Another Masshole added to the mix…

You know what they say- there is always room for another Masshole. They actually didn’t say that, but here I am. If you met me you may not guess that I am from Boston. As a communications major I was forced to ditch the Boston accent and pick up the Rs I had been dropping since I could speak.

Never in a million years would I have thought I would be blogging about hockey. I played soccer through college, grew up alongside two basketball-playing brothers and was a basketball cheerleader in high school. Not a whole lot of my time was spent in a hockey rink but that doesn’t make me any less of a fan than any of you. Before you question my credibility and write me off, hear me out.

In college I met a hockey player, from Canada, who was the captain of the hockey team at Harvard University, a Habs fan and prospect of one of the Bruin’s biggest rivalries. I know, we are match made in heaven. If I was going to make that work I was going to have to start speaking his language, figuratively (hockey) not literally (French- Unfortunately I took 8 years of Spanish in school, wrong choice). After attending the Beanpot, the best college hockey showcase in Boston, I fell in love with the sport. I realized quickly that I had a lot of learning to do. Being a fan of the Bruin’s wasn’t good enough. I am kind of a dork and wanted to know more. There was an entire culture that I needed to figure out. A back-story that makes this game so great! What is it that make’s hockey so great? What causes this cult-like following of beastly, rough and tough men on skates? Why did the league almost fold? I dedicated my thesis in graduate school to these very inquiries and in short, it can be concluded that the passion for the game and the die-hard dedication of the fans keeps this sport alive. Why on earth would I not want to be a part of that!?

On the flipside, since my above story worked out, I am currently engaged to a professional hockey player. The players’ die-hard dedication to the fans and to the sport is an equal factor in keeping this game so magical. I am lucky enough to be a link between the two. I get to see it from both sides every single weekend (at least most weekends that I can take a flight and get to a game.) The trials and tribulations of a hockey wife- not as glamorous as you might think but that is a whole other story.

Name: From here on out you can refer to me as D. My posts and tweets will be tagged that way.

Age: 26

Hometown Team: Boston Bruins.

Favorite Team: Boston Bruins.

(Hey S! SUCK IT! She’s a Bruins fan too!!! ;) -L )

Hockey Husband: Literally- in June of 2013 I will have one. But I don’t kiss and tell. (We are KIND OF jealous…..no wait….I take that back….we’re extremely jealous. AND HAPPY! CONGRATS, D! -L)

Favorite Old Timer: Bobby Orr, naturally. (Girl after my own heart -L)

Coach of the year: Claude Julien. Prediction: Back-to-back Stanley Cups

Favorite Tweeter: This is a really tough question because I follow close to 1,000 people, places, and things for all different reasons. I get 90% of my news, every day, from Twitter.

Least Favorite Team: Unfortunately one is my fiancé’s home town team, and the other is the team he is under contract with. GO FIGURE.

Least Favorite Player: Matt Cooke. Sorry L & S but really this is a guy who has been suspended repeatedly through out his career for cheap hits and not to mention pretty much ended the solid career of Marc Savard. (*sigh* Fine…I guess we’ll accept your hatred for Cookie. We still like to think of him as a great guy. WE LOVE YOU COOKIE! -L) If I haven’t sold you, check out this video evidence.

Five solid minutes of filth.

Scariest Player: Marchand- so small and unpredictable… kind of a loose cannon. I suppose the same could be said about him as Cooke, given his history with this subject, but he is a Bruin. Should he ever be with another organization we can move him up a spot.

Best Hockey hair: Dare I say- Rob Lowe and Patrick Swayze in Youngblood?

“The Nose” stays…

Thats right Bruins fans….the biggest (or little–depending on how you look at it) pest in the NHL has signed on with the Bs for another 2 years.

chicka chicka yeeaahhhh

I have to admit, I was nervous for a little while. I thought for sure the B’s organization was giving him a slap on the wrist for this past summers behavior. But all is good on the Marchand front which means he will be there at camp on friday…which also means we get more of this…

"Trad" or "Segand" or ... well...you get the idea. BROMANCE!

Countdown to the Regular Season: 63 days

Well…we’re getting antsy over here–so maybe this idea is more for our benefit than yours–but we’ve decided to countdown to the regular season in a fun way! We picked out our favorite players (basically everyone in the NHL) and put a list together by their number. Most days–we have a player, others however, we do not. So, let’s get started.

Today, there is BRAD MARCHAND days left until puck drop.

This boy is going to need all 82 games of the regular season in order to recover from his Stanley Cup hangover.

I've said it once...and I'll say it again-- we LOVE tumblr...

Really, I’m not joking. This boy has spent 80% of his time with no shirt on and a bottle of some sort of adult beverage in his hand. Now…I don’t keep tabs on Marchy…but has he returned to the ice for practice yet?? Who knows! But hey, if I had just won the Stanley Cup I’m pretty sure I’d be doing the SAME EXACT THING. Just like us girls here at Hockey’s Finest–he’s not afraid to have fun & make a fool of himself… (coughcough::vacation to Pittsburgh & Toronto::coughcough) (Whatever are you talking about L? We are nothing but class, ALL the time! -S)

"black & yellow, black & yellow, black & yellow...."

