Per usual, I’m all over the Beanpot like wanna-be rock stars up on MySpace. Catch my extensive overview of Beanpot Players to Watch on Beantown Athletic Supporters. Tonight, I’ll be live tweeting for BU Today along with several of my co-workers and students, and you’ll also be able to catch my reports direct from Twitter.

Later this week, I’ll be profiling the Charity Beanpot Challenge, a game featuring Beanpot alumni and supporting the Travis Roy and Mark Bavis Foundations.

Happy Beanpot Monday!

Let's Go Fishing - a childhood fave for me and thousands of other kids

Playing “Let’s Go Fishing” with my favorite four-year-old (a cousin of my fiance’s) this New Year’s Day with the dull portion of the Winter Classic flickering in the background, the topic of conversation turned from what kindergarten would be like next year to the Boston Red Sox. Favorite Four-Year-Old, like every child born and raised in the Greater Boston area, understood that he was a Red Sox fan prior to understanding that hands were for picking things up, not chewing on.

Over the summer, Favorite-Four-Year-Old and I had played “Big Papi” and “Jason BAAAYYY” in his backyard – a catch-tag megamix named after his two favorite members of the Red Sox roster. This afternoon, I wondered if he knew what had conspired a few days before.

We held our faux primary colored fishing rods over the faux thrashing primary colored fish. I sighed, and asked the question that had to be asked. “Who is your favorite Red Sox player?”

Favorite Four Year Old’s head snapped up, forgetting about the fish. “Jason BAAAAAAAYYYYYYY!” he exclaimed, proudly, with a giant grin on his face. He quickly returned to faux-fishing.

I was left with a dilemma. Was I susposed to be the one to have the “free agency” talk with Favorite Four-Year-Old, or was this a talk that his father or grandfather needed to have with him? This was an important talk in the life of a young sports fan, and I felt that it needed to come from a close relative, and not just little ol’ me.

I looked around, trying to find Favorite Four-Year-Old’s father. He was busy in another room eating. His grandfather was no where in my sightline either. Favorite Four-Year-Old didn’t seem to sense the turmoil within me.

So I said nothing and set to not lose too poorly in “Let’s Go Fishing.” In that four-year-old’s world, Jason Bay could still be his favorite Red Sox player. If only just for one more day.

Not an iced coffee, but an example of how much both my cat and I run on Dunkin'. And why it's weird to go in there as a Bills fan.

Sunday morning, I woke up earlier than usual, and decided to take advantage of this extra time and do laundry. I got ready, threw on my Buffalo Bills sweatshirt, Bills earrings and jeans, and beat the crowd to my local Allston laundromat by all of five minutes. I snapped up my three washers, started my laundry, and headed over to the Dunkin’ Donuts across the street. This is the DD’s where one of the employee’s routinely refers to me as “Ms. Cinna-mina-mon”, after the morning I was more dead to the world than usual and couldn’t say cinnamon to save my life. (Because I live on a small cinnamon iced coffee with cream and sugar. If this is not drank in the morning, than my day will be largely unsuccessful.)

Being 8am on a Sunday morning in Allston, Massachusetts (aka college party central of America), my usual swamped Dunkin’ Donuts was dead. One person in front of me getting a Coolata, one person at the doggie window getting something equally as complicated, so my Bills clad self waiting patiently in line, ready to order my iced cinnamon when it was my turn.

Someone else entered the Dunkin’ Donuts and got in line next to me. He cleared his throat and then stifled a laugh. I snuck a glance. This young man was wearing a new but fashionably antique-y looking Pat-the-Patriot-sporting New England Patriots sweatshirt.

I snapped my head back just as it was my turn to order.

“May I please have a small iced cinnamon coffee with cream and sugar?” The worker went on her way to prepare my coffee, and I moved down to the cash register.

