Have you ever been driving along, minding your own business, when a police car pulls out behind you? The mind starts to go through every scenario. Was I speeding? Did I roll through the stop sign? Is it legal to be on the sidewalk? There is a sinking feeling of impending doom. Watching the Bruins so far this season, I have had that feeling all along.

They had a good start in Colorado. Soundly outplayed for most of the game, they gutted out a big win while getting contributions from new comer Blake Wheeler, and Phil Kessel, who has been on fire to start the year. The loss in Minnesota was easy to take because they showed some real gumption to stay in the game. Under Dave Lewis, the score would have been 5-0 easy. Maybe more. Montreal was a fantastic first period including the first fight of the year from Shawn Thornton. I still think he beat Georges Laraque, but I am getting e-mails about my dependency on crack. The boys got themselves in a hole, and came back to get a valuable point. Again, showing a never say die attitude. Ottawa was the best game of the year so far. They played like a unit, and really took it to the Senators.

This brings us to the last three games. I think the home opener Monday was a flat affair from Boston. They had been on the road for some time, and needed some home cooking. What they got was a shootout loss. Buffalo was a maddening game. They were up 2-0 and let Buffalo back in. Instead of going on the attack, they were trapping so bad I thought they were the Boston Devils. Dennis "Riverboat Gambler" Wideman (Because he gambles every time he has the puck) got beat like a rented defenseman by Drew Stafford, and Manny Fernandez went down early Monday night to stop the shot Stafford put on him Tuesday evening. The end result was another shootout loss.

Thursday made me sick, puke like that, Blaaaah! The Bruins were all over the Leafs, going up 2-0. There were several monster hits, including the one that Milan Lucic (who has looked bad to terrible) laid on Mike Van Ryan. After this hit, the Bruins went to sleep. They were trapping again, and generating no offense at all. There is no way the worst team in the division should come into your own barn and beat you by 2 goals if you are putting up an honest effort. The last three tilts, I don’t see that honest effort. I know it’s early in the year, but I feel as if the blues are about to come on.

September 28th, 2008 found the GoonSquad breathing heavily into a microphone in the thriving metropolis of West Acton Massachusetts. Frequent site contributor Killer joins the podcast for the first time and other highlights include train whistle sound effects, Zamboni music, Bruins-related bantering and Chinese arithmetic. Brace yourselves.

It’s been a long time, but we’re definitely back. For what that’s worth. We have one more podcast in the can that will be released next week and then more in the pipeline that we’ll be recording between Ottawa and Boston via Skype. Stay tuned, and use this handy player to check out any of the previous 4 GoonBlog: The Podcasts that you may have missed.

I don’t get it. Seriously, if I am being a homer, please tell me. Shawn Thornton and Georges Laraque had a very spirited dust up the other night in Montreal. As an aside, I think we will see much more of this in the season upcoming. Anyway, I have now watched the fight probably 50 times. I am scoring it as a win for Thornton, hands down, but a lot of my fight friends and other fight websites have it as a draw or a win Laraque. WTF? Am I scoring improperly?

I give it to Thornton for the 5 very hard right hands he lands on Laraque. Big Georges gets a couple off after the takedown from Thornton at the beginning, but it doesn’t look like they land cleanly. Then Thornton gets in 4 hard rights, and executes a nice under-over move and lands his 5th hard right hand to Larague’s dome. That’s when they get tied up, and Laraque gets in about 7 shots to the license plate before, and while they are bent over the dasher. To me it also looks like Thornton gets in another shot while on the boards. Maybe it’s me. Maybe I’m a crazy person, but I have it scored a clear win for Boston’s Shawn Thornton. I have posted the scrap below, and I want comments. Seriously, if I’m being a homer and you think I’m wrong…let me know. If you’re with me on this, let me know. Either way, looks like this rivalry is back eh?

Remember the scene in the 1980 classic John Landis picture, “The Blues Brothers “when Jake and Elwood are being chased by the Good ol Boys leaving Bob’s Country Bunker? They go flying by the two Illinois State Troopers and their SCMODS they had previously eluded in their old Mount Prospect Police car. One Trooper turns to the other and quips, “I don’t believe it. It’s that shit box Dodge again.” Well, that’s about the same way I felt last night from my seat in the Tsongas Arena watching the all new Lowell Devils.

I had been hearing all summer how this team was going to be different. Gone were the Grant Marshall’s, Ian Moran’s, and other retreads. In were up and comers. Guys that could play a puck possession style. Gone was the dump and chase, defense first style. In was the freewheeling pursue the puck style. Oh, and they also weren’t going to get pushed around. Well, I have been going to hockey games in Lowell long enough to not buy this line of shit. It doesn’t matter what organization has been in that building, I’ve been hearing it forever. “We aren’t going to get pushed around.” LA did, Carolina and Calgary did, Colorado did, and the Devils most definitely did. Despite having a guy like Pierre-Luc LeBlond on the roster for almost two years, they got pushed around. Now, I’m not saying having LeBlond in the lineup would have stopped every team in the league from taking liberties with the smallish Devil forwards Sweet Lou seems to love, but it would have been nice to see him on the ice trying to stop it, as opposed to sitting in the stands signing autographs for the dozens of meat slappers. The point being, I was very skeptical about the 2008-2009 Lowell Devils being anything other than a bad hockey team, playing a very boring style of hockey while getting pushed around in front of 200 people a night.

