The Bruins Test

“Congratulations! You are most similar to:

Milan Lucic

Left Wing

You're easy-going but physically imposing when challenged, and pressure situations never faze you.”

That’s the message I saw at Boston.com, after I took the “Which Bruins player are you” quiz. My wife administered the ten-question, multiple-choice assessment minutes after the B’s dispatched the Black Hawks, 2–1 in OT of Game Two of the Stanley Cup Final.

It was close. With a little more luck, Chicago might have won; with a little more thought on the questions, I might have selected different answers to questions such as these: What’s your favorite Boston neighborhood? What do you think of Justin Bieber? How do you answer questions about Tim Thomas? What’s your favorite city to visit? What do you do for lunch? What’s your source for Bruins news?

I tend to bring my lunch to work AND snack lightly throughout the day. And I get my Bruins news from multiple sources. But the quiz allows you to pick but one answer.

No offense to Number 17, but I’m not a punch-you-in-the-mouth, run-you-over type guy. Power to the people, not power forward. So I waited a day or two and took the test again.

In most cases, I made the same choices. Different answers on two questions, though, yielded a different result:

“Congratulations! You are most similar to:

Andrew Ference

Defenseman

You're a selfless free-thinker who believes small gestures can add up to great achievements.”

I bring home my plastic recyclables from work and flatten my Kashi cereal boxes so that they too can be recycled. I’m a defense-first sort of dude that loves the North End.

I don’t live in that neighborhood, but enjoying breakfast with my wife at Boston Common or a few slices at Regina Pizzeria—where Number 21 brought the Cup in 2011—liberates me from my worries and infuses me with purpose. Love life and help others. Support the Bruins, win or lose.

Winning at least one more game in Chicago will be a test. I trust that Lucic and Ference, and all of us like them, will prevail.

The Boston Bruins, A 2010-2011 Odyssey: Top Twelve Highlights

*June 7, 2011 in Boston's North End
(image courtesy of AMHL Photographer)

The new NHL season is upon us and the Bruins will raise the championship banner tomorrow. So, let’s rewind—one last time—the 2010–11 season.

My Top Twelve Highlights:

1. The Odyssey Begins in Belfast: Sean Thornton and Patty Cleary return to their roots.

2. Big Zed’s Hat Trick: First career three-goal game as Bruins beat Hurricanes, 7–0.

3. Hello Chris Kelly, Rich Peverley, and Tomas Kaberle: Farewell Blake Wheeler and Mark Stuart (both a plus-8 with the B’s in 2010–2011).

4. 6–0 Road Trip: Including a win over the Canucks, the six-game sweep is B’s first since 1971–72.

Commercial Time Out, this recap brought to you by Puckbite

Da Hawks – Da Habs: Fast skating, precision passes short and long, sustained focus and passion and an uncanny reading of the play. That's what I admire most in hockey. There was lots of it on April 5, 2011, at Montreal's Centre Bell, when the Hawks faced the Habs. Both teams embody these qualities when they bring their A game and they were all in that night. Skillful, disciplined play. No head shots, no cheap shots. No trash talk, taunting, posturing or whining. Montreal took 10 minutes in penalties and Chicago 8. Each one 2 minutes. Crawford and Price were solid in the nets. 43 shots for the Hawks, 35 for the Habs. Beautiful wristers from Cammalleri and Kane in the second. With Subban's peremptory one-timer in OT, the Canadiens took it 1-2 and clinched a spot in the finals. If only the NHL could be like this every night. Perhaps we have to thank Scotty Bowman's big influence on both these teams and others, like the Penguins and Red Wings, over the years.

5. Michael Ryder’s Glove Save: The B’s forward reprised his role as Bonavista (NL) ball hockey goalie as the Bruins beat the Habs in Game Five.

6. Timmy Thomas, Game Two against the Flyers: Fifty-two saves in a History-Will-be-Made victory.

7. Andrew Ference to David Krejci to Nathan Horton: The Hockey Goddesses, at least one of them, are rooting for the Bruins.

8. *Stanley Cup Finals, A day before Game Four: Boston's revered Paul shouts, “The British Columbians are coming; the British Columbians are coming.” (He didn't really say that.)

9. Game Seven, Patrice Bergeron: Patty Cleary scores the game-winner and then a shortie to complete the Bruins’ odyssey.

10. Vancouver Fans Applaud Tim Thomas.

11. The Bruins Locker Room: Zdeno Chara holding Claude Julien’s five-year-old daughter, Katryna. (Dear Reader: If you've got a picture of it, please send to me.)