The worker that had been helping the customer at the doggie window came back to the main cash register, turned to Pat-the-Patriot, and asked, “How can I help you?” He ordered a medium coffee of some sort, but while he was saying his order, she looked at me. Then looked back at him. Then looked at me again. Then Pat-the-Patriot looked at me. Feeling stared at, I looked at them.

The Dunkin’ Donuts worker, a young girl who is friendly with everyone that has ever walked into that store, pouted in my direction. “I’m so sorry,” she said, hurrying off to get Pat-the-Patriot’s coffee.

I looked down at my Bills sweatshirt. “Oh,” I said. “That.”

Pat-the-Patriot nodded.

I thought about a smart comeback, but it was 8am on a Sunday and I had not yet had coffee. I couldn’t think of anything quick enough. Luckily, my coffee was ready, I paid my worker – who didn’t give me two glances, because she sees me a good four times a week, and grabbed a straw and was on my way.

Being a fan of a team other than the home team – especially when said team is more unlucky than Brian Urlacher trying to play an entire season – is a never-ending study in sociology. As long as I choose to wear Bills wear outside my own home, I’ll experience these uneasy interactions.

******

Quotes actually said to me this week from friends, colleagues and family who know I’m a Bills fan:

“After that fumble, I immediately thought of you and laughed.” – a colleague

“Hi, how are you? Are you…okay?” – my future mother-in-law

“Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.” – a comment on my Facebook wall

“Being a Bills fan must be like getting up in the middle of February, looking out the window to find a freak snowstorm, knowing you still have to go to work, and not having your car start. Every single day.” – a local news anchor on Tuesday morning.

Unless you’re an athlete. Because if you are an athlete, sports fans – fickle ones, at that – make it their own pastime to comment about your bad day, remind you about your bad day, and hold it over your head for days, weeks, months, years, lifetimes on end.

Heaven forbid said bad day occurs due to an injury. Then you’re “injury prone,” “weak,” “not a professional,” “disingenuous.” Injury equals weakness, and unless the limb is severed, many believe you ought to be out on the field, ice, court, or pitch.

Jason Bay is having a bad week. Maybe a bad month. (Photo: Flickr user lifes ill)

One could say that Boston Red Sox’s outfielder Jason Bay is having a bad week. Maybe a month. After he pulled a hamstring this past weekend, he had to sit out two games. Nevermind that Bay was the last Sox player to take a day off since the All-Star Game. Nevermind that the last day he had off was when he was hit by a pitch around Memorial Day. Bay suffered from a bum hamstring, and Sox fans took to the Boston.com comments labeling the guy as a “bust,” as “lazy,” as being not worth the money he allegedly is asking in a new contract.

Bay came back for Wednesday evening’s game against Tampa Bay (the 2009 home of everyone’s favorite Californian Jewish Outfielder, and your June interleague play run leader, Gabe Kapler), and tweaked the hamstring again. Hamstrings are a fickle part of your body. Any athlete will tell you that. You can aggravate it running sideways, in the beginning of a vertical jump, on the landing of a leap – all routine parts of an outfielder’s game. It shouldn’t be a great surprise that maybe Bay shouldn’t have played Wednesday. He most likely felt fine on Tuesday, and then in the routine movements of playing his position on Wednesday, felt the injury again. That happens. Heck, as a teenager, my permanently wrecked knees felt great when I wasn’t throwing roundoffs or doing my ballet bar exercises. And then I would do such things, and holy heck, I thought someone was splitting my knee open like one would take a cleaver to an avocado pit and eating the bone alive. But you wouldn’t know if you would feel the pain until you tried physical activity.

No tears were shed for former fan favorite Bay in the comments section of Boston.com. One of the first commenters to the report about his hamstring re-aggravation claimed that, “Star players step up,” and accused Bay of being lazy, and that he ought to get out there and play like a professional. Others followed the negative suit, saying that he isn’t worth the money he might get in a new contract, that he’s been nothing but a disappointment, and that he ought to be replaced by farm system players. One commenter even went as far to describe Bay as “injury prone” throughout his career – Bay, of course, being the guy who played all 162 games in 2005, 159 in 2006, 145 in 2007, and 155 in 2008. If that’s injury prone, I would hate to see that commenter describe JD Drew or Carl Pavano.

