan Mesko, long snapper to be named later

- I don't think Matt Katula makes this team after his performance in camp so far. I would not be surprised if Rob Ninkovich or another player on the roster took over the duties from Katula as he is not valuable unless he does the one thing he is paid to do correctly.

Too late now Luongo

So I am doing my daily scroll through ESPN Boston and I come across a story that reads "Luongo regrets critical comments of Thomas". Such a fucking typical Canadian move. Oh I lost after I was a pompous asshole and now I regret those comments. Well no shit you do but you lost the finals over two months ago killer. Let it go and move hunting moose or drinking maple syrup or burning cars which seems to be a pretty big past time up there in vancouver. Do me a favor and stop bringing the attention back to you. You are a choke artist and a scumbag. Timmy Thomas took a giant dump on your chest. Accept it and move on

p.s I hope you shaved that slick-back grease ball look by now.

Pats rest starters, backups thump Jags

First, I would like to say it is great to have football back and get goosebumps at the game as ozzy screams and the Patriots come out of their giant,inflatable helmet. This is going to be another great season approaching and it appears the genius Bill Belichick was it again making for a less than exciting but very productive pre-season opener for the New England Patriots. QB Tom Brady did not play after only 7 full-pad practices thus far as young QB's lead New England to a 47-12 victory over the visiting Jaguars. The Patriots also rested starters DT Vince Wilfork, Albert Haynesworth, LB Jerod Mayo, CB Devin McCourty, WR's Wes Welker, Deion Branch and Chad OchoCinco. The entire offensive line also sat this one out. You couldn't have asked for a much better performance by Hoyer in the first half as he was efficient and effective against the top Jags defenders. Here is some more insight to some guys who I think helped their cause and hurt themselves during the game.

Winners

Brian Hoyer- 15/21 171 Yards and a TD in one half of work while managing the game nicely is a promising sign for Patriots fans if anything happens to Brady this season.

Ryan Mallet- the third round pick out of Arkansas played like he has been in the league for years in the second half going 12/19 for 164 yards and a TD pass

Stevan Ridley- the third round pick out of LSU took advantage of second round pick Shane Vereen being injured and veterans sitting out as he was very impressive rushing for 2 TD's and catching another after the knock on him was that he couldn't catch the ball out of the backfield.

Taylor Price- Price made a strong case to earn a spot on the team as he was the Pats best receiver and seems destined to be the fifth guy behind Welker, Branch, OchoCinco, and Edelman.

Buddy Farnham- the free agent out of Brown and North Andover made a good impression once again in the reps that he saw as he had a pick defensively while also racking in 3 catches for 34 yards.

Dane Fletcher-the second year LB out of Montana made some big plays in the first half for the defense and seems to have locked up his role on the team.

Losers

Darius Butler- Butler struggled early against rookie Blaine Gabbert and was later re-entered into the game in the fourth which is never a good sign when Buddy Farnham, a WR, was lined up on the other side.

Aaron Hernandez- Hernandez was productive having six catches for 68 yards but also fumbled twice, losing one which wont make Bill too happy.

Tracey White- jumped offside on a punt to give Jacksonville a first down, not the type of mistake you want to make a special teams specialist

It was also announced that LG Logan Mankins' new six year deal is worth 51 million and makes him the highest paid interior lineman in the league. This includes a 20 million dollar signing bonus so if you're short on some cash just give Logan a call, I am sure he can spot you a few bucks.

Montreal...Let it Go...

http://boston.cbslocal.com/2011/08/10/montreal-police-complete-probe-into-bruins-chara/

SERIOUSLY?

"Crown lawyers will decide whether to charge Boston’s captain for the hit during a regular-season game on March 8 that sidelined Pacioretty with a concussion and a cracked vertebra."