12. Katryna and the Cup, for the little kid in all of us: “Best of all, I like winning it.”

Oldies But Goodies: Former Bruins Rock On

Songs from the 1960s and '70s—when today’s oldest NHLers were born—are ripe for airplay on oldies stations. Tunes from the '80s and early '90s—when today’s oldest players were drafted—are maturing into fashionable fruit for these same stations.

So, in the spirit of Steve “Fly Like an Eagle’” Miller and Dave “Please Come to Boston” Loggins, I present these memorable former Bruins.

Mark Recchi
2009-2011

The kid from Kamloops (BC) was born when “Hey Jude” hit the charts and was drafted when Steve Winwood’s “Roll With It” was up for awards. Recchi (skating on a line with his boyhood idle Bryan “Hot Diggity” Trottier) won the ultimate hockey award with Pittsburgh in 1991; in 2006, with Carolina, Recchi (and fellow oldie Glen Wesley, also born in 1968) again hoisted the hardware high above his head.

In 2009, with the dismal Tampa Bay Lightning, Recchi owned the dubious distinction of a team-worst plus/minus (-15). When the B’s acquired him at the trade deadline, I was concerned that he would be a detriment to team defense.

Ha. Two years later and Recchi, who says he prefers rock ‘n’ roll or country over Marc Savard’s Top 40, probably was amused when, before the Stanley Cup parade, wanna-be rapper Brad Marchand performed “Wiz Khalifa’s Black and Yellow.”

Sean O’Donnell
2001-2004

Gordon Lightfoot’s “If You Could Read My Mind” climbed the charts in 1971, when Odie entered the world. Twenty years later, when the Buffalo Sabres drafted the defenseman, Maria Carey’s “Someday” ruled the airwaves. No way the Queen of the High Cs could have know her tune would be a smash hit or that O’Donnell’s quest to win the Cup would sixteen years later culminate with the Anaheim Ducks.

After signing with the Blackhawks, Odie (or should I say Oldie) is “Alive Again” in Chicago.

Mike Knuble
1999-2004

Born in 1972, Knuble grew up during the Age of Abba. Then in 1991, when Boyz II Men’s "Motownphilly" was all the rage in Cheesesteaktown, Knuble might not have predicted that “Mamma Mia” would be made into a musical, or that during the 2003 All-Star break, he’d tell his fans at Bruins.com that he planned to attend the show—because his wife is a big fan. (Sure Mike, admit it: Even a rough-and-tumble forward on the 700 pound line with Joe Thornton and Glen Murray, can dig the “Dancing Queen”.)

Will Washington be the “End of the Road” for the former Philadelphia Flyer? (Knubes turns 40 in 2012.)

Brian Rolston
1999-2004

The Allman Brothers’ “Ramblin’ Man” might be Brian Rolston’s theme song as the well-traveled forward was born in 1973. Then again, maybe Paul Abdul’s “Rush Rush” is a more appropriate theme song. Drafted in 1991, Rollie often led the charge up ice during his tenures with the New Jersey Devils (twice), the Colorado Avalanche, the Minnesota Wild, and the Boston Bruins. Here in Beantown, he thrilled fans with his specialties: speed, slap shots and short-handed goals (nine in 2001-02).

Rolston signed with the New York Islanders and will play an up-tempo game, blast a few slappers past would-be puck-stoppers, and maybe score a shortie or two.

Aaron Ward
2006-2009

I’m not sure if “Bad Bad Leroy Brown” is on Wardo’s playlist, but Jim Croce’s classic was among the top hits in 1971. Drafted in 1991, when Bryan Adams’s “Everything I Do (I Do it For You) ranked high on the charts, would Wardo have predicted that he’d still be playing eighteen years later? In his two seasons in Boston—before the B’s traded him back to Carolina to end his career—I enjoyed watching him stiff-arm puck-toting opponents, (broken?)-sticking it to Philadelphia with an OT game-winning goal.

Stanley CUPdate: Part I, Summertime Sojourn

Two months ago tomorrow, the Boston Bruins held high, for the first time since 1972, Sir Stanley’s silver (and nickel) chalice.

Since then, the Bruins’ Cuppeth hath runneth overeth with good cheer and good beer (if not donuts). From Vancouver to the Vineyard, from Nevada to New York, and across The Pond and beyond: The five keepers of the Cup capture images as Kevin Shea chronicles the Stanley Cup’s summertime sojourn.