Bay had been out 2 games as of Thursday morning. He had been out maybe 4 games all season.

I know most newspaper commenters exaggerate in their comments. That the majority of commenters don’t think before they type. But listen to sports radio. Read blogs. The commenters are just joining in the negative fray of those contributors. How disingenuous is a fan that their first thought upon the injury of a player on their team is that the player is lazy or undeserving of a chance to heal? Bay isn’t the first one to be held to the impossible standard possessed by sports fans, and he won’t be the last. Athletes may be paid for their physical ability, but they shouldn’t be put down and used for glue the minute they suffer a muscle pull. Sports fans ought to lose the barbarian-ness and reestablish their humanism.

Because, after all, I don’t see strangers publicly criticizing stenographers suffering from carpal tunnel syndrome who need to take a day off, or a lunch lady for missing work because she’s sick from caught-from-first-graders flu.

You were quite the topic of conversation on Tuesday, appearing literally out of nowhere with the sudden morning announcement of the demise of WBCN. With your August 13th arrival, Boston will be home to four sports radio stations – fitting really, given that Boston is the capital of obsessive sport fandom.

Before you go around stealing talent from the existing three stations (which you are already rumoured to be doing), let’s talk about one aspect of Boston Sports Radio that no one ever mentions:

Where are the women?

Yes, there is a woman, Jayme Parker, who does WEEI’s Sports Flashes on occasion. And WEEI.com recently hired a recent BU grad to host it’s morning video clip segment and do brief sound bites. Yes, many of the upper administrators calling the shots on WEEI and ESPN890, like Julie Kahn (Vice President of Entercom Radio New England) and Jessamy Tang (General Manager of 890ESPN), are some strong-willed and successful females. But besides that, Boston sports radio is all male dominated.

In 2009, when one of the most consistent and coveted football analysts/hosts of the past decade is female (Suzy Kolber), and when the Red Sox beat writer for the largest newspaper in Boston is female (the Boston Globe’s Amalie Benjamin), and when our regional sports television network host is female (NESN’s Kathryn Tappen), why are females largely absent from manning the microphones in Boston’s sports radio scene?

Since I was twelve and would watch Fox NFL Sunday in amazement that a woman like Kolber was reporting on football, sports media has made significant strides in including intelligent and insightful women in television sports media and print work. It almost seems, however, that sports media is still reluctant to put women in a position where they can be heard, and not seen – the radio. It seems as if that unless you can visualize the female, have they Erin Andrews-like looks or otherwise, they do not have a place in sports media. Think about it – Boston.com pimps out photos of Benjamin throughout their sports section. Even as a print journalist, they have felt the need to create a visual presence for her more so than the men on their sports desk. Kolber has had to become more feminine looking as the years go by – her hair got longer, she started wearing heavier makeup when she switched to ESPN. Are we still at a point where women in sports media still have to be eye candy, and thus, can’t just appear as a voice through a radio?

This is Boston, Massachusetts, home to more female sports fans than probably any other city in the United States. A large majority of those female fans actually have an in-depth knowledge of their favorite teams, players and sports. Thus, excluding female voices on sports radio is ignoring a giant demographic, and is not reflective of the area in which we live. Instead of hiring a female or ten to add to insightful and legitimate sports commentary, WEEI and 890ESPN rely on idiotic, light-weight old-school radio guys to fill their programming hours. These are the men who debate politics instead of pitching rotations during their morning shows, who will publicly discount some sports over others, and admittedly know very little about some of the sports in which they are hired to report on. At least a woman’s voice could lend something new to these broadcast, and might even keep the broadcasts more on-topic than the meandering nonsense that fills some of the broadcast hours.

