Chalk One Up for Boston

As I’m sure most of you have figured out by now, I’m not the biggest baseball fan. However, I’ve had no trouble getting behind this big-hearted Red Sox team as they made a historic run to a World Series title. There was something about this bearded bunch of ball players that drew us to our television screens. It wasn’t their talent or flash, it was their passion. Their passion for baseball, and for winning, was enough to boost them past the St. Louis Cardinals to clinch their first World Series victory in Fenway Park since 1918. The biggest superstar on the team was a 38-year old DH whom many thought washed up two years ago. David Ortiz’s historic numbers in the World Series beg to differ.

Last year the Red Sox finished in dead last place in the AL East, fired manager Bobby Valentine, and looked to rebuild. At the trade deadline that year they unloaded contracts and big name players. When most teams blow up their organizations, unloading players and coaching staff, they plan to rebuild over the next several years. No one, in spring training, could have predicted that the Red Sox would win 97 games, finish the season with the league’s best record and go on to win the World Series in 2013. No one thought John Lackey would go from the most hated figure in Boston sports to the winning pitcher of the 2013 World Series. No one, that is, except for the players. Unlikely heroes like Shane Victorino, Johnny Gomes, David Ross, and Koji Uehara knew that they would come through when the city needed them to.

So the Sox have 3 titles since 2004. The Pats have 3 Lombardi trophies and 5 Super Bowl appearances since 2001. The Bruins have a Stanley Cup and 2 Prince of Whales trophies in the last 3 years, and the Celtics add an NBA title and 2 Eastern Conference titles of their own since 2008. Are we living in the greatest era of sports for one city in history? The answer is a definite yes. There has never been a more dominant city in one era in so many different sports than the city of Boston since Y2K. Our teams may not boast the most lovable owners, and haven’t been without drama, but at the end of the day they win. We, as a city, win.

Now some folks will try to tell us we’re spoiled to witness such great success, as if we don’t deserve it. But this success is no accident This success is the reward we get for pouring money into our teams, buying tickets and merchandise, and our continued support of mediocre teams for years. How many cities can say they waited 86 years between World Series championships, waited 41 years before seeing their first Lombardi Trophy, and watched their team battle through a 37 year Cup drought? Only one city: Boston. Now we have 8 major championships in the last 12 years. This success is our reward for sticking by our teams through decades of last-place finishes and heartbreaking loss.

This Red Sox team is a microcosm of all Boston sports. They spent last year in last place, suffering through brutal losses and harsh media criticism. Then they added the right pieces, changed their attitude, and started winning. How many baseball teams have huddled up in the 6th inning to hear a pep talk from their DH? That’s the kind of character we breed in Boston sports. We scrutinize every aspect of a team, forcing them to look within and “Cowboy Up,” and eat “Humble Pie.” And at the end of it all they stand on the field screaming into a microphone, “This is our f***ing city!”

This generation of Boston teams is as good as it gets. Enjoy every second of it, Bostonians, because it certainly won’t last forever. Some day it will be Cleveland’s turn, or Minneapolis’ turn. I’ve been accused of having a superiority complex when it comes to Boston sports, and why shouldn’t I? I’ve grown up in Boston during its historic run of greatness. Everyone else in the country can only look on with envy and hope that someday it will be this great for them. After all, this is Boston: Titletown, USA.

The Struggle Continues for the Patriots

Let me be clear about my title, the word “struggle” is often used to define a team that’s playing poorly. That, however, is not the definition of the word. Struggle means “a forceful effort to get free of restraint.” That’s how this season has felt thus far for the Patriots. All year they’ve had their hands tied by injuries and rookie mistakes, and they’ve had to make a forceful effort to overcome. Every week has been a struggle, and to their credit, they’ve come out 5-2. They lost last Sunday to the New York Jets in overtime 30-27. I’m not even going to get into the “pushing” penalty that was called for the first time in the history of the NFL and cost the Patriots’ the game. That will just make me upset. All I’ll say is that the game shouldn’t have been in overtime because if Rob Gronkowski hauls in a ball he normally would catch, the Pats walk out of there with a win in regulation. (I should note it would have been a tough catch and Tom Brady could’ve been more accurate with it, but either way, the Pats were one little mishap away from a W).

