Well, Cam Neely's comeback attempt only survived four practices,
but it was sure fun while it lasted. Most rational Boston Bruins
fans knew that a full comeback for Cam was a slim hope. But
seeing the big guy out on the ice, streaking down the wing, and
letting loose with that cannon of a shot, you had to hope.
In the end, the mind and most of the body were willing,
but the hip couldn't take it. There are three very positive
outcomes to the attempt, however.
First, Cam's recovery from a very painful condition
progressed so well that a comeback was even worth considering.
Even if he can't play NHL hockey any longer, at least he won't be
reminded of it by a sharp pain with every step he takes.
The second positive outcome is that Cam has come to terms with
the situation. In his retirement, from the tearful press
conference to the start of the comeback, Cam was a guy who
felt cheated. He left the Bruins at a crappy time, after a
season that was painful for reasons other than his hip, and he
clearly left unhappy. However brief his comeback attempt, this
time at the press conference, Cam was smiling, because he was
leaving on his own terms, and he had come to grips with the fact
that he could not sustain the rigors of an NHL season.
The third positive aspect is that by truly coming to grips with
the end of his playing career, Cam is able to look ahead clearly
to a different future in hockey, whether it be coaching or
scouting or broadcasting, and he will be able to apply his full
energy to that new venture. Boston fans who want to see Cam do
his thing will have to hope that he is willing and able to
play on the Bruins alumni squad for charity. However, a note of
caution to any local DJs or civic leaders who agree to play
against Cam in an alumni squad game: leave the Ulf Samuelsson
jersey at home.
During the last two weeks, the Bruins haven't been all that busy.
They had a break in the schedule of five whole days without a
game before they took the ice against the Rangers in New York.
That gave Kyle McLaren time to get back into the NHL rhythm, and
it worked like a charm when Kyle scored a power-play goal four
minutes into his first game back with the Bruins. Kyle winged a
rebound past Mike Richter in the first, and the Bruins were all
over the Rangers early on.
However, in spite of firing 21 shots at Richter in the first two
periods, the Bruins came out on the short end 2-1 going in to the
third, and things got worse when Niklas Sundstrom deflected a
shot past Dafoe early in the third. But Steve Heinze scored off
of a Sundstrom turnover seven minutes later. Then Dimitri
Khristich deflected a shot from Don Sweeney past Richter to forge
a 3-3 tie with only 1:22 left in the game.
Next the Bruins entertained the Dallas Stars, and excellent hosts
they were. Brett Hull scored twice and assisted on an empty
netter by Jere Lehtinen to lead the Stars to a 3-1 triumph.
Hull's three points put him over the 1,000-point mark for his
career. The first goal was a fluke off a Bruin's skate, the
second was a billiard shot off Dafoe's mask that even Hull termed
"lucky" and the third was, well, an empty-net goal - so how tough
is that?
Actually, the second goal was as masterful as lucky, with
Hull holding the puck and faking Dafoe down to the point where
Hull was ten feet from the net on the goal line with the puck,
almost no shooting angle, but Dafoe sprawled like someone had
tied his arms and legs to each other. Hull plunked the shot off
Byron's helmet to give Dallas the winning lead.
The Bruins' goal came from Joe Thornton, and only because the
shot was off-speed and snuck through Roman Turek's pads.
Otherwise, the Bruins were unable to dent Turek's armor.
Not often do you see a legitimate donnybrook in today's NHL, but
that was what we got when the Bruins played the Washington
Capitals in their first rematch since the Caps doused the Bruins
in last year's playoffs. The Caps had lost the previous night
against Ottawa, and when things didn't go that well for the Caps
in the first 11 minutes of the game, and some fairly nasty licks
were exchanged, trouble was not far away.
The tone for the evening was set by none other than Joe Thornton,
who was high-sticked by Mark Tinordi, and before the whistle was
blown on the delayed penalty, came back with a pretty serious
charge that caught Tinordi by surprise. Thornton then dropped
the gloves and came in swinging. Now, Mark Tinordi is hardly a
girly slapfighter, but Joe pretty much held his own and showed
that he was not to be trifled with. Washington players had taken
a few
liberties early on against smaller guys like Sergei Samsonov, and
Dale Hunter had tommy-hawked Ray Bourque, but Thornton served
notice that these Bruins were not going to get pushed around
without responding.
Thornton drew the line, and Craig Berube crossed it. He slashed
Don Sweeney in front of the net, and Don, usually no ruffian,
slashed right back. They then started tussling, and as a scrum
started at the boards, new Bruin Ken Belanger, never to be
nicknamed "Shrinking Violet," jumped into the fray, dragging Dale
Hunter along behind him. At this point, all except the
goalkeepers paired off, and with a linesman between them,
Belanger and Hunter engaged in a slugfest.