Thus, Sports Hub, I expect you to consider some female voices when you begin hiring on-air talent. You want to win the quickly developing “sports radio wars” over WEEI? Hire a woman. WEEI and 890 ESPN, if you want to make a giant change to win over a new demographic and have a chance against the Sports Hub’s FM signal? Hire a woman. Because if Boston can entrust a woman with their Red Sox beat work, and entrust a woman with hosting Bruins and Red Sox post-game analysis, then you can certainly trust a woman to host a sports radio program. You have no excuse.

Sincerely,

Sports Girl Kat

P.S. If you need a woman to fill some of your late night or weekend programming, I might know a certain blogger who might be interested and would come cheap…

Given that both BC and BU have combined to win the last two NCAA Division I Championships, their tradition-laced rivalry has started to receive additional national attention. Sure to add to this national spotlight will be the November release of The Battle of Comm Ave, a documentary on the rivalry by Utah-based Rival Films. The film will premiere on NESN, with an DVD release following. Rival Films’ Matt Fults agreed to answer some questions about the film, the company’s use of social media, and about his own favorite sports documentaries.

Kat: You are a film studio based out of Utah – given your geography, what made your company want to produce a film about the Boston College – Boston University rivalry?
Matt: Utah is our base camp. A majority of our work is done elsewhere. We’ve filmed in Austria, Switzerland, Chile, Germany, Canada, Alaska, Hawaii, Michigan, California … the list goes on. So what we look for are compelling stories. I’m a big hockey fan, and while the BU-BC rivalry is well known in Massachusetts, it’s not as well known in the rest of the country. Plus my mom is from Reading, MA. That’s a plus.

Kat: I know you don’t want to give away a lot about the film yet, but is there any one part that you can mention that will excite fans of these teams (for example, any new information, a story no one has heard before, etc)?

Matt: I think there’s a couple of good stories that maybe haven’t been told. One involves former BU captain Jack O’Callahan, coach Parker and a coin. There aren’t a lot of secrets when it comes to these schools. What you’re going to see is the origins of the rivalry, how it became so intense, what drives it today, and finally just some terrific anecdotes and stories from players, coaches and others.

Kat: Do you see The Battle of Comm Ave spurring national interest in this storied rivalry, given that college hockey seems to be growing in popularity right now?

Matt: I hope so. One of the reasons we decided to do this was the belief that college hockey is undersold and undertold. It’s a great sport with strong traditions and true powerhouse programs.

Kat: Rival Films is quite active on Twitter and Facebook.  How are you using social media to promote this film and engage with the fanbases of the respective schools?

Matt: Being active doesn’t mean we’re successful. Our Twitter following isn’t impressive! Social media as a tool is new to us – literally within the last couple of weeks. Given the subject matter and the audience, it seems like a worthwhile endeavor. Our hope is to build an early buzz that will translate into greater interest when Fall rolls around, and ultimately the start of college hockey season. We are going to use Facebook and Twitter for contest giveaways and more importantly to announce a DVD presale. Sometime in October you’ll be able to find a link that will enable you to preorder the DVD at half price. So if you’re not following us on Twitter @RivalFilms or not a Fan on Facebook, that’s one less Christmas present for your brother.

Kat: Since you are in the business of creating sports films, what qualities do you think make a great sports documentary? What are some of your personal favorites?

Matt: You mean other than my own? Just kidding. To me, it’s all about storytelling. The quality of the story – and its storytellers – make or break any movie. In the end, the subjects of your film need to be the best storytellers. Narration is there to fill in the gaps. If your subjects aren’t compelling, you better hope the underlying story is or you’re done. One of my favorites is “Step into Liquid” by Dana Brown. On the surface, it’s a surfing movie. But it’s more than that. It examines a culture and a lifestyle. Visually, it’s gorgeous. I’m also a Bud Greenspan fan. He’s a master storyteller.