Well, Marchy–you’ve kicked off our countdown & we’re excited. Remember–the trick to recovering from a hangover is lots of sleep, fluids (like water–no vodka), and lots and lots of pain killers…since you’ll be dying during those early morning workouts any day now. Oh and try to keep your shirt on…

63 days left boys & girls…are you ready?! This will be the best countdown EVER!

Trivia Tuesday: Lord Stanley

Figured this was appropriate for Trivia Tuesday since the Big Bad Bruins released their DVD last night.

S stumbled upon this little tid-bit of information which both of you probably know:

“The Stanley Cup has been surrounded by story and myth, but it has had a fun life. It has been thrown in a river, urinated in,  found at the bottom of Mario Lemieux’s swimming pool, travelled to a live combat zone, been left behind by the players and once used as a vase by the person who found it, children have been baptised in it, and oh, so much more.”

So then my mind wanders to the beauties on the Bruins…

yes, I'm talking about you two.

What kind of trouble will these boys get into?? Can’t wait to hear about their days with the Cup. I so wish Versus does another “My Summer with Stanley” segment–and I pray they cover these two…

Operation: Find Lord Stanley = Complete

Beware. Longest post ever, but I promise it’s worth it.

I’m trying so hard to find one word to sum up what has happened this weekend, but I can’t. I was apart of Bruins & Boston history yesterday and it was an unreal feeling. As much as I said ‘Thank you’ to the players as they walked by, most of them said ‘No, thank you!’ You could really see just how much this fan base meant to the players as they grasped their heads and shook it in disbelief. More than a million people flooded the streets of Boston yesterday just in the hopes of catching a glimpse of Lord Stanley’s Cup and the boys they love so much.

But, let’s back track to friday night where the adventure began. According to Garden security, Baby Seguin had just left for his apartment (which I now know where it is…mwhahahaha *evil laugh*), Brad Marchand was on the 80’s Party Bus all night, and Shawn Thornton had the Cup with his wife since it was their anniversary. Out of respect of Shawn & his wife, we decided we wouldn’t try and find the Cup at the restaurant they were at…we’d just try and scour the streets of Boston for the Party Bus.

For such a popular bus you would think it would be easy to find, right?! Wrong. We walked around from 9pm – 1am and found nothing. But that may have been our fault…we couldn’t resist the 100 hundreds of bars along the way. Between country night at Hurricane O’Reily’s and Piza & Beer at Ernesto’s in the North End…we had our hands full. So we ended our night at 1am when we realized Brad was still out there and we had no shot of finding him.

4am came all too quickly…especially when 5 people cuddled in a 1 bedroom hotel room. 5 people + one bed + 3 pillows +tons of laughter = zero sleep.

so peaceful at 4am

So we staked out our spot on Tremont Street and didn’t move (with the exception of one bathroom trip) until the parade started. I will admit, we overestimated the enthusiasm of the Boston fans…getting up at 6am would have worked just the same. But it’s all about the adventure, right?!

While sitting on the curb shoving munchkins into my mouth, Brad Marchand drove by….leaving me speechless. I kinda just pointed (still half asleep)…and continued shoving food into my face. Hopefully, he didn’t see me (even though we were the only insane fans on the street at 5am). I’m guessing he had a great time friday night if he was just leaving the Garden then.

Around 7am, guess who we saw running towards the Garden, claiming he was late…

Mr. Jack Edwards --and even though he said he was late, people still mobbed him. Poor guy.

As the hours crawled by, the streets began to fill with black & gold. Buses & buses of Boston Policemen were shuttled into the city as well as from other towns outside Boston. Only town police I didn’t see was mine…figures.

Lets fast forward to my first sighting of the cup, shall we?!

Big Z & Lord Stanley

The crowd went wild as confetti was blown into the air and Big Z hoisted the Cup in the air. What you don’t get to see in this picture is Z ignoring the Boston Police & Cup Caretaker’s orders of ‘staying on the duck boat’. Chara decided to be a rebel and take the Cup off the boat and into the crowd so a few lucky fans could get up close and personal. From there he walked down the route and handed it off to the next duck boat in line.

That seemed to start a trend because then this happened:

Shawn Thornton carrying Lord Stanley through the crowd

Sadly, I was too busy trying to take a picture so when I reached out to touch it, I was inches shy. Security was not happy, but the crowd sure was. I was almost pushed over the barrier a few times, but it was so worth it. The parade was nuts. The only players I wanted to see who I didn’t was Baby Seguin and Timmy T (but read on…it gets better). We decided after the last duck boat passed us that food was next (plus a run through some water fountains–it was blazing hot out). Once we heard the crowd roar by the Garden, we knew the boys were finishing up the route and it was time to make our way back to the Garden for some player sightings.

