Hockey is not just the national pastime and passion, it’s the embodiment of Canadian values. It’s about work ethic, team play, physical conditioning and mental toughness. It’s also about knowing when to leave all of that on the ice and move on. - Dave Burwick

A very happy Canada Day to you all from the shores of the Big Rideau Lake. Here is an appropriate picture that was taken on Saturday as I pulled the pontoon boat out of the lift and one of my new puppies stared at our big light up maple leaf in awe of her first boat ride and first Canada Day fireworks celebration (all the good stuff surrounding the holiday happened over the weekend).

If Chris gets his butt up here as he claims he’s planning to, we’ll dust off the mics, pick a couple of 2-4s up at the L.C. and then have us a rip-roaring summer podcast edition. Do I miss Boston? Definitely. Do I regret the move back to Canada? What do you think? I go to bed every night listening to loons singing and wake up 10 feet from one of the coolest and most historically important water systems in North America. I love this country and sincerely hope that Chris and M.O.L. make it up here so I can share my silly wildreness world with them. If you’re with me, leave him some encouraging comments - I trust it will be worth our reader’s while in terms of the silly content that would be produced as a result.

Can you spot the Canadian girl?

It’s an 8-9 hour drive, no big whoop. Leave at 8am and you’re here by 4pm. Mass Pike to NY Thruway to Syracuse, north on 81 to Gannanoque and you’re practically here. I regret having to resort to the blog to get you motivated, but I also hope you get brow-beaten by the Goons into submission. Haze, bully, namecall. Work with me on this one guys - I miss me some Chris!

TKO a longtime Goonblog reader, and member of the Boston Bruins 2008-2009 bandwagon (he was on at the end of this year but every time he watched they lost, so I made him stop) sent me a text last night during the second stanza of the Penguins game. It was simple, but totally summed up the game. It was one word: Scrappy.

Now, I love the word scrappy. Or, scrap. Or scrapping, as in, “Why should she care what anyone thinks about her? She’s just scrapping.” Scrappy Doo was a cartoon dog I could have done without, and had I been Uncle Scooby, I’d have kicked his little ass all the way around the world. The little fucker was always getting the gang into trouble. You think the rest of them took Scooby aside, and was all,”um, yeah. Scooby? About Scrappy. He can’t roll with us anymore. Scooby Dumb was one thing, but this guy is going to get us killed.” Scrappy is a great word, and I think it summed up the Flyers and Penguins game last night.

The “Cold War of the Keystone State” had been luke warm at best. Riley Cote is absent from the lineup, as is Steve Downie. There was a good Middleweight bout Sunday, but for the most part, it’s been pretty typical playoff hockey. I was sure these two teams were going to try to kill each other, as they, well, want to kill each other. To say there is a natural rivalry between these two is a bit like saying I need a brew after a month plus of not drinking. For those analogy impaired, it’s an understatement.

Philadelphia’s back was against a wall last night in a lose and break out the golf clubs kind of way, and they responded by playing a physical clog the neutral zone game. Pittsburgh did not play as well as they had, and despite a near comeback on the back of Jordan Stall, looked a little over matched. The end of the game was particularly nasty and even featured a good fight between grizzled veteran Derian Hatcher, and scrappy Ryan Malone. Mike Richards tried to stir the pot again with Sidney Crosby at the end of the game, but the two couldn’t really get going. If Philadelphia wants to keep playing hockey this spring, I might suggest inserting Riley Cote for Sunday, as someone has to answer for Richards going after Crosby, and playing a physical game from the start. Pittsburgh on the other hand, needs to forget last night ever happened, come in loose, and get ready for some home cooking in a building that has been very kind to them in this playoff year. They are 9-0 right now, and haven’t lost in 11 games on home ice going back to the regular season. Should be a dandy on Sunday. Let’s hope it’s scrappy!

Live from Goonblog HQ in Acton, MA! It’s the Canadiens and Flyers! Game three should be a dandy. MOL is at the germ factory, and I am at home enjoying my leftover chicken noodle soup from the Chang An in Concord. It’s delicious. Usually, it’s a little bland, but I doctored it with some salt, pepper, and some red pepper flakes. It’s given it quite a zip. In past times when un-supervised, I would have been at the Gin Mill until it was time to report home and pretend I wasn’t holed up drinking for about 4 hours. Alas, I have given up the sauce, and that’s what brings me to tonight’s game.

The Habs series has a real old time hockey feel going to it, for a couple of reasons.
1. The Flyers are the dirtiest team ever. Always have been.
2. Tom Kostopoulos is a bitch, and threw a sucker punch at a Flyer the other night after the oft suspended team scored.

