I told myself to just watch the game. I left my notepad in the car, and didn’t even carry a pen with me. I told myself I wouldn’t tweet either, since the service at the Garden when filled is seriously lacking.

Despite my attempts to just enjoy the game, I still had two quick notes I had to write up post-game. You can take the tools away from the writer, but you can never make them stop thinking like one. Here they are:

- Speed-  There was a time a few years back when I would attend an NHL game and be instantly impressed at the speed difference between the pro game and the college game. The difference was marked – the pro game moved quicker, players not only skated faster but had better skating skills, and a player’s reflexes were that much more automatic.

The last two times I’ve attended a Bruins game, that difference has drastically decreased. It could be possible that it is because I’m simply not getting to games to make the comparison as often. But it just seems that since 2008, hockey observers have seen a marked improvement in the quality of play of college hockey players. The quality of passes and puck work in the NHL has decreased at the same level the college game has increased. Skating skills and speed in both the pro and college game have woefully decreased (qualities I didn’t learn how to evaluate until I started watching hockey with hockey players, but once I did, you can’t help but notice stride, edge security and speed.)

There is no longer that marked difference, that “wow – this is a different level” feeling, when you watch a NHL game as opposed to a college game. That’s equal parts wonderful for college hockey and a shame on the pro game.

-Seguin’s Shifts Off - Talented Tyler Seguin is still a teenager. Though you cannot deny his playmaking abilities and his contributions thus far to the Bruins, you can’t see his play purely through rose-colored glasses.

Seguin, like other immensely talented young hockey players both before and after him, has two switches. One controls his effort, and the other controls his natural talent. Every shift, a player like him has to decide to turn either one on or both on.

The natural talent switch is stuck on. It’s the switch to that lackluster light in the corner of the living room that provides you with no truely useful lighting source – it’s usually the light your grandmother leaves on a timer to try to convince would-be robbers someone is home.

The effort switch is not a given. It’s the light switch on the wall on the other side of the room. You really don’t feel like shuffling over to that side of the room. It’s out of the way of your final destination: the couch. Unless you are going to read or type and really need that light, there are times where you just don’t want to take the extra amount of energy to flip it on. You’ll rely on the lackluster light and the glow of the television.

Everyone in this world is naturally talented at something, and when it comes to whatever that is, they have those two switches. For Seguin, it’s hockey. Before every shift, he has to make that decision – is he going to expand that extra amount of energy and turn the effort swtich on?

Last Tuesday against the Jets, there were too many shifts where he wasn’t turning on the effort. He’d jump out for a shift and coast. Good plays and meaningful contributions will still happen because he’s talented, but not with the same regularity as they would if he would skate out on a shift with both talent and effort turned on. And that’s why his stats appear streaky at times – he will be on scoring fits and then be seemingly and suddenly extinguished. For example, he went on a six game scoring streak from October 29th until November 12th, amassing eight goals and three assists, and then only scored one assist in the next four games.

Seguin is far from alone. This is the same problem that was always evident to me when Colin Wilson played with BU – he took shifts off, thinking that he could coast on talent, put his stick down on the ice and volia! He’d score or assist magically, without having to try. Charlie Coyle suffered from this more severely. The shifts he turned on the effort shifts were increasingly rare as his BU tenure continued. He relies too much on his wingspan and talent, and doesn’t always put forth the effort that would push his playmaking ability over the edge. Every team has one – the young kid who thinks he’s invincible and superhuman, and can coast on the same talent that made him the star of mites, travel team, high school, and juniors.

Seguin won’t be felled by this for long – he has a tough coach and experienced teammates that won’t allow it. But it nagged me during a few games I watched on television, and when I finally saw a game live and could see the entire ice, it definitely stuck out for me. The “Seguinistas” may sling snowballs at me for pointing it out, but it’s not a death sentence for the talented forward, just a blemish.

The TD Garden lit up with Bruins spirit. (Photo by me and my iPhone.)

The Boston Bruins are going to lose tonight because I am wearing pants.

