I was having a lovely dinner tonight at 7:30ish, not really thinking about the Bruins game I was missing. The waitress had just dropped off another Belvedere and Tonic, when my cell phone rang. It was Tweener. Now, Tweener and I are really good buddies. We talk all the time, mostly about hockey, and specifically, mostly about hockey fights. So when I looked down and saw his name on my caller ID, I said aloud, "Damn it, there was a fight." I politely excused myself and went off to the bathroom to pee. Oh, and check to see who had a go of course. After my pee, I called Tweener. I could tell by the sound of his voice I was right, I had missed a fight. Not one, but two. Tweener informed me I missed Colton Orr’s first NHL tilt, and all he said was it was a good go, and Orrsie had a big smile on his face when he left the ice. DAMN IT ALL!!! I missed it!
I finished dinner, and went to another bar to catch the end of the game. The people at the bar didn’t see the fight, as for some reason they were watching baseball. I almost had a go myself. I excused myself once again to go home and watch some NHL Center Ice. Well, when I got home, it wasn’t working. After a quick call to Comcast, I was up and running. The Calgary vs. Dallas game was a barn burner. Former Lockmonster Chuck Kobasew scored a dandy to tie it, but alas, the Flames ended up losing in OT. I switched over to the Kings vs. Detroit tilt. Again, a spirited tilt, but I was waiting until midnight for the replay.
With MOL in bed, and a fresh brew in hand, I tuned into the NESN re-broadcast. Dale and Brick had the call. I was on the edge of my seat, as I knew there was a fight coming, but I didn’t know when. Why I didn’t check the box score online and find out, I am not sure. What can I say, I am not bright. Anyway, 2:37 into the first. There it was. Gloves on the ice, and Colton Orr (BOS) and Eric "Big Daddy" Cairns (FLA) were squared off. Cairns started the tilt with a few hard rights, and it looked like he was going to kill the young rookie Orr. Orrsie came back with a few punches of his own, and got back into it. Cairns countered with a few nice rights, and the boys got locked up a bit. Orrsie got some separation with an uppercut, and a nice straight hand right. "Big Daddy" came back with a few rights of his own, as the combatants became very tired. Orrsie tried a couple of more but was clearly winded. The two locked up for the last time, and the stripes came in to separate the weary warriors. Great job by the zebras staying out of it until the punches had stopped. As they were leading the boys to their respective boxes, Orr had a very big grin on his face. He was clearly happy to have his first go under his belt. Cairns was shown in the box saying to the attendant, "That was a good one eh?" For sure Eric. For sure. If I am scoring the fight, I give it to Cairns for the early advantage, but points to Orr for taking a few shots trying to get his way inside.
Before they could even get the penalties announced, B’s newcomer Pat Leahy (BOS) had to defend himself against Chris Gratton (FLA). Not much of a fight really, but it was good to see Gratton come to the aid of a teammate, after Leahy drilled a Panther seconds before. I hope this is a sign of things to come for the Bruins. More emotion, and more fights. Off to the Monsters opener tonight. Let’s hope this Mitch Love kid has to chuck em!
The boys on NESN predicted the fight pregrame…even saying they fully expected to see Cairns and Orr have a go. They should do this before every game, just to keep the casual fan watching.
Don’t know if it’s the skill on our side, or the lack thereof on the other, but the boys look like they are coming together
I agree TKO. They really are starting to play pretty well. The Panhters as a whole may be bad, but Roberto Luongo is no joke, and they lit him up pretty well. Ottawa tomorrow will be a good test.