Bruins sign Fata and Sabourin

Yesterday the Bruins announced that they signed defenseman Drew Fata and goalie Dany Sabourin to one-year contracts. These two players are most likely pickups for the AHL Providence Bruins team, as Tuukka Rask is the probable backup to Tim Thomas this coming season, so Sabourin should get playing time down with Providence. And with Jeremy Reich signing with the New York Islanders, Fata brings toughness to fill that void for Providence with Reich gone.

The 26-year-old Fata split the 2008-09 season between the San Antonio Rampage and the Binghamton Senators, both of the American Hockey League. He skated in 75 regular season games with seven goals, nine assists and 141 penalty minutes. He has played in eight career NHL games and registered 1-1=2 totals with nine penalty minutes, all with the New York Islanders.

The 28-year-old Sabourin appeared in 19 games for the Pittsburgh Penguins during the 2008-09 season and registered a 6-8-2 record, 2.85 Goals Against Average and .898 save percentage. On January 17, 2009, he was traded by Pittsburgh along with Ryan Stone and a 2011 fourth round pick to the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for goaltender Mathieu Garon. Sabourin did not appear in a game with the Oilers before being waived on January 20, 2009.
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Bruins player moves

Here is the latest on player moves by the Bruins and some players they have already lost to free agency by signing with other teams.

On June 30th, the Bruins bought out the contract of forward Peter Schaefer.

On July 1st, the Bruins re-signed forward Byron Bitz to a multi-year contract. The Bruins signed ex-Montreal/Dallas forward pest Steve Begin to a one-year contract. If you remember Begin was the one with that cheapshot on Marc Savard which broke a bone in Savard's back. Hopefully Begin can be that same kind of pest for the Bruins against Montreal and everyone else. He's also known for dishing out some big hits. The Bruins re-signed defenseman Johnny Boychuk to a one-year contract. Martin St. Pierre signed with the Ottawa Senators.

On July 2nd, the Bruins re-signed veteran Mark Recchi to a one-year contract. This will be Recchi's last season playing hockey. Forward Jeremy Reich signed with the New York Islanders. Defenseman Steve Montador signed with the Buffalo Sabres. Defenseman Shane Hnidy signed with the Minnesota Wild.

Looking at some Bruins opponents in the Eastern Conference, Montreal and Toronto have changed their team much. Montreal has added forwards Brian Gionta, Mike Cammalleri, and Scott Gomez (through a trade with New York), and defensemen Jaroslav Spacek and Hal Gill so far. Toronto has added a lot more toughness with defensemen Mike Komisarek, Garnet Exelby (through a trade with Atlanta), and enforcer Colton Orr. So now we'll be watching those Toronto games more closer with Lucic and Komisarek going at each other again.

Sobotka sent down and Thompson claimed

Today the Bruins assigned forward Vladimir Sobotka to Providence (AHL). Forward Nate Thompson did not clear waivers and was claimed by the New York Islanders.

Update on 10/9 @ 12:31PM

Forwards Peter Schaefer and Jeremy Reich have cleared waivers and were sent down to Providence (AHL).

Bruins make roster moves

On Monday, center Martin St. Pierre cleared waivers and was assigned to the Providence Bruins (AHL). On Tuesday, Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli announced that forward Peter Schaefer has been released and will be put on waivers for any team to claim him. If no team does, then he will be assigned to the Providence Bruins (AHL). Forwards Jeremy Reich and Nate Thompson have been placed on waivers for purpose of assignment to Providence (AHL). Defenseman Matt Hunwick has been assigned to Providence (AHL). Forward Carl Soderberg has been assigned to Malmo (Sweden2). Defenseman Mike Egener, who is only 23 years old, has announced his retirement from professional hockey.

The Schaefer move surprised me but with the emergence of rookie Blake Wheeler, Schaefer became expendable. The Reich move also surprised me as I thought he would make the team. Hopefully he makes it through waivers so later in the season he may be called up. I'm expecting some team to pick up Schaefer. Maybe look for Ottawa or Vancouver to pick him up (both are former teams of his), or any other teams that are looking for offense.

Some quotes from Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli about the roster moves:

"So we've made some roster moves today," was how Boston Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli began his comments to the media earlier this afternoon.