Preposterous, you say. What does making a choice between a black skirt and black pants have to do with if the Bruins will tie up their Stanley Cup Finals series against the Vancouver Canucks this evening?

It doesn’t, of course. But the thought crossed my mind as I was running out the door to work this morning. Was I wearing skirts or dresses during games three and four? I know I was wearing pants on Friday, when they lost game five.

But what does the work apparel of a random university employee such as myself have to do with whether or not the Boston Bruins win a game? It doesn’t, but it doesn’t keep some of us from letting that thought enter our minds occasionally.

On Twitter, I’ve been watching the inner turmoil of one Bruins fan that didn’t want to touch up her Bruins colored nails because they had been painted as such since game three. There is another who has to wear the same Milan Lucic t-shirt every game.

The superstition goes beyond Bruins fans. I’ve written about my crazy Boston University hockey and general football superstitions before. Even recently, I was convinced that I couldn’t wear my hair up on a BU game day, because they would lose if I did. Even players have their own superstitions: they put their right skate on before their left, they always have to have yellow Gatorade before a game, they have to place their water bottle in a certain area.

So I ask all of you: what are your superstitions, either as a fan or an athlete? (That is, if you’re willing to tell!) Share them below, along with what team you do them for, or offer them on Twitter using the hashtag #sportssuper (Using the entire word superstition would cause us all to go over that precious 140 character limit.) I’ll post them later.

I’ll write up more about the NHL’s presentation and overall conference later (I am in charge of technical support for a new student orientation this week, so time is tight), but there was one ironic and timely point in it that I must share. DiLorenzo mentioned that one of the things they have struggled with is responding via their NHL Twitter account in the wake of disciplinary news: “No matter what the discipline department decides, we’re going to get tons of tweets that say ‘You’re wrong.”

He mentioned that at 2:40. By 8:40, the NHL had another massive disciplinary situation on their hands: Vancouver Canucks Aaron Rome’s hit on puck-less Boston Bruin Nathan Horton that resulted in a severe concussion.

Rome was suspended four games by the league for the incident, effectively removing him for the remainder of the Stanley Cup Finals. On Twitter the reaction to the NHL’s decision varied immediately, ranging on the Goldilocks scale: some fans thought it was too much, some thought it was too little, and some thought it was just right.

Assume you are one of the two folks who man the @NHL Twitter account (yes, there are only two, mentioned DiLorenzo Monday.) How would you effectively use your Twitter account to respond to each type of fan? Do you not respond to one group? Do you respond to all? Because of the mass of Tweets, do you just not even try to respond to them at all? Do you focus on the negative ones first, where it sounds like you’re losing a fan?

And if you are a fan who Tweeted at @NHL about today’s disciplinary decision, what response were you hoping to get?

Tyler Seguin scores during Tuesday night's 6-5 Bruins win over the Tampa Bay Lightning. (Photo: NHL.com)

Tuesday evening, Boston Bruins rookie Tyler Seguin put on a clinic against the Tampa Bay Lightning, scoring two goals, two assists, and showing flashy skill and playmaking abilities that made even the least enthusiastic of hockey fans stand up and cheer. Seguin had been benched for the playoff run up to Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals, where he was inserted in the place of an injured Patrice Bergeron. Bruins coach Claude Julien had been noncommittal towards playing his 2010 #1 draft pick in the playoffs, and had used him sparingly as the regular season drew to a close.

When Seguin finally saw playoff ice, he broke out, showing the abilities that made him so highly coveted last year. However, what motivated that after a so-so rookie season where his experienced coach who didn’t feel he was ready to play postseason hockey?

There are always people who rise to the opportunity – who need just a bit more motivation or a bit more sense of occasion to show what they can do. To us non-athletes, they were those kids in school who wouldn’t do their everyday homework, didn’t pick up a review book, but still got a perfect score on the SATs.

Needing a reason to be dynamic can sometimes be viewed as a sign of immaturity. You don’t yet see the reason why you should put your nose down to the grindstone everyday, but when you view it as important, when you know a lot of people will be watching, you turn it on. Maybe it’s not so much immaturity always, but inexperience – when you aren’t used to showing your best every single day, it can be difficult to get into that groove when it’s called upon.

