Dearest Zdeno, you can contact me at...

Boston and Halifax are so up in a tree it is not even funny. We let them borrow Haligonians, BFFs and Mooseheads players Brad Marchand and Andrew Bodnarchuk. Also, for more than 30 years the people of Nova Scotia have been donating a giant ever green tree to the city of Boston, just to thank them for their assistance following the 1917 Halifax explosion. For what purpose do they use that tree? This is the tree that we all 'get up in' for the sole purpose of making kissy faces.

In the fall of each year Boston gives something in return, usually they send their finest studs to play some quality pre-season hockey in our lowly NHL deprived city.

As a child I was enamoured with all things Boston...because I had a speech impediment that made me sound like I was from Boston. I would say things like cAr, bAr, and I also had a problem with making the 'th' sound. I had to attend a special speech class, as did the boy who was my very first school crush. That boy grew up to play for the Mooseheads and the Voltigeurs, and now I am in love with all Mooseheads - kawinkidink! - nein doch! But I digress.

Because everybody said I sounded like I was from Boston, I loved all things Boston and thus as a child the Bruins were my favorite hockey team. Don't even try to discern the logic of a child.

Now I am one of those evil creatures that likes lots of teams for various different reasons. I like Boston (again) because I love Zdeno, and there is lateral transfer of my tingly feelings from Big Z to his Boston Jersey. I, like many people, think that trading Big Z was the dumbest move Ottawa ever made. Ottawa broke my heart (which did not even belong to them) but I still watch them ALOT because, being from the east coast of Canada, Sportsnet pumps us the Ottawa feeds like young men pump their boners, thinking that this is the team we should care about (WRONG). We are just lucky that Ottawa plays Montreal and Boston a lot.

Anywho, what does it all mean? It means that Zdeno, Milan Lucic and the rest of the boys in yellow will be in Halifax playing not only Montreal (yum yum) but also Detroit this pre-season. To top it off the Bruins have also decided that they will be having their training camp here.

According to an article by Monty Mosher in today's issue of the Chronicle Herald:

The Boston Bruins are coming to metro in September and they are bringing their suitcases.

Boston head coach Claude Julien made an appearance in Halifax on Wednesday to announce the Bruins will hold five days of training camp, which will be open to the public, at Cole Harbour Place and Halifax Metro Centre surrounding a pair of exhibition games in Halifax.

There will be two practices on Sept. 23 (10 a.m. and 11:15 a.m.) and Sept. 24 (11 a.m. and 1 p.m.) at Cole Harbour Place.

There will be two practices at Metro Centre on Sept. 25 (10 a.m. and 11:15 a.m.) prior to a game against the reigning Stanley Cup-champion Detroit Red Wings. There will be two more skates at 10 a.m. and 11:15 at Metro Centre the following morning before departure.

...There will be a lot of local content to display during camp with ex-Halifax Mooseheads Brad Marchand and Andrew Bodnarchuk of Hammonds Plains trying to make an impression.

"They were in Boston a couple of weeks ago at our development camp and both of them looked good," said Julien. "Bodnarchuk is a very mobile defenceman, a very good skater and moves the puck well and he’s a young player who will definitely get an opportunity to showcase himself."

Marchand’s time with the Mooseheads ended poorly and his talents became secondary to a lack of discipline. But Julien said he was all business at camp.

"He focused on just playing hockey and he went out and did his job. He’s a pretty good agitator, he doesn’t back down from anything and he scored some goals in the scrimmages. So both guys I think are going to have a really good look."

There is more to read here at the Halifax Metro.

So that is the deal. I will be starting my hockey season in Germany, where I will likely catch Jason King's first game with the Adler-Mannheim Eagles in Düsseldorf, but I should be home by the 15th of September. My German friend C.B. and I have it all planned out as long as we can get his wife (and Mooseheads' lover C.G.) to agree with our hockey shenanigans road trip from Mannheim to the rival town of Düsseldorf.

Yes, we spread Moosemania all over Germany. There are scientists in Wurzburg with Mooseheads mousepads, I will be bringing C.B. the Mooseheads jersey he requested, and C.G. has become the secret lover of Steve Lund, Colby Pridham, PJ Corsi and Mark Yetman. CG's special hockey trick was cursing at Denis Reul (who should also be here with Boston) in German whenever Lewiston came to town.

However, come training camp time the Bruins will be here, I will be here, and I can guarantee that when I am not slobbering all over Carey Price (because he should be here as well), I will be thinking about some Bruins - namely BigZ and Milan Lucic. I have one thing to say to these fellows - my e-mail address is in the sidebar on the right!

This counts as Mooseheads news

In the third part of their series on NHL team prospects, NHL.com is reviewing the Boston Bruins. Both Halifax Mooseheads' defenceman Andrew Bodnarchuk and centreman Brad Marchand (formerly with Moncton and Val d'Or) have signed NHL entry contracts with the Bruins this past season.

Here is what the prospects report had to say about these Halifax natives, BFFs and short little men.

Brad Marchand -- Win. Win. Win. All this little, dynamic center from the Halifax suburbs does is win. City championship. Provincial championship. Two World Junior Championships. A Quebec league championship and a run at the Memorial Cup with Moncton. Leading playoff scorer for Val D'Or. A trip to the QMJHL semifinals with Halifax.