"We've released Peter Schaefer and he's on waivers, today and will be designated for reassignment pending if he clears or not," said Chiarelli. "We've put Jeremy Reich on waivers and we'll see if he clears in 24 hours."

"(With) Nate Thompson and Matt Hunwick, Nate would go on waivers, too, for 24 hours. And Matt is just a pure assignment, no waivers."

Chiarelli talked about the decision to waive Schaefer at length.

"Yah, it was difficult with (Schaefer)," said the GM. "I had a history with him in Ottawa and I brought him in here and it wasn’t working out."

"And I know he's a good player, (but) these things happen."

"We talked yesterday, it was a good talk, and he may end up in another NHL city or he may end up in Providence," he said.

Chiarelli was asked if he sensed a lot of disappointment from the veteran forward.

"Well, he’s been in the league a while," said Chiarelli. "I think he knew what was coming, especially with the play of Blake Wheeler."

"So he pretty much expected it is what he told me."

"But he was disappointed that it didn’t work out here," he said.

Cap wise and roster wise, Chiarelli said, "We're still pretty tight (cap wise)."

"This may not be our final roster, and there may be one more move before we leave tomorrow, but we'll see how the rest of the day plays out."

Source

Bruins pound Canadiens in preseason game

Last night was the Bruin's first preseason game vs another team and it went very well as they pounded the Montreal Canadiens 8-3. Vladimir Sobotka and Marco Sturm both had 2 goals, while the big story of the night was Patrice Bergeron with a goal and 3 assists. Bergeron's first real game back from the serious cheapshot he took last season and what a game he had. Looks like he may be back to his old self, but time will tell.

The game also included some rough stuff as usual between these two teamsm as there were a couple of fights with the score being so lopsided. The first fight was the Bruins Byron Bitz vs the Canadiens Alex Henry (a known tough guy who has fought in the NHL with the Capitals, Wild, and Predators). From what I read it sounded like it was mostly Henry and he also got the takedown. The second fight was Bruins Jeremy Reich vs Canadiens Ryan Flinn, which if anyone has seen Flinn knows that is a mismatch as Flinn is like 6'6" while Reich isn't even 6' tall. I didn't really hear how that one went but it seems Flinn probably instigated that one (even though no additional penalties were handed out). At the next faceoff Shawn Thornton dropped the gloves with Steve Begin which was a really good fight with Thornton getting the decision. Watch video of the fight below (created by nowhockey.com). The last fight was between Andrew Ference and one of the Kostitsyn sisters, oh I mean brothers. Apparently Andrei Kostitsyn hit a Bruin with a not-so-clean hit and Ference came to the rescue and put a beating on Kostitsyn. This season's games should be interesting with these two teams. Remember the Canadiens signed enforcer Georges Laraque in the off-season so Shawn Thornton will have his hands full with him, but he has got a decision over Laraque in the past. We also remember those two wrestling matches that Bruins captain Zdeno Chara had with Laraque last season.

Shawn Thornton vs Steve Begin

The Bruins next preseason game is tonight vs the New York Islanders.

Andrew Alberts is cleared to play

Bruins defenseman Andrew Alberts has been cleared by doctors to play and expect him to play tomorrow against the New Jersey Devils as defenseman Matt Lashoff was sent back down to the Providence Bruins (AHL).

"I was cleared by all the doctors," he explained, which means that the d-man could be out on the ice during a game as soon as tomorrow night.

"Actually, there's a real good chance you'll see him tomorrow," Coach Julien told the large scrum of reporters.

Source

Other Bruin Injury Updates

• Jeremy Reich should be back in action as forward Jeff Hoggan was sent back down to the Providence Bruins (AHL).
• Andrew Ference might play on Friday against the Ottawa Senators, but he won't play tomorrow vs the Devils.

Tomorrow you can chat live with Patrice Bergeron on BostonBruins.com at 2pm EST.

Bruins youngsters bring it vs Toronto

Tonight the Bruins won a big game against the Toronto Maple Leafs 6-2. With Marc Savard and Andrew Ference already out for this one, Chuck Kobasew got hurt in the first period after taking a puck off one of his feet. But the Bruins youngsters and character players stepped up and helped the Bruins offense score six goals.

