Tag Archives: Bruins

The Separation of Skate and State

  By Chris Speziale | 01/25/2012 - 4:22 pm | Musings
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Perhaps Tim Thomas could use his Conn Smythe as a soap box?

Maybe it’s because we’re in an election year.  Maybe it’s because our President just gave the State of the Union address. Heck, maybe it’s just because I feel connected to what’s going on in the world around me.  For whatever reason, Tim Thomas refusing to visit the White House really struck a chord with me.

Now, it’s no secret where my political affiliations lie, I’m a proud Democrat, who believes in a liberal social and fiscal agenda.  And while I support the left, it’s become evident that the Bruins Vezina Trophy winning goalie clearly has a right leaning mentality.  I don’t want to hear that the statement he made to excuse himself from the visit was bipartisan or centrist.  I don’t want to hear that he was speaking out against government as a whole.  Dig a little deeper and you’ll learn that this is a man who rallies around the fear-mongering of conservative talking heads like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh.  Tim Thomas chose not to visit the White House because he doesn’t agree with the administration, and I think he made a mistake.

I had to stop for a second when I first read the story.  I was shocked by it, and I just couldn’t find a good justification.  I put myself in this hypothetical situation:  I’m a star athlete (wouldn’t that be nice) and my team is scheduled to make a trip to the Oval Office in the year following a championship run.  Let’s say that we’re in the middle of the previous Republican administration.  I can’t imagine a scenario where I’m not standing on that stage with the rest of my teammates shaking hands with President George W. Bush; a man with whom I vehemently disagreed on almost every issue.  You don’t have to agree with what he’s done with his time in office, you don’t have to agree with his policies or beliefs, all you have to do it stand there and smile.  And you know, I might even take that opportunity to have a conversation with the man (or woman) making the big decisions.  You just don’t get invited to the White House all that often.

But it goes beyond even turning down an invitation.  We live in a world where news and information are instantly available, and it’s incredibly easy to connect to people in even the remotest of locations.  Because of this far reach, we’re noticing more and more athletes/actors/celebrities taking to the soap box, and spewing their beliefs and ideologies all over the place.  I just can’t seem to set aside my belief that the sporting world isn’t the right place for this.  Turning to an athlete for political advice would be like turning to a politician to take the last penalty shot in an overtime shootout.  It’s something you just don’t do.  Can we take this for what it’s worth?  I say no.  One guy taking a stand to protect what he believes in is one thing, and yes, everyone (Tim Thomas included) has a right to free speech, but just because you have the right, doesn’t make it right.  What TT did on Monday was childish.  He put himself ahead of his team, and turned what was supposed to be a highlight for the city of Boston, and the Bruins organization, into a media circus.

As an athlete, your talent and physical skill get you millions of dollars, the admiration of thousands of fans, and a platform to spread whatever message you choose.  We listen to you, we idolize you, and we cast you as the role model, so you need to be careful with what you say and how your present yourself to the public.  If upon your retirement, you want lobby for a Republican agenda or start your own bigoted talk radio show, then by all means, go right ahead.  But now? Now, your job is not to campaign for the next Republican nominee, it’s to stop that little, black, rubber disk from making its way into the back of the net.  Maybe I’m naïve, or maybe I have a hard time coming to grips with the fact that some of the athletes I root for don’t share my beliefs.  But had Thomas just put politics aside, supported his teammates, and been gracious in receiving an honor from the President of the United States, we wouldn’t be in this mess in the first place.

Loathing Luongo’s Linguistics

  By Chris Speziale | 06/13/2011 - 4:43 pm | Musings, Predictions
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Roberto Luongo may have just disturbed the sleeping bear....

Roberto Luongo may have made the gravest mistake of his career on Friday.  After Vancouver’s 1-0 victory at the Rogers Centre, the Canuck goalie made comments in his post-game press conference criticizing his Bruins counterpart.  Tim Thomas played his usual aggressive style in Game 5, and it cost him dearly in the final period of play.  With over 13 minutes remaining, a hard shot off the end boards from the right point deflected right to the waiting stick of Maxim Lapierre, who had all day to bury the puck in the back of the net.  Thomas had been out of the paint, trying to cut down the angle on the shot from the point, and it led to the game’s only goal.

