Tom Brady and the New England Patriots are headed back to the Super Bowl! (Photo Credit: Middletownpress.com)
By NoontimeSports.com
Good Monday morning to everyone, and welcome into yet another tremendous edition of the Daily Noontime! Let’s kick-start the day with some juicy headlines and news, enjoy!
* In case you didn’t know, the New England Patriots are headed to Indianapolis, Indiana on Sunday, February 5 to face the New York “Football” Giants in Super Bowl XLVI. Who’s excited for the rematch?
* Baltimore Ravens kicker Billy Cundiff missed a game-tying field goal, which would have forced overtime in the AFC Championship game on Sunday, but luckily it sailed wide left, and allowed the New England Patriots and their fans to experience euphoria at Gillette Stadium, as well as a 23-20 victory, too. Wide receiver Lee Evans missed what would have been the go-ahead touchdown on the same drive, but cornerback Sterling Moorestriped the ball in the end zone, which resulted in an incomplete pass.
* The Boston Bruins registered six goals, five in regulation, and one in the shootout to defeat the Philadelphia Flyers, 6-5. The Black and Gold will return to the ice on Tuesday when they travel to Washington to face the Capitals.
* The Boston Celtics defeated the Washington Wizards on Sunday, 100-94. The Green and White will return to the hardwood on Monday evening when they host the Orlando Magic for a 7:30pm tip-off.
With 2011 slowly coming to a close, and 2012 right around the corner, it’s officially time to reflect on the past few months, and remember some significant moments that occurred with the Boston Bruins.
Here are five memorable moments from the past year that’ll be inked in Bruins lore.
Celebrating Lord Stanley’s Cup in Boston:To kick-start the NHL season, the Boston Bruins held their final championship celebration on the TD Garden ice in early October by reenacting their post-Game 7 festivities with their loyal and passionate fans.
However, the Bruins weren’t able to play off their loyal supporters excitement, as the Philadelphia Flyers ruined their Stanley Cup homecoming with a 2-1 victory.
Winning the Stanley Cup:There weren’t exactly too many believers who thought the Boston Bruins would defeat the Montreal Canadiens, Philadelphia Flyers and Tampa Bay Lighting, but somehow, the grownup bumble bees did it. Yet, against the Vancouver Canucks, the Bruins were forced to rally from a 3-2 series deficit to earn their first championship since 1972.
Defeating the Canucks wasn’t exactly the easiest task, especially since Boston had to overcome Alex Burrows’ biting incident, Aaron Rome’s obnoxious hit against Nathan Horton, which led to a season ending concussion, as well as goaltender Roberto Luongo’s unnecessary words.
Boston ignored Vancouver’s unruly behavior, and used their unruly behavior as motivation to win the series, and the cup.
Nathan Horton’s Game Winning Goal Against Tampa Bay:During the finale of the Eastern Conference Championship, Nathan Horton became the hero, as he chipped in a pass from the far slot from David Krejcito secure the 1-0 victory. The win also marked the first time the Bruins had reached the Stanley Cup Finals since 1990.
Avenging the Philadelphia Flyers:During the 2010 NHL playoffs, the Bruins secured an impressive 3-0 series lead against the Philadelphia Flyers. However, Philadelphia refused to go quietly, as they staged one the greatest comebacks in NHL history, as they rallied to win the final four games, which sent Boston packing for the summer.
The Flyers then defeated the Canadiens in the Eastern Conference Finals, but then ended their epic championship chase against the Chicago Blackhawks, who defeated Philadelphia in six games.
The Bruins and Flyers reunited in the second round again in 2011, but this time Boston made sure to not surrender a 3-0 lead, as they defeated Philadelphia in the fourth game of the series, and swept them out of the playoffs.
Philadelphia hasn’t won a championship since defeating the Buffalo Sabres in 1975.
Boston rallies to defeat Montreal in the Eastern Conference Quarter Finals:With the series tied, 2-2, Boston and Montreal skated onto the TD Garden ice for their fifth game of the series, which eventually became an instant classic five hours after the puck had been dropped.
Both teams recorded only one goal in a span of 60-minutes, but then needed an additional period-and-half to decide the outcome.
Andrew Ference rifled a shot from outside the far left circle in the Montreal zone, which was rebounded by Horton, and then immediately deposited by the right winger to secure Boston’s third win of the series, as well as the game winner in double overtime.
The victory provided Boston with all sorts of momentum that helped the Black and Gold eventually defeat their archrival in the seventh game.
* Texas at Detroit (MLB PLayoffs/ALCS) – 4:19pm eastern
* Washington at Pittsburgh (NHL) – 7:00pm eastern
* Vancouver at Detroit (NHL) – 8:00pm eastern
* Milwaukee at St. Louis (MLB Playoffs/NLCS) – 8:05pm eastern
Video of the Day:
Theo Epstein has officially left Fenway Park! Here’s an interesting reel from a local New England news station on Wednesday about the former General Manager and his departure!
