Bruins season preview: a collection of scouting reports, story-lines and dates to circle as we look at this upcoming 2013-2014 Bruins season

Well I'm not Waiting for the Regular Season

A look at Preseason Fighting

Prior to a September 23rd it seemed that nobody had told Washington Capitals enforcer: Joel Rechlicz that speeding fits colliding with your skull often inflict pain. But not to worry, by the 15th minute of that night's game against the Bruins, Milan Lucic had enlightened him...sort of.

In a ferocious fight that left Rechlicz bruised and out of sorts, Lucic absolutely wrecked poor Joel landing punch after punch while engaging in a seemingly endless fight that seemed only fit to be drawn out in a Roman gladiator arena. But no matter how brutal it is, fighting is a part of hockey, interwoven with the game and completely necessary among the factoids and memories in the NHL's great history. We all know fighting is bad. It turns brains into mashed potato and leaves knuckles un-recognizable by the end of their careers as enforcers. There is obviously a strong argument already staked on the subject of banning these brutal bouts but at the same time it is guys like Shawn Thornton, Zedeno Chara and Milan Lucic that make you finally realize that those futile arguments are well, futile.

But nevertheless there is one aspect of fighting that can be far more thoroughly questioned. Why do preseason fights even exist? The games do not count, the scores mean nothing. These games are almost invisible, meaningless, and free of any weight or value to their winners. But while that may be true, the injuries sustained in these strangely violent exhibition games are anything but nonexistent.

After Bruins fans were treated to their first preseason fight in over 2 calendar years back on September 16th, the black and gold have managed to successfully accumulate a whopping 9 tussles in just 6 games.

“Obviously there’s a lot of cons in fighting in preseason. You don’t want to break a hand or get a concussion or anything like that from fighting in the preseason,” Lucic said after the Bruins won 3-2 in overtime at TD Garden. “But you know the pros are you’re showing that no matter what the situation is or no matter what the game is, you’re going to stick up for yourself and your teammates no matter what the situation is. And that’s what it basically was. I didn’t really have a choice. So like I said, it was just good to get into one. And it was a long one. I had to catch my breath after that one.” 

The fight Lucic was referencing there was the same one in which the picture above was taken and came after teammate Dane Byers was absolutely cleaned out by a 26 year old Rechlicz who was just 2 seasons removed from a 200+ PIM season in the NHL. Insanely, even after Rechlicz stumbled back to his dressing room following the merciful end to that bout, he returned to the ice and decided to pick a fight with yet another enraged Bruin: Johnny Boychuck. 

Once again countless punches were thrown and this time Rechlicz actually took Boychuck down. That fight in particular obviously made Bruins fans mad. The Boychuck hit that spawned that fight was not even hard enough to take its recipient down. But within seconds Rechlicz had Boychuck pinned against the boards while taking a good 2 or 3 defenseless punches to the ribs. If it is even to exist, preseason fighting should be reserved for big time offences. Hitting the goaltender, boarding, charging, those are the kinds of crimes meriting of a fight. Not a simple center ice collision. 

As was said before, the Bruins have accumulated 9 fights this preseason. That is slightly abnormal as these 9 fights are the highest since the team recorded 15 in 2009-2010. Another far stranger fact though is that that with 9 fights in 6 games the Bruins are averaging 1.5 fights per game. That is almost identical to the 1.5 in this last season and the slightly lesser 1.3 fights per game the year before. 

So why fight like this, why is there no discrepancy between regular and preseason fight tallies when in one set of games, wins and losses are treasured like gold and in the other they are thrown away like Twinkie wrappers. Because for some kids playing in these games, this is as close as they will ever get to the NHL. Fights are a product of high stakes, competing players and upped anxiety surrounding a single game and when you have college kids fighting it out to realize their ultimate hockey goal, the amount of anger and competitive nature is as high if not higher than that of a regular season game when the roster is set and the salaries are confirmed.  

There are arguments for and against fighting in hockey but while regular season battles are nearly set in stone, the stories surrounding these 9 preseason battles are in a way, far more intriguing. 

3rd line's the Charm 

Why the combination of Chris Kelly and Carl Soderberg may prove crucial in 2013-2014


Chris Kelly celebrating the biggest personal achievement of his career: his OT winner in game one the 2012 NHL playoffs 

The Boston Bruins as a team have played 5 preseason games and are a cumulative 4-1, their only blemish amidst so much foretelling success being an 8-2 beat down last Thursday at the hands of the Redwings.

Jarome Iginla has made his transition to the spoked be seems like it never happened and Milan Lucic has already made the dentist far to familiar with Looch's opponents. Malcom Subban has been great and seems much closer to being NHL ready than many had previously assumed.

For the first time in over 2 seasons, preseason hockey has returned to the NHL schedule and for the Bruins, a host of off season signings left many questions unanswered. With situations like Jarome Iginla an the chemistry surrounding him and his new line-mates, the preseason has ANSWERED questions. But in the cases of Malcom Subban and the combination of Chris Kelly and Carl Soderberg is has only spawned them.

Chris Kelly, a 32 year old versatile Bruins forward has been with the team for 3 seasons now an despite his 6 years in Ottowa has broken into the minds of hockey fans as a Bruin not a Senator. He was traded to Boston in the final months of their 2010-2011 regular season before making a strong impression as the teams 3rd line center in the playoffs. There he scored 5 times and saw his team storm all the way to a cup championship. Kelly got off to a good start in Beantown but sported an even better sophomore campaign in 2011-2012. He scored 20 times that year and did not miss a game. Kelly seemed to be the big name answer to a Bruins 3rd line that had struggled for so many years but as quick as the praise began to come forth, he bottomed out.

Chris scored just 3 times in the lockout shortened 2013 season and was a complete non factor in the ensuing playoffs scoring just two goals, both of which came after Kelly failed to score in the initial 3 rounds of the NHL tournament. The Bruins were back to rock bottom. They shipped Tyler Seguin out of town and seemed to be looking to do the same with Kelly. But as time went on, no moves were made so Bruins fans finally looked to fix the problem at hand not simply throw it away.

Chris Kelly is great but the Bruins need someone for him to feed off of. Fact is, that person was already in the Bruins organisation and had already played briefly with Kelly. That persons name is Carl Soderberg.

After he was drafted by the Blues back in 2004, Malmo Sweeden native: Carl Soderberg returned to his homeland lacking what he so dearly yearned for: an NHL contract. As it stood, the Blues wanted Soderberg but not enough to pay him. Turns out, while the Bruins like the Blues did not want to lock him up for a contract, they were willing to give up some decent assets to simply call dibs on Carl. In July of 2007 they traded backup: Hannu Toivonen for the rights to the Sweed.

But nevertheless, the Bruins sent Soderberg back to Sweeden where he would play 5 more seasons as he would progressively increase his scoring output all before he finally complied 31 goals in this past season leading his team to the playoffs all before he gained the elusive call by the Boston Bruins. Soderberg was comming to Boston.

"You know, Kells and Carl are really good players, they work well together and so I'm just trying to help out when I can and if I can give them a little bit more space, then that's all the better." 3rd line companion Riley Smith said of his teammates.

Soderberg has sported an improved style of play in this preseason accounting for 3 goals and quite a few nice bursts of speed and confert in and around these US rinks that are almost 10 feet thinner than those in Sweeden. As for Chris Kelly, his work in the preseason has accounted for 2 goals of his own as well as an assist on one of Soderberg's 3 preseason goals. The combination of Carl Soderberg seems to be the compliment that Chris Kelly has needed all this time.

My thoughts on Malcom

A brief scouting report on Malcom Subban

Recently, the Worcester Sharks in collaboration with the New England Sports Center and the Providence Bruins organization put on an AHL preseason match-up before a slim crowd of 2,000 people packed into the NESC's small - rink one - arena in Marlborough. 

I was there, clutching a surprisingly helpful lineup-card in hand while I pinned my eyes to the sweater, the name on the back being one I had no clue would be here tonight: Malcom Subban. Seeing that he is the brother of hated Montreal Canadian: PK Subban, Malcom's surname is not one unknown to Bruins fans. What is unknown however is the simple thought of cheering for a man with that surname. 

Malcom is 19 years old and plays for the Bellville Bulls of the OHL (Ontario Hockey League). In his 4 years there however  he has already solicited a whole boatload of cheering from his fans. Many of those cheers were for any one of the 1355 saves he made in a career season in 2012. But those junior hockey stats were soon rendered worthless as the slate was wiped clean earlier this month when Malcom Subban joined the Boston Bruins preseason starting squad. There he started 1 game and appeared in another holding a 29 minute shutout in his Bruins debut back in preseason game number 1. Malcom made 12 saves against his brothers Canadians. 