In the title game against Sweden in the 2008 World Juniors, Marchand scored just over a minute into the game and then assisted on Claude Giroux's second goal. Canada won 3-2 in overtime.

Marchand, selected by Boston in the third round (No. 71) in 2006, grew up with Providence defenseman Andrew Bodnarchuk. He also played with Martins Karsums on that winning Moncton team, along with 6-foot-2, 222-pound defenseman Matt Marquardt, acquired in May from Columbus for defenseman Jonathan Sigalet.

"Marchand is a competitive kid," Sweeney said. "He's not the biggest guy in the world and nobody can tell him anything but what he believes. He's feisty, he competes and he puts up numbers everywhere he has gone.

"Brad bounced around between teams and played an awful lot of hockey last year. He was in the Canada-Russia series and the World Juniors and he got traded from Val d'Or to Halifax. I think he will benefit from a stable environment in Providence with Scott Gordon and Rob Murray. He just needs to continue the maturation process. I think hearing the same voice all year will be a grounding thing for him.”


Andrew Bodnarchuk -- Bodnarchuk moved to Halifax from Winnipeg and played minor hockey with Bruins' prospect Brad Marchand. After winning the provincial midget title, he attended St. Paul's Prep in New Hampshire to retain his NCAA eligibility. But he returned to Halifax to play three seasons for the Mooseheads. He was the Bruins' fifth-round pick (No. 128) in 2006 after making the QMJHL All-Rookie Team. Bodnarchuk had 16 goals and 57 points the next season and slipped to 10 goals and 43 points on a weaker team in 2007-08.

"I saw him a couple of years ago at St. Paul's, where I went for a year before Harvard," Sweeney said. "His coach called me and asked me to look him. Andrew was thinking about going back to Canada to play juniors, which he did. He's a small defenseman, really competitive and he has good agility. He's going to need strength, as all smaller players do.

"He came to training camp two years ago and played a little with Providence, prior to signing. Andrew was disappointed this past season because the Halifax Mooseheads had a pretty good team and didn't get the job done in the Memorial Cup run. He's ready to move on and challenge himself to progress. He's looking forward to the AHL challenge this season and continuing on his path to the NHL."


I would love to throw my opinion in there but it would be all worlds of bitchy. May I just point out the following line re Bodnarchuk:
"Bodnarchuk had 16 goals and 57 points the next season and slipped to 10 goals and 43 points on a weaker team in 2007-08" . 2007 -2008 was last year right? - the year the Mooseheads were predicted to be the superpower team, the team that had everybody in the CHL and Jr hockey media saying "they will take it all".

They said this because we had 2 first round NHL draftees, 2 second round draftees (one of whom was released without contract at the June 1st deadline), 2 third round draftees, and a 5th rounder. That 'weaker' team with 7 NHL drafted players - was technically not a weaker team. It was a team composed of units that thought they were so special that "nobody can tell (them) anything but what (they) believe"; things such as how to play hockey like a team.

Wait...that was a bitchy rant! I couldn't help myself.

Baby Bruins out

The Providence Bruins are out of the run for the Calder cup. The Bruins were the number one team in their division (Atlantic) during the regular season with 55W, 18L, 3OTL, 4SOL and a total of 117 points, 7 points ahead of the second place Hartford Wolf Pack. As a mater of fact, they were the number one team in the league with the western division Chicago Wolves coming in second at 111 pts. Mmmmmm Ondrej Pavelec (CB Eagles alum) rocks my socks. Chad Denny (Lewiston Alum and CB born boy) is also a Wolf - a scary man eating Wolf.

As of April 27 the Baby Bruins were leading the Portland Pirates (Baby Ducks) 2-0 in the series following two absolutely winningest wins of 4-0 and 7-1. Then our captain Andrew Bodnarchuk was added to their roster. He didn't play any games but his 'essence lingered in their hallowed halls' and he put the curse of the Mooseheads upon them. The Baby Bruins then fell four straight games- the first two were overtime losses (sounds eerily familiar) of 4-3 and 3-2, then the Bruins lost 3-2 and 5-4 in regulation to end their season. Welcome home Bodnarchuk - bring your curse back to Halifax so it can roost upon team Canada, why don't you.

The AHL has not quite established who will play in the semi-finals. The remaining teams who are in include: the Portland Pirates (Atlantic Division) and the The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (Eastern Division)

The Syracuse Crunch (Baby Bluejackets - Go Brassard) are tied 3-3 with the Toronto Marlies, with the deciding game being held this upcoming Monday.

The Chicago Wolves (Baby Thrashers) are down 2 games to 3 against the Rockford Icehogs (Baby Blackhawks) with game 6 being played today, and if needed, game 7 on Tuesday.

Andrew Bodnarchuk with Providence Bruins

According to Wuest, Bodnarchuk is already in Providence practicing with the team for their Calder cup run. It is unknown whether he will actually play with the team, but with a 9 man defensive squad it seems unlikely. You can check out the press release from the Bruins here.

Bodnarchuk bitchfaces in our general direction. He is a real playa now.