Tuesday's Ruins...

[the mugs]

That's right....Ruins.

Welcome home boys. Oh yeah, Bill Guerin's back and he's gonna want to show you what you're missing this year.

B's still missing O'Donnell & Gill. Not that they will be confused with Harvey & Orr but they are the best stay home defensemen they have. First game back from a lousy 2 week / 7 game road trip.

BOSTON BRUINS vs. DALLAS STARS
Tuesday, February 25, 2003
FleetCenter; Boston MA
7:00 PM (ET) - Gametime
6:30 PM (ET) - Boston Globe Pre-Game Report
NESN

Tonight?s Game
The Bruins host the Stars tonight in the first and only game between these clubs this season and the Stars' lone visit of the season to the FleetCenter. The Bruins are 28-24-7-2 overall and are 17-9-3-1 on home ice thus far this season. The Stars are 35-12-14-1 overall with a 14-9-8-0 record on the road thus far this season. The Bruins are 1-1-0-0 vs. Pacific Division opponents this season and they are 8-5-1-2 overall vs. Western Conference foes. The Stars are 4-0-0-0 this season vs. Northeast Division opponents and they are 9-4-2-1 overall vs. Eastern Conference foes.

Lifetime Series
The Bruins are 69-26-22-1 lifetime vs. the Stars franchise (includes Minnesota) with a 467-315 scoring edge in those 118 games. On home ice, the Bruins are 40-9-9-0 lifetime vs. the Dallas franchise with a 249-140 scoring advantage in those 58 contests. The Bruins are winless in their last eight games vs. the Stars at 0-5-2-1, their longest current winless streak against any opponent. The Bruins last defeated the Stars with a 3-2 win in Boston on Jan. 4, 1997.

Recent Bruins Games
The Bruins concluded their recent seven-game road trip with a 1-4-2-0 record with a 3-1 loss in Montreal on Feb. 11, a 6-5 overtime win in Florida on Feb. 14, a 5-2 loss in Tampa Bay on Feb. 15, a 5-1 setback in Nashville on Feb. 17, a 1-1 tie in Carolina on Feb. 19, a 3-2 loss in New Jersey on Feb. 21 and a 4-4 tie at NY Islanders on Feb. 23. They have taken points out of ten of their last 16 games at 6-6-3-1.

Recent Stars Games
The Stars are unbeaten in their last four games at 2-0-2-0 with a 3-1 win vs. San Jose on Feb. 16, a 1-1 tie vs. Calgary on Feb. 19, a 2-2 tie vs. Phoenix on Feb. 21 and a 3-0 win in Chicago on Feb. 23 in the first game of their current four-game road trip. They are 8-1-3-0 in their last 12 games and are 17-2-6-0 in their last 25 contests.

Upcoming Bruins Games
The Bruins will next face the Rangers in New York on Feb. 27 (8:00 p.m.; ESPN & WBZ Radio) and will then return home to host the Philadelphia Flyers on Mar. 1 (1:00 p.m.; NESN & WBZ Radio) and the Vancouver Canucks on Mar. 3 (7:00 p.m.; NESN & WBZ Radio).

Upcoming Stars Games
The Stars continue their current four-game road trip at Ottawa on Feb. 27 and in Buffalo on Feb. 28. They will return home for a four-game home stand beginning with Pittsburgh on Mar. 2.

Bruins Injuries
Richard Brennan: Right ankle bruise suffered Jan. 28 vs. Nashville; out indefinitely.
Hal Gill: Broken finger suffered Feb. 14 in Florida; out indefinitely.
Sean O'Donnell: Right knee sprain suffered Feb. 4 vs. Colorado; out indefinitely.
Krzysztof Oliwa: Hand injury suffered Feb. 21 in New Jersey; day-to-day.
Sergei Samsonov: Dec. 24 right wrist surgery; out indefinitely.
Rob Zamuner: Right foot fracture suffered Jan. 7 in Toronto; out indefinitely.