David Krejci had a goal and an assist. Matt Lashoff had two assists. Phil Kessel scored the fifth goal of the game which came at a good time. Milan Lucic had two assists, one which was a nice pass to Shawn Thornton where Thornton deked around Vesa Toskala to score his 4th goal of the season. Jeremy Reich scored an empty net goal to end the game, his 2nd of the season. Glen Murray and Marco Sturm added the other two goals in the game for the Bruins. I will try and post the Shawn Thornton goal and the Jeremy Reich goal.

Action from 2/21 game vs Panthers

I'm late again posting some clips from Bruins games this season, but below are two video clips from the Bruins vs Panthers game on February 21st. I hope you enjoy the clips. First one is Jeremy Reich in a good fight against Steve Montador. Give the decision to Reich in that one. The second clip is Mark Stuart vs Gregory Campbell. Campbell didn't like a hit that Stuart gave him earlier in the period so they dropped the gloves, but it wasn't much of a fight.

Jeremy Reich vs Steve Montador


Mark Stuart vs Gregory Campbell

Action from 2/19 game vs Hurricanes

I know I'm late in posting this but below are some video clips from the game vs the Carolina Hurricanes on February 19th.

Jeremy Reich and Tim Conboy drop the gloves and it's all Reich in this fight. Reich gets the win in this fight. Watch it below.

Milan Lucic hits Scott Walker from behind and Walker doesn't like it as they shove and talk to each other. Watch it below.

Milan Lucic comes out of the penalty box from his hitting from behind penalty, and he gets a scoring chance. Former Bruin Wade Brookbank follows Lucic around the ice challenging him to a fight. Lucic and Brookbank do drop the gloves and have a good fight. I would give this fight a draw. Watch it below.

Tim Gleason hits Marc Savard with a big hit and Milan Lucic challenges Gleason to a fight. They drop the gloves and have a good squareoff. Looks like Gleason lands a left on Lucic's already broken nose and Lucic loses his balance and goes down to the ice. Decision to Gleason in this one. Watch it below.

Another Flyers cheapshot against the Bruins

As I'm typing this it's 5-3 Bruins with the lead. But the big story is that there was another cheapshot on another Bruins' player by a Flyers' player. This time it was Flyers' Scott Hartnell who elbowed Andrew Alberts in the head, while Alberts was on his knees against the boards. What the hell is wrong with some of these players? Alberts was on his knees against the boards and Hartnell sees this and still hits Alberts. Luckily Alberts was able to get up and go to the dressing room mostly on his own. Hartnell got a 5-minute boarding major and a game misconduct. Hopefully Hartnell gets suspended for this hit to make a statement that these head shots and hits from behind need to stop. But I'm expecting the league office to not do anything since Alberts was not carried off in a stretcher.

Before this cheapshot there was a hit by Ben Eager on Zdeno Chara which could also be seen as dirty. Eager hit Chara as Chara had his back to Eager and was passing or shooting the puck into the Flyers' zone. Aaron Ward didn't like it and went after Eager and challenged him to a fight but rather than dropping his gloves Eager elbowed Ward in the head. So Ward tackled and wrestled him down onto the ice and wouldn't let him up. Earlier in the game Eager fought Jeremy Reich and Reich got the decision in that one. Eager turtled in the end of that fight as he looked like he didn't want anything to do with Reich.

Update at 9:42PM
The game has just finished and the Bruins won 6-3.

Scott Hartnell elbowing Andrew Alberts' head into the boards

(Picture courtesy of Getty images)

With Bergeron out, who will step up?

With Patrice Bergeron injured and out of the lineup for a month or maybe longer, it looks like either Brandon Bochenski or Jeremy Reich will get into the lineup to try and contribute to the team. Bochenski put on muscle/weight in the offseason but that slowed him down so he has been trying to lose the weight and get his speed back. Reich I believe was hurt and is now healthy to play. The Bruins play the Sabres tomorrow and remember back to last season with Adam Mair's cheap shot elbow to David Krejci. A little later in the season, Jeremy Reich had a good fight and win against Adam Mair. We'll see if anything continues tomorrow night with these two teams.