When they got tired of landing punches on the linesman's back, he
was able to lead them over to the penalty box, and it looked like
things were about to clam down. The linesman said something to
Hunter and let go of his jersey, and Hunter did what a jerk will
do, skating back to jump in on the Sweeny-Berube matchup, as if
Berube wasn't a match for diminutive Don. However, the linesman
still had hold of Belanger and would not release him, so Hunter
was free to hunt heads.
That's when Byron Dafoe stepped in. He saw Hunter heading for
Sweeney and he left his crease to intercept. Now, it is a
penalty for a goalie to leave his crease during a fight, but as
soon as Byron got involved, that drew Olaf Kolzig, because
opposing goalies make the best dance partners. Besides, Dafoe
and Kolzig are best friends - Dafoe was Kolzig's best man at
his wedding this summer. So they waltzed around stretching each
other's sweaters for the rest of the brawl, trying desperately
not to break out laughing at each other, and for the most part,
succeeding.
By that time, referee Mark Faucette had seen enough. When the
dust cleared, Faucette had expelled all 12 players who were on
the ice at the time, handing out 238 minutes in penalties,
including double game misconducts to Berube and Belanger for
their particular feistiness. Most of the players couldn't even
remember a game where 12 players were banished in one sweep.
So far, only one player has received a suspension, but this is
one game tape that is going to get a good look at league
headquarters. Craig Berube was suspended for three games for
physically abusing a linesman during the fight.
The "20-Minute Warrior" award goes to Ken Belanger, however. He
has dressed for two games since being acquired from the
Islanders, and in both games he has received a game misconduct in
the first period. His presence has been meaningful, however, if
only to share the enforcer burden with Ken Baumgartner. This has
taken some pressure off of Baumgartner, especially against a
bruiser-packed team like Washington, which lost six players in
this fight and still had enforcer Chris Simon to spare.
In an effort to shift the moron spotlight away from the players,
Harry Sinden was quoted in the Boston Globe as saying "You know
what it does? It shows us we can play with 13 players, and our
payroll will [go right down]." Harry, of course, was being
facetious, but coming from a guy who is considered "Mr.
Cheapskate" by the fans, it wasn't the best remark, especially
when one of the 13, Iron Man Ray Bourque, was obviously
exhausted at game's end. Even Ray couldn't take this kind of
kind of punishment game after game.
At some point, to use a tortured old joke, a hockey game broke
out. The Bruins had crafted a 3-0 lead, only to see Washington
stage a comeback with two goals in the second period, including a
short-handed goal by Peter Bondra. Bondra's goal was the first
short-hander conceded by the Bruins this year, and came after Ray
Bourque could not contain the puck at the point, and Bondra
dazzled Darren Van Impe with an inside-out move that left
Van Impe looking for his hockey stick while Bondra was taking
goalie Rob Tallas to the cleaners.
By the end of the third, goals by Brendan Witt and Steve
Konowalchuk had tied the game at 4-4, and the Bruins were headed
into their second straight overtime game after blowing a big
lead. This time, however, a smart line adjustment by Pat Burns
on the last overtime shift made the difference, as Burns brought
out Jason Allison for the last minute with Steve Heinze and Anson
Carter, in place of Joe Thornton. Heinze held the puck in the
zone, and passed it to Carter. Anson used his strength to
hold off a Caps defender, and touched the puck to Allison, who
one-timed it past Washington backup goalie Rick Tabaracci for the
game-winner with only 30 seconds left in the game. Whew!
The final outcome was better than against the Florida Panthers
two days before. In that game, the Bruins ran up a 4-0 lead and
looked like they were going to croak the Panthers, until the
wheels fell off the zamboni, figuratively speaking. The
Panthers fired 45 shots at Byron Dafoe, the most against the
Bruins this season, while the B's shot only 29 times
against Sean Burke. Amusingly, the ESPN Sportzone recap of the
game called him "Carolina's Sean Burke" and they were only half
wrong - the guy played like he was still in Carolina. But his
teammates bailed him out big time, scoring three times in two and
a half minutes to tie the game at 5-5. That gave the Panthers a
point in the standings and a moral victory at least, in a game
the Bruins had no right not to win.
Pat Burns was not amused, nor were the FleetCenter fans. Burns
ran the team through a tough workout at the next practice,
including on-ice pushups when Burns didn't think a line
was giving it all. Maybe this attitude paid off at the end of
the Capitals game.
One of the biggest surprises of the past few weeks has been the
decline of the Boston defense. Mean as it may seem, some of the
problem falls in the lap of Kyle McLaren, who is still not quite
himself yet on the blue line. Since his return, the Bruins have
let in 15 goals in four games, after allowing only 23 goals in
the first 14 games. McLaren has a +/- of -4, as well as a few
scores against on the penalty kill. Needless to say, this isn't
vintage McLaren. But then, the guy is only 22, so hopefully the
real vintage years are yet to come. As he gets back into the
saddle this season, his defense is likely to tighten up, and with
it the Bruins winning percentage will rise.