I do not like either of these teams at all. In fact, I hate them both. As a lifelong Bruins fan both has been a thorn in my side at one point or another. I guess if you made me pick who I want to win, I’d say Philadelphia, but honestly, I just want to see some rough old time playoff hockey. I think we may see that tonight in the “City of Brotherly Love.” It’s all tied up 1-1, and TK’s cheap shot has blood boiling. If I am the Flyers coach, I start Steve Downie, and if I am Montreal’s coach, Kostopoulos has to do his dirty work and have a go right off the hop tonight. If they don’t settle this like men right away, and I am a Flyer, I am running Saku Koivu and Alexi Kovalev all night. Both teams’ websites, here, and here, are hyping the bad blood. Hopefully everyone is all riled up. I’ll be here enjoying my soup and a few Pink Lemonades….stupid no drinking…..

Happy Birthday to Mr. Hockey, Gordie Howe. The man with the sharpest elbows to ever play the game turns 80 today and Gonnblog is proud to wish him good health, and many more to come. This is a man that played hockey at the highest level until he was 52 years old. I will be in a home, drooling, and ranting about how I’ve never seen the Bruins win the Cup when I’m 52, and this guy was still playing hockey. Simply amazing. To celebrate the occasion, please enjoy the video of Boston Bruin 7th player award winner, Milan Lucic scoring a “Gordie Howe Hat Trick.” I love the fact that Milan got his first NHL goal in a game when he had an assist, and a wicked scrap. What a fitting tribute from a kid that is a Gordie Howe prototype, to pot his first goal like he did.

Meantime, things have been crazy over here at Goonblog HQ. We’ve had a lot to do MOL and me, and I haven’t been paying enough attention to this blog. I tell you what; this hockey season has been a great one so far. The beloved Bruins are keeping us entertained enough to keep watching and I think Jack Edwards may have a stroke on air this season.

For those of you not in New England, Jack Edwards is the NESN announcer, and to say he is a homer is an insult to homer announcers everywhere. This guy LOVES the Bruins, and he LOVES the fights, which makes him number one in my book. I can’t decide what I like better. Edwards going mental over a “bad” call or the fact that his partner, Andy Brickley, pays him zero mind when he gets fired up. I want the Bruins to win the cup this season for a couple of reasons, and one of them is to see just how emotional Jack Edwards gets when Zdeno Chara gets handed Lord Stanley’s Cup. Of course it won’t happen, but I can dream.

The first annual Hockey Week in Acton is over. I did four games in four nights, and watched another three on television. The highlight was obviously Saturday’s tilt against Washington. MOL, my brother and I were there for the old time hockey showing in Boston. I actually called it in Halftime Pizza that they would go right off the hop, and damn I am glad I was right. Lucic is now officially a God in Boston. Some other highlights and low lights of the week.

-The woman in Ray Bourque’s entourage in Lowell last Wednesday. I don’t know if it was Chris’s girlfriend, or his daughter, or who the hell she was, but she was easily one of the most beautiful women I have ever seen. Jaw droppingly hot.

-Seeing Trevor Gillies wearing the Captain “C” in Worcester Friday night. I don’t think anyone wanted a piece of him. Tom Rowe loves him, and it was cool to see.

-I still can’t get over how disrespectful the Toronto fans were during the National Anthem Thursday.

-Speaking of Thursday. That was the worst game of the week. Here they are in order. Worst to first.
Bruins vs. Toronto
Bruins vs. Washington (Monday)
Bruins vs. Florida
Bruins vs. New York
Albany vs. Worcester
Lowell vs. Hershey
Bruins vs. Washington (Saturday)
Bruins have a lot of games upcoming, and they look out of gas. If they make the playoffs, it’ll be one and done I feel. I am looking forward to the tilt Saturday against Philly. I’d give a lot to be there. Anyone that can hook me up, I’d give them a free Goonblog T-shirt? No?

During the lock out season the Lowell Lockmonsters were bringing a wagon. The roster was awesome, and they were a fun group of guys as well. Every one of those guys would say hello and share a minute of their time with you. Guys like Eric Staal, Chuck Kobasew, Matt Lombardi, and Mike Commodore. Oh, the goalie was a future Conn Smythe winner in Mr. Cam Ward. He is the single season record holder for wins, GAA, and shutouts, and a super nice kid to boot. The team had talent and personality, and of all the years I have been going to Lowell, they were my favorite.