Bruins re-sign Jeremy Reich

The Bruins re-signed tough guy Jeremy Reich to a one-way two-year deal. This is great news for Bruins fans that want the Bruins to be more physical and play with grit which Reich will bring. I'm hoping for Reich and Shawn Thornton to play on the same line and make other teams keep their heads up.

Reich and Thornton have met in the past in the AHL. From BostonHerald.com:

Reich and Thornton are well-acquainted from their days in the AHL, and Reich is happy to finally be playing with him instead of against him.

"I played against Shawn in the minors enough," said Reich. "He plays hard every shift and he can handle himself if something breaks out. It'll be great having him on the team as well."

When asked if any of their past clashes led to gloves being dropped, Reich laughed.

"We've run into each other a few times," said Reich. "We play the same style, and when you play as often as you do down there (in the AHL), it's kind of inevitable."

So who holds the bragging rights?

"I don't know, you'll have to ask Shawn," said Reich. "I'm just glad we're on the same team now."

I get a sense that Thornton had the edge on Reich when they fought. If I find any of their fights I'll be sure to post them here on this blog.

Also the Bruins signed Matt Hendricks to a two-way two-year contract. Last season he played for the Hershey Bears in the AHL. In 68 games he had 18 goals, 26 assists for 44 points with 105 PIMs.

Bruins sign tough guy Shawn Thornton

TSN.ca is reporting that the Boston Bruins today signed tough guy right wing Shawn Thornton to a multi-year contract. Thornton will be 30 years old in July. This past season he won the Stanley Cup with the Anaheim Ducks. He played in 48 games during the season, scoring 2 goals and had 9 points with 88 PIMs.

Thornton is one of the players I was hoping that the Bruins would try and sign, and I'm glad they got him. Thornton is a middleweight and is known for his rough play, sticking up for teammates and dropping the gloves. He is a player that the Bruins have needed the past few seasons since they let Colton Orr get away. I would like to see the Bruins re-sign Jeremy Reich and have an energy/crash line but look for the Bruins to let Reich go elsewhere. Since they signed Thornton to a multi-year contract, look for Thornton to be on the roster all season long and not be sent down to the minors unless he plays really bad. Good signing by the Bruins.

Bruins display just how bad they really are

Today's 5-0 loss against the Pittsburgh Penguins showed just how bad the Bruins really are. This team has a lot to work on during the rest of the season and during the off-season. Not much emotion was shown during and after the second period. Jeremy Reich was the only one who showed something but he alone couldn't bring the Bruins back against the Penguins. I'm so disgusted that I'm not even going to go through the game and write what happened. It was just awful. That third period reminded me of what we saw last season. No heart, no intensity, giving so many chances to the opposition, just awful hockey being played by the Bruins.

And what about Zdeno Chara? In my mind he has been somewhat of a disappointment this season. In an article on Telegram.com, in Bud Barth's NHL notes he makes some good points about Chara. A few interesting parts from the article:

If you want to talk numbers, they’re OK for a defenseman — 10 goals and 30 assists in 72 games after yesterday’s clash with the New York Rangers.

Chara’s minus-14 rating isn’t exactly worthy of a parade down Causeway Street, especially given that he was a plus-33 with Ottawa three years ago, but there are two Bruins with worse numbers, plus a couple of mitigating factors to consider.

On the other side, Chara is distressingly casual about puck possession, which may explain him being the runaway team leader in giveaways (82), or unforced turnovers of the puck.

Chara leads the Bruins in hits with 179, but he hasn’t dropped the gloves once in anger all season, either to defend a teammate or to turn the tide of a game. Not one fight all season.

Admittedly, you want your top defenseman on the ice instead of in the penalty box, but there comes a time when you have to do what you have to do — and Chara hasn’t done it, which may be the most alarming statistic of all. It conveys a lack of passion.

What do other Bruins fans think? Has Chara lived up to what you thought he would bring to the Bruins or has he not lived up to your expectations? I know that if he had better teammates like he did in Ottawa then his numbers would probably be better, but I still think he hasn't lived up to his contract.

Bruins win back-to-back games

With the Bruins beating the Montreal Canadiens last night in a high energy game, tonight's game against the New Jersey Devils was big. The Bruins need two points from as many games as possible to make any kind of playoff push.