Where have I seen this most? When hockey players make the jump from high school/prep school/juniors to college hockey. It’s easier to be a big fish in a small pond, which admittedly most college hockey players are at the team they play on immediately before college. (I mean, it’s why they got a D1 scholarship and their linemate riding pine didn’t.) Once they join their college team, they either make the realization that they are going to have to give a stronger effort right away, or it may take them a while.

The two biggest examples of this I’ve watched are Colin Wilson and Charlie Coyle when they joined Boston University. Both were greatly talented coming into college, and then had wildly inconsistent freshman years. You saw them play up when they needed to, but in an average game against a basement dweller opponent, they didn’t make the plays they could have right away. Coyle played up for the World Juniors, then slid in production when he came back to BU after that tournament. When you’re young, opportunities need to be more obvious to you. It’s hard for any 18 year old to sense the need to play up for UMass Lowell, when a month ago you were playing the Canadian national team. In Wilson’s case, he seemed distracted during several games his freshman year, and then started giving a more consistent effort as the season went on and the team needed to dig themselves out of a hole standings wise. Wilson sensed the occasion, and that’s when he started to produce.

The Bruins’ Seguin is probably stuck in a similar situation. In the OHL, he was top banana, but the NHL is a new league and situation for him. How do you balance going full tilt in practice everyday against guys with years more experience than you? How do you play at the same intensity level for both a game against the woeful Ottawa Senators and then the arch-rival Philadelphia Flyers? How do you manage the idea internally that you have to consistently push yourself, and can’t have an off-day and still be the best player on your team? That’s a whole new mindset for an 18/19 year old, and no one is immune from struggling with new expectations.

That struggle is going to come across as laziness, lack of ability, and the sense that a player isn’t ready for prime-time. A NHL head coach, for better or worse, doesn’t have a degree in sports or adolescent psych. They aren’t going to take a rookie’s internal recalibration well, or at least they aren’t paid to.

What am I trying to say with this long ramble? While Seguin very well may have been playing to get back at his coach for sitting him all this time, it was most likely much more that in the ups and downs of being a teenage hockey player playing their first year on the next level, Seguin saw the occasion and played up. The reason to play full tilt was obvious, and in a year filled with learning new nuances (which your rookie year is), the obvious opportunities are few and far between. For one of the first times this year, there was a reason, there was a chance, and Seguin took it. And with a major reward at the end (last night’s win) that will be a building block to more consistent high level of performance down the road.

Uptown Sports has a small stable of NHL players it represents, including Mike Fisher, the husband of American Idol winner and country music sweetheart, Carrie Underwood.

Aside from the moral argument for gay marriage (because gay or straight, everyone deserves the right to have someone to argue with over what to have for dinner and putting your shoes in the boot tray), there are statistical and marketing reasons why those who don’t agree with gay marriage may want to keep their thoughts personal. From a statistical perspective, hockey businesses of any kind may need to stay away from an anti-gay marriage perspective.

Statistically, NHL fans are notable in two areas: the high number of them who are quite active online, and the number of them who have a college degree or higher. According to Sports Business Daily, in 2010, 14.9% of NHL fans admitted to spending 20 hours or more per week on the Internet, more than any other of the major North American sports. According to Experian Media in late 2009, NHL fans are more likely than non-NHL fans to earn a college degree or higher.

Additionally, both Sports Business Daily and Experian Media show a growth point within the 18-34 year old age range. 33.4% of NHL fans are within that age range.

So what do these numbers have to do with gay marriage? Because these growth points within NHL fan demographics (these points being those that the NHL has over its sports league peers) are also demographic strong holds within the gay marriage debate. According to the Pew Research Forum in 2010, 53% of 18-30 year olds support gay marriage. Also, 52% of college graduates and above support gay marriage.

Though statistics are difficult to come by, there are studies that suggest that those who don’t feel strongly on either side of the gay marriage debate are less likely to be online. Thus, if hockey fans are spend the most time online of all sports fans, they are the least likely among sports fans to be what the Pew Research Center calls a “tune-out,” someone who doesn’t have a feeling on the topic. Thus, hockey fans most likely have a strong feeling on the topic on either side of the debate.

