Savard’s troubles began in March 2010 when he suffered a Grade 2 concussion after a hit from the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Matt Cooke. This hit, and the way it was handled (Cooke incurred no penalties or fines by the league), is part of what led the NHL to beef up its rules regarding dangerous hits and the way such hits are penalized. He recovered in time to play in the 2010 Eastern Conference semifinals against the Philadelphia Flyers.

Then, he was fine until January 2011, when a hit from the Colorado Avalanche’s Matt Hunwick led to a second concussion. Compounding the second injury on top of lingering effects from the first led to Savard’s early shutdown a year ago today.

Savard now suffers from post-concussive syndrome and sometimes reports about it firsthand on his Twitter account:

• “First very very easy bike ride since I’ve been out a little light headed but I’m very tired will see how day goes” (Jan. 18)
• “Bad headaches tonight I hate this crap” (Dec. 4)
• “Gonna try and get some sleep head pounding weather killing me” (Nov. 14)
• “Headaches are normal part of life know [sic] but memory still the scariest thing but really enjoying life and still not able to workout” (Nov. 8)
• “Tough morning feel like crap… Mornings still been really tough since the last concussion.. Have a great day everyone” (Oct. 25)
• “Off to practice golf waited until after 10am so eyes are focused still issues from concussion” (Aug. 30)

But, he copes as well as he can. He talks about spending lots of quality time with his three kids and even coaches his son Zach’s peewee team in their hometown of Peterborough, Ont.

He’s also giving back to the community in Boston. Recently he purchased a luxury suite at TD Garden to be used by children who have suffered head trauma and calls it “Savvy’s Suite.” This agreement lasts through the end of the 2013-14 season. He wanted to visit the suite on Jan. 12 during the Boston-Montreal game, but a bad snowstorm hit the Toronto area and forced him to stay home, so he sent the then-suspended Brad Marchand instead and made the personal visit on Jan. 21 during Boston-New York Rangers.

Savard has not officially announced his retirement. He remains a part of the Bruins’ roster to this day. But considering that he was only able to start using a stationary bike for workouts in the middle of January, it is nigh-impossible that he could return this season. He might very well improve and return to the ice someday. Or he could call a press conference one day and hang up the skates for good. No matter what may happen, though, Bruins fans everywhere hope for the best for Savvy.

Tim Thomas

I Stand with the Catholics in the fight for Religious Freedom.

“In Germany they came first for the Communists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up.”
– by Martin Niemöller, prominent German anti-Nazi theologian and Lutheran pastor, best known as the author of the poem First they came….

Now, while the point of the post may be vague, rumors are spreading that its not just an “I want to pray in the crease” kind of thing.  It appearantly stems on the Catholic Church’s stance on health insurance.  President Obama has offered a bill requiring health insurance companies to cover birth control methods for women.  This would include health insurance companies that offer their services to Catholic churches, charities, hospitals, etc.  But of course the Catholic church has been a staunch opponent of birth control since, well, the beginning of time.

I can easily see both sides of the issue.  The church wants to stand up for their beliefs.  I can respect that.  Obama wants insurance companies to cover birth control.  The risk of unwanted pregnancies is high, and everyday more and more accidental pregnancies occur.  Birth control can be expensive and as we all know, the economy is tough.

Of course, Obama’s decision has had opposition.

Tim Thomas, as you can see opposes it, but lets break it down.  His post is awfully vague.  No where does he say what the religious freedom is, so we’re left assuming its about the insurance policy.  Now lets look at the quote.  Why this quote?  The author Martin Niemoller, was an enemy of the Nazis due to his erratic behavior.  He actually welcomed Hitler’s rise to power in 1933 until Hitler went nuts and started following the Aryan Paragraph to arguably the worst act in human history.

Is Tim thomas comparing Obama to Hitler?  Thomas is an avid supporter of Republican Conservative TV pundit Glenn Beck, who also once compared Obama to Hitler.  And by once, I mean many, many, many, many times.  So sadly, yes.  Yes he is.

Although I do not agree with Thomas’ political mantra, I could care less what he believes, even if its on the complete other end of the spectrum as me.  That’s what this country is all about, right?  That’s what this country was founded on, right?  However in the very liberal state of Massachusetts, Thomas may be garnering more and more enemies as his political agenda becomes more clear.

