Senators Overrule Bruins...Again

Another game, another loss for the recently bumbling, stumbling Bruins. Tim Thomas was once again, in baseball terms, a pitcher with little run support. He has been a tough luck loser this season far too many times. He only gives up 2 goals, but gets 1 in return. It has gotten to the point that if the Bruins give up more than 2 goals, I feel like they cannot overcome it.

Positives to take out of this game:

1. Dennis Wideman - The Bruins defenseman bounced back after being booed by the Garden crowd Thursday. Wideman redeemed himself with an assist in 21:57 of ice time. He made a great play to break up a 2-1 in the second, and seemed to play with some confidence. The key is for him to play at that level consistently. Tomorrow's game against last place Carolina could be a good game for him to try to keep up the good play

2. Vladimir Sobotka - This kid has impressed me all season. He has been one of the only Bruins that I see playing with some emotion, some character night in and night out. Early in the first, he was willing to drop the gloves, but the men in stripes broke it up before it began. For someone who is only 5'11", 183 lbs, he plays like he 6'4" 220lbs. He has no fear of anyone, and is not afraid to do the dirty work in the corners, or in front of the net. He has a tenacity and an edge to his game that is very fun to watch. More players on the Bruins need to pick up their intensity to match Sobotka's feisty style of play.

As much as people say the Bruins need a goalscorer, (and believe me, I fully agree with that) I think what the Bruins need equally is a guy that riles up his team. Milan Lucic is still not back to his old form, even though he is back on the ice. This Bruins squad seems to be forgetting what made last year's team so successful, which is their toughness. Last year's team rolled 4 lines that all finished their checks, played very physically every shift, and were pains in the asses to play against. This year's team doesn't finish their checks, and frankly, aren't tough to play against. They need to rebuild that reputation of being Big and Bad. They need to re-instill that fear that they put into opposing teams, especially at home. I remember last season, going to every home game, and seeing so many wins. I rarely saw them lose at home. This season, they have lost so many games at home, and its only January. If they don't pick up their hitting, they will be knocked out of playoff contention soon.

A long overdue rant/post

Well, this has been long overdue. It has taken a recent stretch of poor play by my Bruins for me to finally get frustrated enough with this current Bruins squad and to restart my blog/site. I don't even know where to begin. So many thoughts on this team, my mind is racing. I guess I'll start with tonights loss to the Blue Jackets.

The Bruins lost tonight to the Columbus Blue Jackets, the last place team in the Western Conference's Central Division, 3-2 in front of a sold out home crowd of 17,565 at the TD Garden. After going up 1-0 and 2-1, I figured they had a good shot of finally winning a game. Going into the 3rd up 2-1, they had some golden opportunities early in the 3rd, but couldn't put the biscuit in the basket. And with the recent trend of blowing a 3rd period lead in my mind, I didn't have a good feeling as the period went on. Sure enough, the Blue Jackets tied the game up 2-2.

Now many people will point to the controversial penalty call against the Bruins late in the 3rd period as the reason they lost the game. Milan Lucic got called for a double minor high sticking penalty as Dewick Brassard went down holding his face. After seeing the replay, it was a bad call. His own teammate Anton Stralman was the one that hit him. In any case, the Bruins were on the penalty kill, and Columbus scored the go ahead goal with less than a minute and a half left. The Bruins had one last rush at the end still shorthanded with Rask pulled, but Mason shut the door on the goal and held on for the win.

Despite the bad call, this was not the reason the Bruins lost tonight. There were mental lapses in the defensive zone, the passing was out of sync, the breakout from their own end is too predictable, the top players aren't playing up to their ability. A perfect example of this is Dennis Wideman.

This was his first game since being called out publicly by Claude Julien, and he did not look good at all. He coughed up the puck in the 1st period which led to the Blue Jackets first goal. He looked shaky all night, made questionable passes, and just doesn't have his confidence/swagger that he had last season. This was the first time in a long time that I can remember, where the Boston fans were booing one of their own players. Everytime Wideman touched the puck, the boo birds were out. My personal opinion is that I wish we never traded Brad Boyes for Dennis Wideman. Brad Boyes, although under performing this season, has been a heck of a player. In 82 games played last year, he went 33G-39A-72Pts and the year before that he went 43G-22A-65pts. If the Bruins still had him, and stuck him with Patrice Bergeron, they would have a legitimate scoring line.

Besides this game, what is really ailing this Bruins team? Where do I begin? I'll just go down a list I guess...