So look where all of those statistics overlap? In the NHL, your key populations – the one those involved in the business operations side of hockey want to encourage – align with a segment of a population that will statistically most likely support gay marriage.

Thus, anyone who represents a player or a fan-oriented product is doing themselves a demographic disservice if they publicly promote an anti-gay marriage agenda. More so than in the other major North American sports, NHL fans will more likely fall in the pro-gay marriage camp, and paired with their high level of internet usage, are more apt to be active in sharing their views with others and adopting online activism.

———-

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention this anecdotal piece of evidence. The popularity of college hockey continues to grow year after year. With that growth, college hockey has become a gateway to NHL fandom within a population not exposed to the sport previously. Geographically, college hockey fandom continues to grow in New England, a region with great traditions in the sport, a recent history of national success…and one of the nation’s highest levels of support for gay marriage.

Photo: Guardian Project/Rocket XL

Remember two weeks ago when I spoke about the NHL Guardian Project -”How To Get My Little Brother to Watch Hockey“? The unveiling of the project’s superheroes is ongoing via Facebook through a voting process. Each vote is entered into a drawing to win a Limited Edition Guardian Project Graphic Novel.

I know the project has come under some fire from established hockey fans, but no matter your likes or dislikes of the project, one has to hand it to the NHL for exploring an collaboration that hasn’t been tried before. If it converts an audience previously untouched by hockey, then the comic book – sport meld will be worth it. For a sport close to reclaiming a spot in the national consciousness, the uncharted territory may be worth it.

Disclosure: This post was sponsored by a PR team related to The Guardian Project, Rocket XL.

Gilroy celebrates his two goal game on Monday night. (Photo: NHL.com)

- By now you’re read up on Matt Gilroy’s two goal game for the New York Rangers against the New York Islanders on Monday night. NHL.com has a well-written write-up of the 7-2 Rangers win. Gilroy had been very quiet this season, having only played 22 games and spending a tad too much time as a healthy scratch.

Time in the press box seemingly has motivated Gilroy, who is making the most of his recent ice time. Says Kukla’s Korner’s Patrick Hoffman:

“In the last week or so, there has been a noticeable difference in New York Rangers’ defenseman Matt Gilroy’s game.

Gilroy has appeared to be more confident, poised, willing to jump into the play, make smart plays in the defensive zone and more importantly, a steady presence on the club’s blue line.”

As much as we would all love to see Gilroy repeat his two-goal game, the odds are against him. Reported the Elias Sports Bureau in its daily ESPN.com “Elias Says” piece:

“It was the first multiple-goal game of the season by a Rangers D-man, and if recent history is any indication it could be the last. The Rangers had exactly one multi-goal game by a defenseman in each of the past three seasons: by Michal Rozsival in both 2007-08 and 2008-09, and Daniel Girardi in 2009-10.”

- One of Gilroy’s 2009 teammates, Chris Higgins, started the season with Ritten of the Italian Series A pro hockey league, but is no longer on the active roster. He last played on December 11th in a 6-2 loss against Val Pusteria, and had two shots and no points on the night. On December 7th, Higgins had his own 2 goal game in a 6-5 win over Asiago (yes, like the cheese.)

Why Higgins is off the roster is a tad unclear. From my bad translation of German, here’s what Ritten’s website had to say about Higgins’ departure:

“Where’s Chris Higgins will end the season is still unclear. This player clearly has a great technique and great talent: though in the eyes of Rittner he is not yet mature enough to play in the Italian hockey league.”

Ritten only has 13 wins on the season, and they seemed to take their December 11th loss hard. Higgins finished his time in Ritten with 20 points (9 goals, 11 assists.)

- The Netherlands has a goal of fielding a men’s ice hockey team in the 2018 Winter Olympics. To achieve that goal, the Dutch Olympic Committee has created an elite hockey training center in Eindhoven, modeled after the US National Team Development Program in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The newly opened Ice Hockey Field Lab and High Tech Center at Eindhoven Ice Arena includes several cameras and video rooms to better break down plays and technique with the Netherlands’ top youth hockey players.