But before long, trouble struck as after allowing 8 goals in a September 19th demolition at the hands of the Redwings, Malcom was demoted to Providence and his brief tenure as a 2013-2014 Boston Bruin came to a painful close. 

But here in Providence, Bruins fans as well as Subban were treated to a reality check. As it stood, we always knew that there was no way Subban would make the Bruins and in a way his lack of participation in Providence training camp and preseason might have possibly hindered his possible performance as an AHL goalie in 2013. But nevertheless, in the game that I saw him take part in, that lack of participation was not evident. 

Subban made 29 saves in the contest and allowed just 2 goals. His team was handed the loss but there is a strong argument to state that it was not Malcom's fault. As a fan sitting just over 45 feet from the crease, Subban's 2 goals allowed were just 2 tallies among so many shots that without his presence and crucial saves could possibly have multiplied into 4 or 5.  In addition to that, the second goal that Subban allowed came on a delayed penalty where the Sharks were able to pull their goalie for an extra attacker. This advantage was clearly evident as after some good work in the corners, the Sharks were able to work the shot back to a point man who ripped one home from outside the circles to break a then 1-1 tie with just over 3 minutes remaining in the game. 

Yet when you cast aside those two defensive miscues that left poor Malcom out to dry the Toronto native was stellar making stops through traffic and despite an obvious difficulty at handling rebounds off of long range shots, neither of the 2 goals he allowed came off of shots within the hash marks. His comfort in the crease showed from the first warm-ups on as he was almost never sliding around. The edges of his skates were always firmly dug into the ice and he seemed to be fully contempt at staying inside the small confines of the blue shaded goal crease.  This close proximity to the goal and lack of cutting down of the shooting angle was made possible by both a wing span of 79 inches that allowed him to easily cover both posts at the same time and some leg power and reflex skills that were ranked higher than many forwards in the 2012 draft in which Malcom was selected in. 

In my mind, it is true that Malcom Subban is not NHL ready but AHL, that might be a different story.  


Main Notes 

• Strong on shots through traffic, no goals allowed from within hash marks or with screens in front of him.
• Wide wingspan: 79 inches (7 inches wider than the goal itself)
• Comfort in crease: was never sliding around, rarely out of position.
• Slight difficulty at handling glove side pucks and controlling rebound produced from that side. 
• Never lost focus on game even after he was beaten with just 3 minutes to go.  
• Has been with Boston Bruins all preseason, September 27th game was debut with Providence 

Who's 2

A look at the Bruins backup goal-tending situation

Tuukka Rask will likely start upwards of 60 games in 2013. At this point in time, there are no doubts of what this man is capable of. 19 wins last year and a GAA of 2.00. He led his team to the finals, making the saves when the counted and always going 100%. Unlike last year, the situation regarding the number one spot on the Bruins goal tending depth chart is one of fortitude and solidification. Tuukka will, like he was last season, be the face between the pipes for almost two 3rds of 2013-2014 season. The only problem is who plays those last say 20 games.

Last season, the answer and filler of those 20 games would logically have been Anton Khudobin.

He played admirably in his rookie year snagging 9 wins in 14 starts while only allowing a GAA of 2.03. When Tuukka had to take a night off, Anton Khudobin was there to fill the void. The only problem with that scenario was that Khudobin was too good per se. Following Boston's elimination from the finals back in June, Khudobin immediately expressed his wishes to move on from Beantown. He knew that with Rask playing so well in his resurgence as a starter, Tuukka would be here for the rest of the decade meaning that long story short, a long term deal between the Bruins and Khudobin would obviously involve a lot of bench warming.

By July 5th, the Bruins had lost their stellar backup. On that day, Khudobin signed a 1 year 800,000$ contract with the Carolina Hurricanes

But as Anton Khudobin cleaned out his TD Garden locker, 2 other men christened theirs. After Niklas Svedberg signed with the Bruins back in 2012, the 24 year old Swedish native iced once of the best seasons in he history of AHL goaltenders. He ripped home an astronomical 37 wins while allowing a GAA of just 2.17 and won the honor as best league goaltender. Following the conclusion of the AHL season there was no doubt that Svedberg would be the backup in 2013 but in the blink of an eye, Peter Charelli made a questionable move bringing in a man named Chad Johnson. With just 10 NHL games under his belt, Johnson may not be the primary choice for backup. But as it stands, through 3 years split between the Rangers and Coyotes he has not been bad. Until game one of the preseason. Johnson allowed 3 goals in just 29 minutes of play amidst Boston's 6-3 preseason opener win over Montreal and he was not happy. 

“It was a tough one, for sure. You want to get into the flow of things, but I didn’t get off to a good start. The first shot I had on me I mishandled the glove, and that wasn’t good. Then there were penalties, so there was never flow to the game as we scrambled along,” said Johnson. “There was no flow to my game, and it showed. I didn’t play the way that I wanted to, obviously. It was disappointing, but you can’t worry about it now while focusing on putting out your best performance in the next game.”

At this point in time, we really don't know who will back up the Bruins in 2013-2014 but regardless of that, the season will be upon us very soon and as a fan of the Bruins, I cannot wait. 

Dates to circle 

Most anticipated games of the 2013-2014 Bruins season

October 3rd vs Tampa Bay Lighting: The Bruins play their first game of the season kicking off against a lightning team that will be looking to begin their year by knocking off one of the best teams in the east.  

October 12th at Columbus Blue Jackets: After an off-season full of different moves, the Bruins will play against Nathan Hornton for the first time in almost 4 years. 

October 17th at Florida Panthers: After Tim Thomas's competitive spirit was reignited by Boston's run to the cup, he will likely play his first career game against the Bruins during a 7:30 home game for the Panthers.

November 5th vs Dallas Stars: Tyler Seguin will make his return to the Garden as he will likely be one of the top players on a Stars team that is expected not to be playing very well in 2013-2014. 

November 9th vs Maple Leafs: A little over 6 months after the Maple Leafs saw the Bruins erase their 2 goal lead in the final minutes of game seven they will return to the Garden in a game 7 rematch. 

January 19th at Chicago: The Bruins will likely endure chants of "WE GOT THE CUP" when they head to the Windy City for a Stanley Cup rematch.

February 9th - February 25th: The NHL season will be briefly suspended due to the Olympics in Sochi. The Bruins however will likely have several representatives over in Russia as Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and Milan Lucic have all been intertwined with Canadian team training camp. 

April 13th at NJ Devils: The Bruins will wrap up their regular season with a 3 PM meeting with the Devils. 

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My thoughts on Malcom: A brief scouting report on the young netminder

Recently, the Worcester Sharks in collaboration with the New England Sports Center and the Providence Bruins organization put on an AHL preseason match-up before a slim crowd of 2,000 people packed into the NESC's small - rink one - arena in Marlborough. 

I was there, clutching a surprisingly helpful lineup-card in hand while I pinned my eyes to the sweater, the name on the back being one I had no clue would be here tonight: Malcom Subban. Seeing that he is the brother of hated Montreal Canadian: PK Subban, Malcom's surname is not one unknown to Bruins fans. What is unknown however is the simple thought of cheering for a man with that surname. 

Malcom is 19 years old and plays for the Bellville Bulls of the OHL (Ontario Hockey League). In his 4 years there however  he has already solicited a whole boatload of cheering from his fans. Many of those cheers were for any one of the 1355 saves he made in a career season in 2012. But those junior hockey stats were soon rendered worthless as the slate was wiped clean earlier this month when Malcom Subban joined the Boston Bruins preseason starting squad. There he started 1 game and appeared in another holding a 29 minute shutout in his Bruins debut back in preseason game number 1. Malcom made 12 saves against his brothers Canadians. 

But before long, trouble struck as after allowing 8 goals in a September 19th demolition at the hands of the Redwings, Malcom was demoted to Providence and his brief tenure as a 2013-2014 Boston Bruin came to a painful close. 

But here in Providence, Bruins fans as well as Subban were treated to a reality check. As it stood, we always knew that there was no way Subban would make the Bruins and in a way his lack of participation in Providence training camp and preseason might have possibly hindered his possible performance as an AHL goalie in 2013. But nevertheless, in the game that I saw him take part in, that lack of participation was not evident. 

Subban made 29 saves in the contest and allowed just 2 goals. His team was handed the loss but there is a strong argument to state that it was not Malcom's fault. As a fan sitting just over 45 feet from the crease, Subban's 2 goals allowed were just 2 tallies among so many shots that without his presence and crucial saves could possibly have multiplied into 4 or 5.  In addition to that, the second goal that Subban allowed came on a delayed penalty where the Sharks were able to pull their goalie for an extra attacker. This advantage was clearly evident as after some good work in the corners, the Sharks were able to work the shot back to a point man who ripped one home from outside the circles to break a then 1-1 tie with just over 3 minutes remaining in the game. 