Bruins February Transactions
Feb. 5: Kris Vernarsky and Shaone Morrisonn recalled from Providence/AHL.
Feb. 10: Shaone Morrisonn returned to Providence/AHL.
Feb. 10: Zdenek Kutlak recalled from Providence/AHL.
Feb. 17: Ivan Huml recalled from Providence/AHL.
Feb. 21: Shaone Morrisonn recalled from Providence/AHL.
Feb. 22: Zdenek Kutlak returned to Providence/AHL.

 

[the mugs]

Injuries...

Injuries...

Dallas Injuries
Brenden Morrow LW Chest I-R
Marty Turco G Ankle I-R
Sami Helenius D Knee I-R

Boston Injuries
Krzysztof Oliwa LW Hand day-to-day
Hal Gill D Finger Out indefinitely
Sean O'Donnell D Knee Late Feb
Rich Brennan D Ankle Late Feb
Rob Zamuner LW Foot Out Tue
Sergei Samsonov F Wrist Mid Mar

 

[the mugs]

Trends

Trends

Recent Trends
DAL is 6-0-1 ATS in the last seven meetings.
DAL is 25-9 ATS overall after a win.
DAL is 27-12 ATS on a day of rest.
BOS is 1-4 ATS in its last five overall.
The under is 5-2 in the last seven meetings.
The over is 6-2-1 in BOS last nine overall.

 

[the mugs]

Recent Meetings

Recent Meetings

Stars own the B's...Last Bruin win was 1-4-97 here at the Fleet.

Recent Meetings
Date Home Away Line ATS
12/31/2001 Dal. 2 Bos. 1 0,-155/5 Dal./U (01-02)

2/23/2001 Dal. 5 Bos. 4 0,-240/5.5 Dal./O (00-01)
1/6/2001 Bos. 0 Dal. 4 0,130/5 Dal./U

10/15/1999 Dal. 2 Bos. 2 0,-260/5 P/U (99-00)

12/31/1998 Dal. 6 Bos. 1 -0.5,-180/5 Dal./O (98-99)
11/14/1998 Bos. 1 Dal. 3 0.5,-115/5 Dal./U

11/22/1997 Bos. 0 Dal. 2 -0.5,120/5 Dal./U (97-98)
11/12/1997 Dal. 3 Bos. 3 -0.5,-110/5 Bos./O

1/4/1997 Bos. 3 Dal. 2 0.5,-130/6 Bos./U (96-97)
12/27/1996 Dal. 6 Bos. 4 -0.5,-160/5.5 Dal./O

 

[the mugs]

Boston Globe 2-25-03

Boston Globe 2-25-03

Ahhh Boston. When things go bad, everyone is ready to commit suicide...Ask any Red Sox fan

Red Sox... :thefinger NEVER root for those clowns

Lately, Black and Gold feeling black and blue

Now, back to the agony. The Bruins return to FleetStreet tonight, their game in bad shape, their playoff chances fading, their season fast-forwarding to abject failure.

If any of this sounds a lot like the last eight seasons around here, please pardon the redundacy. Here in the Hub of Hockey, what you see is what you get, get, and keep on getting. It's the great circle of strife.

Once sporting the Eastern Conference's best record, the Bruins over the last 11 weeks have gone a moribund 9-20-4-1. That stretch includes the recent 1-4-2 cruise-to-nowhere road trip that had a perplexed general manager, Mike O'Connell, holding separate meetings with players and coaches, trying to figure out how a decent team became so dreadful.

Part of the answer will be on display tonight, dressed in the opposition sweater of the Dallas Stars. Bill Guerin, after scoring 69 goals here the last two seasons, packed up as a free agent over the summer for a promise of $45 million the next five seasons in Big D. Other parts of the answer can be found in Atlanta, Byron Dafoe's new home, and San Jose, now Kyle McLaren's port of call.

For all of their ups and their many downs this season, these Bruins of the last 11 weeks are playing true to form for a club that lost its top winger, No. 1 goalie, and hardest-hitting defenseman. Other than, say, the top-end likes of Colorado or Detroit, most any other club in the Original 30 would have been equally devastated. Once again, the Bruins got what they didn't bargain for.