The IIHF was on hand for the opening of the center, which featured remarks from Gilroy and Higgins’ fellow 2009 graduate, Jason Lawrence. The alum of the USA NTDP was chosen to talk about his experiences in an elite U-18 program.

Lawrence is still raking up the points for Eindhoven Kemphanen of the Dutch Elite League, where he has 16 goals and 20 assists in 28 games played. He had a goal and an assist Tuesday night against Herentals HYC.

So what do we have in common, besides the Hasenauer nose bump and a bad Canadian-like accent? Thanks to a collaboration between Stan Lee and the National Hockey League, Sam and I may finally have common ground.

The Guardian Project begins its roll-out with the new year. (Image: The Guardian Project and Rocket XL)

Comic book legend Stan Lee – creator of the iconic Spider Man and my brother’s favorite, Iron Man – has helped design 30 new superheroes that correlate with the 30 NHL teams. Entitled The Guardian Project, the multimedia enterprise will begin its roll out with the January 1st Winter Classic in Pittsburgh, PA, culminating in a project-wide unveiling at the NHL All-Star Game on January 30th. While the superheroes’ adventures will take place independent of an ice rink, each superhero will take on elements of their related franchise.

Targeted towards the somewhat ignored “tween boy” demographic, the project is sure to have a reach beyond that particular age group. Comics have experienced a resurgence over the past few years, with my brother being a perfect example. In addition, the team behind The Guardian Project has already jumped head first into the social media waters, with plans to engage both hockey and comic fans via Facebook, YouTube and other platforms.

Both hockey and comics are genres willing to take risks to re-establish themselves amongst the American public, making this collaboration one to watch for pop culture and sports fans alike.

Below is a press release regarding how The Guardian Project will be using Facebook to order the unveiling of the superheroes and more information about the overall program.

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‘GUARDIAN 30 MATCH-UP’ LAUNCHED TO UNVEIL EACH HIGHLY ANTICIPATED SUPERHERO FROM THE GUARDIAN PROJECT

SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN TO IGNITE THE NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE’S MILLIONS OF FANS IN ULTIMATE FACE-OFF

LOS ANGELES, CA (December 21, 2010) – Guardian Media Entertainment – the partnership created between the National Hockey League (NHL), SLG Entertainment, LLC and Stan Lee (Chairman, POW! Entertainment, LLC) – today announced the launch of the GUARDIAN 30 MATCH-UP (www.guardianproject30.com).

With the highly anticipated unveiling of the 30 individual Guardians within the Guardian Project, the Guardian 30 Match-Up is a Facebook application that will enable fans to determine the order in which each team’s Guardian will be unveiled. Voting at www.guardianproject30.com will continue throughout January, with fans determining which team will win each match-up. The winners will be revealed daily, beginning with a face-off between the “Penguin” vs. the “Capital” to celebrate the 2011 Bridgestone
NHL Winter Classic® match-up on Saturday, Jan.1, 2011. The last winner will be unveiled on Sunday, Jan. 30, when all thirty Guardians will come to life during a special presentation within the 2011 NHL® All-Star Game presented by Discover in Raleigh, N.C. 4 p.m. ET live broadcast on VERSUS in the U.S. and on CBC and RDS in Canada.

Created and developed by Stan Lee, Tony Chargin, EVP of GME Creative Affairs, and Jake Shapiro, each Guardian has been derived from its corresponding hockey team, complete with special powers representative of each team and city. Every day for the first 30 days in January, the winning Guardians will be revealed at 8pm ET with an exclusive image designed by legendary comic book artist Neal Adams along with their bio.

With an initial plan to reach an all-family audience and narrower target demo of tween boys, GME hopes to bring a new audience to the NHL, while engaging the existing, established hockey fan base through a compelling tale of good vs. evil.