Yet when you cast aside those two defensive miscues that left poor Malcom out to dry the Toronto native was stellar making stops through traffic and despite an obvious difficulty at handling rebounds off of long range shots, neither of the 2 goals he allowed came off of shots within the hash marks. His comfort in the crease showed from the first warm-ups on as he was almost never sliding around. The edges of his skates were always firmly dug into the ice and he seemed to be fully contempt at staying inside the small confines of the blue shaded goal crease.  This close proximity to the goal and lack of cutting down of the shooting angle was made possible by both a wing span of 79 inches that allowed him to easily cover both posts at the same time and some leg power and reflex skills that were ranked higher than many forwards in the 2012 draft in which Malcom was selected in. 

In my mind, it is true that Malcom Subban is not NHL ready but AHL, that might be a different story.  


Main Notes 

• Strong on shots through traffic, no goals allowed from within hash marks or with screens in front of him.
• Wide wingspan: 79 inches (7 inches wider than the goal itself)
• Comfort in crease: was never sliding around, rarely out of position.
• Slight difficulty at handling glove side pucks and controlling rebound produced from that side. 
• Never lost focus on game even after he was beaten with just 3 minutes to go.  
• Has been with Boston Bruins all preseason, September 27th game was debut with Providence 

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Well I'm not waiting for the regular season: Bruins tough guys throwing down in the preseason

Prior to a September 23rd it seemed that nobody had told Washington Capitals enforcer: Joel Rechlicz that speeding fits colliding with your skull often inflict pain. But not to worry, by the 15th minute of that night's game against the Bruins, Milan Lucic had enlightened him...sort of.

In a ferocious fight that left Rechlicz bruised and out of sorts, Lucic absolutely wrecked poor Joel landing punch after punch while engaging in a seemingly endless fight that seemed only fit to be drawn out in a Roman gladiator arena. But no matter how brutal it is, fighting is a part of hockey, interwoven with the game and completely necessary among the factoids and memories in the NHL's great history. We all know fighting is bad. It turns brains into mashed potato and leaves knuckles un-recognizable by the end of their careers as enforcers. There is obviously a strong argument already staked on the subject of banning these brutal bouts but at the same time it is guys like Shawn Thornton, Zedeno Chara and Milan Lucic that make you finally realize that those futile arguments are well, futile.

But nevertheless there is one aspect of fighting that can be far more thoroughly questioned. Why do preseason fights even exist? The games do not count, the scores mean nothing. These games are almost invisible, meaningless, and free of any weight or value to their winners. But while that may be true, the injuries sustained in these strangely violent exhibition games are anything but nonexistent.

After Bruins fans were treated to their first preseason fight in over 2 calendar years back on September 16th, the black and gold have managed to successfully accumulate a whopping 9 tussles in just 6 games.

“Obviously there’s a lot of cons in fighting in preseason. You don’t want to break a hand or get a concussion or anything like that from fighting in the preseason,” Lucic said after the Bruins won 3-2 in overtime at TD Garden. “But you know the pros are you’re showing that no matter what the situation is or no matter what the game is, you’re going to stick up for yourself and your teammates no matter what the situation is. And that’s what it basically was. I didn’t really have a choice. So like I said, it was just good to get into one. And it was a long one. I had to catch my breath after that one.” 

The fight Lucic was referencing there was the same one in which the picture above was taken and came after teammate Dane Byers was absolutely cleaned out by a 26 year old Rechlicz who was just 2 seasons removed from a 200+ PIM season in the NHL. Insanely, even after Rechlicz stumbled back to his dressing room following the merciful end to that bout, he returned to the ice and decided to pick a fight with yet another enraged Bruin: Johnny Boychuck. 

Once again countless punches were thrown and this time Rechlicz actually took Boychuck down. That fight in particular obviously made Bruins fans mad. The Boychuck hit that spawned that fight was not even hard enough to take its recipient down. But within seconds Rechlicz had Boychuck pinned against the boards while taking a good 2 or 3 defenseless punches to the ribs. If it is even to exist, preseason fighting should be reserved for big time offences. Hitting the goaltender, boarding, charging, those are the kinds of crimes meriting of a fight. Not a simple center ice collision. 

As was said before, the Bruins have accumulated 9 fights this preseason. That is slightly abnormal as these 9 fights are the highest since the team recorded 15 in 2009-2010. Another far stranger fact though is that that with 9 fights in 6 games the Bruins are averaging 1.5 fights per game. That is almost identical to the 1.5 in this last season and the slightly lesser 1.3 fights per game the year before. 

So why fight like this, why is there no discrepancy between regular and preseason fight tallies when in one set of games, wins and losses are treasured like gold and in the other they are thrown away like Twinkie wrappers. Because for some kids playing in these games, this is as close as they will ever get to the NHL. Fights are a product of high stakes, competing players and upped anxiety surrounding a single game and when you have college kids fighting it out to realize their ultimate hockey goal, the amount of anger and competitive nature is as high if not higher than that of a regular season game when the roster is set and the salaries are confirmed.  

There are arguments for and against fighting in hockey but while regular season battles are nearly set in stone, the stories surrounding these 9 preseason battles are in a way, far more intriguing. 

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Third Line's the Charm: A look at why the 3rd line combination of Chris Kelly and Carl Soderberg will be highly beneficial in the comming NHL season

Chris Kelly celebrating the biggest personal achievement of his career: his OT winner in game one the 2012 NHL playoffs 

The Boston Bruins as a team have played 5 preseason games and are a cumulative 4-1, their only blemish amidst so much foretelling success being an 8-2 beat down last Thursday at the hands of the Redwings.

Jarome Iginla has made his transition to the spoked be seems like it never happened and Milan Lucic has already made the dentist far to familiar with Looch's opponents. Malcom Subban has bee great and seems much closer to being NHL ready than many had previously assumed.

For the first time in over 2 seasons, preseason hockey has returned to the NHL schedule and for the Bruins, a host of off season signings left many questions unanswered. With situations like Jarome Iginla an the chemistry surrounding him and his new line-mates, the preseason has ANSWERED questions. But in the cases of Malcom Subban and the combination of Chris Kelly and Carl Soderberg is has only spawned them.
Chris Kelly, a 32 year old versatile Bruins forward has been with the team for 3 seasons now an despite his 6 years in Ottowa has broken into the minds of hockey fans as a Bruin not a Senator. He was traded to Boston in the final months of their 2010-2011 regular season before making a strong impression as the teams 3rd line center in the playoffs. There he scored 5 times and saw his team storm all the way to a cup championship. Kelly got off to a good start in Beantown but sported an even better sophomore campaign in 2011-2012. He scored 20 times that year and did not miss a game. Kelly seemed to be the big name answer to a Bruins 3rd line that had struggled for so many years but as quick as the praise began to come forth, he bottomed out.

Chris scored just 3 times in the lockout shortened 2013 season and was a complete non factor in the ensuing playoffs scoring just two goals, both of which came after Kelly failed to score in the initial 3 rounds of the NHL tournament. The Bruins were back to rock bottom. They shipped Tyler Seguin out of town and seemed to be looking to do the same with Kelly. But as time went on, no moves were made so Bruins fans finally looked to fix the problem at hand not simply throw it away.

Chris Kelly is great but the Bruins need someone for him to feed off of. Fact is, that person was already in the Bruins organisation and had already played briefly with Kelly. That persons name is Carl Soderberg.

After he was drafted by the Blues back in 2004, Malmo Sweeden native: Carl Soderberg returned to his homeland lacking what he so dearly yearned for: an NHL contract. As it stood, the Blues wanted Soderberg but not enough to pay him. Turns out, while the Bruins like the Blues did not want to lock him up for a contract, they were willing to give up some decent assets to simply call dibs on Carl. In July of 2007 they traded backup: Hannu Toivonen for the rights to the Sweed.

But nevertheless, the Bruins sent Soderberg back to Sweeden where he would play 5 more seasons as he would progressively increase his scoring output all before he finally complied 31 goals in this past season leading his team to the playoffs all before he gained the elusive call by the Boston Bruins. Soderberg was comming to Boston.

"You know, Kells and Carl are really good players, they work well together and so I'm just trying to help out when I can and if I can give them a little bit more space, then that's all the better." 3rd line companion Riley Smith said of his teammates.

Soderberg has sported an improved style of play in this preseason accounting for 2 goals and quite a few nice burst of speed and confert in and around these US rinks that are almost 10 feet thinner than those in Sweeden. As for Chris Kelly, his work in the preseason has accounted for 2 goals of his own as well as an assist on one of Soderberg's 2 preseason goals. The combination of Carl Soderberg seems to be the compliment that Chris Kelly has needed all this time. 