***********

Keep up-to-date with The Battle of Comm Ave by following the company on Twitter (@RivalFilms), becoming a fan of the film on Facebook, or checking the company’s website.

It's safe to say hockey fans are becoming obsessed with Fenway Park. (Photo by me.)

But although complete and official information about the 2010 Winter Classic and subsequent events will not be released until July 1st at the earliest, there is enough substantial information out there to piece together five nearly certain pieces of the  official announcement.

- The NHL game at Fenway Park will be the Boston Bruins versus the Philadelphia Flyers. After the owner of the Washington Capitals, the Bruins’ most rumored opponent, mentioned that the team had no plans to be part of a January 1, 2010 game last week, the Flyers have been the most reported and substantiated replacement.

- The ice at Fenway Park will be down for several weeks. Having the Winter Classic at a ballpark as opposed to an NFL stadium affords the organizers much more time to bring in the rink system, as the latest baseball runs is the first week in November. When the Winter Classic was held at Ralph Wilson Stadium in Buf-town (which is what I’m allowed to call Buffalo because I’m a bitter Rochestarian), the major complaint is that event organizers did not have enough time to lay down the ice surface and troubleshoot any problems because of the NFL season ending only days before.  With Fenway Park the NHL’s to play with from mid-November on, not only can any system problems be fixed much before the main event, other events can use the ice surface.

- There will be a college game or two on the Fenway Park ice. You have ice down in “America’s Favorite Ballpark.” You have a city full of people who would pay $10 just to touch the building, so why not hold some more “once in a lifetime” events in there while you can? And with the growing popularity of the college game, especially with the media attention Boston University’s national championship has been given (which is what happens when a school’s alumni can be found in every facet of every major media organization in America), why not play a few college games on the available ice?

- Despite my previous concerns, Boston College will be included in any possible college game at Fenway. BC may be scheduled to participate in the Denver Cup January 1st and 2nd, but with the ice being down for a few weeks, this  supposed scheduling conflict is no longer an issue. The more I think about it, a college hockey game at Fenway could not take place without the Eagles, because Boston College has an existing relationship with Fenway Sports Group for the marketing and promotion of their Athletics program. BC was the cog in this whole college game machine – if BC wasn’t involved, college games would not be happening.

- Boston University will also be involved in any college game. It’s been evident for a while, as BU has not shown up in anyone’s holiday tournament schedule yet, and has seriously dragged its feet when it comes to releasing its own 2009-10 season schedule. Mind you, season ticket holders – moi included – have had to put down nice chunks of cash for next year’s tickets without a semblance of a schedule. This is unlike most programs, and unlike BU’s practice of the past three years.

The other two schools rumored to be participating are Providence and Vermont.

- Said college game will not take place immediately before or after the Bruins-Flyers tilt. See BC’s date in Denver, as well as NCAA precedent. You will not see a college hockey game share a bill with an NHL game. Logistically, Fenway Park’s small size, limited walkways, and reliance on public transportation make any type of doubleheader extremely difficult because of the challenge of vacating the park and surrounding neighborhood and cleaning the park quickly. Additionally, BC has already made a commitment to the Denver Cup, one of the most established college hockey tournaments in recent history. Lastly, there could be compliance issues raised with a combo ticket, doubleheader, or some other combined NHL-NCAA event. (And of course, do I have my rulebook with me as I write this? Of course not.) The Boston Globe reported a date of January 8th for any possible college game.

Will the NHL’s early July announcement definitely include these six aspects? I can’t say for sure, because I’m merely piecing together existing media reports. But if you look at the quality and reliability of the sources reporting these aspects and place all of the pieces together, I think you begin to have a clearer picture of what a Fenway Park Winter Classic program may look like.

So are they playing a college hockey game here or not? (Picture by yours truly. Yes, I can take good photos once and a while.)