1. Injuries:
Yes, every team goes through injuries, so it shouldn't really be an excuse. However, this team has been particularly unlucky this season. I cannot recall the last time I have seen so many Providence Bruins up in Boston. Not just now, but all season. Losing top players not only hurts because they are your top players, but it also hurts because line chemistry is always being changed every few games. It is hard for players to get used to their line mates if they are being shuffled around all the time.

2. Underachieving players:
Many players on this roster are not living up to their contracts/billing. Michael Ryder is not playing like a 4 million dollar sniper like he was supposed to be. David Krejci has fallen back to earth after last season. Marco Sturm, expected to produce more with the dealing of Phil Kessel, has not done so. Tim Thomas, last years Vezina trophy winning goaltender, has had some bad games, and given up many soft goals over the season. Zdeno Chara is not living up to his Norris trophy form of last season. Combine all these things, plus the lack of a true sniper and its not hard to see why this team is where it is.

3. Lack of Offense/Phil Kessel:
Phil "The Thrill" Kessel was my favorite player on the Bruins when he was here, so this may seem biased, but I'll try to be fair. He has pure sniper talent. There is a reason he was selected #5 overall in his draft class. He scored 36 goals last season. Every season his production went up. When he was dealt away, everyone thought that with Marco Sturm coming back, and everyone else producing like they did last season, that they would not miss Phil Kessel.

WRONG!

Players like Phil Kessel come few and far between. He has the ability to make his own space on the ice, he backs defenders up with his speed, and makes other teams focus on him, which leaves his teammates open. The Bruins do not have a replacement for that. He is only 22 years old, and has so much untapped potential. This move by the Bruins will hurt them, unless they can somehow snag Taylor Hall in the draft, or get another sniper with Toronto's first pick that they got in the Kessel trade. Now people will say that it was all about the money. I think he did get too much from Toronto, but regardless, the Bruins should have found a way to keep him. As much as I like David Krejci, I would have signed Kessel first over Krejci, simply because the Bruins have more depth down the center down I-95 in Providence.

4. Last season was an anomaly:
The Bruins last season were firing on all cylinders. It seems like everyone had a career year. They steamrolled through the regular season only to fall short in the 2nd round vs Carolina. It seems like they were too high on themselves coming into this season, because with relatively the same team, you would expect this team to replicate the success they had last season. That is simply not the case, and one could argue that last season, everything just fell into place. Are the Bruins as good as last years team. I say no. However, are they as bad as this years team? I don't think so either. Before the season started, I figured the Bruins would win the Northeast division, and be top 3 in the East. But with the way this team has performed, or even underperformed as of late, I am starting to worry about this team's chances in the playoffs, or even making the playoffs.

After all that being said, there is a light at the end of this tunnel the Bruins have gone down:

The Olympic break.

If the Bruins can somehow manage to just stay .500 going into the Olympic break, they could potentially all be healthy, and get geared up for a late push heading into the playoffs. I have not lost faith on this team, I never do. Unless they are mathematically eliminated from playoff contention, then they are still in it. But the time is now. They have to pull themselves together, look around the locker room and fix this sinking ship of a season. This has been a hell of a long post/rant, but I feel better getting it out there. I know i missed so many things I wanted to write about, but oh well. I'm tired and want to go to bed. Leave a comment or response to anything I wrote, or forgot to write. I'd love to hear your analysis on this team.

-Rupam

Holy Rewrites!

Sorry but yes this is another inactive post. As I told you before I'm also working on a videogame with my friend, which I'm writing. Anyways, I sent in my plot outline to him last week, and found out that I need to start from scratch because I wrote the wrong genre - my fault too by the way. So that's why I've been missing lately. Like I said before start up to a screenplay is a lot of work.

Anyways, I assure you BRR will be back and more active once the season begins.

Checking in

The NHL09-10 season is just around the corner! I've been working on writeup of the Bruins first informal workout for a couple of days now - sorry it's taking so long. I'll try to have it up tonight tomorrow morning at the latest. I just thought I owed it to you guys to at least touch base on what's been going on (It's been almost a week of having my Kickboxer 3 writeup as the head post - that's too long for a hockey site.) Anyways to be completely honest I'm not feeling too great about the league at the moment, and I need too shake the negativity out before I finish up the article. Not that I want to hide my feelings for the NHL, I just don't want the thing reading like the song on The Wedding Singer. You know the one I'm talking about, the one half written in a relationship then the second half post break up...

Let me lead in with- I take hockey very seriously, and it's becoming more and more evident, maybe I take it too seriously. I've been reading this NHLPA fiasco, now Glen Healy resigned, that coupled with the whole Bettman vs Balsillie war...

