Category Archives: Bruins Abroad

Captain Chara Returns Home

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(Credit:Flickr/Slidingsideways)

Our last and most important member of the Boston Bruins family is returning from overseas. With the lock out coming to an end today, Captain Zdeno Chara was the lone skater of the B’s club still playing European Hockey.

Today he was pulled out of his game playing for the HC Lev Prague of the KHL, and told to get ready to head back to Boston as reported by Joe Haggerty.

In 25 games with the club, Chara finished his stint with 10 points (4 goals, 6 assists) and a plus-5 rating. And the best part of all? Our captain is in prime shape!

Chara will be back in Boston on Tuesday and with that all of our boys will be in the Bean!

Peverley Back Just in Time: Lockout Reportedly Hours From End

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“I’m back; NHL hockey may commence.” And commence is may. (Photo Credit: Sarah Connors/Flickr)

As reported by Matias Strozyk via twitter on January 4, Rich Peverley finished his stint in Finland on Saturday (January 5th).

Peverley added a goal and an assist in his final game Saturday. While 23 points in 27 games in a Finnish league isn’t quite as impressive as Seguin’s numbers in the Swiss league or any number of his locked-out Bruins teammates playing elsewhere in Europe, Peverley is coming off a very strong 2011-2012 season despite missing lengthy periods of time due to multiple injuries.

Although Peverley played in only 57 games, he finished 7th on the Bruins in points. He was one of the most effective Bruins in the frustrating 1st round series against the Capitals, finally hitting his groove while able to stay healthy for a sustained period of time before the team was eliminated. In 7 playoff games, Peverley led the team in scoring with 5 points (2nd was Ference with 4…wow, remember how infuriating that series was? The Bruins sure made Holtby look much better than he is). Peverley also had the most goals for the Bruins in the playoffs with 3. Had he remained healthy all season, he would have had a career year.

As Peverley is set to return back to North America – perhaps he is en route right now – the NHL and NHLPA have been negotiating for hours and are rumored to be almost ready to agree to a new CBA any moment now. According to sources in the media who have been camped outside where the NHL and PA have now been meeting for 16 (!!!) hours straight, there’s lots of good news.

If the NHL lockout ends at the same time Peverley returns to North American soil, I would not call it a coincidence. That’s divine intervention.

Welcome home Raptor Jesus Peverley.

 

Update: multiple sources (pretty much everyone. Anyone. I can’t even choose one source to link or cite) confirming the lockout is over. I repeat: THE LOCKOUT IS OVER. 

Spengler Cup Champions

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Spengler Champions (Credit:Twitter/@TylerSeguin92)

The Spengler Cup Tournament has come to a close and Team Canada has come out with the win over HC Davos.  Not only did Team Canada win, but two of your Boston Bruins players helped make it happen. Patrice Bergeron and Tyler Seguin can now add Spengler Cup champions to their resume.

So this means that Bergeron is now a Spengler Cup champ, a Stanley Cup champ, World Junior gold medalist, and Olympic gold medalist. Not too shabby huh? And as pointed out by teammate Milan Lucic he might be the only one in the world with that credential list.

(credit:Twitter/@MilanLucic4)

So on behalf of A Cup of Bruin, congrats boys! Hopefully with the tourney ending, and both guys coming home it’s only a matter of time before we can get to some NHL action.

Seguin to Leave Swiss League

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(Credit:Flickr/Slidingsideways)

When the Spengler Cup comes to an end on December 31st so does Tyler Seguin‘s time overseas. EHC Biel, the team Seguin has been playing for since the start of the lockout, announced today that he would be leaving following the tournament.

Seguin is currently representing Canada in the Spengler Cup alongside teammate Patrice Bergeron. Bergeron as reported last week, has the same plan to come back in hopes of the lock out coming to an end.

For EHC Biel, Seguin led his team in points during the 29 games he played, tallying 25 goals and 15 assists. It’s nice to see Seggy hasn’t had a slump in scoring since the lack of NHL playing.