I will still support him though, as long as he continues to stop pucks.

Many people like to factor the Bruins recent successes to balanced scoring. Their first line center, David Krejci, is just 4th on the team in points. Their leading goal scorer, Tyler Seguin, is on the second line.  Other people say that having two great goaltenders, Tim Thomas and Tuukka Rask, playing behind a fundamentally sound defense doesn’t hurt, either.  This is true as well.  But the reason the lines can stay balanced and the reason the defense plays so well is because they are generally not injured and do not miss extended time.

OK OK, I know what you’re thinking.  Well Marc Savard hasn’t played in a year and has barely played since being concussed by Matt Cooke of the Pittsburgh Penguins two years ago.  Well, for the purposes of this article, I’m leaving him out.

So lets look at everyone else.  Out of all the players that played for the Bruins last year and this year, I am leaving out players that left the team after last year, or joined the team this year.  I am including Rich Peverly and Chris Kelly because even though they were picked up in the middle of last year, they still had a chance to play a full season with another team and the playoffs with the Bruins.  Also left off the list were players that were consistently a healthy scratch at one point.  The following stats are out of a possible 158 games, including playoffs.

PLAYER………………………..GP                 NON INJURY REASON FOR MISSING

Dennis Seidenberg………….. 157

Chris Kelly……………………. 157                 lost a game in the trade

Zdeno Chara…………………. 154                illness in playoffs/rest

Patrice Bergeron…………….. 154

Milan Lucic………………….. 154

Gregory Campbell…………… 153

Rich Peverly…………………. 152

David Krejci…………………. 148

Shawn Thornton……………. 148                   scratched a lot during playoffs

Brad Marchand……………… 147                    suspension

Nathan Horton………………. 147                   currently injured

Johhny Boychuk……………. 144                    scratched several times last year

Andrew Ference……………. 141                     suspension

Tyler Seguin…………………. 137                   scratched several times last year

Adam McQuaid…………….. 136                   scratched several times last year

Missing fron the list are Michael Ryder, Mark Recchi, Tomas Kaberle, Joe Corvo, Benoit Poulliot, and Daniel Paille.  Paille spent an extended amount of time as a healthy scratch.  Add it all together and this core group has played an average of 95% of their possible games, an average of 77 games per season.  This does include the healthy scratches which are not injury related.

Many of the games that were missed due to injury, or flu like symptoms were not a serious issue.  A game here.  Two games there.  Besides Savard, winger Nathan Horton has dealt with the most serious injury.  He suffered a concussion in last years Stanley Cup, missed the last four games of that series and has missed the last 5 games this season due to post concussion symptons after a hard hit from Philadelphia Flyer Tom Sestito.

In previous years, the injury bug has plagued the Bruins a bit.  Patrice Bergeron has suffered a major concussion.  Lucic has had ankle problems.  And although it pains me to bring it up, all Bruins fans remember the injury that occurred to David Krejci during the third game of the 2010 playoff series against Philadelphia.  The Bruins succinctly lost four games in a row after that, losing the series 4-3.  I know, I was at game 7.

One thing is for sure, the Bruins have been fortunate and we as fans have been fortunate to watch them.  Lets hope I don’t jinx them.

Corvo, a defenseman, came to the Bruins last July in a trade with the Carolina Hurricanes for a fourth-round 2012 draft pick. Since then, he’s been most commonly paired with Dennis Seidenberg. While no defenseman is perfect, and Seidenberg has certainly made his share of mistakes this season (most recently in Sunday’s game against Washington, when it looked like he helped Marcus Johansson put the puck behind Tim Thomas), Corvo can be downright frustrating.

First, let’s focus on the positives.

• Corvo’s rating to date this season is +14. (He finished last season with the Hurricanes at a -14.)
• He’s put up 20 points in 51 games–17 of them assists.
• There was even a game, Dec. 10 at Columbus, where he scored the game-winning goal.
• He also had a good night on Nov. 10 vs. Edmonton.
• There are times where he does give it the old college try, especially on the power play.