I am man enough to admit when I am wrong. Last night from the opening faceoff, it was clear this was a different team. It was like seeing a shit box Dodge to watch Devil forwards forecheck. I’m serious. I saw it with my own eyes. They actually went after a person with the puck after a turn over in their own end as opposed to immediately reporting to the neutral zone for trap duty. In Frickin’ credible eh? Oh, and they were physical too. I saw more body checks last night (along with goals, and fights….but we’ll get to that) in one game than I think I have in three years. I mentioned fights. There were THREE! No kidding three honest to goodness fights.

Round one featured a very feisty Rod Pelley of Lowell, and a baby faced Mike Moore of Worcester. I didn’t see how it started, but Pelley got an extra two minutes for roughing. I looked up and the boys were going at it across from my seat very near the visitor’s penalty box. Both landed a few in close punches and there was a bit more wrestling than I like to see, but Pelley did land a couple of nice shots, and I’m a homer sometimes, so win Pelley. Scary moment as they went to the ice. The linesman came this close to getting kicked in the face. Scary indeed.

Two minutes later, the square circle was open again, and stepping in this time was Lowell’s Tyler Eckford, and Worcester’s Jason Demers. Eckford came to the defense of team mate Nick Bergfors after Demers tried to take his head off against the home penalty box. Demers tried to run Bergfors, and went to the ice. Eckford came over, honored the code and let the man get to his feet, and then they had a spirited go. From my seat I couldn’t see much of the fight, but judges ringside said Eckford got in some nice shots while being handcuffed by his own jersey. I did notice Demers had a cut lip, and I could hear him say, “It’s been a long time since I fought. I didn’t really get any off” to Mike Moore when he got in the box. I can’t call a winner because I didn’t really see the scrap, but using the other judge’s scoring, he had it a win for Eckford. T o reap, that’s two fights. One game. Not the whole season.

The third fight of the night started right in front of Lowell’s bench. After Lowell’s Stephen Gionta almost got killed by an attempted clothes line, Olivier Magnan of Lowell grabbed Worcester’s Tom Cavanagh and beat him like he stole something. This one wasn’t even close, as Magnan unloaded left after left into Cavanagh’s mind. The crowd went crazy as it was a perfect way to end the 6-4 thrashing. Cavanagh came up bloody and might think twice about trying that kind of shit in Lowell again. I realize it’s only one game, but I really enjoyed myself in Lowell for the first time in a long time. Come on down, and bring the kids as the New Look Lowell Devils face off against the Manchester Monarchs next Friday night. Good seats are still available.

It’s finally here. The long hot summer is finally over. Bring on the long cold winter. That’s right, the “Boys of Winter” are back tonight against the Colorado Avalanche. The new slogan, “We want it as bad as you” remains to be seen, but I must say I am encouraged by the 2008-2009 Bruins chances.

While I was bummed to see Jeremy Reich sent down, it made sense. Milan Lucic, and Shawn Thornton both play the agitator, and Blake Wheeler played his way right onto the roster. Reicher will be back though, as I would imagine he’ll be the first called from the Baby B’s should they need a little grit, and honest effort. Speaking of “Wheels”. My word is this kid impressive early on. He has size, and good body position in front of the net, and I love he’s wearing 42. If he can drop the mitts and go, I think I might drop one in my pants. If Phil Kessel can have a go in pre season, anything is possible.

My big concern for the Bruins is, and always has been, goaltending and defense. They are anchored by the most over rated player in the NHL (Zdeno Chara) a scary presence in Dennis Wideman, a question mark in Andrew Alberts, and other piece parts. They need a true puck mover, and a skilled stay at homer. The Bruins don’t score a lot, so it’s going to be up to this group to help keep pucks out of the net.

This brings us to the goaltenders. Tim Thomas has always scared me, and I am really not sure about Manny Fernandez. I know Tuukka Raask isn’t ready, so I dread the thought of having to bring him up. Over all, I think this team is improved over last year, and I am excited for the season to start. I have them losing to Washington in the second round. I want it more than them.

On this very day of our Lord, September 30th, 2008 - CyberSports have finally launched their new online hockey simulation game, CyberPuck! I’ve been fiddling with it for a few hours now, and although the UI and design still leave a lot to be desired - I think they may be on to something.

We’ve all played hockey simulations and fantasy leagues in the past, but this is something a little different. CyberPuck is more akin to a social network, or some characters from Bard’s Tale walking wearing goalie pads than anything I’ve ever played before. I haven’t spent enough time with the game yet to warrant calling this article a review - but I’m very intrigued and will stick with it for at least a few games.

So far I have created a player named Tie Domi, been drafted by a team called the Sunshine Sultys, hired a trainer to help me with my wristshot and received my weekly salary of $2,500. To be perfectly honest… I’m a little confused by everything you’re initially presented with (sections for training, equipment, leagues, matches, contracts, tactics, fighting, betting, fixtures, cyberpoints, etc.) but eventually I know I’ll be happy with the game’s depth.

My first game is tomorrow and I am anxious to see how my team, the scourge of the Armenian hockey league (although I requested to be drafted by one in Canada), fares in this new world. Perhaps in this case MMORPG will stand for “Many Men Out Reclaiming Past Glories” as opposed to “Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game”.

If you give this a try, or were an alpha tester, tell us what you think. Likewise, if you’ve kicked the tires on their other games - CyberSlam and CyberSoccer - fill us in. Click here to join the fun. I think these crazy kids just might have a great idea on their hands.