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NFL power rankings: Broncos top em' all

1) Denver Broncos



Lets face it, the NFL football team that is: 3-0, has averaged 42 points again for 3 straight weeks and has seen their QB break records in passing touchdowns is above and beyond the level that every other NFL team is playing at.

The Broncos are statistically and presumptuously the best team in the NFL.

2) Kansas City Chiefs



The Boston Red Sox went from worst to first in just one calender year. Well, the Chiefs are still worse than Denver but when you think about it, worst to second in the NFL is well, a close second.

The addition of Andy Reid has catapulted the Cheifs to a position as one of just 7 teams still without a loss as their 3 wins this season have equaled all those output in their previous 17 games spanning back to week 17 of the 2011 season. All be it, their average of just 23 points a game is nothing compared to Denver but the sheer being of their recent return to the win column undoubtedly makes them the 2nd best team in the NFL right now.

3) New England Patriots



The Patriots are not as bad as you would think they are.

Now don't get me wrong when Tom Brady averages less than 20 points in a game there is cause for concern. But nevertheless with both Rob Gronkowski and Danny Amendola coming back in week 4, the Patriots are going to get alot better very fast. But even without Gronk and Amenola, Kenbrell Thompkins has finally gotten on the same page with Tom Brady and LeGarret Blount is returning to being the prime 1,000 yard rusher that he was in Tampa.

Whats better is the fact that the Patriots defense is playing better than any other in football allowing an average of just 11 points per game and a constant supremacy on 3rd and 4th down situations.

4) Seattle Seahawks

5) Chicago Bears

The worst of the worst

32) Washington  

I'm not sure if you noticed but knees are not supposed to bend that way. 

Midway through last seasons Wild Card Game, Robert Griffin III may have seen his career basically end there on his own 10 yard line. After forgoing his doctor's orders for him sit out that crucial game, RGIII, the former Hismen Trophy winner literally saw his knee quit on him sending him skidding to the turf in a heap of pain. 

Since that moment, 4 decisions have been handed down and none of them have been good for Washington. They lost 24-14 to Seattle, 33-27 to Philly, 38-20 to Green Bay, and finally 27-20 to Detroit. RGIII's knee is crippling him and forcing him to ditch the rushing aspect of his game that accounted for 800+ yards last season. Griffin is not a pocket passer like Tom Brady or Peyton Manning, he is a guy who runs with the option to pass but with a bad knee he has been turned into a guy who throws with the possibility to stumble for 2 to 3 yards if he needs to. 

Robert Griffin is the center of this Washington team, when he is good, his team is good...but when he is bad well all you have to do is look as this 2013 season for your answer. 

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None of it maters: Why New England's recent receiving struggles are rendered mute by wins

Through 3 games, Tom Brady had thrown just 48 complete passes. His lack of passing targets had made it so that he had only thrown for 473 yards meaning he is on pace for a career low of 1,892 yards, a statistic that would likely have him missing out on a Pro Bowl nomination for the first time in 4 seasons.

Danny Ammendola has been out since week one with a groin injury and Rob Gronkowski is still and enigma loosing muscle mass while watching his QB struggle with inept rookies.

Brady has already been ripped for yelling at his receivers and through the first 2 weeks of play New England had barely scraped past 2 drastically inferior football opponents. They drop passes, their kicker misses field goals, and 3rd downs often transform not into 1st downs but to punts.

Rookie punter: Ryan Allen has been as good as any other NFL punter but that is only because he had been given “too” much work.

In one way, the Patriots have been awful, the bottom of the barrel as bad as the mere 59 points that they have scored says. But in another way, the Patriots have been spectacular. After 3 weeks they are one of just 4 NFL teams who have gone without a loss in 2013-2014 and well, that’s about it. But when you think about it what’s to pout about.

As bad as they have been, 3-0 is a darn good way to start a season. In truth at the end of the season it is wins that count. Having more of them is a good thing.

With 3 wins in the books, the Patriots have complied more victories than not one but two 2012-2013 NFL teams. With their next victory they will up that number to 5. What’s better is the fact that amidst the 2 previous 3-0 starts that Tom Brady is guided this team to in his years as starter, the Pats have made the Super Bowl both times.

“There’s a lot of football left to play. I think we can be as good as we want to be, as long as we continue to get better as a team.” Patriots linemen: Vince Wilfork said when asked for his opinion on New England’s 3-0 start.

The defense that Wilfork is a part of has allowed just 27 points and combined for 3 sacks in this game with Tampa alone. Those 27 points that the Pats have allowed is the lowest 3 game total since 1979.

We have known for a while that while offence is great a good defense coupled with an acceptable Tom Brady can and will often be enough to scrape by. In fact over the past few seasons it has been widely shown that Super Bowl champions don’t necessarily need to be the ones with mega star power.

Last season’s winners: the Baltimore Ravens finished with just 10 wins but stormed past the Broncos and Pats in the playoffs to beat the Niner’s in the Super Bowl.

1 year before that, Giants dropped the favored Patriots in the title game all after losing their first 2 games of the year.

But while 0-2 may have worked for the Giants I can guarantee that they would easily have traded for the 3-0 start that New England has going right now.

The Patriots look ahead to next week where they will hopefully move to 4-0 against the Falcons.

“I think that’s the biggest thing for us right now: individually raise our level of play and just take every day as it comes. If we attack each week like that, then we’ll be OK. This week will be another challenge going down to Atlanta. So every week is different, but our goal is going to be the same and that’s to get better each week. “

The Atlanta team that the Pats play next week is currently 1-2 but has allowed almost 3 times as many points as the Pats have. Regardless of that, the Falcons are still a great team and one that fell just a few points shy of getting to the Super Bowl last season. They are an ample opponent.

“Every week the urgency is more because there are less games and there is less you can do about your season. Just to get to 3-0 – we’ve only done it once in the last seven or nine years, which is a pretty good stat. I'd love to get to 4-0.” Tom Brady said in a press conference that in a way symbolized this season for New England.

First there was a gleeful look ahead to game number 4. Then there was talk about the struggles and controversy surrounding Kenbrell Thompkins and Aaron Dobson, all before there was talk on the greatest underlying fact of this crazy up and down season for New England. They are 3-0 with a chance to go 4 and 0 in just 7 days.

When wins are capped off, you move up in the standings, and when the year ends playoff teams are not decided by dropped passes. No, contenders and pretenders are separated by wins meaning that none of the other things matter in the slightest.

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Patriots first half notes: Brady dominates in 2nd quarter, Goskowski ties career long with buzzer beater field goal

Midway through the 2nd quarter, Tom Brady was once again screaming in reaction to something rookie wide out: Kenbrell Thompkins had done in regards to a pass Tom had thrown. 

The only difference was that unlike last Thursday's game where Thompkins in collaboration solicited a late game talking to from their pro bowl quarterback, this time Brady was yelling in delight not distaste. 

After the Patriots struggled in quarter number one, they managed to hold the Bucs down and get to the second quarter trailing but just 3 points. The Patriots defense compiled 2 sacks in the first quarter and their line-backing play was dominant throughout the half breaking off not one but two 4th down attempts by the Bucs. 

But while their defense was keeping them in the game, it was time for the Pats OFFENCE to step up. 

Tom Brady soon answered the call upping his in game passing totals to 103 yards all while scraping together 2 touchdown drives that both ended with 10+ yard tosses to rookie Thompkins. 

These 2 scores were both the first and second of Thompkins' career as he would also get on the receiving end of a 4th down conversion off the throw of Brady. 

Stephan Ridely rushed for 30 yards on 7 carries while Aaron Dobson led the entire Patriots receiving core with 4 catches and 35 yards in the 1st half.  

All half long, the idea of Thompkins and Dobson throwing their coming out parties was a dominant one but perhaps the biggest story of the first half came with just 11 seconds to go following an Aquib Talib interception. 

The Patriots had just scored and after rushing the ball on their first two plays, it seemed that the Bucs were contempt to let the clock run out. Yet on 3rd and 5, Josh Freeman stepped back a hurled a weak throw about 10-15 yards down field all to be intercepted by Patriot Talib. Long story short with so little time left on the clock, Tom Brady toed the line just a few yards out of his kickers range. He had 2 downs left before the Pats would have to punt but with only 6 seconds before the end of the half it was only logical to assume that New England was either going to get this in range for a Goskowski kick or the half would run out. 

Long story short, while it was assumed that Brady would have to throw he found himself staring into open field with no defender within immediate tackling range. He took the snap and rushed for 4 yards, his longest ground gain of the season. 