The club had nothing but positive thoughts on the sendoff tweeting the following:

(Credit: EHC Biel Twitter)

 

 

Bergeron Homeward Bound

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Just after Christmas Patrice Bergeron will be playing for Team Canada in the Spengler Cup Tournament in Switzerland. Bergeron will be joined by Bruins teammate Tyler Seguin for the tourney. After the tournament, Bergeron is reportedly homeward bound to North America  leaving his HC Lugano club.

The current Selke trophy winner has played in 21 games for the Swiss “A” League registering 29 points (11 goals, 18 assists).

Here’s a clip of his first goal for the league:

As you can see, Bergy is still Bergy even overseas. Though I enjoy watching him score goals, I would obviously prefer him to be rocking the black and gold jersey.

Overseas playing aside, it seems as though Bergeron isn’t the only NHL player to be returning to our neck of the woods following the end of December. With Christmas day being the big 100 day of the NHL lockout, players are coming back to wait for a positive or negative solution.

Twitter is a buzz saying that the NHL and NHLPA will hold a face-to-face meeting after Christmas. The next few weeks will determine whether a 48-game regular season can come from this mess of a lock out. As of now games are cancelled up until January 14th. If the rest of the season is officially cancelled after that day, most players will head back to Europe.

Though most of my optimism for a season is gone at this point, I can only hope for a Christmas miracle.

Zdeno Chara is Back From Europe

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Zdeno Chara (Photo Credit: Steph Phillips)

Currently the KHL, Swiss and Czech leagues are on a 10-day holiday break so along with Tyler Seguin, Zdeno Chara has come back to Boston, at least for the time being.  The break couldn’t come at a better time for Chara as coincidentally he has reportedly lost his friendship with former teammate Miroslav Satan after this hit:

Here in the NHL this would be ruled a legal hit, Satan’s head was down and Chara made an open ice hit. The issue here is that in Europe they like to see more skill and fast paced hockey as opposed to the heavy hitting we are all accustomed to here.  Satan’s choice words regarding the incident:

“The plate between my sixth and seventh vertebrae in my neck is displaced by 4.5 millimeters, I am lucky I was not paralyzed.  Fortuniately the headaches have subsided… I’m not saying that he intended to seriously injure me, but knowing who I was and that I did not see him. To risk the health and life of a human that he calls a good friend…” (Ran through Google translate, via Chara Risking My Life!)

Chara told the media after the game that he did not know it was Satan that he hit until after the fact and that it was a normal ‘hockey play.’

Chara joined teammate Shawn Thornton in skating today along with Keith Yandle (Phoenix), Jay Pandalfo and Ryan Whitney (Edmonton) while Rask, Marchand and Lucic took the day off.

Chris Kelly Heads Back to Boston

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Chris Kelly and Tyler Seguin (Photo Credit: Steph Phillips)

Chris Kelly signed with HC Red Ice at the tail end of October and according to the teams’ official website he played his last game November 30.  He only signed a one-month deal with the club but had the option to extend his stay, it appears he chose to come back to Boston.

Kelly performed well in Switzerland playing in eight games with the Red Ice and recording four goals and five assists, more than a point per game in some cases. While his numbers aren’t as devastating to the Swiss League as Seguin or Bergeron’s who are averaging multi-points per game, Seguin leading the entire league in points over guys like Rick Nash and Joe Thornton, they are still good for the alternate captain.

He is the second player to return home from playing overseas so far after Tuukka Rask who also had a productive ‘vacation.’ Currently Tyler Seguin is home visiting, but only for the week. While two players have come back there still remain ten other players overseas, including the most recent signing of Daniel Paille.  While I’m sure many of us would like to take Kelly’s return as a sign of negotiations coming to an end (in a positive way) this is most likely not the case. However, we can remain optimistic for a little while longer I suppose.

Paille Heads Overseas

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Daniel Paille during warm ups. (Photo Credit: Stephanni Phillips)

Today news broke that Daniel Paille signed with Finland’s Ilves Tampere.  Paille becomes the 12th player to join the Bruins overseas leaving the outlook on an NHL season quite bleak.