It’s time to look ahead. Vince Wilfork and Jerod Mayo are gone for the season, and that fact certainly hurt last week, but not as much as the absence of Aqib Talib. Talib practiced this week and looks like he will get some time on Sunday, though it may not be every down. Similarly, Danny Amendola had a full week of practice and also looks ready to go for Sunday. That means, as I tweeted earlier today (@conradscorner1), that Gronk and Amendola will be in the Patriots’ lineup together for the first time ever. What does that mean? Really, really good things.

Their presence means a lot more than just the two of them being options for Brady. It slides guys like Julian Edelman, Kenbrell Thompkins and Aaron Dobson further down opposing defense’s “list of things to worry about.” It means Dobson and Thompkins will be facing nickel and dime cornerbacks instead of the best the opposition has to offer. While Gronk and Amendola will get more attention from defenses, they are more readily able to handle it than the younger players. Amendola was St. Louis’ top option for the majority of his career there and Gronk is a matchup nightmare for literally anyone in the NFL.

The defense is still a concern without their two leaders and top players, but Talib’s return will restore a sense of normalcy. The Patriots also signed Andre Carter (10 sacks for the Pats in 2011) to strengthen their dinged up defensive line. Carter will bring with him dynamic passing rushing skills and invaluable veteran leadership to mentor guys like Chandler Jones. On the back end, currently flying under the radar is the play of Devin McCourty, who has quietly turned into one of the league’s premier safeties and continues to get better every single game. The defense is certainly worse off without Mayo and Wilfork than they would be with those two, but they should be strong enough to keep opponents from outscoring Tom Brady when all of his weapons are healthy.

Lastly, I have been listening to a lot of talk radio and reading a lot of different Boston sports media this week, and I have seen and heard an absurd amount of Tom Brady being bashed. So I’m going to take this moment to defend the face of the franchise. His numbers are low, really low, yes, but statistics do not tell his story. When the Patriots are without Gronkowski and Amendola, which has been the case for the majority of the season, Tom Brady throws to the single worst receiving core in the NFL. There is not another team in the league that would have traded their receivers and tight ends for the Patriots’. Julian Edelman is Tom’s leading receiver this season. On no other team in the league is Edelman a quarterback’s number one option. That’s not to take away from him, he’s stepped up admirably when called upon, but he’s just not a number one guy in the NFL. When you couple the worst receiving core in the league with a lackluster running game and an uncharacteristically shaky offensive line, you get a very mediocre offense. Yet Tom Brady has led his team to a 5-2 record despite having almost nothing to work with. I’d say that only Peyton Manning and Aaron Rodgers have a chance of being 5-2 with this Patriots team (I exclude Drew Brees because the Patriots don’t have anyone to stretch the field, which is how he succeeds), making Tom Brady a top-three QB this season.

My Prediction: The Miami Dolphins have been up and down this season, beating the Colts but losing to the Bills. They are a fairly average team all around without any real scary individual talent. They aren’t to be taken lightly, but I’d have a really hard time coming up with an argument for them to win. They’ve lost 3 in a row after a 3-0 start, and the Pats have beaten them in their last 7 meetings. With the Patriots getting Amendola and Gronk in the lineup at the same time, and having the added motivation of last week’s game being stolen from them, I’m wagering that we get to see their best performance offensively of the season. Brady finds his groove, Gronk get 2 TDs, and the Patriots roll 31-20.

Good Old Bruins Hockey

It’s been way too long since I talked Bruins. They’ve played 5 games since my last post, and they went 3-2 in that span. It would be cumbersome and boring if I tried to recap all five games so I’ll just give the snapshots and talk about their play in general. They started with a 2-0 loss to the shocking 7-1 Colorado Avalanche. There isn’t much to say about this performance other than the Bruins dominated but couldn’t get a bounce and 38-year-old Jean Sebastian-Giguere seemed to shed 10 years and came through with a brilliant 38-save shutout. The Bs then played their first road game of the season in Columbus and beat the Blue Jackets 3-1. The highlight of that game was Loui Eriksson getting his first goal as a Bruin and it proved to be the game winner.