Having said those things, now let’s look at the other side of the coin.

There are those nights where Corvo has a rating of, say, -2 and no points contributed at all. Part of it may be those times when he’s right there on the doorstep but his attempts to clear the zone completely fail. This is indicative of a larger defensive slump as of late, though, and is not solely Corvo’s fault, like I said above. There have been some frustrating times recently where it seems the blueliners have been content to just stand there and watch, and hang their goalie out to dry, but Corvo is the more egregious violator. He has certainly made some mistakes.

Some nights, it feels like he’s a perfect fit with his fellow Bruins; other nights, it’s the exact opposite. This stands in contrast to how the other defensemen feel like they fit better with the others no matter what. In fact, sometimes I even forget he’s part of the team.

Part of it might be a personality thing. According to this Boston Globe piece, he’s quite introverted and has a hard time coming out of his shell to even make small talk with his teammates. On such a close-knit team as the Bruins, where it really does feel like they are all family sometimes, this makes him seem like the odd man out. Reportedly he also has a tendency to be so hard on himself that the coaches in Ottawa didn’t allow him to watch game video. I understand being hard on yourself–I am too sometimes–but then we also have to look at ourselves and try to improve.

Corvo’s inaction can be an endless frustration to the fans of the Black and Gold and there is a sense of vindication in having the media express their agreement. In that case, this tweet from CSNNE Bruins reporter Joe Haggerty is pretty telling: “Joe Corvo…I have no words for the level of disinterest you sometimes show in the world of playing defense.”

I don’t know if the team can wait much longer for him to find solid consistency, especially as they attempt to come out of the late January not-so-good-times. I would not be surprised if Peter Chiarelli and company consider a blueliner trade and Corvo might not be a Bruin anymore come March.

The Bruins had struggled coming into the game, going 4-5-1 in their last 10 games, making undisciplined plays on defense and not putting in full 60 minute efforts.  Today’s game offered a sigh of relief for Bruins fans.  The B’s dominated the play early on, continuously penning the Caps deep in their own zone until Milan Lucic broke through and scored 10:45 into the first period set up by Rich Peverly.  A streaking Lucic was found alone in front of the net where he made a deke and got Capitals goalie Tomas Vokoun to go down.  Lucic patiently roofed the puck into the open part of the net for his 19th of the year.

As the period went on the Capitals began to push forward only to be set back by Brad Marchand’s 19th goal of the year late in the period.  Center Patrice Bergeron worked along the boards behind the net after a dump in, and chipped the puck to Marchand alon the side of Vokoun.  Marchand quickly put a backhand on net which squirted through Vokoun, giving the Bruins a 2-0 lead with 1:22 left to play in the period.

Marchand later set up a goal by sophomore sensation Tyler Seguin in the third period, dishing a nice pass to Seguin who tipped it past Vokoun for his 20th goal of the year, helping to seal the victory with just over 13 minutes to play.

Marcus Johansson scored his 11th goal for the Caps with about eight minutes left when his centering pass deflected off Bruins defenseman Denis Seidenberg past Thomas.  But that was all the Caps would get.  Peverly pushed an empty netter home with under a minute to play to finish it off.

The first star of the game went to Tim Thomas, who was deserving of it after stopping 35 shots.  For the most part the Bruins defense played a solid game, limiting the Caps’ chances to the perimeter of the ice, but occassionally when the defense broke down, Thomas was there, looking every bit like last year’s Vezina and Conne Smythe winner.

Ovechkin was held pointless, as Bruins coach Claude Julien did his best to match up defensemen Zdeno Chara and Johnny Boychuk on the explosive Cap forward.  Ovechkin mustered 7 shots, but was held quiet for much of the game as the defensive pair shut him down.

The already injury riddled Capitals lost forward Brooks Laich in the second period when he got hit awkwardly into the boards by Seidenberg.  Laich went directly into the dressing room with an apparent leg injury and never returned to play.

Nathan Horton once again missed the game with his concussion, but Jordan Caron got a start instead of Zach Hammill and played well, tallying four shots in 11:25 of ice time.