I present to you these headlines and hyperlinks:

Highbrow Highlights: The NHL Awards Show, the Today Show, and the draft for "The Show"

Oat to Lunch: Horsing around in Buffalo

Houda Thunk it: Tee Time in Whitefish, MT

Geoff Ward and Don Sweeney: Waxy-ing nostalgic in Lexington and at Harvard

No Sooner Said than Dunnville: Horton Hears a Whew (from Howie Borrow)

Across the pond and beyond…

Czech-mates: Kaberle and Krejci meet The Hello Piggy Band

A Drum Roll for Sir Zed: His Highness Sticks it to the Castle Crowd

Stanley Steamer: Tuukka’s Time in the Sauna

On to Ontario…

Spin-O-rama: A 360-degree View of Toronto with Shawn Thornton

Maiden Canada: Mist-er Paille at Niagara Falls

Stanley Cup Takes Guelph by Storm: Rich Peverley and the Fruit Loops?

Stay tuned for Part II

Sharing the Hockey Spirit, Part II: "Alberta Bound"



Courtesy of Hockey Spirit Fundraising Calendars

 (Cont'd from Part I)

I’m Alberta Bound/This piece of heaven that I’ve found/
Rocky Mountains and black fertile ground

Everything I need beneath that big blue sky/Doesn’t matter where I go/
This place will always be my home

-Paul Brandt, “Alberta Bound”

As Brian and Elizabeth Urlacher—the king and queen of hockey calendars—watch the Stanley Cup Finals, they must realize that The Most Coveted Cup is Alberta bound. Will Mason Raymond, the Canuck from Cochrane, AB and teammate Jeff Tambellini, the kid from Calgary, hold high the shiny silver chalice beneath Brandt’s big blue sky? Or will it be Bruins Johnny Boychuk and Andrew Ference—both from Edmonton—that do the honors?

The Canucks lead the series 2–0, and Red Deer’s royalty seem conflicted about their loyalty: Elizabeth, whose favourite donut at Tim Hortons is the Boston Cream (renamed, at least temporarily, to the Vancouver Cream), writes, “…Andrew Ference–our Alberta boy! That’s top-shelf reason enough for us to be thrilled to see the Bruins win. We also hold tight to all things Canucks…Go Canada Go! This is a unique playoff series because we’re going to be stoked for who ever wins! It’s nice to be in such a friendly cheering position.”


A week later, and a day before Game Six in Boston, the Canucks up 3–2, the Urlachers call to clarify their written comments. Elizabeth says, “I’m gonna answer for myself, Brian (who then laughs). My loyalties always go to first of all, to our closest team. My second thought on that is if that if by chance the Bruins win, that I’d be so happy for my friend, Barry Wheeler in Corner Brook, Newfounldand that that’s just great too.”

Canuck goalie Roberto Luongo's home and away ups and downs, she says, as well as the see-saw victory pattern, have contributed to the saga of this Stanley Cup finals.

The queen yields to her husband, who says, “I’m Vancouver all the way. Boston’s won a Stanley Cup before; Vancouver’s never won one.” The king continues, “I can’t believe how bad (the Canucks) have played in Boston.”

“That’s why it’s a saga, Brian,” Elizabeth says.

“I think it’s going to go seven games,” he concludes.


Now, three and a half weeks after the Bruins conquered the Canucks, Boychuk and Ference plan for their day (sometime in August) with the sporting world’s most celebrated thirty-four-and-half-pound trophy.

And the Urlachers have resumed their routine: A stop at Timmys, where Elizabeth orders her Boston/Vancouver Cream and Brian buys a Honey Cruller; designing and producing the fifteen-month calendars, which hockey organizations will sell to raise funds for their programs; and perhaps listening to a country tune. All this as couple anticipates the Stanley Cup’s trip to the province famous for those heavenly Rocky Mountains, Chinook winds, and Paul Brandt. Alberta: the place the king and queen of calendars call home.

Sharing the Hockey Spirit, Part I: "Small Towns and Big Dreams"




Courtesy of Hockey Spirit Fundraising Calendars

 

June 6, 2011

Maynard, MA

“…The best things around/that I have ever seen/Come from small towns and big dreams…”

-“Small Towns and Big Dreams” by Paul Brandt



Elizabeth Urlacher, one half of the married team that designs what she and her husband Brian call “the Hockey Spirit Fundraising Calendar” shares, via email, that “Small Towns and Big Dreams” is her favourite tune by Brandt, a native Albertan. “It speaks largely of who Brian and I are; it reminds me of my small town community each time I hear it! It’s really a song about good people, good ethics, and community camaraderie.”