Paille was one of only a handful of players that hung around the Boston area since learning of the lockout on Septmeber 15 and has been actively involved in the CBA negotiations.  He becomes the second member of the Bruins to join a Finland team after Rich Peverley signed with JYP Jyvaskyla.  With Peverley deciding to leave, this can only mean that the future of a season is far from near, especially with his involvement in player appearances throughout the CBA negotiations.

Milan Lucic, Brad Marchand and Shawn Thornton remain the final three Bruins remaining in Boston participating in practices when they can along with unsigned Boston native Mike Mottau.

Seguin’s Sweeping the Swiss League

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Tyler Seguin (Photo Credit: Steph Phillips)

The fans of Boston all know that Tyler Seguin is a superstar with stellar star potential. In his rookie season he managed to make the final NHL roster cuts, score 11 goals and 11 assists and be a key factor in the 2011 Stanley Cup Playoffs scoring three goals and three assists in his first two playoff games in his career. In his rookie season Seguin led the team in points, doubling his totals from his rookie season proving the ‘Sophomore Slump’ was a myth, at least for him.  It’s only natural that Seguin is dominating the Swiss League registering not one, not two, but THREE hat tricks this season. However, it leaves Boston fans with  a sour taste in their mouth.  It should be us witnessing these career highlights.  We shouldn’t have to surf the internet and go through google translate just to find out how our favorite players are doing.  But alas, that is what this season has come to.

Since heading over to Europe and joining EHC Biel of the Swiss Elite, Seguin has posted multi-point games in almost all of his 23 games. As of right now he has 22 goals (almost as many as he had last season in 82 games), 13 assists and 22 penalty minutes.  Being December 3, Seguin is in the last month of his contract according to the EHC Biel site.  With an NHL season not even close to surfacing, it’s a wonder what his next move will be. For now we’ll keep translating and keeping tabs overseas, regardless of the jersey he’s wearing he’s a Bruin for life.

Seguin’s team is set to take on HC Lugano today, Patrice Bergeron‘s team.  With any luck we may be able to find a live feed for you, but for now, this lockout sucks.

Bruins Hockey Starts…After December 14

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2011: Tuukka Rask waiting to get in net during warm-ups (Photo Credit: Steph Phillips)

Guess what Bruins fans, the NHL and NHLPA met today and came to a conclusion! They decided to cancel more games through December 14 along with  the NHL All-Star Classic. In all fairness, cancelling the All-Star Classic makes some sort of sense, if I have to find the positive in the situation.  Seriously, don’t believe me? Well, look at it this way; with a shortened season the Bruins will only be playing around 40-50 games from the earliest, December 15 through the first week in May.  That’s a butt load of games to play in such a short amount of time.  If the NHL were to host the All-Star Classic, that is a week that the teams lose of playing time, a week vacation that isn’t exactly necessary after such a long break.

In today’s meeting the only thing accomplished was more finger pointing and blame from both sides.  It has simply come down to who can say na-na-na-na boo-boo first.  It’s at the ridiculous point that neither side, NHL or NHLPA realize the media and fans aren’t interested in hearing their talks anymore.  The only time anyone will start paying attention again is IF they announce the beginning of a season.  Until that point, they might as well just not talk at all.

If you wanted some sort of hockey-related news that has a more positive spin on things, how about that Seguin kid? Tyler Seguin, Boston’s most eligible bachelor and Swiss’ Superstar scored his THIRD hattrick of the season for his 18th goal of the season, giving him 30 points so far.  We always knew that kid was destined for greatness, if only he were giving Stamkos and Malkin a run for their money in the states.

Also, goaltender Tuukka Rask is set to return back to Boston after Friday’s HC Plzen game.  Rask has played in 15 games for the Czech team and racked up a .925 save percentage and 2.01 goals against average, not bad for the ‘back-up.’ While the reason behind Rask coming back to the Atlantic side of things is unknown, we can only hope that his homecoming will bring some good news with it.