I mean come on guys, get your shit together. We just had one of the best NHL seasons in recent memory, a better playoffs (with several unforgettable series and endings) and it looked like the NHL was starting to get some cred back. ESPN coverage, commercials, ratings etc. Once obscure names to the mainstream where becoming household names. It looked like it was bound to compete with the NBA maybe in a year or two.

Now what? We're dragging the brand through the mud with this Phoenix Coyote bullshit - which may I add it's getting crazier and crazier. We're on the verge of another lockout in 2012 - which if that happens and the NHL does survive we'll be relegated to MLL status, MLS if we're lucky. One of our brightest young stars is accused of beating a cabdriver over what would be considered chump change even to a bum. And DirectTV drops Versus a month before the puck drops - which was finally starting to get some street cred themselves from some fans.

I mean what the fuck is going on here? Get your act together. Start working with each other and bring the league back to mainstream status, rather than trying to tear it apart.

--Enjoying the NHL10 demo, download it if you haven't. Still waiting on the 2K10 demo to write the review.

--I don't know if I mentioned it yet, but, make sure to watch and vote on Bruins Classics Showdown on NESN. Sunday's at 6pm.

--Bummed out I didn't get to catch Halloween 2 this week.

--If you guys dug my Kickboxer 3 write up, I'm thinking about starting a site dedicated to movie reviews. Feedback on the idea would be appreciated.

--An NHL team should look into doing a Hard Knock-esque show. If you haven't caught it yet on HBO be sure to do so. NHL Network needs some more/better original programming.

You guys know the drill - comments below, or email me.

New England Hockey Guy is an independent feature and does not necessarily reflect the views of Boston Rink Rats.

Awesomely Bad Movies - Kickboxer 3: The Art of War

By now you may have got the impression that I'm a big movie fan. It's true. I love movies, and one of my favorite kind of movie is the "Awesomely Bad Movie." What constitutes an Awesomely bad movie you ask? To me it's a movie that isn't just bad, It's awfulness is so bad it falls into a category that it is so bad it's the only reason you're watching it. Not only is it the only reason you're watching it, but at about the quarter mark of the movie you completely forget that the movie is awful and you begin to enjoy it. (By now you're probably wonder what this has to do with hockey, it doesn't just try to enjoy it anyways.

Think of it being a rainy Saturday, between 11:30am-3:00pm, chances are if you turn on Fox, CW, TBS, TV38 etc. an awesomely bad movie will be on. When I was younger they'd be on Fox right after the Saturday morning lineup was over. I'd always leave the TV on and they'd undoubtedly come on and I'd half pay attention even if I had little interest. I thinks that's what developed my love for awesomely bad movies.

That brings us to the movie I watched on this rainy Saturday morning, Kickboxer 3: The Art of War. I had a special interest in revisiting this movie, because this was one of the awesomely bad movies(ABM) that I caught when I was younger, I remember enjoying it as an ABM and had not seen it since. Let me tell you, the Awesomely Badness holds up. At first I was watching it and thought I was going to loose interest, 10 minutes later I felt like this movie was gold. How is this movie not more popular? I bet half the people reading this (if anyone is) didn't even know they made three Kickboxer movies. Not only did they make three, they ended up making five! FIVE KICKBOXER MOVIES!

And even the titles alone are classic. They have the classic 80's-90's sequel title format, [Insert movie title] [insert installment #] [colon] [tacky tagline that doesn't necessarily have to do with the plot]. Seriously when it comes to titles Kickboxer is the gift that just keeps on giving. Kickboxer 2: The Road Back. Kickboxer 3: The Art of War. Kickboxer 4: The Aggressor. Kickboxer 5: The Redemption.

So let's breakdown this weeks spotlight, KB3: The Art of War. Contrary to the title the movie has nothing to do with the Art of War. It doesn't even have to do with either Art or War. The most accurate title for the movie would probably be: KB3: Cody Lambert takes on Brazil - Because that's basically what the movie is. It has very little to do with the other Kickboxer installments. Not that this really matters, in fact I beleive that if it did try to tie itself to the other installments this movie wouldn't have been as enjoyable.

I may be going too fast here, I bet some of you out there are saying "Who the Hell is Cody Lambert?" So let me back this up. The movies protagonist, David Sloan, is played by actor Sasha Mitchell who was best known for his role on ABC's TGIF family sitcom "Step by Step," as Cody Lambert. So note to yourself that from now on both the actor and character are going to be referred to as Cody Lambert, I'll explain why I'm doing this.