The Urlachers reside in Red Deer, Alberta. Equidistant between Edmonton and Calgary, Red Deer is home to Urlacher Photographics Ltd and is the focal point for those familiar with the Battle of Alberta: the rivalry between the Oilers and the Flames. The Urlacher household, however, is a harmonious one. Oilers all the way.



Elizabeth and Brian grew up as Oilers fans, so neither had to compromise hockey loyalties when they married. And in 2006, they fused their passions—hockey and helping others—and talents—imagination, photography and design—to pursue their dream.

“I’m not sure why...,” Elizabeth writes, “but we always pictured it as a fundraising calendar that would help kids play hockey. It just was—and so it now is.”

The realization of these big dreams is rooted in their childhood memories.



Brian, whose imagination sparked the business, writes, “Growing up in the Drumheller Badlands and playing hockey on the frozen Red Deer River—at times there was no snow and I could skate for miles! If I missed the net I’d have to chase the puck for what seemed like forever to retrieve it (and that’s why I became such a prolific goal scorer and never missed the net.)

The Badlands, Brian continues, are known as the Dinosaur Capital of the World (Glen Rose, Texas also stakes a claim), and the enduring images of his early hockey days will be featured in a calendar some day.



Elizabeth recalls her halcyon hockey days, when the calendar would flip from fall to the frozen months. “Each winter,” Elizabeth writes about her family’s farm about forty-five minutes west of Red Deer, “Dad would plow a section of our backyard. He taught my big brother and me how to flood it with precision to create a sheet of ice that would be our winter rec center right in our own backyard. I remember my brother and I actually wearing old-old skates (similar to the antiques we feature in our calendar). A puck and a couple plastic hockey sticks ordered from the Simpson Sears Catalog were everything we needed. We’d play out there almost every night that the temperature would allow us to. I was a little more of a Jamie Salé (Alberta girl and Olympic gold medalist), in that as soon as I could put on figure skates, I was really at home on ice. Even if they weren’t a perfect match for playing hockey, I wore them while playing hockey!”

The hockey and calendar business—travel to nearby small towns and to other sites far and wide across Canada (think Newfoundland); capturing the images on camera; designing the fifteen-month calendars to include ample space for recording family activities, hockey statistics, and season highlights; and coordinating production, marketing, and distribution efforts—keeps Brian, a photographer and Elizabeth, a photographer and graphic artist, more active than Bruin goalie Timmy Thomas.



The Urlachers postpone their dates with calendars, though, when the playoffs are on TV. The Urlachers, like any hockey fans worth their metal, are watching the grown-up versions of those kids—who grew up in towns from Smithers, BC to Bonavista, NL—as they pursue their loft, shiny silver (and nickel) dreams.

As the splendor of the Stanley Cup Finals unfolds, sharing the spirit of hockey with good people is one of the best things around.

Stay tuned for Part II.

Sweet Victory: Not Meant to B’s?

Like my beloved Boston Bruins, my Sour Cream Sunrise donut didn’t make it to the Finals. The Bruins won’t be playing for the Stanley Cup, and the donut I designed won’t compete in Dunkin’s Next Donut “bake-off” on May 28.

For now, hats off to the Red Wings, Blackhawks, Hurricanes, and Penguins; cheers to the likes of Toffee for Your Coffee, Economic Crunch, Grandma’s Blueberry Maple Donut, and Chocolate Monkey. The donuts, at least, are all deserving of your support, so no disrespect to them.

But fear not, Bruins (and my donut devotees). Sweet victory may not be so far away.

The Bruins’ time will come, soon. Management believes in its players and vice-versa, and the recipe for success is missing but one ingredient: experience. Sprinkle a little know-how-to-win in the play-offs into the mix of talent and toughness and then watch this tight-knit team take off. The Bruins will rise to new heights and shine. Next season.

The Sour Cream Sunrise donut, a creation inspired by the AM Hockey League’s fun-loving nature yet a treat for any early-riser, may still see the light of day. Dunkin’ Donuts will consider all donuts, whether they’re competing in the ballyhooed bake-off or not, as potential products.

Imagine the delight in devouring this simple creation. Sour cream cake, vanilla icing, and the signature Dunkin’ Donuts sprinkles—free of frill or filling—tumble into your tummy. Yummy, eh?

If you believe in this donut like I believe in this donut, consider contacting the powers that be.

And come next June, I wouldn’t be surprised to be enjoying a Sour Cream Sunrise as the B’s bring home the Cup.