In yesterday's game against the Canadiens, the Bruins lead 2-0 after two periods. The atmosphere at the Garden was electric with a lot of Montreal Canadiens fans as the Garden was sold out. The crowd would have went more wild in the first period if Mike Komisarek accepted Jeremy Reich's challenge to drop the gloves and fight him, but Komisarek showed his Canadiens true colors by chickening out. In the third period Sheldon Souray scored to make it 2-1. Later in the period Glen Murray scored his 28th goal to make it 3-1. The Bruins held on and won the game 3-1 making them 31-28-5.

Tonight the Bruins played at the New Jersey Devils. In a surprise move, the Bruins' coach Dave Lewis started new backup goalie Joey MacDonald, who the Bruins claimed off waivers from the Detroit Red Wings on February 24th. This was a back-to-back game so I can see Lewis' reasons. The scoring started in the first period with Aaron Ward throwing the puck at the net and somehow it got in behind Martin Brodeur. In the second period Marco Sturm scored a short-handed goal on a breakaway to make it 2-0. In the third period Devils forward Mike Rupp scored to make it 2-1. But the Bruins came back less than two minutes after the Rupp goal, with Brandon Bochenski scoring his 10th goal of the season to make it 3-1. He scored in the Canadiens game as well. P.J. Axelsson added an empty net goal to put the game away 4-1.

Goalie MacDonald played well, making 26 saves on 27 shots. Rookie Phil Kessel had two assists, his second game in a row that he had two assists. Patrice Bergeron also recorded two assists in this game. Bochenski had a goal and an assist. The Bruins are now 32-28-5 and 11th place in the Eastern Conference standings with 69 points. The Toronto Maple Leafs are in 10th place with 71 points and the Montreal Canadiens are in 9th place with 72 points. The Bruins next game is against the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday. It's too bad the game is on Versus. They'll probably go to commercial when there are scrums or fights. I want to watch the Bruins games on NESN and not Versus. Geez, the NHL needs a new television deal. Who but hardcore hockey fans even know what Versus is?

Bruins get some revenge with win over Sabres

The Bruins played hard and physical hockey for most of the game against the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday. They did blow a two goal lead in the second period though. That is something they have to work on fixing. The game went to the shootout and in the 8th round Petr Tenkrat, who hasn't done much at all this season, scored the winner against Ryan Miller. The Bruins got an energy boost early when Jeremy Reich dropped the gloves with Sabres' Adam Mair. Mair, who knocked out Bruins' rookie David Krejci on January 30th with a late hit, exchanged punches with Reich, and Reich got in more punches on Mair to get the decision in that bout.

Reich talks about the fight after the game:

"It was just a matter of letting them know that we're going to be playing physical, too. And you want to let other teams know that. Any time there's a fight, it brings a little energy to the building. If that's what I have to do to get things going, then that's fine."

Later in the first period Bruins' defenseman Andrew Ference and Sabres' forward Jochen Hecht were sticking each other and cross-checking each other in front of the Bruins' net. They then dropped the gloves and had a good spirited fight. Ference landed some good shots on Hecht and Hecht landed one big punch, but the win goes to Ference in that fight. You can watch both the Reich-Mair fight and the Ference-Hecht fight on our Bruins Videos page.

Marc Savard did take a bad unsportsmanlike conduct penalty in the second period. Savard needs to stop taking bad penalties and control himself. He had that reputation with the Atlanta Thrashers as well. He has 68 PIMs this season, most if not all have been two-minute penalties (he might have got a 10 misconduct this season, I can't remember). For a guy who doesn't fight, those PIMs are too high, especially since he's the Bruins' points leader. On BostonHerald.com it said that Savard took the team out to dinner later after the game (probably to make up for that bad penalty).

The Bruins play against the Philadelphia Flyers later tonight. The Flyers are coming off a physical tough game against the New York Rangers. Watch for the Flyers to play physical tonight against the Bruins and there may be a scrap between Jeremy Reich and Todd Fedoruk or Ben Eager.