The Bs then returned home for an afternoon matinee matchup with the Detroit Red Wings on Columbus Day. The Red Wings were out for revenge after the Bruins beat them handily in an early season-matchup, and came out with fire. They took the game 3-2 due to some terrible struggles on the powerplay from the Bs. Boston was 0-for-5 with the man advantage, including a failure to convert on a 5-on-3. The Bruins then went on a Florida swing in which they beat Tim Thomas and the Florida panthers 3-2 on a last minute goal from Reilly Smith, his first as a Bruin. They then took down the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-0 in what was their best performance of the season.

What’s the takeaway from all of these games? This is the Bruins team we’ve come to know, love, and expect. They’re playing great team defense, with 3 goals against as their season high, backed by magnificent goaltending from Tuukka Rask. They’re great on the penalty kill (second best percentage in the league), and are leading the league with the fewest goals allowed per game (1.48). Those are all statistics we’ve come to expect with a Claude Julien coached team. Unfortunately, a lackluster powerplay also fits into that category.

The powerplay ranks 25th in the league, scoring on a measly 11% of attempts. In fact, the Bruins don’t have a single powerplay goal from a forward. The three powerplay goals have come from Torey Krug, Zdeno Chara, and Dougie Hamilton. That seems kind of backwards doesn’t it? This unit showed promise early in the season, and with Krug and Jarome Iginla in the lineup there was reason to have hope. Alas, the Bruins, once again, look atrocious with the man advantage. I’m not an NHL coach, and was a stay-at-home defenseman when I played, so I’m no expert on how to work the powerplay. However, I do know that teams with a lot less offensive talent have better powerplays than the Bruins. There has to be a strategy, some film to study, something, that can help Claude improve this powerplay.

Right now the Bruins strategy is to work the puck up high, fire on net from long range, and look for tips and screens in front. It’s a boring, unimaginative system that relies on lucky bounces. However, we can’t blame the coaching and the system entirely. A lot of reams run the “umbrella” on the powerplay (3 up high in an arc with two down low, one on either post) with a lot more success. There is very little movement on the Bruins’ powerplay and even less creative passing. No one is making moves to get open on the back post and no one is trying the daring cross-ice passes that set up open one-timer goals. Basically the Bruins lack creativity and courage to make the flashy plays, though they have the talent to do so.

On a more positive note, Reilly Smith has been a surprisingly pleasant addition to the Bruins third line this season. He’s third on the team in points with 5 (1 goal, 4 assists), and has had many more opportunities. He’s a hard worker who seems to be in the right place at the right time to make a play. He flies around the ice and leaves it all out there on every shift. He always has his head up, ready to make a play, and right now, is one of the Bruins best offensive players. He is even getting shifts with Loui Eriksson and Patrice Bergeron, taking Brad Marchand’s spot on the second line. When combined with the known talent of Eriksson, Smith is making the trade of Tyler Seguin and Rich Peverley worth it. While on the subject of the third line, Carl Soderberg returned from his injury and played quite well against the Lightning. If he continues to get better, and Smith can maintain his level of play, the Bruins could end up with 3 dynamic scoring lines: a luxury that very few NHL teams can boast.

The Bruins have a full schedule this week. They will take on the one-win Buffalo Sabres on NBC Sports’ Wednesday Night Rivalry before returning home on Thursday to take on the league’s top team, the San Jose Sharks. They’ll then have a night off before hosting the New Jersey Devils on Saturday night. The games against Buffalo and New Jersey will provide chances to get in-conference points against struggling teams. As for the Sharks, it will be interesting to see how the Bs stack up against the team that hasn’t lost a game in regulation yet this season.

Finding Their Identity

I apologize for the missed week, schoolwork and vacation got in the way. So here’s two weeks of Patriots’ thoughts to make up for it.

I’m not sure how many times in Tom Brady’s career we’ve been able to say the offense struggled. There have been plenty of times when the opposing defense clearly outplayed Brady and his offense, but I can’t remember a time when the offense looked flat out bad. That was the case last Sunday in Cincinnati. Nothing was working for the Patriots’ offense. Seriously nothing. They amassed only 248 yards on offense, 166 through the air and 82 on the ground. Brady himself had some awful numbers going 18-for-38 with an interception. I will add the disclaimer that his last five or six pass attempts were during the last two minutes of heavy rain in which only Noah in the shelter of his Arc could have completed a pass. Through all that, the Patriots lost, scoring only 6 points.