“Guardian 30 Match-Up is the latest strategic marketing tactic for reaching our core youth demographic of Guardian Project fans and building excitement around the unveiling of Guardians throughout January,” explained Brian Jennings, EVP, Marketing for the National Hockey League, L.P. ”Introducing the Guardians to fans through Facebook, a proven social media platform for engaging NHL fans, is an ideal way to set the stage for the exciting unveiling we have planned during the All-Star Game.”

“Our entire business model is focused on creating content for the ways in which entertainment is consumed today,” added Adam Baratta, GME Chief Creative Officer.

“Social media is a very important medium for reaching and engaging our core demographic which is why this was such an organic initiative for the launch of the Guardian Project brand.”

Fans will be able to vote for their favorite teams and learn about the Guardians at www.guardianproject30.com and by going to the “GP Vote Now tab of www.facebook.com/NHL.

In addition to heavy social media outreach, Guardian Media Entertainment (GME) will drive awareness and exposure for the Guardian 30 Match-Up through the airing of promos in NHL arenas, on the NHL Network™, on VERSUS and on NHL.com, etc.

About Guardian Media Entertainment, LLC.
GME will serve as the company responsible for the creation, development and exploitation of The Guardian Project. The executive team includes Howard Baldwin, Chairman, Mark Terry, Chief Operating Officer; Adam Baratta, Chief Creative Officer; Tony Chargin, Executive Vice President of Creative Affairs; Aldo LaPietra, Executive Vice President, Production & Business Development; and Jennifer Sprague, Senior Vice President, Marketing & Communications.

About the NHL:
The National Hockey League, founded in 1917, is the second-oldest of the four major professional team sports leagues in North America. Today, the NHL consists of 30 Member Clubs, each reflecting the League’s international makeup, with players from more than 20 countries represented on team rosters. According to a Simmons Market Research study, NHL fans are younger, more educated, more affluent, and access content through digital means more than any other sport. The NHL entertains more than 250 million fans each season in-arena and through its partners in national television (VERSUS, NBC, TSN, CBC, RDS, RIS, NASN, ASN and NHL Network™) and radio (NHL Radio™, Sirius XM Radio and XM Canada). Through the NHL Foundation, the League’s charitable arm, the NHL raises money and awareness for Hockey Fights Cancer™ and NHL Youth Development, and supports the charitable efforts of NHL players. For more information on the NHL, log on to NHL.com.

About Stan Lee
Stan Lee, Founder, Chairman and Chief Creative Officer of POW! Entertainment, LLC Stan Lee’s famous co-creations include Spider-Man®, The Incredible Hulk®, X-Men®, The Fantastic Four® and Iron Man® among many others. Lee, known to millions as the man whose Super Heroes propelled Marvel® Comics to its preeminent position in the comic book industry, first became publisher of Marvel® Comics in 1972 and is presently the Chairman Emeritus of Marvel® Enterprises, Inc.

About SLG Entertainment, LLC
Formed in 2008, SLG Entertainment, LLC is a company whose vision is to merge the worlds of entertainment and sports by creating, developing and exploiting original superhero content derived from the intellectual property owned or controlled by professional and amateur sports organizations. It’s owners include, Stan Lee and POW! Entertainment, award-winning producer Adam Baratta, Aldo LaPietra, Mark Terry, co-creators Tony Chargin and Jake Shapiro, and Academy Award nominated producer and former owner of the Pittsburgh Penguins, Howard Baldwin.

About POW! Entertainment, LLC
POW! (Purveyors of Wonder) Entertainment, LLC, an advanced media and entertainment company, was founded by world famous comic book and motion picture icon Stan Lee, together with award winning producer Gill Champion and intellectual property specialist Arthur Lieberman, Esq. POW! Entertainment’s principals have extensive backgrounds in the entertainment industry encompassing the creation, production and licensing of original intellectual properties including some of the most successful entertainment franchises of all time. POW! Entertainment, capitalizing on this combined expertise specializes in franchises for the entertainment industry, including animation and live-action feature films, plus television, DVDs, video games, merchandising, and related ancillary markets all of which contribute to global expansion.