Remember when I noted that Denver’s men’s ice hockey schedule release may have squashed rumors of a college game being a part of Fenway Park’s all-but-confirmed Winter Classic festivities? Well, the Boston Globe’s Kevin Paul Dupont may have revived those rumors by claiming that a source close to the organizers are looking to have the ice system down for three weeks of use, and are looking to schedule a college tournament within that time.

Dupont went on to mention that any official announcement about all of the Winter Classic would most likely take place near the beginning of July.

These new details would seemingly make a Boston College-Boston University game a possibility, because of the length of time the ice will be available. BC could still keep their commitments to the Denver Cup on New Year’s Day, while still having time to fit in an outdoor game against BU.

I’ll keep my eyes out for any additional clues.

********

Belated congratulations to the Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins. Marc-Andre Fleury definitely proved his worth as a goalie on Friday evening (he actually made an acrobatic save in those final seconds – who knew?)

On the Everyone’s Favorite Goalie Watch, John Curry did dress for Game 7, but his name does not get engraved on the Cup, and thus he was not allowed to carry it because of superstition. Until your name is on the Cup, you are not allowed to touch it as a hockey player. He was still spotted on the NBC broadcast wearing the nifty locker room hat though.

Speaking of locker-room hats, Puck Daddy posted a great feature on the conceptualization and production of NHL championship fan wear on Saturday. Those of you as obsessed with fan wear as I will geek out over the detail.

And a special congrats to the Pens fans at Puck Huffers (NSFW), who titled their championship post, “Our Curry in Heaven,” and part of their dedication to disappointed and bitter Detroit fans read:

It’s time for you to put your hands towards the sky and pray for redemption. It worked for us.
Then again, John Curry is God.

It’s clear I’ve been outdone. I think they might need to take over the “Everyone’s Favorite Goalie” posts.

No R Lifestyle's Green Champions Shirt

Kat: Why did you found No R Lifestyle?

Buddy: While the general idea of Boston apparel is not novel, we wanted to give the people of Boston and its surroundings something different to wear. We’ve all heard the term Masshole and seen shirts with mispronounced phrases on them, and we wanted to do something different. We set out to create a brand that points to the common attitude and demeanor with which Bostonians live their lives. There really is a lifestyle common among all of us although we come from many different walks of life. The lifestyle is centered on the deep pride people have in Boston, and the whole New England area, and the most common identifier of this shared lifestyle is the No R accent. I’ve heard many say that people from the Northeast are cocky and arrogant; I say it’s more of a confidence and comfort. That’s the feeling we are going for with No R Lifestyle.

Kat: You have a goal of selling a shirt in all 50 states, and you have 10 states down. That’s a lofty goal for a business only 18 weeks old! Why did you set such a goal?

Buddy: When we first launched the website in January, we expected all of our sales to be local and concentrated our “marketing” in Massachusetts alone. We became excited when we quickly received orders from Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, and Maine in addition to Massachusetts and also realized that this brand is identifiable to anyone who has ever lived in or visited Boston, as well as those who are simply fans of the accent or the city itself. Because the ‘No R’ accent is probably the most recognizable in the world, we think it is a reasonable goal for No R Lifestyle to appeal to someone from each of the 50 states. The first year or so of No R Lifestyle is about establishing the name and idea behind it, and this is just another way to encourage growth and expansion.

Kat: What does being a Boston sports fan mean to you? Why is it different from other cities/regions?

Buddy: Boston is a sports town in the truest sense of the phrase. The city’s mood depends on how the Celts, Pats, Sox, or Bruins (Revolution, Cannons, and Blazers for some) did last night. I’ll never forget walking around Boston after the Superbowl loss to the Giants. Everyone I passed looked like they were attending a funeral. On the flip side, most Boston fans’ joy lasts only a day or so before its time to be “disappointed” by the next game, team, or season. This negativity is more applicable to the last generation of Boston fans. The last decade has really shaped a new breed of fans—fans with optimism. It will take some getting used to, but I think it will be good for the overall well being of New England.