Sasha Mitchell has a very distinct way of acting, and because of this no matter what role he is in everyone thinks of the role he's best known for, which is Cody Lambert. Seriously he could be a puppy drowning psychopath but as soon as I hear his surfer styled voice, I expect him to say "dudesy" and go back to his van in Uncle Frank's driveway. It's a weird subcategory of typecasting, and it makes these actors seem much bigger than they really are.

For example, do you know who Reginald VelJohnson is? No. But you know who Carl Winslow is, right? Yeah, he's the guy from "Family Matters" who's always yelling at Urkel. In the show, he's also a Chicago Police Officer. VelJohnson is also in "Die Hard" and "Die Hard 2", in those he's an Los Angles Police Officer. In "Turner & Hooch" he's a Detective. In "Plain Clothes" he's a Captain. Hell, he's even in the first Ghostbusters movie as a jail guard. Now isn't it more fun to pretend he's Carl Winslow in all of those movies? Of course it is. I've been doing it for so long that I half expect to see a crossover episode where Jon McClane has to rescue Steve Urkel from terrorists, who are making Urkel construct a nuclear bomb, and Carl Winslow and McClane have to race against time before Urkel accidentally knocks over the nuclear bomb leading to the ultimate "Did I do that?" Because Reginald VelJohnson/Carl Winslow led to me coming up with the theory this typecasting subcategory shall now be known as "Winslow Level." Sasha Mitchell is in the Winslow Level and shall now only be known as Cody Lambert. Oh and I know what you're thinking Reginald VelJohnson played as a limo driver in "Crocodile Dundee" - that was before he joined the academy.

To further my point with Mitchell's Winslow status, we all know Cody in "Step by Step" was a stoner. Yeah they couldn't show that on a family show, and just played it off like he was just stupid, but you really know he's toking up in his van. THE GUY LIVES IN A VAN (down by the river j/k) PARKED IN HIS UNCLES DRIVEWAY. Listen that alone tells you he's a druggie. Now imagine Cody Lambert not under the influence... Yeah that's how Sasha Mitchell plays the character David Sloan, and that's why he's known only as Cody Lambert. One day Cody kicked the habit and ended up world champion kickboxer, that's why he was instantly missing from "Step by Step" cast one day. Also to further my evidence of this, there was a couple of episodes of "Step by Step" where Cody used martial arts.

Okay so lets get into the movie plot. Cody goes to Brazil to have an exhibition of his world champ skills. Before the exhibition he befriends a 8-year-old pick pocket who tried to rob him. Cody takes the 8-year-old kid, and his sister (sister doesn't have a line through the whole movie) to his exhibition. During the exhibition we're introduced to this animal of a fighter (he doesn't have any lines either, he just growls through the entire movie). The said fighter is managed by your stereotypical sleazy rich white guy. The Sleazy Rich guy kidnaps the Pick Pockets sister because he of course owns a child sex slave operation. Cody of course finds out and tries to rescue her, when he does, he is captured and then baited to fight the animal fighter for the Pick Pocket sister's freedom. Of course I don't need to tell you what happens from then, you can piece that together.

My first thoughts after the movie ended: "I can't believe this movie got away with having two main characters that didn't have any lines." Secondly, there is a scene with the sleazy white guy is talking about his scheme over a lobster dinner. Then he complains about how cold the lobster is, then yells to his cook "Fernando!" Is there a more genius scene you can think of? Is there anything else they've could have done to make the movie's villain more unlikeable? The idea of a rich white guy living in a Brazil ghetto, plotting evil schemes about child sex slavery over lobster dinner, which he takes one bite and complains and yells to his local cook, is so over the top it screams awesomeness.

Anyways, Lions Gate Films put the entire movie up on YouTube, and according to IMDB.com since it's been up KB3 has dropped 6% in popularity. Why is this? The movie is at an all time low 2.6 stars out of 10 on IMDB. This is a travesty! This movie maybe terrible, but it's highly enjoyable. I've seen much shittier movies (not enjoyable ones either) with higher IMDB rankings. This needs to stop. If you're reading this watch KB3 and then vote on IMDB. This movie my be a C lister on the cult classic scale, but this movie deserves better, damn it!

Directed by: Rick King
Written by: Dennis A. Pratt [The guy that gave us Leprechaun 4: In Space]
Released: June 1992
Running Time: 92 min

Watch the entire movie here: Kickboxer 3: The Art of War

Oh and PS kudos to the people that cut the trailers to the Kickboxer movies, they're much better than the movies themselves. Here they are if you want to see them. KB1 KB2 KB3

New England Hockey Guy is an independent feature and does not necessarily reflect the views of Boston Rink Rats.