Bruins honor Bucyk and beat Oilers

On Tuesday the Bruins and their fans honored long-time Bruin, #9 John Bucyk, known as "Chief", for his 50 years in the Boston Bruins' organization. It was good to see John Bucyk and fellow Bruins alumni honoring him, such as #77 Ray Bourque, #8 Cam Neely, #24 Terry O'Reilly, Derek Sanderson, and many more. The Bruins sure played with passion and intensity, maybe caused with the pre-game ceremony. The Bruins beat the Edmonton Oilers 3-0 in one of their best games of the season. Newcomer Andrew Ference brought some of that intensity with some nice checks and a little rough play which the Bruins need. Also Jeremy Reich dropped the gloves with Oilers' defenseman Matt Greene and sent Greene down to the ice with a flurry of punches. Rookie Brandon Bochenski figured in all three goals, as he had a goal and 2 assists. Marco Sturm scored 2 goals and now has 17 goals this season. Look for Sturm to be shopped around since he is a free agent after this season.

The Bruins led the game in hits 17-13, with 6 of those hits coming from Andrew Ference, and Zdeno Chara only had 1 hit. Tim Thomas recored his second shutout of the season and is now 23-17-3. The Bruins are 26-25-4 and are currently not a playoff team. They need wins if they want to make the playoffs.

Tonight the Bruins play at the New York Islanders who are 27-22-8. View the game's scouting report on BostonHerald.com.

A few pictures from John Bucyk night:

John Bucyk and Ray Bourque


John Bucyk and Cam Neely


John Bucyk and Zdeno Chara


John Bucyk with Bruins alumni

Kessel scores in shootout, Bruins win

The Bruins were able to shut down Washington Capitals All-Star Alexander Ovechkin (0 points and only 2 shots on goal) and go to the shootout where Phil Kessel scored the game-winner. Kessel is now 3 for 3 on shootout attempts in his short NHL career. Marc Savard had 2 assists in the game. Newcomer Brandon Bochenski played on the second line and scored a goal. Jeremy Reich played on the third line and had 8 minutes of ice time. He got into a fight with Capitals' Ben Clymer in the first period and was totaled with only 1 hit in the game, but I saw him make three hits. The final score of the game was 3-2.

The Bruins are now 24-24-4 and play the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday night.

Bruins at Capitals, first intermission

The first period of the Bruins-Capitals game is now over and the score is 0-0. Jeremy Reich actually started the game on a line with Wayne Primeau and Shean Donovan. Reich had two hits on his first shift. There was some rough stuff as Bobby Allen and Ben Clymer got roughing penalties. Clymer actually got four minutes and Allen got two minutes. A little later in the period Reich and Clymer dropped the gloves and went at it. It started because Reich hit Clymer and it was all Reich in the fight. Decision goes to Reich in that fight. Good to see some rough play by the Bruins. I hope Reich gets more ice time as the game goes on.

Reich recalled, Murray out tonight

Tough guy Jeremy Reich has been recalled by the Boston Bruins on an emergency basis because forward Glen Murray will be out for tonight's game against the Washington Capitals. I have not heard yet why Murray will be out. Could it be that Murray is being shopped and Chiarelli has a possible deal? So Reich and newly-acquired Brandon Bochenski are expected to play tonight against the tough Washington Capitals. Look for Reich to make a statement, that's if he gets any ice time, and take on Capitals' tough guy Donald Brashear. This will be Milan Jurcina's first game against the Bruins as a Capital. He's been playing good defensively for the Caps and averaging 20 minutes of ice time.

Update at 6:33PM
Reports say that Glen Murray has a groin injury and that is why he is out tonight.

Jeremy Reich sent back down to Providence

Well Jeremy Reich's call up to the Boston Bruins lasted one game in which Reich got 26 seconds of ice time. On Sunday he was sent back down to the Providence Bruins. The Bruins will probably call up newly acquired forward Brandon Bochenski to take his place. So now the Bruins are again without an energy player and/or enforcer. In my last post I posted comments from Bruins Wayne Primeau and Brad Boyes talking about the need of an enforcer and how they would like one on this current Bruins team, but I guess Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli doesn't give a rats ass about what the team wants and needs, he wants to show everyone the player he got in his latest trade that he made. It won't surprise me if more and more teams take cheap shots at Bruins players because no one on the Bruins roster will stand up to them.

