Boston Bruins Assign Forwards Vladimir Sobotka and Petteri Nokelainen To Providence

Posted by Boston Bruins April 24, 2008 at 9:10 am BOSTON, MA - Boston Bruins General Manager Peter Chiarelli announced today that the club has assigned forwards Vladimir Sobotka and Petteri Nokelainen to the Providence Bruins of the American Hockey League (AHL).  Both players will join Provi...

Wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted by Mike Giardi April 19, 2008 at 10:40 pm

There will be a Game 7 in Montreal Monday night. Holy mackerel! Twice in this series I thought the Bruins were D-O-N-E, DONE! But the grit that was evident even in defeat has unnerved the favored Habs.

Tremendous leadership from the veterans, but its those kids, oh man, those kid who are opening eyes! Phil Kessel with a pair of goals. He’s 20 years old. Milan Lucic got one. He’s 19. Vladimir Sobotka pops in his second is as many games. He’s 20. Then you throw in some more 20-somethings in Nokelainen, Krejci and Wideman and - as I wrote earlier this week - the core for this hockey team is in place. But who knew that core could play this well this soon, especially when they have trailed by two games twice in this series? It speaks to their character, and to the work Head Coach Claude Julien has done keeping his team in the moment, skating shift to shift, and not worrying about what happened the last time they were on the ice, or the last play that happened. Even if this ride ends Monday in Montreal, its been exciting, and who knows? Maybe Tuesday we’re looking ahead the Bruins and Penguins series. Now wouldn’t that be something?

Kid Shows Courage

Posted by Mike Giardi April 18, 2008 at 9:52 am

We finally saw Phil Kessel become an NHL player last night. After nearly two seasons of floating across the Garden ice doing his best Dmitri Kvartalnov impression (the mere typing of his name made me curse), Kessel finally manned up, playing with emotion, grit and a touch of courage sprinkled in there. Who knew it would take getting benched in the Stanley Cup playoffs for the light to finally go on in Kessel’s head?

His second period goal locked the B’s in a 1-1 tie with Montreal and set the stages for perhaps the Black and Gold’s single best stanza of the season, a four-goal eruption in the game’s final 20 minutes. Just a couple hours after looking like golf season was here, the Bruins now have a chance - slim - but a chance nonetheless, down 3-2 in their series with the top-seeded Habs.

Kessel has the requisite skill set to be a big-time player in this league. I mean, when you see him in space, he really does have the ability to make your jaw hit the floor. But in the NHL, 4-on-4 hockey is only saved for overtime, and shootouts don’t separate the men from the boys.

Kessel may have learned that lesson as lesser talents like Sobotka and Nokelainen and Schaeffer showed up for this postseason while Phil got to watch from the 9th floor. Not exactly becoming of a top-5 draft pick, now is it? Makes you understand why the B’s were shopping him at the trade deadline, while saying publicly that they weren’t. Kessel’s bosses were wondering if he would ever show the want - the desire -to take the next step in his development. Quite frankly, its been hard to tell when watching the 20-year old, be it in practice or come game-time. But for one night, at least, Kessel has answered those questions, and now has the B’s looking forward to a Game 6 back here in Boston Saturday night.