While everyone was waiting at the Garden entrance for the boys, what they didn’t know was that the players parked on an alley beside the Garden. So we made sure the grab a spot on the grass and keep our cameras handy.

Not even 5 minutes after the celebration ended:

Lucic and his girlfriend walked away from the Garden hand in hand.

As jealous as I want to be of her, I can’t be. They are absolutely adorable together and she is the sweetest girl ever. Great pick Lucic…she’s a winner. Keep her around.

While I was grabbing a picture of Lucic, I hardly noticed Horton walked right past me with his baby in arms and wife in tow and Shawn Thornton on the other side. I quickly said ‘Hey, you’re you.’ (like an idiot and speechless fan girl). He simply smiled and nodded. Out of respect for his wife, baby (who looked so scared–poor thing) I decided to put the camera away until they walked past me. His kid was super cute, but noticably overwhelmed by all the attention his daddy was getting so having a camera in the face wouldn’t have been a good idea.

Nathan, baby, wife, and Shawn Thornton

Once everyone caught onto what was happening, the chances of players escaping without a mob was zero and the Boston Police had to step in.

Daniel Paille was one guy who didn't seemed to be minding the attention. What a sweetie. Stopped and signed for young fans.

Across the street, Andrew Ference was escorted away but also didn’t mind the attention he got from the fans.

Ference...minus any 'glove malfunctions'

I laughed when I saw this:

Marchand's truck blasting "Black & Yellow" while honking and grabbing some attention

Then out of nowhere, a roar errupted from the Garden and everyone rushed the streets.

Big Z riding his bike home.

Sorry for the blur, I was mobbed. Right behind him was Patrice Bergeron, another guy who got mobbed.

Bergy and a hundred of his closest fans.

He also has the sweetest girlfriend ever as well. Someone pushed me right into her almost knocking her over. I quickly apologized making her laugh and say “It’s ok sweetie, you’re fine.” –what a trooper for putting up with her boyfriend’s famous-ness.

By the way: Chuck (from WUYS)…I now know where he lives. Let me know when you want to begin Operation: Kidnap Bergeron …I’ll help you out.

No, out of respect for him, I wont be posting the picture of his apartment. Poor guy couldn’t leave for hours because of the amount of people surrounding it. I looked on from a distance and laughed.

The next brave soul who was escorted out with 4 Boston Policemen was good ole Tuuka (note: not wearing Horton’s helmet anymore).

TUUUUUUUUUUUUUUKA

And last, but certainly not least, the man of the hour. Timmy T. Sweetest man on the face of the earth. Still smiled even if he was mobbed by half of Boston.

Timmay

The rest of the players had already left for Foxwoods, so that’s all the player sightings I have for you. I’m sure over the summer, there will be more as the mysterious–hard to find–Cup makes its way around the world (and Boston).

One more thing:

A lot of people in Boston were expecting Marchand to be borderline PKane (meaning drunken mess) and I sort of think he was. Or maybe he’s just a really bad singer…

While PKane dances, Marchand sings.

As much as I hate when Boston uses the Black & Yellow song (umm hello–that’s all Pittsburgh–leave it alone already), that was kind of funny. All in all, even though I only got 2 hours of sleep over the course of 2 days, I had an amazing weekend. I don’t think anything can top this. The images of Big Z rounding the corner onto Tremont St with the Cup in the air and Shawn Thornton running past me with the Cup will be burned into my memory for the rest of my life. I can only hope I can experience this again sometime down the road.

What a great season Bruins. You deserve this. Thank you.

I will be making a Hockey’s Finest flickr account and from there I’ll post all the pictures for you guys.

I’m in love

This hockey club is making me proud. I hate the city of Boston with a burning passion…the only good thing about it are the sports. I would have never guessed the Bruins would go in these Finals and win Game 3&4. I guess you can say my faith in the team faltered a bit.

But my faith has been restored and I’m actually starting to B-lieve they can win this thing.

Last night was an insane game full of all kinds of emotions.

First, I saw this.

my heart broke.

Then I saw this.

I clapped wildly in my room.

Last night you were able to see just how much #18 meant to Boston & the team. PS- turns out #18 showed up in the 3rd period to give away “the jacket” that was sitting in his stall. What a guy.

Let’s do some recaps, shall we?!

Timmy got a shut out last night!

Boston's hero.

Loungo got pulled.

I think it's safe to say Lou's head is still spinning.

But Loungo isn’t the only Canuck feeling down.

poor baby.

This series has turned nasty. The chirping, hitting, and overall mannerisms of these teams are unreal. I normally don’t like when a game turns into a “my horse is bigger than your horse” match, but under the circumstances I’ll take it.

Marchand is just being a little pest that the Sedin Twins just don’t know how to handle. He’s playing dirty and getting under their skin–and there is zero retaliation.

Heh, sucker.

So the series goes back to Vancouver on Friday. I’m thinking now that the Bruins know how the Canucks work (down & dirty/cheap play), they have a chance of walking away with a win. It’s now a battle of who wants it more…and after last night, something tells me it’s Boston.

Let’s Go B’s!