RIVALRY WEEK APRIL 2008

It's been one heckuva week here in Boston, especially in the sports world that we often live in. Let's start with some props for our teams a bit under the radar. The BC Eagles men's hockey team reached the Frozen Four and eventually won the championship over Notre Dame. Gerbe and Muse were sensational and the team finally won the whole shebang after coming up one game short the past 2 seasons. How bout' them Baby B's, the Providence Bruins, also known as the Bruins farm club. From day one (think Celtics and Patriots) they have had the best record in their league, this case being the AHL. They finished the regular season a whopping 55-18 mark and 117 points, by far the best record in both categories. We wish them the best in the playoffs.
Also of note, congrats to the U.S. Women's National Team (hockey) who won the 2008 IIHF World Women's Championship over Canada to win gold in China. Great stuff!
The Celtics, well, you probably already know that they are real good and win nearly every game!
Even with their back-ups they still crush opponents. Take the game versus the Bucs to start the week. The green pulled their starters after building a 25 point cushion and kept the bench players in throughout the whole game even though the Bucs eventually tied it. The game then went to OT, and the Celtics bench stilld defaeted the straters from the Bucs! Unbelievable.
The Celtics, for the week, beat the Bucs twice, lost a road game to the Wizards and then days later continued back on the road and beat their likely postseason opponent Atlanta by double digits. The team has 2 games left before the new season arrives.
The Red Sox had a good week. They took 2-of-3 from both Detroit and New York at the Fens and look great despite the injuries to Lowell and Schill and Big Papi's early season struggle. The team hung their World Series banner to open the Fenway campaign with Buckner throwing out the 1st pitch. The Sox look stacked and head out to Cleveland to kick of a somewhat brief roadtrip. It will be the 1st time to the 2 teams met since the ALCS last season! Go Sox!
Okay, let's close this blog with a loud bang. The Bruins opened the playoffs in a loud and raucous Bell Centre in Montreal last Thursday. The Habs out-maned the Bruins and took the 1st game 4-1. The team did the 2 things they needed to prevent to win the game and the series:stay out of the penalty box and don't let the Habs score early and often. In Game 2, the Bruins played much better despite both the constant dirty play and countless dives from Montreal. The game was dead even through 60 minutes and the game went into an extra session. The Bruins scored 2 goals in the 3rd to tie the game at 2. No matter what, the Bruins proved they could play with the Habs (despite their long losing streak vs. them) and also showed they are even in totality. Unfortunately, the disgraceful referees hurt the black-and-gold's slim chances by calling Boston penalties while appeasing the home crowd over and over again. With the Habs already on the PP early in overtime, a key moment occurred. After a Montreal player high stick-ed Bruin Reich in the face, which was a despicable no-call, Reich stayed in the play and used his stick to poke the puck from a defender's stick. In the process, he accidentally tripped the player despite barely making contact with the skate. But the refs blew the whistle! Makes you wonder if the game is fixed sometime despite the fact it's not. To make a disgraceful story short, the Habs scored soon thereafter and the Bruins shockingly lost 3-2. With no time to complain to the league and digest the loss, the teams headed to Beantown for a game the next night. The Bruins took an early lead on a Lucic goal but the Habs tied it in the 2nd at 1-1. While the refs continued to blow the damn whistle (even on both sides though) and interfere with the great physical game that was ongoing, the two teams played an epic battle. Thomas was amazing, making some earth shattering saves at key moments of the hockey game. Price was great too, but Thomas really had to keep the Bruins in it. Eventually it happened. No, not the penalties this time, rather a Bruins victory. After 10 straight losses this season, the black-and-gold finally came out on top in a well deserved 2-1 win on a Mark Savard shot from Wideman. On a delayed penalty, the Bruins moved the puck well in the Habs zone and eventually scored. The place went nuts........and so did I. The joyous feeling nearly matched that of recent World Championships by the Red Sox and Patriots. It was a huge win in so many ways.
So now the series sits at 2-1 Montreal with game 4 in Boston tomorrow. The Bruins have the momentum and proved in Games 2 and 3 they are equal, if not better, than their hated rivals to the north. We wish them the best in the games to come!