The New-Look Flyers Defeated Boston on Thursday, 2-1!
By Matt Noonan
BOSTON, MA – This wasn’t exactly how the Boston Bruins planed to kick-off their 2011-12 season.
After a riveting and exciting pregame ceremony that honored the team’s efforts from last year, the Black and Gold registered just one goal in three periods, which wasn’t enough to stop the re-tooled Philadelphia Flyers, who skated past Boston’s ragtag skaters with a 2-1 victory.
“I still thought we came out fine in the first 10-minutes and then somehow we kind of lost our gem and really got out of sync for at least the last half of that period – even the second period [too],” said Bruins head coach Claude Julien.
“I’m very happy I could help the team to win,” said Flyers right-winger Jakub Voracek, who netted Philadelphia’s second goal during the closing seconds of the first period.
“It’s a long season and [we] just got to keep going and [get] better every game.”
Boston and Philadelphia struggled to gain any momentum during the opening period, but somehow, the Bruins struck first, as Tyler Seguinand Joe Corvoconnected with a streaking Brad Marchand, which gave the home team a 1-0 advantage for roughly 10-minutes.
However, the Flyers offense eventually mustered two goals in a span of 50-seconds, as Claude Girouxand Horace beat Tim Thomasto take the lead for good.
“We started out really strong and then things just weren’t clicking as well as they were [in the first 10-minutes],” said Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas. “We have to approach this has a lesson that every game is going to be hard, [and] yeah, we won the Stanley Cup, but that doesn’t mean that it’s just going to happen [again].
“I actually thought we started really well,” said Bruins Shawn Thornton. “The first 15-minutes, we were controlling the pace of play and they got an opportunity. They capitalized, they got another one, they capatailized and then we were down like a pill for the rest of the game.”
While it wasn’t exactly the most enticing contest, the Flyers managed to outshoot the Bruins, 29-23, as well as improve their opening day road record to [19-14-7], while Boston fell to [1-7-1] in their last nine openers, which isn’t
“As much as we weren’t quite in sync, we made some plays. We had some opportunities, [but] we didn’t bury them [and] a couple of times we had some good plays, good decision making, but the one-timers kind of rolled off the stick,” said Julien.
“Overall, I think that our guys had the right attitude going into the game, but I don’t think the rest followed, so it was just one of those nights where you just really got [to] understand the situation and try to get yourself better and hopefully focused in a proper way for next game and we’ll be a better team.”
Both teams will return to the ice on Saturday, as Boston will host Tampa Bay, while Philadelphia will travel to New Jersey.
The Bruins will begin their preparations toward another Stanley Cup, but in the mean time, it's important to point out that they'll indeed be seen a great deal this season on National TV!
By NoontimeSports.com
The NHL released its national television schedule on Thursday and yes, the Boston Bruins will be accounted for a majority of their games. Here’s a list of games the Bruins will be playing this season, which will be carried by NBC Sports or Versus.
* Detroit at Boston (Nov. 25, 2011) – 1:00pm eastern
* Boston at Philadelphia (Jan. 22, 2012) – 3:00pm eastern
* Boston at Minnesota (Feb. 19, 2012) – 3:00pm eastern
* Boston at New York Rangers (Mar. 4, 2012) – 3:00pm eastern
* Boston at Pittsburgh (Mar. 11, 2012) – 7:30pm eastern
* Boston at New York Rangers (Apr. 1, 2012) – 3:oopm eastern
* Buffalo at Boston (Apr. 7, 2012) – 3:00pm eastern
Benoit Pouliot will join the Boston Bruins, but besides that move, who else won and lost on Friday?
By Dan Rubin
I had this great idea of going team-by-team, looking at the National Hockey League’s free agency, seeing what each team needed, and who did what right. That didn’t happen.
Now, it shouldn’t be a surprise because I am the epitome of laziness, but, if nothing else, you should thank me for being a useless “blob of humanity” this week because it gave me a reason to change my approach and bring back the Winners And Losers column that many of you enjoyed during the NFL Draft.
That’s right – it’s back! My cheeky, fun look at who overpaid, who underpaid, who did too much and who really made some bonehead moves on the NHL’s first day of free agency.
Before I begin, though, I need to say one thing. Is there any league with as much first-day movement as the NHL? I mean, really. Every other league has all these tampering rules, and free agents drag out their contract negotiations to maximize the dollar. The NHL virtually sewed up every single major free agent within the first 12 hours of waking up. It’s like a carpet bomb of contracts. I don’t think there’s any offseason day as exciting, and it gives us loads of material to look at.
Noontime Sports opened its doors to Jason Aguiar and Billy Hunt from the Vanderbilt Club on Saturday for their weekly radio show, as the guys discussed the Bruins sweep against the Flyers and Celtics-Heat series.
Also, the crew was joined by Dan Duggan (Boston Herald) to preview the Celtics-Heat Game 3 at the TD Garden.