The new regime in there is a total 180 from what was there. The New Jersey Devils own all their minor league affiliates, and as such, they run them all like they run their NHL club. I really believe they don’t care about wins and losses at the minor league level as long as when they make a call to the lower ranks they can get a player to plug into the lineup. Ultimately that is what the minor leagues are for; development for the upper levels, but I think there should be a different attitude in the AHL, and below. I realize the Devils are trying to develop a winner, but it was just more fun when you had more access to the team from the front office down.

I mention all this, because yesterday’s game felt like the old days at the Paul. First of all, there were people there. According to the Boxscore, they had 3535 in the house, which for them is a miracle. To say they have been drawing poorly is the understatement of the year. I feel a little like Joe McGrath, “You boys have not been drawing them in like we used to.” The Devils play a very boring style, and coupled with the fact they kind of suck, people stay away from them like girls stay away from me. Yesterday’s 5-1 win, in a game in which there were 2 fights should do plenty to bring them back. Let’s hope.

I also spoke to a Devils player. Yeah, it’s true. I ran into Pierre-Luc LeBlond after the game. He didn’t play, but Lowell sure could have used him. I told him Lowell could have used him, and he said he knew and that he felt Paul Crosty was being an idiot. When I asked him if he had ever fought him before, he said, “No, but I guess I’m going to have to now.” What happened was Crosty was taking out some anger or whatever on Lowell defenseman Jean-Luc Grand Pierre. Hence forth known as Big Peter.

It all started in with about six minutes to go in the first. Big Peter hit Crosty in the corner, and they went back up ice. Big Peter was at the point, when Crosty got back to him, and jumped him. Big Peter got the shirt over Crosty’s head and went to work on him. Crosty did well to fight him off even though he was blind. Nice little fight, I score it a win for Big Peter.

With about 5 minutes to go in the second, Crosty was at it again. He tackled Big Peter in front of the Lowell goal and got him with a high stick in the head. Apparently he cut him as he was given 5 minutes to feel shame, and that’s when Lowell opened it up. Barry “Shooter” Tallackson scored on the PP, and they never looked back.

In the third period, Lowell’s Patrick Davis scored one of the prettiest, if not THE, prettiest goals I have ever seen in Lowell. He scooped the puck up in his own zone, and was off to the races. He went around a couple of Monarch’s players, and put a nifty toe drag on the final Monarch D-man, totally flummoxing him with his trickery. He was then in alone on the goalie, and while skating left, he fired a nice wrister to the right corner. It was beautiful. I think he may be the next guy to get the call to New Jersey. Kid has some sick hands.

Near the end of the third, Paul Crosty was at it again. I am not sure what he has against Big Peter, but it’s safe to say they are off each other’s Christmas list. Again with about 5 minutes to go in the period, Crosty jumped Big Peter again. It was right in front of me this time, so I had a great view. Big Peter threw a couple of very hard right hands once he got his gloves all the way off, and Crosty tried to score a few of his own. He landed a couple, but it was Big Peter again with the win after Crosty go the take down. Now, when they were down I’m not sure if something happened, or if Big Peter was just plain tired of Crosty picking on him all day, but on his way to the box he was heated. It took both Linesmen and the penalty box attendant to hold him back from going into the visitor’s box after Crosty. Paul was getting the gate anyway, for 2, 5, 10, but I think Big Peter was just going to get 5. Well, after he flipped, he got a 10 as well, and was lead off to thunderous applause from the Lowell Faithful. He made kind of a throat slashing motion to the Manchester bench. Not sure if he’s in trouble for that or not. Paul Crosty on the other hand, got a different farewell from the Lowell crowd. He was led off to boos, but to his credit played it up well with a nice wave to the fans thanking them for their time. It was a great game yesterday. One that makes you feel happy to be alive. Here’s hoping it is the start of the all new Lowell Devils.

Mother is in the living room putting the Christmas decorations away with the NHL Network on in the background. She’s getting around in the wheelchair pretty well, and the doctor said she could put 50% weight on her ankle, so she’s allowed to roll around and put her decorations away. I know they’ve been driving her nuts, and she’s been driving me nuts asking me to bring up boxes for her. Up until now, it was a no deal. Now that she’s on the mend, she can have at it. She’ll be back before Sidney Crosby is back from his high ankle sprain he sustained last night. In about an hour I’m dropping her off at the movies with instructions she’s to actually go, and not stand out in front of the liquor store and ask someone to buy her beer.

I mention the NHL network because as I was brining up boxes for her, they were showing the Eastern Conference standings, and it struck me how huge of a weekend this is for Boston. At this point in time, Boston, the Rangers, and Atlanta are all tied with 49 points. New York and Boston play a home and home this weekend. This is a series that has playoff implications in January, and it’s pretty darn exciting. What with the football game Sunday, no one will notice, but still, I’m darn excited.