Bruins beat Hurricanes in overtime

The Bruins won last night's game 4-3 in overtime against the defending Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes, with a goal by Zdeno Chara (he scored on a wicked slapper). But what irritates me is that the same stuff happened that Bruins' coach Dave Lewis said needs to be corrected, such as standing up for a teammate.

In the first period Bruins' defenseman Bobby Allen was drilled from behind into the boards behind the Bruins' net by Hurricanes forward Craig Adams, who is a tough energy player for the Canes. Jason York and Petr Tenkrat just stood there, York gave a few pushes to Adams but that was because Adams had the puck, and not in retaliation for the dirty hit. Then out of no where Marc Savard comes charging in trying to get at Adams but the linesmen come in quick to make sure nothing progresses. So the Bruins best player right now has to also stand up for teammates by himself? I was shocked and disgusted that nobody else did a dam thing. Adams and Savard got two-minute penalties. So I was thinking that Dave Lewis might want to make a statement now and put out newly brought up from Providence tough guy Jeremy Reich on the next faceoff. But no he doesn't put out Reich and that says it all. It tells not only the Canes but other teams that they can run all over the Bruins and take cheap shots because the Bruins won't fight back.

Another thing that upset me about last night's game is that Reich finished the game with a total of 26 seconds of ice time on 2 shifts. That is two shifts for 26 seconds! How is a player suppose to do his job and provide energy for the team when he can't even get on the ice for more than a minute. That 26 seconds was all in the first period as well. While I was watching the game I didn't see Reich on the ice at all so I must have missed those memorable 26 seconds.

The Bruins should get a tape of last night's game between the Dallas Stars and St. Louis Blues. Both teams dress tough players and they are both teams that stand up for each other. Go to HockeyFights.com and download the fight videos of Krys Barch vs Matt Walker and Krys Barch vs Ryan Johnson. What you'll see is Krys Barch doing his job and checking people, which sometimes cause fights as you'll see. Barch layed out Ryan Johnson with a big hit and Walker came right over and they dropped the gloves and had a go. Later in that game, Barch layed out Blues' Captain Dallas Drake with a huge hit and Ryan Johnson, who is not a fighter by any means, came over and fought Barch. Now that is a team standing up for each other. Bruins need to get a tape of that game and watch it a few times.

In an article named "On Hockey: Where's the fight in the Bruins?" by Douglas Flynn/Daily News Staff on MetroWestDailyNews.com, there are some revealing quotes from Wayne Primeau and Brad Boyes basically saying that the Bruins need a tough guy/enforcer.

"It always helps to have a guy like that. There are times when you need a guy to drop the mitts and spark the team like that. Those guys definitely serve a purpose."
-Brad Boyes on having an enforcer

"It's not something I think about all the time. If it's there, I'm going to stick up for myself or stick up for my teammates. It's not something I look for, but in that situation it was something I felt obligated to do."
-Wayne Primeau on fighting and on the fight he had with Sabres' Adam Mair

"Sure, I'd like to have someone. Every team has one. Except maybe Carolina and... Atlanta? They have (Eric) Boulton. So, yeah, every team has one, so if they need to dress him they can. Maybe that would make a difference. That makes guys (play) bigger for sure. No doubt about it. I don't know. That stuff is out of our reach (as players). We can't worry about that kind of thing. That's why you have a general manager."
-Wayne Primeau on the Bruins not having an enforcer

"I'm trying to think, in Pittsburgh Mario (Lemieux) had all those guys, Buffalo always had a bunch of guys like Rayzor (Rob Ray), (Brad) May, Paul Kruse, (Matthew) Barnaby. So, no, I've always been on teams that have been pretty physical and had guys for that."
-Wayne Primeau talking about some of the tough guy teammates he has played with

Bruins recall tough guy Jeremy Reich

The Boston Bruins have finally called up an energy player/tough guy that most Bruins fans have been wanting since they got rid of Wade Brookbank earlier this season. The Boston Bruins have recalled forward Jeremy Reich from the Providence Bruins, who has played 45 games there and has 4 goals, and 7 assists for 11 points. He also has 105 PIMs (13 fighting majors).

Tonight the Bruins play the Carolina Hurricanes who don't really have an enforcer, but they have a few tough players (Mike Commodore, Scott Walker, Craig Adams, Tim Gleason) who may find Reich as a dance partner.