98.5 The Sports Hub Strikes Again

I know those who read this site, if there is anyone who reads it, don't really come here for news - you come here for opinion. So you're in for a treat here, because this morning you're getting both!

On my morning drive I was listening to Toucher and Rich (TAR) on The Sports Hub (98.5 FM). A Bruins fan called in and asked TAR if they had any plans for Bruins on air presence, since Aaron Ward went to Carolina - and subsequently ended Ward Wednesdays.

TAR then said they would in fact have a Bruins presence, and unofficially announced that they were planning on power forward Milan Lucic being a frequent guest, and last season's Vezina winner Timmy Thomas would be stopping in time to time. TAR then went on to praise hockey and say that having a Bruins presence is important for them.

Whether or not they're saying this because 98.5 is the new home of the Bruins isn't important. Back when TAR was on WBCN they were the only show in town to talk about the B's, even 3 years ago, when they were the black sheep of Boston. So I believe these guys are genuine.

As an avid sports fan, and die hard hockey fan, living in Greater Boston I have to say 98.5 is doing a great job since they went on air. Anyone who lives in the area can attest to WEEI having a foothold on the sports market, but every Bruins fan knows they seldom talk hockey. When they do it's usually talking about the Bruins in a negative light - except when the playoff bandwagon horn blows, then the WEEI staff suddenly breaks out Bruins sweater. If the Sports Hub continues to market the Bruins... Strike that point. If The Sports Hub continues to treat the B's as an EQUAL to the Sox, Pats and Celts, Bruins fans are going to jump ship from WEEI, and hopefully that coupled with the FM vs AM benefits 98.5 can compete with the Boston Sports Media juggernaut.

Thumbs up, Sports Hub!

--Let me just say, I spent the entire day yesterday excited to play the PS3 demo for NHL10, only to get home and it not be on the PlayStation store site. Seriously guys, Xbox 360 has had the fucking demo for a week now, I just want to play it. Hell, I'd even settle for the 2K10 demo at this point. Whenever they put it up there for download (if they ever do) look for my review of both shortly after.

--I'm beyond sick of this whole Phoenix Coyotes/NHL/Bettman/Balsillie/Hamilton situation. Every morning when I do my morning internet rounds I see a new story about it, and it just gets more and more absurd. It just sucks that after a great season, a better post season and then an unbelievable Finals we get this crap. It was starting to look like the NHL was starting to climb out of the hole it was in and begin to compete with the NBA, then they have to drag this into court and make the league look stupid. Just find a settlement and end this soap opera.

New England Hockey Guy is a feature and does not necessarily reflect the views of Boston Rink Rats.

Checking in

Sorry to keep this short. I was just doing my daily internet rounds and was annoyed one of my favorite columnists hasn't written anything in awhile, only to realize I haven't written anything in awhile. Though I don't think anyone is annoyed of my absence, I don't want to be a hypocrite, so I'll at least touch base with you guys.

--I've been busy working on a project with a friend, we're making a video game, with myself writing. Which is an enormous workload, but the bulk of it should come when the season starts, which I was planning on talking a break from here anyways when Rupam comes back. But I just started it - which the beginning is a lot of work too, so that's one reason for it. But I should have another article up by week's end.

--Also have you checked out 98.5 The Sport's Hub, the new home of your Boston Bruins, yet? Make sure to do it. WEEI has been kicking around the Bruins and their fans over the past couple of years(except for a couple of the guys, Bruins fans know who they are), and it's nice to get an alternative to the self proclaimed "highest rated sports station in the country" (Trust me they wont let you forget that. Also it's nice to get a channel that doesn't become inaudible when you drive under power lines.

--I'll be at the Bruins Opener thanks to my friend, Dave. I'll be sure to write something on the event, and will probably be down in Boston all of that day.

--Go see both District 9 and Inglorious Basterds, both movies rock. Going to see Halloween 2 next week. I still don't get why the fuck Halloween needs to come out in August the last one did that too. Annoying. Oh and the trailer for Law Abiding Citizen looks awesome, can't wait for that one.

--The demo for NHL '10 came out for X360 last week, since I have a PlayStation 3 I have to wait until tomorrow. Being an avid gamer I'm sure I'll be playing the demo nonstop until the full games release.

--That's about it, I suppose. Look for a new post within the week. Have anything say or ask, either comment in the section below or email me, I'll be sure to get back to you.