 

The issue at hand isn’t at all about Thomas being out of position, but rather how are Thomas’ teammates going to take to the Vancouver goalie calling him out?  On a scale of “One to Rex Ryan”, Luongo’s comments probably rank right around a six.  In reference to making the save that Thomas couldn’t, “an easy save for me, but if you’re wandering out and aggressive like [Thomas] is, that’s going to happen.”  It wasn’t the grandest of shots, but the media heard it.  The players heard it.  And the fans heard it.

 

If you think this physical Bruins team is going to stand by and let another team take shots at the heart and soul of their team, you’ve got another think coming.  The B’s have played well at home (as Luongo could certainly tell you) and will need to force the Canucks to play their style when the puck drops at TD Garden tonight.  Boston has continuously started off on the wrong foot when hitting the road for Vancouver in this series, and they know it.

 

If the Stanley Cup is going to come back to Boston for the first time since 1972, the Bruins will need to establish their aggressive style early and hope that they can carry it through six more periods of play.  The bad news for Vancouver?  They may have just given the Bruins that extra little fire to carry them through.  Remember what happened after Nathan Horton went down with his concussion; the Bruins played inspired hockey for the rest of that Game 3 and into Game 4.  Now you’re messing with Papa bear, and Papa bear and his teammates won’t take it lying down.

Making Sweet Ice

  By Chris Speziale | 01/05/2010 - 3:31 pm | Impress Your Friends
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I had the opportunity to take in the Bruins/Rangers game at Madison Square Garden last night.  And while I watched the Bruins play horribly for 50 some odd minutes, I got to thinking.  How the heck do they make NHL Ice?  I knew that it was complicated, and then I read an article that made me realize how truly incredible the process really is.

An NHL rink consists of 4 layers of ice measuring only 1 inch thick.  The first and second layers are 1/32 of an inch and are sprayed on the chilled concrete floor by a paint truck.  The paint truck then switches out its water for actual paint to spray the whole surface white.  They then add a 1/16 of an inch layer to seal the white paint and prep for the lines and logos.  Those are painted on by hand using stencils before the final layer of ice is put on using a hose to flood the arena with 10,000 gallons of water.  The ice in NHL rinks is usually tap water that has been run through a purifier and then mixed with chemical additives to maintain pH levels.  And while the freezing point on a regular thermometer is 32°, the ice in hockey rinks is kept between 24° and 26°.  This prevents it  from getting to soft.

It’s also pretty freaking cool how they re-ice the skating surface during intermissions.  Zamboni’s were invented by Mr. Frank Zamboni in the 1940’s; they resurface the ice after pre-game skates and between each period of a hockey game.  The process is crazy, to say the least:

  1. The machine first scrapes the top layer of ice off the surface
  2. Then, using augers moves the shaved ice from the razor to the bin at the front end of the vehicle where it is melted and cleaned.
  3. As the ice is being shaved it is also being heated so that when the cleaned water is put back onto the rink it will bond with the ice deeply.  This prevents the top layer from simply cracking and chipping off.
  4. A squeegee is then used to smooth the melted ice and clean water that has been added to the top layer.

It takes about 3 minutes from start to finish for two Zamboni’s to clean and resurface an entire NHL rink.  Most teams have two, and they run about $55,000 a piece.

So as my mind wandered last night, induced by the complete snooze-fest that was the Bruins offensive game-plan, I thought of this.  Completely useless, I know, but man-oh-man will you be popular at cocktail parties when you bust-out this knowledge all up in someone’s grill.  Plus, it led me to this completely ridiculous YouTube video.  Obsessed much?  I guess you can’t argue with 48,000 views.

Be GONE, Year of Celebrity Death!