NHL, the NHL Shield and the NHL Winter Classic word mark are registered trademarks and NHL Network is a trademark of the National Hockey League. All Rights Reserved.

Disclosure: This post was sponsored by a PR team related to The Guardian Project, Rocket XL.

As one of the only Boston Bruins fans on the planet who doesn’t hate Phil Kessel, I’m beginning to understand my father’s sentiment.

You may hate Phil Kessel all you want – sports fandom thrives on hatred, as sad as it may sound. Intense fandom means hating particular teams and defector players. As a Buffalo Bills fan, I hate the Dallas Cowboys. I hate the Dallas Stars for making my Buffalo Sabres fan mother sob in 1999. I understand the dislike of those dreaded dirty Habs. I get it. Fans hate players. Fans boo players. Fans go on rants about players.

But after a year, isn’t it enough?

What did Phil Kessel do besides recognize that the current system of the Boston Bruins has no place for college-built players (aka, why Blake Wheeler is always a subject of trade rumors, and why Chuck Kobasew was trade bait, why the player who showed the most in training camp, Matt Bartkowski, was sent down, and why it’s an absolute long shot that David Warsofsky will ever see the Garden ice)?

Kessel didn’t hang with the guys? Well, he wasn’t 21 for most of his time in Boston, and many of his friends were college hockey players in the area. Who are you going to hang out with – a guy you know from the National Development Team that is your age, or a guy with a family, kids, who may be 10 years older than you? Kessel may have hung out with guys outside of the team a bit more than others, but when you have existing friends here (of which he did on many of the area college hockey teams), you’re going to spend time with them. That never made him any less of a Boston Bruin.

Kessel didn’t want to be a Boston Bruin? The NHL is a business, and hockey players are trying to make a living. If you’re offered a job with a pay increase, aren’t you going to consider it? And if you don’t have strong ties to an area, office, or business, money becomes that overwhelming factor in that decision. A young kid, with a relatively short career to spend making a living from playing hockey in comparison to the length of the career of us desk jockeys, decided to make more money while he could.

The Bruins brass enjoys a certain type of player, and that isn’t the nuanced non-fighter that college hockey and US junior hockey currently produces. And that’s the Bruins’ choice, and it’s working for them. Kessel wasn’t going to fit into that system, and is flourishing in the Toronto Maple Leafs system, a team run by Brian Burke, an executive that might understand the training and style of a player like Kessel better than anyone else in the NHL. A player like Milan Lucic thrives in the Bruins system – a junior hockey bred bruiser whose defensive mentality is as welcome as his offensive play-making. A player like Kessel, the exact opposite, was not going to last long term, despite his early success, because he plays a different style of hockey.

Both organizations seem to be reaping the benefits of the trade. Tyler Seguin, obtained with the first rounder received in the Kessel deal, is a steady player whose presence offensively has been very helpful to a Sturm and Savard-less Bruins. Kessel has brought direly needed goal scoring and excitement to a much-maligned Maple Leafs franchise. It’s worked out well on both ends – a quality many trades do not amount to in the long-run.

And personally, I find it a bit disingenuous that Bruins fans, an entire year post-trade, take delight in the hits to and booing of a young man who once had cancer, who never sad anything awful towards them, and who, while he was in Boston, contributed substantially to his team.

So fellow Bruins fans, find another joke. To use my dad’s saying, last night was the third time, and it’s not funny anymore.

Said Fucile:

Just imagine hearing Cusick’s voice after every Boston goal. Fans would love it. We here at Days of Y’Orr definitely feel it would add a little something after the goal. Think of the Bruins scoring a huge goal in the playoffs followed by Cusick’s “Score!” with every fan in attendance yelling the same. We can’t think of a better way to honor Fred Cusick.

I completely and wholeheartedly agree, and I wasn’t even born and bred in Boston.

To help Days of Y’orr further their cause, you can sign their petition, download a flyer to distribute, or contact the Bruins directly by phone or email (the information about the last two are on the original blog post.) It makes little sense for the Bruins not to oblige – I just hope they give Fucile and the rest of the blog’s crew the credit they deserve when they eventually do.