Boston needs to set a tone early today. I would get the puck deep and start taking the body right away on these guys. Orrsie and Thornton will hopefully be looking for each other to set a tone as well. 2008 Youngstar Milan Lucic, (Congratulations by the way) still has the cage on, so the other duties fall to Jeremy Reich. He’s a guy that hasn’t fought in a while, so hopefully he can get a hold of someone today.

Tomorrow’s game is even more important. New York has had Boston’s number in the MSG, as they have beaten the Bruins there in every contest for 6 years. I think its 6 years…maybe its 4….listen; you want stats, go to the NHL website. Come here for dick and fart jokes. Anyway, their dominance at home will play into the psyche of both clubs coming into tomorrow. In the Rangers’ room, the attitude will be, these guys can’t beat us in here, and in the Boston room, it will be the exact opposite. Can we win here? It’s Original Six, Old Time Hockey. I’m hoping for some real grudge match type victories from the black and gold.

This is a joke. The NHL suspended Scott Hartnell 2 games for hitting Andrew Alberts last night. Are you serious? Why even bother suspend him at all? Listen, the hit Randy Jones put on Patrice was bad, but it was a hockey play. He shouldn’t have hit Bergeron when his back was to him, but it was two guys going after a puck. Nine times out of ten, Bergeron doesn’t even get hurt. The hit last night on Albert’s was totally uncalled for. Here was a guy that was on both knees, totally prone, and Hartnell saw him in time to pull up but chose to hit him. Where is the respect from the other guy? He could have seriously hurt Alberts. It was a cheap shot, and he should have gotten more than 2 games.

Where the fuck was the response from Boston? OK, you get the 5 minute power play. They didn’t seem interested in scoring as they worked the puck around and around. As soon as that PP is over, why is there not a fight? Another thing. I could care less about the fine and the suspension for instigating. Why isn’t there a fight when the Bruins go up 6-3 after Kobasew’s empty netter? And once again, Chara as Captain does nothing. I think at some point the NHL is going to go in reverse of what they want. At some point if this kind of behavior isn’t ended these guys are going to be forced to take matters into their own hands, and then the NHL will have a real problem. Players policing themselves, and honoring a code. They didn’t seem to like things that way, so this is what they get.

I am coming to you live from the new Goonblog HQ on the other side of Acton! MOL and I moved last weekend, and we finally got cable installed Friday morning. Manny and the boys hooked me up for my plasma with a brand new HDMI cable, so I am now actually getting real HD. It’s awesome. I gave him and his buddy 5o bucks for a great install. I hope they spent it on beer.

With Internet and cable installed, I am typing this on my new HP desktop I scored through our employee purchase plan at work. To say this is a bad ass machine is an understatement. Quick highlights. PD 3.4 gig processor. 2X300 gig hard drives. 4 Gig memory. DVD everything. Here the capper: 21” HDTV LCD monitor. I have it hooked up to the cable box, so I can come in here and watch the games in HD while MOL enjoys Brothers and Crap, or Desperate Housewives or whatever the hell else is on. I am psyched. This machine is bad ass.

Moving on to the business at hand. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. This ’07 edition was a bit of a departure from my normative behavior around this time of year. I look forward to the night before Thanksgiving all year. It is by far my favorite holiday. Usually I drink my face off with people I hadn’t seen since the Thanksgiving prior and old friends I hang with all year. There is always someone totally random that shows up (Susan in ’06.) that makes the evening a lot more interesting. This year however, was a bit different. For starters, the only person that may enjoy Thanksgiving more than me, and newly minted US Citizen, Dave, was up in the motherland. To say I missed him around this year was an understatement. He has been the best at keeping in touch with everyone, so he always plans the best events. It was not the same without him around. Secondly, the red house is no more. Jim and James packed it in and moved to Sommerville, so that was out. Thirdly, I went to the Lowell Devils game the night before, and drove to my brother’s in Connecticut Wednesday night. It was an odd Thanksgiving, but at the same time, I liked it. It was nice to be able to actually EAT turkey, and have a normal conversation with people. As well as I got to hang with my Niece and Nephew, which is always a blast. Still though, some traditions must live on, so I am announcing it early. Mark your calendars now. The night before Thanksgiving next year will be right here at Goonblog HQ! Dave, I better see you at 4:30 brew in hand.