Adding to the disappointment: the tepid play of newcomer Jeff Hackett (10 games, 4-5-0, 3.20 goals against, and .892 save percentage). In effect, to stabilize the netminding, O'Connell flipped McLaren for a goaltender on par with Dafoe, as well as blue-line prospect Jeff Jillson. Many nights -- too many, in fact -- Hackett has been the mirror image of the Dafoe we remember in last year's playoffs, flipping and flopping behind a suspect defense. Night to night now it's a tossup whether Hackett or Steve Shields will get the start in net. They both look like nothing more than backups.

Front to back, all the gusto of the dazzling 19-4-3-1 start is gone. Their play is uninspired, sometimes confused (witness a trio of too-many-men-on-the-ice penalties in one period). If not for Robbie Ftorek leading them to a first-place finish in the conference last year, and the strong start this season, he would have been given the gate by now. One website, thefourthperiod.com, yesterday reported that Ftorek is about to be fired and replaced by Ray Bourque. As of last night, that could barely be classified as a rumor. Another loss tonight, though, and Bourque could be at Bob's Stores in the morning, being outfitted for behind-the-bench attire.

With the McLaren card now played, and few options available with the March 11 trade deadline approaching, it could be that Ftorek takes the hit. Oh, it's a consideration that Mssrs. Guerin, Dafoe, and McLaren are now elsewhere, and the injured Sergei Samsonov, Sean O'Donnell, and Hal Gill haven't made the coaching staff's life any easier. Ultimately, though, the front office looks at 1. results and 2. how the team plays.

Clearly, the results since early December are awful, and yes, that has a lot to do with diminished talent level. Lately, it's a lot like the Black and Gold squad Steve Kasper was saddled with during his two-season tenure. But remember, Kasper was a favorite son around here, and the front office gave him only two years before ditching him for Pat Burns. It may be unrealistic to think Ftorek can get more out of these guys than we've seen, but it may be more unreasonable to think that the front office will accept that reasoning.

If Ftorek goes, then O'Connell likely would hire himself as the interim replacement. Harry Sinden did that in Bourque's rookie season, 1979-80, when, as GM, he kicked Fred Creighton (40-20-13 at the time) to the curb with only seven games to go in the regular season. The reason: Although the club was successful, Sinden didn't like the way it was playing. Hmm.

Given that O'Connell is curious enough to be asking his players where their game has gone, it could be that he needs an eyewitness view from behind the bench. It will give him first-hand knowledge of why their play is so tepid, undisciplined, confused.

If then he found no spark in them, O'Connell would be left with the unsettling reality that the team he assembled, or disassembled, just isn't good enough for prime-time NHL play. Head of a franchise that has missed the playoffs three of the last six seasons, and one that has won only one playoff series in eight years, it then would be time for him to ask himself some questions. It could be the answers are as unlikable as his team.

 

[the mugs]

Boston Herald 2-25-03

Boston Herald 2-25-03

Guerin puts B's behind: Stars winger goes forward after `fun' stay in Boston

The hurt feelings have dissipated for Bill Guerin.

With more than three-quarters of a season in a Dallas Stars' uniform, Guerin has come to grips with the fact that the Bruins weren't one of the teams that pursued him when he became an unrestricted free agent last summer.

Initially, it bothered Guerin deeply that, after scoring 69 goals in less than two seasons with the Bruins, the team that the Wilbraham native grew up watching decided to let him walk last summer without a contract offer. Even after he signed a blockbuster five-year, $45 million deal with the Stars, he was still upset that the B's didn't make an effort to sign him.

Those feelings, however, seemed to be well in Guerin's rearview mirror and the big right winger wasn't going to use his homecoming tonight at the FleetCenter as an occasion to dump on Bruins management.

``At the beginning I was pretty bitter, I guess, but now that I look back at it, I've got nothing to be bitter about. It was all business,'' Guerin said yesterday at the FleetCenter after the Stars' workout at Northeastern. ``Now I feel fortunate to have played here and the years I did have here were a lot of fun. We had some good teams and I had some great teammates, so I had the time of my life here.

``Like I said, at the beginning I was a little bitter, but not anymore. I look back at it as a positive experience. I had the two best years of my career here. This is where I broke out. So how else can I look at it but positively?''