The Pats offence than vacated the field and watched from the sideline as Stephan Goskowski converted on the longest field goal of his career. 

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Sox take ownership: Boston beats Toronto 6-3 - clench AL East pennant

From worst to first.  It's a phrase that has been thrown around time and time again but what’s better is the fact that among all the 3 page articles, all the hours of talk show time devoted to the subject it is that 4 word saying that might capture the story of this 2013 better than any other. In one season the Boston Red Sox went from that pathetic team that was making the cover of SI for all the wrong reasons to one that had made history. 

At 10:30 PM last night, Koji Uehara fanned Bret Lawrie recording the 3rd out of the 9th inning, and completing run that had never been made in the history of Red Sox baseball. They had officially gone from last in the east in one year to first in the next. 

They won 6-3 over the Blue Jays last night snagging their 94th victory one night after their 2013 season win totals equaled those in the 2012 loss column. John Farrell became only the 7th Red Sox manager to lead his team to the playoffs in his first year and Jon Lester earned the win in this one. That win was the 100th in his career. 

"They have a great team over there, they really do," said Blue Jays manager John Gibbons. "They ran away with a good division. It's not even close right now."

Lester hurled 7 innings of 5 hit ball allowing just 1 run and 2 walks. Of course, it was win number 100 in his career but also his 15th on the year. This was his 5th 15 win year in the past 6 seasons. 

"The biggest thing is," Lester began to say before Andrew Bailey emptied a bottle of champagne on his face, "God, that's cold. We don't give up." 

"I wanted to finish the game, but obviously that didn't work out," Lester said. "I've never been able to be on the mound in a game like this. To be there in the end and have everybody dogpile you; I'm a little disappointed I only went seven." 

Unlike Lackey who hurled a minuscule 113 pitches in the near no hit complete game 2 nights ago, Lester had already thrown 123 pitched by the end of the 7th inning so his day was without a doubt done. The reason for that high pitch count was the sheer drama that the Jays invoked almost all night long. From the 1st to the 9th inning it seemed that the bases were always loaded for Toronto but riding an equally omnipresent storm of double plays Lester always seemed to find a way out of the jam. The only problem there was the fact that among the 7 innings he pitched, 5 of them involved more than 20 pitches for Lester. 

"These guys are unbelievable," Nieves said of Lester and the pitching staff. "They have seen death in their own eyes. It's no big deal now. It's no big deal. I think when you've seen the worst, you expect the best after that."

The Sox would add 3 runs in the bottom of the 7th inning as David Ortiz tacked on a 1 run 0 out single that scored Jackie Bradley Jr. and moved Daniel Nava to 2nd. 1 batter later after Mike Napoli grounded into a 4-1-3 double play, Mike Carp smacked up a screaming 2 run single that scored both Nava and David Ortiz. 

Before long, Koji Uehara was into the game starring down the barrel of what would go down as his largest save of the year. Before long, those 5 outs had been notched, the Sox were AL East champions and as they mobbed each-other just to the right of 3rd base, Fenway roared as they watched a scene 4 years in the making. 

Just proud of this group," Sox GM: Ben Cherrington said as he wore a tee shirt bearing the words "WE OWN THE EAST" across the chest. "But we're not done; we're going to keep playing." 

They sprinted back to their locker room, proudly wherein the shirts that they subliminally wanted to advertise. They donned their ski goggles to keep the nearly explosive wine out of their eyes jumped around and celebrated for a while all before they returned to the field. There, Koji jumped atop the dugout roof and high five-d fans. Clay Buchholz ran along the foul lines dousing fans in campaign and Johnny Gomes stood by 1st base and punted 5 to 10 beers into the crowd. 

Amidst a celebration 4 years in the making, we hooted with laughter jumping for joy and realizing the pennant win nearly 6 years in the making. With just under 10 games left in the season, the Boston Red Sox have 94 wins. They have flipped the tide from just one year ago and the greatest part of this all is that there is still time for the Sox to snag number 100. 

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From worst to first: Boston Red Sox win first division title since 2007

8-2 vs. Yankees, 7-4 vs. Yankees, 6-4 vs. Blue Jays, 13-0 vs. Blue Jays, 3-1 vs. Orioles, 2-1 vs. Rays, 5-0 vs. Rays, 3-2 vs. Rays, 7-2 vs. Indians, 6-3 vs. Indians, 6-3 vs. Indians, 4-3 vs. Royals, 9-6 vs. Athletics, 7-2 vs. Astros, 7-3 vs. Astros, 8-4 vs. Astros, 6-1 vs. Astros, 10-1 vs. Blue Jays, 3-1 vs. Blue Jays, 6-5 vs. Twins, 5-0 vs. Blue Jays, 9-2 vs. Rays, 4-3 vs. Rays, 3-2 vs. Twins, 12-5 vs. Twins, 5-1 vs. Twins, 6-2 vs. White Sox, 8-1 vs. Indians, 6-5 vs. Indians,  9-3 vs. Phillies, 9-2 vs. Phillies, 11-1 vs. Yankees, 3-0 vs. Yankees, 17- 5 Rangers, 6-3 vs. Rangers, 7-2 vs. Angles, 10-5 vs. Angles, 10-8 vs. Rays, 2-1 vs. Rays, 5-1 vs. Rays, 3-1 vs. Rays, 10-6 vs. Tigers, 11-4 vs. Rockies, 5-3 vs. Rockies, 7-4 vs. Blue Jays, 7-5 vs. Blue Jays,4-1 vs. Padres, 2-1 vs. Padres, 8-2 vs. Padres, 6-2 vs. Angles, 11-8 vs. Mariners, 11-4 vs. Mariners, 8-7 vs. Mariners, 4-2 vs. Athletics, 4-2 vs. Yankees, 8-7 vs. Yankees, 6-2 vs. Rays, 7-3 vs. Orioles, 5-0 vs. Orioles, 8-2 vs. Mariners, 5-4 vs. Mariners, 8-7 vs. Mariners, 4-0 vs. D-Backs, 15-10 vs. Astros, 5-3 vs. Royals, 4-2 vs. Blue Jays, 7-0 vs. Giants, 12-1 vs. Giants, 8-1 vs. Dodgers, 4-2 vs. Dodgers, 13-2 vs. Orioles, 4-3 vs. Orioles, 4-3 vs. White Sox, 7-2 vs. White Sox, 7-6  vs. White Sox, 2-1 vs. Tigers, 20-4 vs. Tigers, 9-8 vs. Yankees, 12-8 vs. Yankees, 13-9 vs. Yankees, 2-0 vs. Rays, 7-3 vs. Rays, 8-4 vs. Yankees, 5-1 vs. Yankees, 9-2 vs. Yankees, 3-1 vs. Orioles, 6-3 vs. Blue Jays  

1 year after the Boston Red Sox finished the season at 69-93 and the title of worst in the east, the Sox have turned it around. 

With smiles dominating the faces of all within Red Sox nation, Koji Uehara capped off win number 94, finishing a 5 out save and winning the AL East. 94 wins after they began the year with a 8-2 triumph over the Yankees, we roared in delight, feeling tingles run down out spines as for the first time in 6 years, they were the kings of the east. 

They jogged back to the clubhouse high fiveing all within sight as they renewed a tradition of September victories at Fenway Park. The Sox are back and we all know that this party will last all night.

*The list above is the list of the 94 wins that it took to win the east. The ones in red are division games. 

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Who's 2: A look at the interesting battle for who will claim the role as Tukka Rask's backup in 2013-2014

Tuukka Rask will likely start upwards of 60 games in 2013. At this point in time, there are no doubts of what this man is capable of. 19 wins last year and a GAA of 2.00. He led his team to the finals, making the saves when the counted and always going 100%. Unlike last year, the situation regarding the number one spot on the Bruins goal tending depth chart is one of fortitude and solidification. Tuukka will, like he was last season, be the face between the pipes for almost two 3rds of 2013-2014 season. The only problem is who plays those last say 20 games.

Last season, the answer and filler of those 20 games would logically have been Anton Khudobin.

He played admirably in his rookie year snagging 9 wins in 14 starts while only allowing a GAA of 2.03. When Tuukka had to take a night off, Anton Khudobin was there to fill the void. The only problem with that scenario was that Khudobin was too good per se. Following Boston's elimination from the finals back in June, Khudobin immediately expressed his wishes to move on from Beantown. He knew that with Rask playing so well in his resurgence as a starter, Tuukka would be here for the rest of the decade meaning that long story short, a long term deal between the Bruins and Khudobin would obviously involve a lot of bench warming.