Although the Holiday was a bit different, it did afford me a lot of hockey action featuring two Goonblog favorites over the years. Wednesday I was in Lowell for the Pirates tilt. Gordie Dwyer was in the house, but not dressed for the game. I spoke with him for about 20 minutes, and it was great to see him. I would have to say he is the nicest kid I have ever met in hockey. He talked of his chance in Portland, and Sweden last year. He spoke of the family, and they are well. I’m not mental or anything, but it was good to see him and have a few minutes to talk to him. I hope they sign him up there because he deserves the shot.

Friday marked the return of Trevor Gillies, and Tom Rowe to the Paul. Tom has always been very high on Gillies, and signed him this off season. Gillies played about 10 shifts and took a bullshit charging call. I was close enough to hear him screaming at the clock operator, penalty box attendant, and hell anyone that would listen. He was yelling, “How can you guys watch these guys?! What a bunch of pussies! You haven’t had anyone tough here for 6 years since I left!” Everyone got a good chuckle out of it, but sadly, he is right. Later after getting in a fight with Lowell’s Jean-Luc Grand-Pierre with 3 minutes left in the third he chose to stay in the box as opposed to retiring to the dressing room. Gillies was heated because he felt JLGP had jumped him late in a shift as opposed to waiting for a draw. The fight was a good one in which Gillies landed some good hard shots, but JLGP landed some of his own too. I think he may have even cut Gillies on the chin. I would say it was a win for Gillies, but JLGP handled himself nicely. Being back in the box afforded Gillies more time to scream and yell, and when Lowell’s Mark Fraser took two near the end of the game, Trevor took the opportunity to yell over to Fraser. This I could also hear. He said, “He Fraser. Tell your boy to get me off a draw next time, not when I’ve been out there for 2 minutes. He’s a fucking coward!” It was pretty hilarious, and Fraser even managed a dry smile. While I agree it goes against the code to get a guy late like that, I think Trevor would have had more beef if it was one of the leagues real tough guys. Not some wanna be tough guy with two hyphenated names.

Yesterday was game three for me in Lowell, and it featured Gordie Dwyer again. This time he played, and he didn’t look too bad. Gordie is a surprisingly good skater for a rough and tumble winger, and gives an honest effort every shift. He took a crappy minor for elbowing, but other than that, there was no rough stuff from him. Lowell also actually played another hyphenated player, Pierre-Luc LeBlond. It was the first time I’d seen him play for Lowell, and he didn’t look out of place at all. Decent skater, and plays crash and bang. They should take note of the lineup they had yesterday and play it more often, as they finally won a fucking game, and looked interested in playing. Tonight is the Flyers and Bruins in the first tilt since Bergeron was sent into the press box for the rest of the year. I’d like to see an old Broad Street Bullies vs. The Big Bad Bruins type game, but in the new NHL, I am not sure that’s possible. Either way, I’ll be tuned in at the All New Goonblog HQ!

What a week eh? Patriots killed the Redskins, and the Red Sox won their second World Series in 3 years. It’s an incredible time to be a Boston sports fan. Unless of course, you are a Bruins fan. That’s not exactly true. The team is off to a surprisingly good start. They seem to be playing pretty well together and the Thornton and Lucic dynamic is very interesting. They had two great fights last Saturday back to back. They are indeed tougher to play against. I am happy with the start, with the exception of Zdeno Chara.

I got a text from Goonblog fan, Brownie the other night. It read, “NHL ’08 for PS3 is amazing…..Chara is a pussy in it though.” Hands down it is the funniest text I have ever received, but at the same time it’s true. I really don’t want Goonblog to turn into anti Chara blog, but it seems he is our new whipping boy here. It was Hal Gill a few years ago, and to be honest, I think Chara is an inch taller Hal Gill. To say I am disappointed he wasn’t the one to go after Randy Jones instead of Chuck Kobasew is a gross understatement. Claude Julien should have walked up to him, told him to remove his jersey. Then he should have handed it to Donny Delnegro and told him to remove the “C” because he wasn’t fit to wear it. I’m sure he works hard, and is a nice guy, but he’s no Captain. You think Terry O’Reilly would have let Chuck Kobasew do the dirty work if he was on the ice? Exactly.

As far as the suspension goes, I think it’s fair. It was a bad hit, and he knows better than to hit anyone when their back is turned, but it wasn’t vicious like the cross check Boulerice laid on Kesler. I think the punishment fit the crime, and I think he’ll get some “code” justice when these two teams meet again. No weekly wrap up on Sunday. TKO and I will be in Indianapolis for the Patriots game. Should be a blast. I might try a running diary tomorrow night for the Bruins. We’ll see how the schedule works out. Meantime, I am off to bed, and by that, I mean I am off to get more brew.