Kat: You’ve obviously embraced your “No R” accent. What is your favorite word/phrase to say with that accent? (For example, I have a slight Canadian accent and I love saying the word “sorry” because of it.)

Buddy: For some reason I said two hours a lot while coaching baseball at Emerson College, whether it be two hours until game time, two hours of practice, or a two hour bus ride. All of these future television and radio personalities are quick to point out mispronounced words. “Two Owiz” quickly became a common phrase among the players who like to mock my Boston accent. I’m pretty sure they mimic the accent out of pure jealousy. A side note on the topic of the accent itself: I’m hoping with a lot of Boston based movies coming out in 2009 and 2010, that they finally get the accent right. I never understood why Boston actors absolutely overdo the accent that they grew up speaking, and other actors just completely butcher it (watch The Perfect Storm and you’ll know what I mean). It’s a pretty simple accent to nail; leave R’s off the end of words and add them on to words that end in A.

Kat: What’s next for No R Apparel? I see that you have added bumper stickers to the line – do you have any plans to add additional items, or have the items carried in retail locations?

Buddy: Ideally, at some point down the road we will have hundreds of different products ranging from onesies for babies to tire covers for jeep wranglers. In the immediate future, there are plans for hats to be released, and designs are being bounced around for hoodies to be produced in the fall of ’09. We are also contacting Boston area colleges in the hopes of doing some custom shirts with the University or College names on them. This whole experience is a learning process, and we love to hear feedback from customers and fans about what they want to see.

Most retail companies have already completed their apparel purchases for the year, so we have been unsuccessful in our attempts to get our products in stores this summer. If there are any retailers out there who would like to feature No R Lifestyle apparel, please let us know!

*******

Thanks, Buddy, for taking the time to talk. Buddy would like to giveaway shirts to a few readers of …On Being a Sports Girl. If you know the answer to the following Red Sox trivia question, email the answer, your name and email address to me at sportsgirlkat@gmail.com.  The first three correct answers will be sent to Buddy to receive a free shirt!

Trivia question: What former Boston Red Sox player is the only person in Major League Baseball history to turn an unassisted triple play and hit for the cycle during his career?

Update 6/1/2009: The contest is now closed! Big ups to our winners!

My favorite college hockey player makes a pro roster.

The AHL’s Providence Bruins are currently battling the evil Hershey Bears (the Bears dismissed John Curry’s Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins from the playoffs in the last round…but more about Curry later this weekend), and need reinforcements due to a few injuries here and there.  The Baby Bruins looked no further than Boston University, and signed Jason Lawrence to an Amateur Tryout Contract (ATO) today. Lawrence brings a nice dose of American-ness to an otherwise Canadian and European exclusive forward roster (see the list above – ON, ON, ON, AB, Serbia…Saugus, MA. It sticks out like a sore thumb.)

What does this mean? Well, an Amateur Tryout Contract allows a pro team to essentially engage a player who had never played within the NHL/AHL/ECHL system in an extended tryout that may include game play. The Providence Bruins, and in some regard the Boston Bruins, needed to strengthen their forward ranks for the rest of the playoffs, and wanted to take a look at Lawrence for the future, thus they signed him to a short-term contract with no obligations past the end of this season.

Now, don’t you all feel more knowledgeable?

This does not mean my favorite college hockey player will actually see game time – he might not even dress. This does not mean I can purchase a “Lawrence 18″ Providence Bruins jersey just yet…I mean, not that I would. That was hypothetical, of course…

It’s always good to see an athlete find success for his hometown team, and that’s why Lawrence’s chance with the Bruins is such a good story. He played with the Boston Jr. Bruins as a kid, so to play for the AHL Bruins has to be a dream come true.  I always say you should live your life making 12 year old you proud – that’s one of the reasons why I write this blog – and that’s definitely what “The Saugus” did today with his Bruins ATO.