The good news? The Pats’ defense surrendered just 13 points despite the Bengals’ offense holding the ball for the majority of the game. Vince Wilfork’s absence was certainly felt given the 162 yards the Patriots gave up on the ground, but for the most part they looked solid. Aqib Talib and company limited AJ Green about as well as is possible to limit the league’s second best receiver. The bad news on the defensive front was the injury to Tommy Kelly. One week after losing Wilfork, Kelly went down with an apparent knee injury, returned for a few plays, then missed the rest of the game. So now the Patriots are down to just two rookie defensive tackles.

So here’s what the 2013 Patriots look like: the fourth best defense in the league and the 17th ranked offense. Doesn’t quite seem right, does it? The Patriots then took their battered squad back to Foxborough to take on the undefeated Saints. Though Drew Brees and Sean Payton had the offense running as efficiently as ever, it has been the Saints’ defense stealing the headlines. After giving up a record worst 7,041 yards on defense last year, the Saints hired defensive coordinator Rob Ryan (Rex’s heftier, longer-haired clone) to solve their problems. And he did exactly that. The Saints’ aggressive style of defense has thrown off opponents week after week, and the Saints rolled to a 5-0 start to the season.

Given the Pats’ struggles on offense against the Bengals and the Saints’ having the best offense they faced all season, this was a daunting matchup. However, the Patriots were unfazed as always and Belichick & Co. came up with a masterful game plan. The Pats dominated the first half, taking a 17-7 lead into the break. The defense was unbreakable and the offense, led by Stevan Ridley’s best performance of the season, was methodical. The Saints then battled back in the second half scoring 10 points on their first two possessions and tying the game at 17.

Fast-forward to 3 minutes left in the game and the Patriots find themselves down 1 with the ball. After turning it over on downs on their own 24-yard line the defense held the Saints and forced a field goal. Now there’s 2:24 on the clock and Brady throws a horrendous deep ball intended for Edelman that is easily intercepted. Game over, right? Wrong. The defense stood tall again, used their final timeout and the two-minute warning to stop the clock, and forced the Saints to punt with 1:13 left in the game. Then we all got to see something we seemingly haven’t seen in a long time: Vintage Brady.

With no timeouts, Brady drove the offense down the field with mechanical precision, completing passes to Julian Edelman, Aaron Dobson and Austin Collie. That set the Pats up on the 17-yard line with 10 seconds on the clock. Brady took the snap, found Kenbrell Thompkins in man coverage, and floated one of the best throws of his career just over the defender and into the waiting hands of Thompkins. If you missed it, I’m sorry, because there’s no way I can put into words what a beautiful pass it was. Let’s just say it’s definitely going to make his highlight reel.

There were a few takeaways from this game, not the least of which was Tom Brady’s performance. We’ve come to expect excellence from him, of course, but there has been one situation in which he has constantly struggled throughout his career: when he’s being hit consistently. Take last week’s Bengals game or the 2008 Super bowl as examples. The formula for opposing defenses has been to hit Tom Brady, and it has generally worked when executed. However, this Sunday, Brady was sacked 5 times, hit twice more, and generally under pressure for the entire game. Yet he managed to overcome the pressure and work the offense in the mechanical way we’ve grown so fond of. It’s hard to imagine that Brady is still getting better at the age of 36, but that kind of toughness and resiliency is not something he is known for.

There was, however, a lot of bad that came out of this dramatic victory: injuries. Aqib Talib pulled up limping in the third quarter with a hip flexor injury, and did not return. Dan Connolly suffered a head injury in first half, and did not return. Danny Amendola was knocked unconscious in an incidental, yet highly unfortunate, helmet-to-helmet hit. Jerod Mayo left the fourth quarter with an apparent shoulder injury, and later left the stadium in a sling. He underwent surgery for a torn pectoral muscle on Tuesday and will likely miss the rest of the season. We will now see what Dont’a Hightower and rookie Jamie Collins are truly made of.