I cannot believe this. There was zero intent to injure. In the course of hockey history, there have been hits and cheap shots that might have called for legal implications. The two that come immediately to mind are the Marty McSorely/Donald Brashear incident and the Todd Bertuzzi/Steve Moore incidents. These are special cases however where the two players involved were calling eachother out, and there was a pretty bad history between the two. Sure Paccioretty and Chara have had their issues in the past but they weren't sitting in the locker room saying "I'm going to get this guy". The other difference is that the play in which Paccioretty was injured was not a cheap shot or an issue with intent to injure. McSorely smacked Brashear on the head with his stick. Bertuzzi grabbed Moore and threw his glove off, smashed him in the head, and drove him down. Chara and Paccioretty? In defense of the puck, Chara had to drive Paccioretty to wall, and the stanchion happened to be there. Am I a Chara fan? No. I've hated him since he played on the Senators, but I back him 100% in this. This is getting ridiculous, and I honestly think even the Mounted Police think it is absolutely ridiculous. This, mark my words, is just Jacques Martin tryin to stir up controversy and get the Habs name out there, but in reality, he just looks like a jackass.

Terriers finalize roster for 2011-2012 season

The Boston University Terriers men's ice hockey roster was finalized in the last week and can be found by clicking here. The Terriers formally announced an incoming class of four new additions to the roster which includes F Cason Hohmann and Evan Rodrigues along with D Alexx Privitera and last year's practice goalie Anthony Moccia, who will become the third goalie. With having the full roster I obviously have to give my first attempt at predicting the lines for opening night on 10/8 even though i will probably be way off anyway well here we go.

Forwards

1 - Connolly- Coyle- Chiasson

2- Nieto- Trivino- Megan

3- Gill- Hohmann- Rodrigues

4 Cisse- Rosen- Courtnall

Defense

1 Noonan-Clendening

2 Privitera- Ruikka

3 Escobedo- NiCastro

Goalie

1 Millan

2 Rollie

3 Moccia

- Obviously I reserve the right to change my mind as Ross Gaudet and Cisse were a tossup to me for that fourth line and it depends on how both return from surgery(ankle for Cisse, hip for Gaudet). Feel free to tell me how wrong I am below but we all know we're going to win it all no matter what lines we throw out there. Go BU!

Cold-Stove NHL Predictions

I apologize for yet another long hiatus from yours truly...my bad guys...

Anyways, I've been following NHL senior writer Dan Rosen pretty faithfully this offseason, and with some of his insights, I'd like to give my midsummer predictions for the upcoming season:

Eastern Conference

Atlantic

1. Philadelphia Flyers
   
2. New York Rangers
3. Pittsburgh Penguins
   
4. New York Islanders
5. New Jersey Devils
   

Northeast

1. Boston Bruins
2. Montreal Canadiens
3. Buffalo Sabres
4. Ottawa Senators
5. Toronto Maple Leafs
   

Southeast

1. Tampa Bay Lightning
2. Washington Capitals
3. Winnipeg Jets
4. Florida Panthers
5. Carolina Hurricanes
   

Western Conference

Central

1. Nashville Predators
2. Chicago Blackhawks
3. Detroit Red Wings
   
4. Columbus Blue Jackets
5. St. Louis Blues
   

Northwest

1. Vancouver Canucks
2. Minnesota Wild
3. Colorado Avalanche
4. Calgary Flames
5. Edmonton Oilers
   

Pacific

1. San Jose Sharks
2. Dallas Stars
3. Anaheim Ducks
4. Los Angeles Kings
5. Phoenix Coyotes
   

Notes:
As far as the Eastern Conference as a whole goes, there is ZERO doubt in my mind that this will be a season that comes down to Boston and Philadelphia absolutely battling it out. The Bruins basically have done nothing in this offseason, save acquiring a defensemen and a left winger to fill in a few gaps left from the free agency, but there's no reason they would need to make any adjustments. This was a team scoring more than 5 goals in a Stanley Cup final game. The Bruins are one of the deeper teams in the league. The Flyers, however, have been making many many moves. They acquired a great talent in net with Bryzgalov, a gritty forward with Maxime Talbot, and some supreme veteran leadership/locker room booster with (my all time favorite hockey player) Jaromir Jagr. This is a team who is scaring me. They are almost as deep as the Bruins, and they are going to be playing with some fire in them. Philly will not forget their conference rivals sweeping them in the playoffs. Mark my words, Boston and Philadelphia will get nasty this year. Other teams of note in the Eastern Conference in my mind are the Rangers, Jets and Lightning. The Lightning will most likely take the Southeast division with little problem. They were revitalized with the re-signing of Stamkos, and they were able to keep most of their free agents. They picked up former Ranger and Terrier Matt Gilroy, along with others from around the league (Including Garon, who will most likely get more net time than the geriatric Roloson). I would watch out for the Rangers to have a decent season. They signed one of the biggest free agents, Brad Richards, and between him, Dubinsky, Callahan, and Gaborik, there's a lot of talent to go around.

