WickedBruinsFan's Blog

Hasn't it been too quiet around here and the Bruins lately? Just earlier in the afternoon I was wondering how long we would have to wait before GM Peter Chiarelli was going to start re-signing players like Dennis Wideman (RFA), Chuck Kobasew (RFA), Glen Metropolit (UFA) and Aaron Ward (UFA).

We have to wait no longer.

The Bruins signed Kobasew to a three-year contract extension.

Kobasew will earn $2 million next, $2.5 million in 2009-10 and $2.5 million in 2010-11.

The 26-year old scored 22 goals and 39 points 73 games for the Bruins last year.

I am psyched! This gives me plenty of time to upgrade my Kobasew t-shirt to a Kobasew jersey before the season starts.

Posted at 5:16 PM in Signings | Permalink | Comments (1)

Sometimes it's fun to look back and see what was being said about the team before the season even started. Unfortunately for me, anything I say (write) can always be held as evidence and thrown back into my face at a later date to prove me wrong (if that ever happens).

I have a magnet on my refrigerator that says, "You can agree with me or you can be wrong." I bought it a couple years ago because it couldn't have been more true.

So while I was contemplating making some changes to the website this summer, I went back to read some posts on that last failed attempt to upgrade Movable Type. This time, I may just do a whole new fresh installation, and you'll know when that happens.

Anyway, I came across a post that had my predictions in it for this past season. I shudder at the word "predictions" because that's the only time I'm ever wrong, usually.

I talked to a friend on Wednesday night and he brought up the Bruins and how they'll be back soon. I told him that they'll be back sooner than he thought with training camp starting. Then he asked me if they will be good this season.

I never exactly know how to answer that question. I am not about to say they will win the Stanley Cup. But I also can't say they will finish last in the NHL.

My response was, "Hopefully." Because that's all fans can do right now is hope that the season will go well.

My friend said, "Hopefully? You don't know?" So I took it a step further and said they will, at the very least, make the playoffs.

At least I predicted they would make the playoffs. I really had no idea they would have been fighting for the 6th seed at the time.

Perhaps I even had a Nostradamus moment in the comments.

They just have to stop meeting Montreal in the playoffs. That would solve half of their problems. ;)

Meanwhile, in this year's playoffs, the Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers are in the Eastern Conference Finals, and in the west there's the Detroit Red Wings battling the Dallas Stars in the Western Conference Finals.

I'm not really into the playoffs this year as I have been in previous seasons. There's really no explanation for it other than I prefer to watch television shows such as Jon & Kate plus Eight, Dancing with the Stars (no laughing), and Grey's Anatomy (is it Thursday yet?).

I will definitely check out the Stanley Cup Finals because that's the last hockey we'll see until October.

Posted at 1:39 PM in 2007-2008 Season, Playoffs | Permalink | Comments (0)

The break between the last Bruins' game and the first day of training camp always seems like such a long time. It's only broken up by events such as the NHL draft and the first day of free agency. That's about it.

Then there is the time of development camp, which the Bruins are bringing back for the second year.

This year's development camp will take place in Wilmington, from July 8th to the 12th.

The roster and complete schedule will be released at a later time.

Posted at 3:55 PM in Boston Bruins | Permalink

When being a Bruins fan, one has to expect and accept changes that take place throughout the season and off-season. We have to roll with the punches. In past seasons, the player turnover was equivalent to New England’s ever-changing weather; it would change anytime the wind switched directions and a fan wouldn’t know what to expect in the outcome.

This past season was different.

Only two trades happened during the season. One was when the Bruins acquired a much-needed goalie at the time that turned into a pleasant surprise for the season. The other was the Bruins sending a forward over for a defenseman that had a rough start but turned into one of the many bright spots of the season.

Those two trades were acquiring Alex Auld for Nate DiCasmirro and acquiring Shane Hnidy for Brandon Bochenski.

The Bruins finished the season with much of the same personnel that started the season, which were:

Goalies: Manny Fernandez, Tim Thomas. Defensemen: Bobby Allen, Andrew Alberts, Zdeno Chara, Andrew Ference, Mark Stuart, Aaron Ward, Dennis Wideman. Forwards: P.J. Axelsson, Patrice Bergeron, Brandon Bochenski, Phil Kessel, Chuck Kobasew, David Krejci, Milan Lucic, Glen Metropolit, Glen Murray, Jeremy Reich, Marc Savard, Peter Schaefer, Marco Sturm, and Shawn Thornton.

The team that finished out the season was (new names bolded):

Goalies: Alex Auld, Manny Fernandez, Tim Thomas. Defensemen: Bobby Allen, Andrew Alberts, Zdeno Chara, Andrew Ference, Shane Hnidy, Mark Stuart, Aaron Ward, Dennis Wideman. Forwards: P.J. Axelsson, Patrice Bergeron, Phil Kessel, Chuck Kobasew, David Krejci, Milan Lucic, Glen Metropolit, Glen Murray, Petteri Nokelainen, Jeremy Reich, Marc Savard, Peter Schaefer, Vladimir Sobotka, Marco Sturm, and Shawn Thornton.

Any Bruins fan should give props to the players who were here all season and got us to where we wanted to see them, the playoffs. As we all know, some of these players might not be wearing the spoked-B come this October, but this was a great team to watch on the ice this season.

General manager Peter Chiarelli certainly built Boston a strong and hard-working hockey team, and hopefully it will only get stronger in 2008-2009.

Posted at 6:23 PM in 2007-2008 Season | Permalink | Comments (3)

I have a lot to cover with the season ending last Monday with the Canadiens defeating the Bruins 5-0 in game 7 to take the series 4-3, and other Bruins news. But while I was wallowing in my sorrows, I came down with a nasty flu on Wednesday morning - the same day I would've made my annual trip to see the Bruins after the locker clean-out. Chalk it up to bad timing.

I have been pretty much avoiding the world (phones, internet) since then, and not because I wanted to.

I hope to be back on track next week, and doing some site maintenance, writing and things like that.

One other thing before I actively continue my recovery, the comments are no longer moderated and will post immediately.

Posted at 11:38 PM in 2008 Playoffs, Miscellaneous | Permalink