What do all these injuries mean for the Patriots? Nothing good. All four guys are starters and key contributors to the Patriots. Connolly abandons what is already a leaky offensive line. Danny Amendola has just recovered from a groin injury and is the Patriots’ most talented receiver. Aqib Talib has simply been the league’s best cornerback this season, shutting down the other team’s best receiver week after week including holding the league’s leading pass catcher, Jimmy Graham, to 0 catches on multiple targets on Sunday for the first time in Graham’s career.  Lastly, Jerod Mayo is the Patriots’ defensive leader; he wears the microphone and calls the plays in the huddle. He’s led the team in tackles every year since he started playing, and ranks seventh in the league in tackles this season.  If any of rest of these guys miss significant time, like Mayo and Wilfork, the Patriots could be in big trouble.

That being said, the Pats have shown incredible resiliency this season and have seemed able to endure anything. However, a team can only sustain so many injuries to their top players before they collapse. Wilfork, Mayo and Talib are the teams best and hardest to replace defensive players. Hopefully the Pats won’t have to replace Talib like they will Wilfork and Mayo, but hip flexors can sideline players for a long time. The Patriots will take their banged up squad to New York this weekend to play a crucial divisional matchup with the Jets. Let’s all hope that these injuries aren’t severe and that the Pats can take a commanding lead in the division by winning on Sunday.

That’s How You Start a Season

The Bruins took the ice this season with nothing but winning on their mind. They showed absolutely no signs of lingering regret from last season’s loss in the Stanley Cup. They played with determination and focus, and took care of their first two opponents, the Tampa Bay Lightning and Detroit Red Wings to start the season 2-0. In short, this Bruins team means business.

It all starts in the back with Tuukka Rask who has proven he is a top notch NHL starter. It seems like beating a dead horse to keep praising his good play, but it’s impossible to overemphasize the importance of a goaltender of his caliber. His stamina will be tested this season due to the loss of a stellar backup goaltender in Anton Khudobin. The Bruins signed the former Phoenix backup goalie, Chad Johnson. Though his numbers in limited NHL play are reasonably solid, he’s not likely to get the kind of playing time that Khudobin got as a backup, putting more of the weight on Rask’s shoulders. We already know Rask is one of the best goaltenders in the league when he’s at his best, but it will be interesting to see if he can maintain that level of play with the heavy workload. I’m betting he can, and so are the Bruins, given the 8-year contract they signed Rask to in the offseason.

By far the most surprising part of this year’s Bruins team has been the play of the third line. The third line was the weakest part of the Bruins’ lineup last season, but it’s been a bright spot so far this year. With Carl Soderberg nursing an ankle injury, Jordan Caron has stepped in admirably, tallying a goal against the Red Wings and getting one called back against the Lightning due to a premature whistle. The hustle and nifty hands of newcomer Reilly Smith have also impressed. He has good vision on the ice and the whole line, anchored by Chris Kelly, has great chemistry. It will be tough to replace Caron with Soderberg when he comes back healthy given the play of this line at the moment, but having depth is always a good thing.

The rest of the offense looks more or less exactly like we would expect. Though neither big name addition, Jarome Iginla or Loui Eriksson, has a point, they both have played perfectly well and the points will come. Chemistry with their lines doesn’t come overnight. As far as the defense is concerned, it’s business as usual. Claude Julien always preaches defense, so we shouldn’t expect anything less than top-notch play out of the defense. Having allowed only one goal in each game to two of the league’s most prolific offenses, the Bs’ defenders look up to snuff. On top of good defensive play, Torey Krug is back to his scoring ways with a goal and an assist, and Zdeno Chara has a goal of his own.

Chara’s got slick hands for a big guy

http://video.nhl.com/videocenter/console?id=2013020021-605-h

Though it’s way too early to tell, the powerplay does seem improved from last year due to the additions of Krug and Iginla. They’re 2-for-7 with the man advantage this year and have created some good scoring chances. On the penalty kill the Bruins have been, well, perfect. Not only have they not allowed a goal on the penalty kill this season, they have staved off two 5-on-3s and have scored two shorthanded goals of their own. Any penalty-killing unit that has more goals than it has surrendered is a high quality unit.