Guerin, one of the more popular players with fans as well as with his teammates while in Boston, also wasn't going to take any satisfaction in the fact that his former team is struggling without him while his Stars are at the top of the Western Conference.

``I follow (the Bruins) every day,'' said Guerin, who has 23 goals for the Stars. ``I keep in touch with most of the guys. I know they're struggling right now, but I'd like to see those guys be successful and do well. They're good friends. You play a couple of years with guys and you create friendships. You don't want them to do poorly. I know what they're going through right now and they'll be OK.''

While he said he's got no animosity toward the Bruins organization, Guerin admitted he's antsy over tonight's game. He's with his fourth NHL team and one might think he's used to going up against former teams, but this is not quite the same.

``I wanted out in New Jersey, but it's still a little difficult,'' Guerin said. ``Going back to Edmonton, I had almost a year and half before I went back there, so the blow of that was gone. But I've got more emotional ties to Boston than anywhere else. This has been in the back of my mind for a little while and it's tough.''

Guerin is a little curious, even nervous, about the kind of reception that he'll get from the fans in his hometown.

``I don't know how it's going to go. I'm hoping for one way, but we'll see,'' he said. ``Obviously, I'd rather hear some cheers than boos.''

Fans, of course, can be quite fickle. On opening night last year, B's general manager Mike O'Connell, at the time dealing with holdout Jason Allison, was booed mercilessly. A few months later, when the Bruins were on their way to a first-place Eastern Conference finish, it was Allison who got booed when he made his return with the Los Angeles Kings.

Guerin made a distinction between his and Allison's situations.

``I think Ally and I left in different ways,'' Guerin said. ``That was a trade request and I never asked to be traded or to leave.''

=====

Bruins notes

Just a handful of Bruins participated in yesterday's optional skate, with struggling goalie Jeff Hackett being one of them. He worked quite a bit with goalie consultant Gerry Cheevers on the ice and saw plenty of pucks during the practice.

Hackett said it's just a matter of working his way out of the funk.

``I'm not quite as sharp as I'd like to be and I've made some mistakes and I've got to work through the process. Everything's going to be fine,'' Hackett said. . . .

O'Connell flatly denied a Web site report that he offered the head coaching job to Ray Bourque. ``These people are making things up,'' he said. O'Connell said he and Bourque have talked periodically throughout the season about a number of topics. . . .

Rob Zamuner (foot) skated pain-free and is hoping to make a return Thursday against the Rangers. . . .

Sergei Samsonov skated briefly, though he's still a long way from participating in practice. His surgically repaired wrist is in a removable splint. . . .

Sean O'Donnell (sprained knee) skated as well, but he still hasn't had any contact yet. He hopes he can return sometime next week.

 

[grooven]

The Bruins need to clean house. First and for most get rid of Harry Sinden and Mike O'Connell. If they don't this franchise will never be able to win the cup again. In the beginning of the year everyone in the organization thought Harry was so brilliant in dumping Guerin's payroll well its just come back to bite them in the ass. These business man are penny wise and dollar foolish.Hey Harry if you read this.This is for you :thefinger for all asinine trades and deals you have done thru out your time in Boston that have hurt the Bruins to play for the cup. Get the fawk out of beantown, go retire to florida and get ready to push up daisy you JackASS.

 

[the mugs]

Wow, Grooven...How do you REALLY feel? And do you live around here? Seriously - It has to start with ownership. The current owner is all business + no hockey = profitable company. As long as us dumb fans continue to drop $30, $40, $50, $65 or the $85 dollars per ticket every night, it will never change.

Just 4 years ago, I averaged 25 games a year. This Saturday, I'm going to my 2nd and the ticket was a freebie. More people have to protest Jacobs way out there in Buffalo by not going to the Fleet and spending their $$$. He owns everything from the land, the FleetCenter building, concessions and the team. Stop going, don't buy beers, put a contender on the ice before we come back faithfully.

Christ - 15,000-20,000 people came out for Ray Bourque Day after the AVALANCHE won the Cup. Almost 1.5 million came out for the Patriots after their Super Bowl win in 5 degree bone chilling cold. Imagine the parade in mid-late June if they ever won the Cup. People would be missing for days...Now I'm all bummed out.