One interesting stat that jumps out, evidence of the Bruins solid play was the fact that the Capitals blocked 28 shots in the game, 11 by defenseman Karl Alzner alone.  Combine that with the 30 shots that got through on goal, and its noticeable how much the Bruins were in the offensive zone

DIFFERENCE MAKER:  The Bruins took a lead into the third period for the first time in 10 games and once again, game away victorious when they accomplish that.  The Bruins are now 22-0-0 when doing that, best in the league.

The Bruins, coming off a shutout loss against the lowly Carolina Hurricanes, were once again offensively challenged in this afternoon’s game, ultimately losing 2-1 to the Pittsburgh Penguins, who got a great goaltending performance from Marc-Andre Fleury.

The streaking Penguins (9-1-0 in their last 10 games) got goals from red hot Evgeni Malkin, a possible MVP candidate, and Bruins’ arch-villian Matt Cooke.  Malkin’s goal came late in the first period on the powerplay, when a shot from Chris Kunitz squirted from the crease onto Malkin’s stick, who put it home past goalie Tim Thomas with only 8 seconds left in the period for his 28th of the year.

Matt Cooke is well known to Bruins fans as the cheap shot artist that left B’s center Marc Savard severely concussed after a blindside elbow.  Today, however, he netted his 9th goal of the season after chipping in a loose puck in the crease just 1:53 into the third period.  The Bruins started the period a little sluggish, and the Pens capitalized, carrying the play entirely for the first two minutes, ultimately leading to the goal.

Corvo got the Bruins to within one goal after his wrist shot from the point found its way through a Brad Marchand screen and into the net.  The goal at 6:45 of the third period was Corvo’s third of the year and ended the B’s scoring drought of 119:36.

But the star of the game was Marc-Andre Fleury, continuing his stellar play of late, made some fantastic saves, most notably in the second period when Tyler Seguin fed a nice pass to a streaking Corvo.  Fleury slid right to left across the crease and made a nice left pad save.  He finished with 28 saves in the game.

Bruins coach Claude Julien tried shuffling the lines a bit tin the third period to try to spark the Bruins, to little avail.  It seems apparent that the Bruins right now are missing first line winger Nathan Horton, who missed his fourth game in a row with a concussion.  While stories have spread that Horton is getting better, doing exercises today for the first time since the hit, there is still no timetable for his return.

DIFFERENCE MAKER:  The Bruins failed to convert on a four minute double minor powerplay in the middle of the second period.

For the second straight year, Rask is hosting a Super Bowl party at his house in Charlestown, according to NESN. While he did not get much exposure to football while growing up in Finland, since he came to America in 2007, he has developed a certain liking for it. He does admit that even with five years of watching football under his belt, he is starting to know the rules but “still [has] a long ways to go” in fully understanding it.

While he might still need some help understanding the game, he doesn’t need any help deciding what team to support in the Super Bowl. For him, and for the rest of the Bruins, it simply has to be the New England Patriots. Many of the Bruins, including Zdeno Chara, Tim Thomas, Patrice Bergeron and even coach Claude Julien, are featured in a video wishing their fellow Boston-area athletes good luck at the big game. (Julien jokes that any Bruins who were thinking of cheering for the New York Giants have already been traded.)

Rask said he knows some of the Patriots, although he didn’t disclose any further information about that.

He also seems pretty calm knowing that he’ll have to plan a big bash with enough food and drinks to satiate the appetites of hockey players, even with the fact that they’re going to be busy today and tomorrow too. If something should go wrong, though, I’d say keep the milk crates out of his reach.

Once again, sloppy play and questionable decisions on defense led directly to Hurricane goals.  Late in the second period after a high clear of the boards in the Carolina zone, the puck fell behind Bruins D-men Andrew Ference and Adam McQuaid just inside their own zone.  Ference, returning from a three game suspension, tried to shovel the puck over to McQuaid who was just a few feet away, but Cane forward Brandon Sutter disrupted the play and went in on goalie Tuukka Rask.  Rask made the initial save, but with the defense scrambling, Tuomo Ruutu was able to knock home the rebound at 16:41, good for his 16th goal of the year.