All in all the Bruins have looked great through two games, especially in beating the Detroit Red Wings, on of the league’s best teams. It is truly something special to have them as divisional opponents under the realignment the NHL underwent this offseason. Next up they play the Colorado Avalanche under new head coach Patrick Roy on Thursday night at the Garden. Then they’ll take their show on the road for the first time this season to play the other newcomers to the Eastern Conference in the Columbus Blue Jackets and former teammate Nathan Horton. Though neither team made the playoffs last year, both are up and coming teams in this league and will be dangerous games for the Bruins if they aren’t careful.

A Perfect* First Quarter of the Season

Their record says “perfect.” Their play says “anything but.” The Patriots are 4-0, on top in the AFC East and tied for the best record in the league. They came together for a great team win in Atlanta on Sunday Night Football, but the win may have cost them dearly. Vince Wilfork tore his Achilles in the 1st quarter, and is now out for the rest of season. In Wilfork’s 9-year career, he has missed a total of 6 games due to injury. He’s been the biggest part of the Patriots’ run defense, both literally and figuratively, for all nine of those years. It’s really hard to speculate how the Patriots’ will compensate for his absence, simply because he’s always been there.

Normally, I’d shrug a defensive injury off and say, “now Brady and the offense will just have to score 6 touchdowns, instead of five.” But that’s not the reality of the 2013 Patriots. Their defense was the most promising part of this team, anchored by big Vince with Chandler Jones and Rob Ninkovich rushing the passer and Aqib Talib hauling in interceptions (4 of ‘em already). But now the anchor is gone. There will be no more double teams required to hold the big nose tackle, thus freeing up offensive linemen to block the likes of Jones and Ninkovich. When those guys aren’t getting to the passer, he isn’t pressured to make bad throws for Talib to grab. You see what I’m driving at here? Everything started and ended with Vince Wilfork on this defense, and now he’s gone.

Lots of critics were talking about how Vince wasn’t playing his best this year, and they were right, but that doesn’t diminish his impact. Offenses have to game plan for Wilfork. Just his presence on the field draws double-teams and stops the other team from even considering a run up the middle. All of that is gone for the rest of the season, and it is unclear who will step up to fill the enormous hole Wilfork left on the defense. Boy, this is starting to get negative, isn’t it?

On the bright side, the Pats are 4-0. They haven’t lost yet this season, and they’ve played at least one tough opponent. They beat the Falcons without Wilfork for majority of the game. In fact, if you subtract the final six minutes of the game, they played a near perfect game. Of course, I’m not going to subtract those minutes, because they are the most important, and the Patriots almost collapsed in historic fashion. But they didn’t. Talib made a great play on Roddy White in the end zone on 4th down and the Patriots left Georgia with a perfect record in September. So we move on.

This week the Pats play the least consistent team in the league so far: the Cincinnati Bengals. I say that because the Bengals have both beaten the Packers, and lost to the Browns in consecutive weeks. Just last week they had people worried that they were going to be a contender in the AFC, but then they went on and lost to the Browns. Now they’re just Cincinnati again. What that means is a consistently solid defense and a painfully average offense. Their defense is nothing to fear, but it certainly not one to take lightly.

Their defense is built around Geno Atkins, much in the same way the Pats revolved around Wilfork. Terence Newman and Leon Hall combine to make a pretty strong pair of cornerbacks, and James Harrison (yes, formerly Pittsburgh’s James Harrison) is always a threat to get after the passer. All in all they’re very solid and will make it difficult for Brady and the gang to move the football. That being said, they certainly aren’t a juggernaut on defense. It will take a balanced attack between run and pass from the Patriots if they want to score points. That effort will be aided by the signing of former Colts’ wide out, Austin Collie. Now Collie was signed on Thursday, so I’m not sure how much actual time he’ll get on Sunday, but in the long term he provides a sure set of hands and a veteran presence. That is, of course, if he can stay on the field despite his injury-riddled past.

Defensively the Patriots have one job: A.J. Green. Green is the league’s second best receiver in my mind (behind Calvin Johnson, of course), and is the focal point of the Bengals offense. He is almost impossible to shut down, so the Patriots will have to limit his targets. He will undoubtedly be shadowed by Talib who has done a great job this season taking away the other team’s best option. Green will be his toughest test of the season. If the Patriots can do to Green what they did to Julio Jones last week (limit him significantly), they won’t have any trouble stopping the Bengals.