By July 5th, the Bruins had lost their stellar backup. On that day, Khudobin signed a 1 year 800,000$ contract with the Carolina Hurricanes

But as Anton Khudobin cleaned out his TD Garden locker, 2 other men christened theirs. After Niklas Svedberg signed with the Bruins back in 2012, the 24 year old Swedish native iced once of the best seasons in he history of AHL goaltenders. He ripped home an astronomical 37 wins while allowing a GAA of just 2.17 and won the honor as best league goaltender. Following the conclusion of the AHL season there was no doubt that Svedberg would be the backup in 2013 but in the blink of an eye, Peter Charelli made a questionable move bringing in a man named Chad Johnson. With just 10 NHL games under his belt, Johnson may not be the primary choice for backup. But as it stands, through 3 years split between the Rangers and Coyotes he has not been bad. Until game one of the preseason. Johnson allowed 3 goals in just 29 minutes of play amidst Boston's 6-3 preseason opener win over Montreal and he was not happy. 

“It was a tough one, for sure. You want to get into the flow of things, but I didn’t get off to a good start. The first shot I had on me I mishandled the glove, and that wasn’t good. Then there were penalties, so there was never flow to the game as we scrambled along,” said Johnson. “There was no flow to my game, and it showed. I didn’t play the way that I wanted to, obviously. It was disappointing, but you can’t worry about it now while focusing on putting out your best performance in the next game.”

At this point in time, we really don't know who will back up the Bruins in 2013-2014 but regardless of that, the season will be upon us very soon and as a fan of the Bruins, I cannot wait. 

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Lackey hurls gem putting Boston into first postseason berth in 4 years: Sox win 3-1 over Orioles

John Lackey made one mistake among 113 model pitches. 

He left 1 pitch, one pitch out of so many where the hitter could capitalize and even while 99.992% of is pitches were all but perfect, we pouted and uttered some naughty words when that one mistake took away what could have been the perfect bookend to a career year for John lackey: a no hitter. After pitching the first 6.1 innings without allowing a hit, Lackey was just 7 outs away from becoming the first Sox since Jon Lester in 2008 to complete the No-no when Adam Jones capitalized on a stunning 0-1 pitch driving the ball to deep left field and earning the first of just 2 hits on the night for Baltimore. 

"Oh no" was a common exclamation around 9 PM last night but eve while that cry was omnipresent in Fenway park as Jones touched home, Sox fans soon recovered and tipped their caps to a man whom that had relearned how to cheer for. John Lackey pitched his best game as a Red Sox last night but what’s better is the fact that for the first time since 2009, the team that was will have handed him 15,000,000$ by the end of the year will be competing for the right to go to the World Series. 

"I mean, it's nice to be a part of going to the playoffs," Lackey said post-game. "There was a lot of hard work getting back to this point, for sure. To be back here and be pitching well again and being healthy, it's been fun."

But while last night's game officially ended a 4 year stretch with a lot more booing than cheering, the Sox are not celebrating yet.  

"We know where we're at," said Red Sox manager John Farrell. "We know what was pending. We still feel like the next step is a more important one than this. We know that we're in. We've said a few times that winning the East, that's been a stated goal since Day One of Spring Training. That's getting closer. I think that will be more the realization of where we've come from and where we are at that moment." 

Prior to tonight's match-up with the Jays, the Red Sox stand 9 games secure of the Tampa Bay Rays for the division lead and have lowered their magic number for clenching the division to just 1 game. With the next occurrence of either a loss for the Rays or a win for the Sox, that goal that they have worked so hard to realize will finally have been reached. 

In the court of public opinion, the Boston Red Sox have won the AL east but according to the math, nothing is truly set in stone and for that reason, no post game celebrations were held well, that is not post game celebrations involving the Red Sox players. For those who watched last night's game with either an open mind or one slanted in favor of the Sox, you could not help but yell in delight, jump on top of a chair and celebrate like you had just won a championship. 

Lackey hurled 9 innings of 2 hit ball, walking just 2 and lowering his season ERA by almost a full 10th of a percent. But what’s better is the fact that finally, a near perfect game by John Lackey coincided with an acceptable game by Sox batters.  

Whether it be a 2 run homer in the bottom of the 2nd inning by Stephan Drew or any of the 5 extra base hits that guys like Jarrod Saltilamaccia, Jackie Bradley Junior and without a doubt Drew who went 2 for 3 with a homer and a triple put up, Boston won. 3 runs was enough. 

"The remake of John Lackey, both physically and getting back on the mound and performing as he's done all year, mirrors that of this team," Farrell said. "It's somewhat fitting that to clinch a spot to get into the playoffs is with him on the mound and to go nine innings the way he did, like I said, very fitting."

John Lackey might very well go down as the MLB's best comeback player in 2013 but on a team that will likely finish the year having gone from last to first in just 1 season that title of comeback player should be amended to comeback PLAYERS of the year. What the Sox have done is spectacular but they will look to lock it all up tonight when it is as simple as this: you win the game and the division is officially yours. 

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All Hail the Mighty Beard: a look at the Red Sox hilarious (and sometimes creepy) relationship with the beard

       
                                       "

A gritty beard, worn proudly on the face of a sweat soaked athlete. It is a species of facial hair that has recently become ever present in a ball park that is anything but new.

You see while the traditions of beards in sports like hockey is something long established in sports history, these peculiar beasts are a new comer amidst the jungle of the Boston Red Sox dugout. They hitch hike on the faces of Sox players and hear the elected yells of their hosts as the Sox continue to rack up the wins.

While new names, a re-born culture of winning in Boston, and almost 8,00 runs on the year remain some of the most obvious ADDITIONS in this 2013 Red Sox team that has already seen so much success, one SUBTRACTION stands out as one of the biggest cultural impacts that this team has had on is city. That subtraction is that regarding the use of a razor.

While the Yankees insist on their players bearing shaved heads as well as clean cut and limited facial hair, the Red Sox have embraced the very opposite of that allowing the mighty beard to effectively take over this scruffy city of Boston.

"

Fact is we don't really know for sure when it all started, but slowly but surely, the hair added up and before long it seemed that everyone on the Red Sox starting nine came to the park wielding the unfathomable power of the beard.

Johnny Gomes and Mike Napoli are two of the ringleaders in this far from select group of beard bearers.

"All right, I know you want to know what’s up with the beard I have. I’ve been keeping it trim. Believe it or not, you would think a long beard is low maintenance but it’s actually high maintenance. Everyone is trying to dig up what’s going on with it. These beards haven’t gotten a hit or thrown a strike all year, it’s still us behind them. We’re just having fun with it. It’s more a team chemistry thing." Gomes said in an ESPN "diary" entry he made back on September 1st.

Gomes then went on to acknowledge the fact that he and 1st basemen Mike Napoli look alike. "Honestly, if you’re looking for a difference between us, I'm an outfielder, he’s and infielder," he said before further eluding to a now regular situation at home when his young children get confused when "daddy is batting while he is also on the bench."

I feel you mini Gomes, it takes a whole lot of stare to look past the beard.

"We’re just having fun with it." Gomes said, but while confusing toddlers and growing itchy forests of scruffy hair on your face is undoubtedly one of the greatest joys a ball player can indulge in, there is another aspect of this all that's has actually had an effect on the game. *wink*

Much like the "Cowboy up" trend back in 2003 and the "Idiots" theme a year later, it seems that good teams use little gimmicks like these not simply to up ticket or promo sales but to also unify their clubhouse hand build the kind of camaraderie that wins you championships.

Another note, of the major beard growers on this Red Sox team, the large majority of them have put up some pretty good numbers. Obviously you have Johnny Gomes with the slew of pinch hit homers and Mike Napoli with his 22 homers period but when you delve even deeper, the growing number of "Soggy Bottom Boys" as they are referred to by ESPN, have all be excelling and thriving off of their claim to fame.

Mike Carp has put up stellar numbers in the less than 80 games he has played this season all while Shane Victorino has put up a career year in Beantown, David Ortiz has come back from an Achilles injury better than ever and heck, even Boston's once pathetic pitching staff is finally preforming at the level that it has the possibility of playing at. 

2 years ago when they were under Terry Francona and 1 season ago when the Sox were caught up in that seemingly endless nosedive of a season, the gamesmanship simply was not there. Adrian Gonzolez would not have grown a beard along with his intentionally childish teammates, neither would Josh Beckett or even Dustin Pedroia who I point out, has a beard now.

In a way these beards are a testament to the character that Ben Cherrington has brought in and the feeling of fun an understanding of what it takes to win that has been cultivated by John Farrell. You see the bread tug that waits a player who returns after hitting a home run, but that is not all. Back in game two of that mid-August series with the Jays, the Red Sox were down 2 nothing in the top of the 9th. 2 outs had already been recorded against the Sox and with a Mike Napoli who had not been playing well for almost an entire month now striding to the plate, the game seamed over.

