You knew it was coming eventually. I held out as long as I could for all of you readers who have no interest in sports, hockey in particular. But after last night’s four hour long, double overtime, game three between the Boston Bruins and the Pittsburgh Penguins ended in such dramatic fashion I’d be remiss if I didn’t write at least something.
Plus, this is the semi-finals and with the Stanley Cup Finals just mere games away for two lucky, hard-working teams it feels right to talk about the fact that the Bruins are up 3-0 on this last series before they could theoretically get to the big game for the second time in as many years.
But they aren’t there yet and as any professional sports player knows – it ain’t over ‘til the final goal horn sounds. Or something like that. So more now than ever is the time for the Bruins to bring their A++ game because the Penguins will not be put down without a fight.
And that fight will no doubt result in more bloody and bruised faces like this one:
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| Image Courtesy CBSBoston |
So let’s just say I’m looking into where I can buy a broom but I’m not saying out loud just what can be done with one.
There are a few Bruins from last night’s game that I feel deserve a high five. Let’s start where no one else is and give a huge debt of gratitude to Jaromir Jagr.
Boston was iffy on Jagr becoming a Bruin and with good reason. In hockey years the guy is about a million and one. As my uncle said “he looks older with every shift out on the ice.” True dat.
But with age comes experience and as the (unquestionably biased) announcers happened to mention during last night’s game he’s been spending some time with David Krejci lately to help him improve his game. And centerman Krejci is leading the team in goals scored this post season with nine.
Which brings me to my other point about Jagr, can someone just give the poor guy a goal for goodness sake? He’s played all 15 post season games, has 7 assists, a +/- of +1, and 45 shots on goal (third after Tyler Seguin at 50 and Patrice Bergeron at 48) and the guy just cannot seem to put the puck in the back of the net.
Not to mention he’s working his old ass off every single night and last night was no exception. It was his play along the boards at the line that created the puck freeing to Brad Marchand who passed to Bergeron for the game winner.
Clearly Jagr’s the team muse because whatever he’s feeding Krejci and the rest of the guys is working.
But Jagr isn’t the only one who battled it out last night. You want to hear about some extreme toughness? Talk to Gregory Campbell who was out there during a Pens power play in the second period. He laid out to block a shot and ended up with a 100 mph slapshot to the leg resulting in a broken fibula.
Ouch.
But that’s not the tough part. The puck remained in the Boston zone so Campbell had no choice but to get up and play for almost a full minute on that broken leg until the puck was cleared down the ice. And what happened during that minute? The guy pushed his stick out to poke the puck away and broke up another play that could have resulted in a Pens goal. On a broken leg.
No pansy-ass players on this team.
Campbell is out for the remainder of the post season regardless of how long it goes but hopefully prognosis will be good for him to return next season all healed. He’s a key member of the roster and his presence on the ice will definitely be missed.
Everyone played a hard fought game, and I’ll even say that the Pens looked pretty good too for most of the contest but they were not getting more than the one goal through the brick wall in goal known as Tuukka Rask. He stopped 53 of 54 shots and in quite dramatic fashion at times. The man was a machine.
Overall the Boston Bruins exerted a solid effort that went until after midnight on the east coast and they left the Pittsburgh Penguins with quite a mountain to climb if they want to stay alive or take the series away from Boston. But coming back from being down three games is rare and I’m sure the spirits of the Pens were quite crushed at the end of the very long game.
And in hockey playoffs, because it’s the Cup, momentum and spirit can count for almost as much as effort when players take the ice. I’m looking forward to seeing if the Bruins can get it done on Friday night to advance into the Cup finals.
Oh, and as a side note…
Published in multiple print and online sources, Author, Blogger and Freelance Writer Jenn Flynn-Shon has been writing for publication since 2001. Follow her antics on twitter @jennshon
11 comments:
Excellent analysis, Jenn. I can't believe I forgot to mention Campbell in my little write up. I love guys like that, who suck it up in the moment and do what has to be done.
I am not a huge fan of hockey but you made it interesting in this post... I will just read your posts to get my info :)
The Bruins are doing really well. And here I thought the Leafs (or Laughs) could bet them.
Blessings and Bear hugs!
Bears Noting, Life in the Urban Forest (poetry).
Well your boys finished off those punks from Pittsburgh! So glad that the B's won that series, especially since Iginla didn't think they were good enough to win the Cup. As Nelson Muntz would say, Haw-haw!
As for Jagr, who was smart enough to accept a trade to Boston, it would be nice to see him bookend his career with another Cup, a la Mark Recchi. And since it's the first time maybe ever that I'm neutral or somewhat a fan of both finalists I'll probably catch a few minutes here and there. But I know you'll be on the edge of your seat for every game. Enjoy it! :-)
You likely know I'm not huge into sports (but football and hockey I can manage if people really press the need to watch them in my presence lol), but this was a really good post.
It made me think that this is another line of freelance article writing you could partake in. You are passionate about it, it's blatant within the write up, and that is a key factor. Have you ever considered this?
Never saw Goon, but it is on my NF queue unless they removed it.
Jak at The Cryton Chronicles & Dreams in the Shade of Ink
I agree, it's a team sport and each individual contribution makes the team better. His willingness to sacrifice was unbelievable to watch.
Hold on a second, don't you live in Canada? I thought it was like part of the birthing process up there that you had to be a hockey fan? heehee kidding :-) I'm more than happy to provide your hockey info, of course it'll probably turn you into a Bruins fan because I'm pretty biased :-)
Don't laugh at the Leafs they made such a solid effort and I actually got nervous for a while there! You gave us a good run for our money!
Oh man all I could do was laugh at how Iginla said out loud that he was going to the Pens because it'd give him the best chance at winning a Cup. Yeah, maybe next year tough guy. Idiot really effed that one up huh? He should've learned from the Spankees, just cuz you load your team with talent doesn't mean you're going to win.
Recchi is my favorite player of all time. Such a solid, stand up guy and a very underrated player in the eyes of the media who always go for the shiny faced guys. Would love to see The Jagr do the same! But first let's get the guy a goal huh? lol
Hey thanks Jak, glad to hear you enjoyed it! I love writing about these guys (not really hockey in general but definitely the black and gold boys!).
Funny you should mention that, I'd love to break into sportswriting for pay but its even tougher than most because you have to be so quick with your timing of articles. And as much as it pains me to even say it, the field is still very much a man's world. Not that it's impossible, just tougher for us gals to get a foothold.
Bah "man's world" :( I suppose I can see how that may be the case, but I feel that could also give an edge of sort. If saturated with a "man" point of view, it may benefit coming from a different perspective. Granted it's kind of the same — love of the sport/team/etc — but people will view it possibly different as such being you're a woman.
This takes place in the gaming world too. Like somehow women who game are "different" than men even though they are where they are because they enjoy the same exact things in the same ways as guys.
Timing as you mentioned would be very important. I wonder how far ahead some have articles written up. I can imagine a handful having a few alternate write ups which they can tweak depending on how the games turn out and add highlights too.
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