  By Chris Speziale | 12/31/2009 - 3:26 pm | Musings
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It was a rough year to be a celebrity.  If you’re a celeb-rag reader, or just a plain old fan of the privileged life, you are probably glad that the calendar year is coming to an end. WCBS.tv lists 129 famous people who passed away over the last 365 days, most notably: Michael Jackson, Brittany Murphy, Ricardo Montalban, James Whitmore, Socks the Cat, Ron Silver, Natasha Richardson, Bea Arthur, Dom DeLuise, David Carradine, Ed McMahon, Farah Fawcett, and Billy Mays.  And, as if that wasn’t a mouthful, the sports world was also hit by the grim reaper. Nick Adenhart, Harry Kalas, Mark Fidrych, Les Keiter, Merle Harmon, Dom Dimaggio, and most recently Chris Henry, will be resting in peace in 2010.  Being a sportscaster, the passing the Harry Kalas hits home the most.  He was one of the most distinctive voices in the game and was never lost for words when it came to the game of baseball.  He was eloquent, intelligent, and human.  That made him all the more pleasant to listen to.  Scott Franzke and Larry Andersen have some huge shoes to fill– here’s hoping the Philly fan-base embraces the new team. But why are we marking the New Year with such a solemn column?  Well, we’re not!  If you’re reading this blog, you are most likely a sports fan, and if you’re a sports fan you should be totally stoked for 2010.

Right out of the gate, we’ve got a crazy cool event. The NHL Winter Classic drops on New Years Day at 1PM in Boston, where the Bruins and the Flyers will square-off.  Boston comes into the game second in the Northeast Division and the Flyers are chasing down the Devils, who have been absolutely lights out of late.  Boston has been waiting all season for its Vezina Trophy winner to return to the form that won him best goalie honors last year. Side note: if you want a comment included in the “More NHL Coverage” post, you need to put it up by Jan. 4th.  That’s when we’re sticking that sucker in the mail to Commish Bettman.  Anyway, Tim Thomas has been on the ice for extra practice the last couple of weeks and he’s starting to come around.  In his last 4 starts he’s 3-1 and has a save percentage up over his career average of .933.  He also has 4 shutouts on the young season, which is one shy of the career high he set last year.

Not only is Tim Thomas starring in one of the coolest (literally) NHL games of the season, he will also most likely be tapped as the number two goalie for the US Olympic team.  The Canadiens are sure to be the favorites in Vancouver, with Sid the Kid, Marty Broduer, and Joe Thornton leading the way. In 2006, the U.S. finished second in the medal count with twenty-five, nine of them gold.  But this year the U.S. is sending a standout team to the games.  Apollo Ono will be returning to defend his gold in the 500M speed-skating event, Shaun White will be the favorite to take any and all of the snowboarding events, and Hannah Teter and Gretchen Bleiler will be back to take on the women’s snowboarding events.

And of course, how can we talk about the Winter Olympics without a single mention of figure skating?  It’s only the single most graceful, athletic, emotional, and inspiring sport on the planet.  Ok, clearly I’m kidding, BUT there are a lot of people out there who really dig the ice dancing (my fiancée included). There are a bunch of American names to watch in February:  For the women, Rachael Flatt who finished 5th at the World Championships in Los Angeles last spring, Mirai Nagasu who is only 16 and unproven in international competition, and then there’s Sasha Cohen, the reigning Olympic Silver medalist, who is coming off a knee injury and looking to prove a point.  On the men’s side, current World Champion Evan Lysacek will be going for the gold against fellow American and rival Johnny Weir. The opening ceremony of the Olympic Games will be February 12th, with competition beginning the next day.

Not only do we get the Olympics in February, but 2010 also brings us a World Cup in South Africa.  The U.S. team made the Quarters in 2002 and hopes to push even further this year.  The FIFA rankings have recently been released and the Americans pulled in a number 14 ranking.  They also got a very interesting draw.  England awaits them in the opening match on June 12th, with matches against Algeria and Slovenia to follow.  The way I see it, the Americans will need at least two victories and a draw to advance onto the next stage of play.  But if you’re a true soccer fan, the group to watch will be the so-called “Group of Death.” This year, that would be Group G.  Brazil, Portugal and the Ivory Coast are all ranked in the top 16 by FIFA.  Should be very, very interesting.  The World Cup kicks off (get it? kicks off?) on June 11th in South Africa.

So, you’ve got the Olympics, the World Cup, the Winter Classic, and all the regulars coming your way in 2010.  The loneliest stretch of the year comes between the World Cup and the start of NFL training camps in August.  During that month, all you’ll have to occupy your time is, you know, baseball.  Jeesh, tough life.  So put away the black veil (Manganaro), and the box of Kleenex; you’ll be so wrapped up in sports next year, you won’t even notice when Lindsay Lohan kicks the bucket.