Sox fans made a soda run, grabbing thee remote and preparing to turn off the tv when they assumed that Napoli would strike out. But he didn't on the 1st pitch of his at bat, Napoli crushed a high fastball, driving it high but not very deep to right field. He rounded first thinking it was gone but when you looked to the dugout, there perhaps the most heartwarming moment shared by Sox players was unfolding. As they stood, eyes fixated on the tiny speck of white clear against the silver roof of the closed Rodgers Centre Dustin Pedroia was gleefully pounding his open hand against David Ortiz's shoulder. The ball was deep back, and gone, the game was tied and it was at that very moment that many fans finally realized the spectacular connection between the players, their beards and the product that was historically unfolding on the field before them.

The Red Sox have won 92 games, are 9 secure of the Rays for 1st in the east and have a team full of guys with greasy beards that will likely be no match for a peaty razor when their day ends. At this point in time I think no one in their right mind would ask the Sox to trim their beards but needless to say when the off-season rolls around, I would like to note that Craftsmen has some really nice chainsaws that might serve as a perfect tool for deforesting those overgrown chins.

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Bruins rout Habs 6-3: Jarome Iginla fitting in just fine as a Bruin

Jarome Iginla is 36 years old, he has played 1,232 games, scored 530 goals but was finally hearing whispers of his performance slowly dropping off after almost 2 decades in the NHL system. 

There was and there still is a possibility that 2013 could be Jarome's last season as a player in the game he loves but he showed last night that if he had the choice, he would not be going anywhere. While notching normal ice time, Iginla smacked home 2 tallies, one of which was on a power play team that combined for 4 Boston goals on Monday night. 

"Obviously they’re not going to be scoring three and four power play goals a night, but I think they are going to be a lot better than they have in the past,” Bruins insider: Joe Haggerty said early this morning when talking about the power play. 

For almost 3 years, the Bruins power play has been a team of dismal deficiencies. Whether it be lack of conviction or inhibition in shooting the puck or simply a nonexistent presence of those with the skills to capitalize on a power play, it’s all there, the Bruins have not been able to score on the power play in a long time. 

They scored on just 14.8% of their power plays last year, that was up just a few percentile points from the year before, when the B's scored just 43 times on the power play. But what was exhibited last night might represent that this embarrassing downturn may have already bottomed out. In 2013, Jarome Iginla scored 8 times on the power play and exhibits the exact kind of shooting style that most of Boston's current far and few power play tallies are born from: the one timer from inside the hash marks. 

But when you look at last night's game, the presence of Jarome Iginla and is line-mates was not simply felt on that sole power play goal. Iggy scoured the first goal of the game early in the 1st but then saw teammate David Krejci add a tally of his own later on. Milan Lucic would assist on all 3 goals scored by Iginla and Krejci thus accounting for a stellar 6 point night for Boston's top line. 

For a line that seemed the least confident with their chemistry back in the first few days of camp, Lucic and friends seemed a-okay last night. 

“You started seeing [the chemistry]. Where we lost [Horton] being a good shooter and a big body, I thought Iginla did a great job with that,” said Coach Claude Julien. “He shot the puck well, he was solid along the walls and he made some good plays."

“It seemed like a seamless transition, and tonight they looked really good. Hopefully that continues as they work on their game and chemistry.”

Lucic was a team player for most of the night, being unselfish and distributive when the puck on his stick....but there was still time to do his own thing. He finished the night with 4 penalty minutes, a key part near line brawl in front of the Montreal bench and a whole lot of the all-around smash mouth play we have come to expect from him of late. 

Malcom Subban: former Bruins 1st round pick made his Bruins debut last night, making 11 out of 11 saves and earning the win amidst a 3 goal 3rd  period for his offence. 

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To the greatest of all time: Red Sox honor Mariano Rivera with touching pregame presentation of gifts

All season long, Mariano Rivera has been presented with gifts cheers and absolutely no boos upon almost every visit to an opposing ball park. 

Now when he came onto the field at Fenway on Sunday night the gifts were there, the boos were not but above all the cheers rained down in a fashion that seems fit for a king. It takes a spectacular baseball player to play as good as Mariano did for as long as he did on the team that he did to bring such a cheer but as it was, the cheers were there as the Boston faithful cheered not for the Yankees but for their closer. 

The great Mo is a magician, a master at mowing down guys in the quickest of fashions. He is a genius, a hall of famer, and in the mind of Red Sox fans, not a the Yankee that he is on paper. Mariano is a good sport who never allows more than a meager fist pump even after completing the grandest of moments among his mighty career. He has snagged more saves than any other man in the history of baseball and holds a similar record regarding postseason saves. It is impossible to stress how great this insane career of Rivera has been but it is for that reason that Sox fans sit in a mixture of stunned awe and spectacular respect whenever this man takes to the mound at their beloved home field.  

But with this being Rivera's last season of his career, and Sunday night being his last game against the Red Sox, it was time for this city of Boston to show their respect is ways more concrete than deafening cheers and a lack of the taunting and heckling that we gleefully shower upon Alex Rodriguez. 

Amidst a short but sweet ceremony the Sox and their organization made you realize the full extent of how great Mo really is. 

“Hopefully we don’t have to face Rivera -- that means it’s not a save opportunity for the Yankees,’’ John Farrell said prior to the ceremony. “But I think it’s deserved the tribute that’ll be paid to him here before the game, if you’re a fan of the game. Just a remarkable career and he has set the standard for all those that occupy the closer’s role.’’ 

During the ceremony, Red Sox among other gifts presented Mariano with a painting and the pitching rubber from the Fenway dugout that Rivera so calmly prepared in. They showered him in cheers, respected his greatness and helped John Farrel, John Henry and Tom Werner make a donation of an undisclosed amount to Rivera's Refuge of Hope charity that assists with providing for underprivileged families in his home in Panama. 

There will never again be another guy like Mariano Rivera and while Red Sox fans can remember time and time again when they forgot about Mo and hoped for a 9th inning comeback only to be reminded that that would not happen as number 42 jogged out onto the field, when he jogs off the field tonight, we will inevitably ask a question. Why not one more year?

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The distribution of wealth: A look as why depth in NHL scoring is far more important than singular excellence

The Boston Bruins have had just 3 30 goal scorers since the 2004-2005 lockout and just 2 since the Claude Julian era has begun.

By comparison it seems that every other team in hockey has snagged themselves a scorer that could be named THE guy when it comes to scoring. In Philly, that guy is named Claude Giroux, in Chicago, there are two, Johnny Toews and Patrick Kane. Fact is even Tampa Bays has their perennial star in Stephan Stamkos. In the world of heavy statistics and a fantasy sports driven sports

fan base, the guy who can belt in 50 goals in a single season is far more appealing than one who can pot 20 but assist on 40-50 additional tallies like Patrice Bergeron can. But while fantasy owners and statistic addicted hockey fans will pay more attention to teams like the Penguins who have 1 or 2 big number goal scorers that does not mean that teams like the Bruins are not just as good or even better.

It is an interesting question and one that has been answered, broken open and then answered again time and time again throughout the NHL’s near 100 year history. Is the lack of a big bucks scorer more a strength rather than a weakness?

In 2011-2012, the last complete NHL season, the Bruins top goal scorer was Tyler Seguin. In that season he finished with 29 goals and while he led the Bruins in goals, Tyler was only 32nd in the NHL in goals scored. In that season, 30 NHL’ers topped 30 goals but among those 30 names, only 1 team had more than 2 men on the list. What’s better is the fact that among the 23 teams who added to that list only 9 of them made the playoffs. That means that 7 of the 16 teams contending last summer were teams devoid of a 30 goal scorer.

Also in 2012, the league’s top goal scorer: Stephan Stamkos, played for the Lightning who finished 8 points out of the playoffs.

Judging off of the Stamkos statistic, the 60 goals he scored came at a price. In 2011-2012, the same year he scored that flood of goals, the Lightning were forced to fork over 8,000,000$ just to keep him in uniform. When you think it out, that translates to a price per goal of about 133,333$. By comparison, in that same year Benouit Pouliot of the Bruins scored 16 goals. His salary of 1,100,000 divided by those 16 goals loosely translates to a price per goal of 68,750$. That is close to 25% fewer goals for a near 50% cheaper price per goal. I don’t know about you but if I’m a GM, I’ll take 60 goals from 5 or 6 guys like Benouit Pouliot over 60 goals from 1 guy like Stephan Stamkos.