The one team that will be under the most scrutiny/bandwagoning is the Jets. I am very intrigued to see them play, and I would not be surprised to see them have an alright season. They got a couple great draft picks, and re-signed soon-to-be captain Andrew Ladd to a 5 year deal. Dustin Byfuglien will be looking to have a great season to try and cement his name up in Winnipeg and in the minds of the team as a potential future captain.

The teams in the East that will, and I promise you, suck - Devils, Isles, Canes and Maple Leafs. The only one of them who might come out alright at best would be the Islanders, ONLY because they have a bunch of excellent prospects who might be suiting up for them to pump some life into that ever-struggling team.


Now, for the Western Conference, I would not be surprised to see the Canucks with another President's Trophy season. This is due, yes, partly to the soft feel to the West, but also to this team's roster being almost as stacked as the Bruins. The Canucks organization absolutely covered all its bases with the losses of Erhoff and Torres with the acquisitions of Marco Sturm and Alex Sulzer. This team will have one of the best defenses in the league, with Sulzer, Sami Salo, Kevin Bieksa, and Keith Ballard. The offensive talent will lie again with the Sedin twins and most of those first and second line guys, but watch out for Malhotra this season. He's a faceoff winning machine, and has pretty good offensive prowess. The only thorn in their side will be Ryan Kesler being out for the rest of the offseason due to surgery. His recovery takes 10 weeks, and the season starts in 9.5 weeks, which means he'll most likely miss a few games at the beginning of the season, and will have a lot of catching up to do. All this team needs is for Luongo to forget about his abysmal display in the Stanley Cup Finals, and they should take the West quite easily. The two Western teams that will be duking it out the most are San Jose and Nashville. I would give the edge to Nashville on three skaters - Pekka Rinne, Shane Weber, and Ryan Suter. Shane Weber, who recently avoided arbitration, and signed long-term with the Preds, will be an offensive standout for them this year. Pekka Rinne was a beast in net in the playoffs last year, and will be looking to use that as momentum to make him a force to be reckoned with in the West. Rinne and Suter, a defensive tactician, are entering their last year of their contracts, and will most likely be fighting to have great seasons to get good offers at the end of the season. San Jose was able to nab some decent offensive talent with Handzus, Havlat and Andrew Murray, but I don't think they'll be able to match Nashville.

One team I will be looking to make a massive comeback this season is the Dallas Stars. They lost some major talent but balanced it out with major acquisitions, such as Michael Ryder, Radek Dvorak, Sheldon Souray, and Eric Godard. I'm expecting big things from a very frustrated franchise. Their GM, Joe Nieuwendyk, made front office changes, appointing Glen Gulutzan head coach, and he'll be looking to take this team out of their dark days.

The only crappy team I want to focus on is the Coyotes. This is a dying organization. I give the Phoenix Wastes of Money 1 to 2 seasons before they do not exist. My bet is that they move north to either Seattle or Quebec. This team is hemorrhaging money, and shows no signs of turning around. They traded away one of their biggest assets, Ilya Bryzgalov for draft picks. This is going to be a tough year for them.

only 62 more days until the first NHL puck drop...so soon...

Long Time Islander Fan Disappointment

Hey ya'll! I am an Islander fan and I hate politics that is why is article will give some light into what is happening from where am from.

I understand most of you are from eons away from here but at least support us cause this might be our last 4 years here.