Early in the third period, 3:13 in, the Canes lazily dumped the puck into the Bruins goal.  Rask went behind the net to play it and chipped it along the boards, but the bouncing puck went right to Carolina right winger Andreas Nodi, who quickly passed it to Sutter in the slot, wristing the shot past Rask who was not quite set in the crease yet.  It was Sutter’s 12th goal of the year.

Eric Staal got the scoring started for the Canes in the first period at 11:51 one-timing a nice pass from the corner from Jiri Tlusty for his 12th goal of the year.

The Bruins were plagued with turnovers again that led to other great Carolina chances, but Rask, 28 saves, played well and saved their bacon several times.  This has been a consistent theme for the Bruins of late, who have seemed to go into a bit of a funk similar to the beginning of the season.  The B’s are just 4-4-1 in their last 9 games and in none of those games did they have a lead going into the third period.  It was also the 5th game in a row the Bruins gave up 3 or more goals.

Bruins forward Shawn Thornton is aware of the problems, saying, “I don’t think we had everyone going again. Seems to be the same old story – we’re not that good that we can come out and go through the motions and expect to be successful. When we were on top of our game, it’s because everyone was working and that’s not happening right now.”

The B’s have been known to struggle against teams that they should beat.  The proof is in the divisional records.  Against the weaker Southeast division, the Bruins are 5-8-0.  Against the rest of the Eastern Conference,  they are 20-3-1.

The bruins play back to back matinee games his weekend.  Saturday at home against the Pittsburgh Penguins, and Sunday away against the Washington Capitals.

DIFFERENCE MAKER:  In the first period the Bruins peppered Ward with 22 shots while the Canes only got 8.  The Canes however, took a 1-0 lead into the locker room.

The Bruins scored the first goal of the game, a powerplay goal from defenseman Zdeno Chara 11:57 into the first period.  Forward Milan Lucic had set up a screen in front of Anderson, allowing Chara to fire the puck from the blue line to the back of the twine.

Ottawa answered with a goal of their own with 1:20 left in the period when Colin Greening deflected a nice pass from Milan Michalek past goalie Tim Thomas.

The Senators continued their fortune into the second period scoring two more goals.  Recently acquired Kyle Turris beat Tim Thomas 7:43 in, and defenseman Erik Karlsson did the same at 13:28.  Both goals were scored from the same area of the ice to the right of Thomas, giving the Senators a 3-1 lead.

Before the second period ended, Lucic got one back for the Bruins, putting home a wrist shot on a nice feed from Rich Peverly.

Early in the third period, Bruins winger Brad Marchand scored another powerplay goal at the 2:20 mark, this one coming off a rebound chance.  The initial shot came from a Joe Corvo point shot, and Marchand had to battle with Sens defenseman Chris Phillips to get to the loose puck.  On his third attempt, Marchand finally got the tying goal, paving the way for Seidenberg’s unforgettable winner.

Goalie Tim Thomas, starting his first game after his controversial presidential snub, faced 33 shots in the win.

DIFFERENCE MAKER: Special teams:  the Bruins went 2 for 4 on the powerplay, while the Senators did not even get a powerplay chance.

The Hardest Shot is the spectacle that most fans like to see and Chara did not disappoint, routinely smacking the puck over 106 mph and drawing an ovation from fans and players alike after his record setting slap shot.

Big Z used a new stick during the competition, but that may have aided him only a little.  The Bruins captain is a staggering 6’9″ 260 pound man-beast.  His strength is staggering.  While on defense, he routinely pushes 200+ pound men off the puck like rag dolls.  At times, Bruins fans wonder why Chara doesn’t fight more to spark the Bruins if they aren’t playing well.  The reason is because he doesn’t find willing combatants.

In ESPN the Magazine’s Body Issue several years ago, Chara posed mostly nude, maybe fully, but due to clever shadowing, who knows what he may have been wearing.  But that’s besides the point.  The point is just how physically fit Chara is in the picture.  To be the size that Chara is AND so fit only makes him that much more powerful.

When the season starts back up again and Chara takes his position at the point on offense, and a pass comes to him setting up a one-timer…… well, it shows just how courageous hockey players can be, because his opponents will still lay out  to try to block the shot.  Maybe, though, they should keep a little Kryptonite in their hockey pants.

To see the record setting blast, click HERE.