So there you have it, while having a 30, 40, 50 or even 60 goal scorer on your team is nice and while it does give you a slight edge in whether or not you will make the playoffs, it is not pivotal in making a deep run. But when you think about it, that fact does not really make sense. Why is scoring less goals better than scoring more? Because on good teams, not having a Sidney Crosby, or a Jarome Iginla does not directly translate to fewer goals. No team demonstrates that truth better than the Boston Bruins.

In that 2012 season, the Bruins who finished as the clear cut winners of their division netted no 30 goal scorers but did snag an astronomical 6 guys who potted 20 tallies. They finished the season with 269 goals. That’s was 48 more than the San Jose Sharks who led the league with 3 30 goal scores.

The Boston Bruins are a team built around the excellence of so many guys. This game plan allows them to eliminate the idea of line matching by spreading at least 1 or 2 huge scoring threats over all 4 of their lines. This was true in 2012 when 3 of Boston’s 4 lines sported a 20 goal scorer and it was true in 2013 when in a near half season of play they pounded together 6 more guys with 10 or more goals.

As was said earlier, it has been 2 years since Milan Lucic netted 30 goals in 2010-2011 but many may argue that in 2013-2014 that lack of 30 goal scores in Boston may come to an end as recent additions: Jarome Iginla and Loui Eriksson come to town boasting resumes flush with 30’s in the goal column. So okay, you do have an argument there. Brad Marchand will likely get even better in 2013-2014 and Jarome Iginla who has netted 11 30 goal campaigns all on a Flames team that is well, sub-par, could easily add to his career as he is set to play on a line that could easily be dubbed the best in the entire NHL. But the underlying facets are still there.

Even if the Bruins grab 1 or 2 spots on that 30 goals list, they will inevitably also have 5 or 6 additional spots on the list containing 20 goal scorers. Good teams distribute their wealth; good teams have more than one guy to count on. The Boston Bruins have close to 10 of them and that is why they are one of the best teams in all of the NHL.

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Bruins Training Camp in full swing: First impressions, quotes, and suspicions about the 2013-2014 NHL season

* From now until October 3rd when the Bruins regular season begins, I will author a series of general preview articles and collections of notes regarding this impending 2013-2014 NHL season. These articles can be viewed as a full collection by clicking the tag "Bruins season Preview." at the bottom of all these posts. 

The 2013 Boston Bruins preseason starts on Monday. 17 days after that, the Bruins will host the Lightning as they look to satisfy their one goal. Win, win, win.

Following the Bruins' Game Six loss in the cup finals, I wrote "For the first time since January 19th there is no tomorrow." The Bruins had lost, their season was over and while most fans cowered in a cloud of misery trying to forget those terrible 17 seconds in which Chicago scored twice and won the Stanley Cup, the Bruins front office did not. For almost 2 months, they continued to dominate the headlines, signing Patrice Bergeron and Tuukka Rask to long term contracts while losing Nathan Horton to free agency. Before long, Andrew Ference was gone as well but with all the added cap space, the Bruins were able to finally bring Jarome Iginla to Boston. 

But that was not all. 

As more and more came out about the frowned upon habits of Tyler Seguin, he was traded only to be replaced by the already proven Loui Eriksson. 

As crazy as all this is, as crazy an confusing as all these turnover has been it is hard not to understand that by sheer numbers this hockey team iced by the Bruins in 2013-2014 may be even better than that assembled last season. 

On June 24th 2013 the Bruins had lost, for the foreseeable future, there was no immediate next game that could serve as a night of redemption for all of Boston's shortcomings in Game Six of the Cup. For the Bruins they got no alleviation from their pain an instead were forced to sit on the loss for the reminder of their short off-season. But as was profiled before, the changes were made, Seguin was sent packing, Iginla was brought in and while on the 24th there was no tomorrow, over 80 days later there is. 

--

With the calendar currently reading September 14th, the Bruins are now 2 days into training camp. They have done all their conditioning, they have made all their quotes, logged all their hours lifting weights in the gym and running at home but as the sun rose on Thursday, the focus of the sweat, blood and exertion of this Bruins turned from a tune of self-strengthening to one of answers delivered and camaraderie built. 

That later part was emphasis more than any other in these first few days of camp. 

With so many new faces, 2 lines seemed to beg the most attention. With Seguin gone, the Bergeron/Marchand line that served as such a driving force last season was left incomplete. In addition to that the second line that included both Milan Lucic and David Kerjci was also suffering from a similar loss of skill named Nathan Horton. As it stood there was no question who would initially come in and replace the voids left by Seguin and Horton, but what was under scrutney was how Bergeron and Marchand would mesh with Loui Eriksson and how Lucic and Krejci would do the same with Jarome Iginla. 

According to Coach Claude Jullian, there was no problem with chemistry or conditioning. 

"The one thing I can say is everybody came in really good shape, and that’s a real plus because when even the Providence players come in shape, the way we’ve asked them to come in shape, that’s a good sign," Claude reportedly said when asked for his impressions on the first days of camp. 

"That’s what was probably more impressive, is that we've got some really good players that seem to understand what it takes and what we expect from them - and it showed on the ice, I thought we had pretty good pace today for the first day."

As for his thoughts on the top 6 offensive players on this Bruins squad, Jullian's words were nothing but approving. 

"We traded for those guys not to say ‘you guys are on a tryout’ but to put them in spots where we think they can fit in. This is what training camp is for; we’re going to give them that opportunity to maybe build some chemistry, get to know each other a little bit better and at one point we are going to have to make a decision whether it’s seems to suit our needs or not."

These line parings are obviously not final. This is mainly because of the structure of these camp sessions. On each day, the entire team consisting of starters and bench-warmers is split into 2 groups. The first skates for 1 or 2 hours fighting through a high tempo practice before they leave the ice, allowing it to get refurbished and cleared to allow for the second group to come on. Of course, all the projected lines were placed in the same group as each-other and in fact most of the starters played in group one. 

But as was said before the attention was not placed on guys like Carl Soderberg or Jordan Caron. For those watching from the Garden grandstand seating, all eyes were on the top 6 and while coaches can give their impressions, only the players can really tell you what THEY think of their situation. But good news Bruins fans, when you compare the statements made by Bergeron to those made by his coach they are both based off of nearly identical skeletal bases. All be it, Bergeron did slightly elude to the fact that there is no way that you can build much chemistry in 1 simple skate.

"Felt pretty good - you can tell, obviously that Loui is a great player and he has great speed and great skill, so I'm very excited to have him with us," Bergerion said. "It's obviously the first practice, so we've got some work to do on the chemistry but still, I thought it was pretty good and fun to see these two guys on my side."

"I think we're all smart players and can figure out where to be on the ice and read off of each other, so I think [chemistry will take] a little bit of time, but not that much; games will be the best indicator of where we stand and help us the most."

Last season, Loui Erikkson used the same speed that Bergeron noticed to his advantage scoring 12 goals an 17 assists as he served as one of the few bright spots on a pathetic Stars team. 

"It's great to have this time right now to get used to each other and learn how each other play," Brad Marchand eventually added "Who knows if this is what they'll be during the season, but for right now, we're going to use this time to our advantage and really get to know each other."

"He's a great player, he's shown that in the past and you can see that just by watching him out there on the ice so it will be a lot of fun playing with him…I'm sure he'll complement us very well." 

Stats are not tracked in training camp but according to the accounts of Bruin writer: Caryn Switaj it seemed that at least judging by levels of chemistry, Bergeron, Marchand, and Eriksson won out as the best line overall. 

You hope that [the chemistry] is there immediately, but obviously it's something that no matter who you play with, it's something you have to work at," Milan Lucic who skated with newcomer Iginla said. "I think all three of us are determined to make it work and find that chemistry. As you know, its a guy I've looked up to as a teenager and the way that he plays. It's pretty cool to be sitting here talking about him being my linemate," 

But as cool as it is, with Iginla essentially replacing Nathan Honton, the kind of play that Lucic had become accustomed to from the right side of the ice will not be there in 2013-2014. Iginla is a guy who historically wants the puck alot more than Horton did. Iginla has often been known to score 30+ goals in a season while Horton is more often than not a 20 goal guy. In addition to that Iginla likes to lead and use his speed and agility to get around guys rather than run through them. This is both good and bad for the Bruins. It means that he takes a few fewer penalties than Horton did but by default that means that without hitting as much, this limits the number of odd man rushes played by this Lucic/Krejci/Iginla line by not taking as many guys out of specific plays. 

Before long, hockey will be back, the blood will return to the ice and the fists will still fly out of the Bruin's gloves. The goals will still flood forth of the sticks of men dinning black and gold jerseys and all will be right in Beantown. The Bruins will still contend for the Stanley Cup and while some members of this Bruins team have come and gone, the core that has revived the culture of winning on Boston ice the will STILL be there. 

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