Up front, in the absence of Vince Wilfork, I expect to see something from Bill Belichick that we haven’t seen in a long time: trickery. The last time Wilfork missed any time the Patriots had all of their defensive linemen and linebackers standing up, wandering around and not giving away their rushing lanes. Joe Vellano did a serviceable job in Wilfork’s place on Sunday night, but I somehow doubt Belichick and Matt Patricia will simply line him up in Wilfork’s place and ask him to fill the role. I’m betting they have something a little more tricky up their sleeves.

My Prediction: This team lost to the Browns, you guys. Sure the Browns actually have the 3rd ranked defense in the league, but the Bengals surrendered 17 points to Brian Hoyer. If the Browns can put up 17, the Pats can surely put up 30, right? If the Packer’s defense surrendered 34 to them, the Patriots’ D can certainly hold them to 21, right? I got the Pats: 31-21. 

Boston Bruins Season Preview

So, hockey season started, sure, but we all know it doesn’t really start until the Black and Gold take the ice at TD Garden in front of 17,565 eager Bostonians. Well folks, that moment will take place on Thursday night at 7:00 pm against the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Bruins, of course, will take the ice as the defending Eastern Conference Champions, having come two wins away from raising the Stanley Cup. There have been a few changes to that roster, but the core of the team is still in place.

Between Zdeno Chara, Tuukka Rask and Patrice Bergeron on the ice and Claude Julien behind the bench, the Bruins will look just like the team that won a Cup in 2011 and the Eastern Conference last year. They will be without Nathan Horton (CBJ), Andrew Ference (EDM), Jaromir Jagr (NJD), Tyler Seguin (DAL), and Rich Peverley (DAL). The new faces include Jarome Iginla (CGY,PIT), Loui Eriksson (DAL), and Reilly Smith (DAL). Iginla will fill Horton’s role on a line with David Krejci and Milan Lucic and will bring with him over 1,100 career points. He is a guaranteed hall of famer and will add a great veteran presence and scoring touch the likes of which the Bruins haven’t seen in a long time.

As part of the Seguin and Peverley trade, the Bruins added Eriksson and Smith. Eriksson will likely play with Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand on the second line, giving the Bruins two top lines that could matchup with anyone else’s in the league. Eriksson is a strong 2-way player who does his job in both ends and has a nose for the net. He’s had multiple 70-point seasons and will fit in well with the Bs. Reilly Smith is a little bit more of an unknown. He’s a 22-year-old product of the University of Miami Ohio where he tallied 122 points in 121 games. According to Bruins’ GM Peter Chiarelli, he’s quick, shifty, creative, and has great hands. He’ll lineup on the 3rd line with Chris Kelly and Carl Soderberg (Jordan Caron will play in Soderberg’s spot while he recovers from minor ailments).

The biggest weakness the Bruins had in previous seasons was the powerplay, and they’ve improved greatly there. With Jarome Iginla quarterbacking, the Bs have already shown great improvement with the man advantage in preseason. The possibility of Torey Krug manning the point on the PP the way he did in the playoffs last season is also enticing. Though Claude Julien is going to have to bench one of his three young defensemen, Krug, Dougie Hamilton, and Matt Bartkowski, it is unclear yet how he plans to work that out.

All in all, the Bruins look just as good if not better than last year, and will certainly contend for the top spot in the Eastern Conference. They will start the season against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday. The Lightning have struggled in recent years, and, honestly, there isn’t much reason to believe they’ll improve a whole lot this year. The additions of Ben Bishop in goal and Valterri Filppula at center will certainly help, though. Bishop is young and unproven as a full-time starter, but in his limited NHL action he’s been tough to score on.

While the Lightning aren’t likely to finish near the top of the standings this season, they are always a dangerous team. With two of the league’s premier scorers, Steven Stamkos and Martin St. Louis, on their first line, they are a threat to put goals on the board. Look for Chara and Boychuk to matchup with that line for most of the night, and effectively shut them down. It’s hard to make too many predictions before the first game of the season. All I can say is that I can’t wait for the puck to drop in Boston. It’s going to be another great season.