Stanley Cup of Chowder

Photo by John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Big day in Florida. It is Wednesday, my dudes. And while it may still be a sore subject around these parts, there’s no denying that today is a pretty big day in South Florida: both the Florida Panthers and the Miami Heat will be hosting Finals Game 3s tonight. Thus far, the NBA edition has been more competitive than the NHL edition, but who knows how some time at home might affect proceedings? Elsewhere in hockey circles, the Flyers made the offseason’s first big trade on Tuesday, sending Ivan Provorov to Columbus as part...

Photo by Dave Sandford/NHLI via The Bruins have an offseason full of tough questions ahead of them. Let’s take a look at where they could possibly begin. Well, it’s the offseason and... I am still annoyed at how Round 1 went. Not at any particular player, though I definitely have come to terms with a couple of names I will be much happier to not see in Black and gold next year. I’m more just sad and perplexed as to where you start on building back up. You already had one of the best regular seasons in team history and got real damn close to having one of the best...

Photo by John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Not much happening. Welcome to a new week, folks! The first full week in June is here. Rejoice. The Stanley Cup Final began over the weekend, with Florida losing a road playoff game for the first time in 339 years. Vegas took Game 1, 5-2, with Game 2 scheduled for tonight. I saw about half of Game 1 and thought it was a pretty entertaining watch for a neutral observer...hopefully we get more of that. The Bruins made a minor organizational move late last week, acquiring forward Vincent Arsenau from the Vancouver Canucks...

Photo by Fred Kfoury III/Icon Sportswire via Then there were two. It is Wednesday, my dudes. Hopefully you’ve enjoyed a decent week so far. If not, you’re just about halfway through, so hang in there. The Miami area continued its decimation of Boston title hopes on Monday, with the Heat eliminating the Celtics in seven games. Jimmy Butler and Matthew Tkachuk will not be on Jeremy Jacobs’ Christmas card list, as they took a whole bunch of hot dog revenue away from TD Garden this spring. Returning to hockey, Tkachuk and the Panthers will face the Vegas Golden...

TV3 Latvia A Bruins prospect got to be a key part of Latvian hockey history! Latvia, generally speaking, isn’t supposed to be here. While the Maroon and White has had a steady trickle of NHLers come across the pond and bring glory or at least recognition to the small baltic state, Latvia generally has held the position of “spirited underdog” for pretty much every year they’re in the IIHF World Championships. Never bad enough for relegation unless something really bad happens, but usually not on the same level as the Big four nations of Finland, Sweden, Canada,...

Photo by Matthew Pearce/Icon Sportswire via Still some more Conference Final games to be played. Happy Friday, folks! We’re heading into a long weekend here in the United States, with Memorial Day Weekend usually serving as the unofficial start of summer here in New England (I don’t know if it’s the same elsewhere, I can’t claim to know your traditions). Summer started on Thursday for the Carolina Hurricanes, while the Dallas Stars staved off summer for a couple more days. The Stars, down 3-0 in the series, won Game 4 in OT last night to force that series back...

Photo by Ethan Miller/ Pick your poison. It is Wednesday, my dudes. After some great series in the earlier part of the playoffs, the NHL’s Conference Finals continue to be pretty uncompetitive. (To be fair, it’s really only uncompetitive in terms of the games won, as the games themselves have been competitive, save for last night’s.) Dallas got pasted on home ice last night after Jamie Benn snapped and cross-checked Mark Stone in the face. Vegas leads that series, 3-0, and will be heading back to the Stanley Cup Final for the second time in franchise history. In...

Photo by John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via A long one. Happy Friday, folks! The Eastern Conference Final kicked off last night, and while the Florida Panthers are a bit of a sore subject around these parts, what they’re doing is becoming more impressive by the game. Lovable player Matthew Tkachuk scored with 13 seconds left in quadruple (yes, quadruple) overtime earlier this morning to give the Panthers a Game 1 win in Raleigh. Four overtimes! Four!!!! The win was Florida’s seventh consecutive road win this postseason and fifth overtime win of the postseason —...

Photo by Jamie Squire//NHLI Some really bad ones. Welcome to Monday, folks! Another week begins. Happy belated Mother’s Day to all of the moms out there as well. This weekend saw a truly sad event, as the Toronto Maple Leafs were eliminated from the postseason, losing in OT to the Panthers (too soon). We’ve got a Florida-Carolina Eastern Conference Final set up, while the Western Conference Final is TBD; Dallas and Seattle will play seven, while I’m putting this together before the Vegas-Edmonton game happened. David Pastrnak was named a Hart Trophy Finalist on...

Photo by Maddie Meyer/ For individuals, that is. Happy Friday, folks! We’ve got 80+ degrees in the forecast for the Boston area, meaning it is officially playoff hockey weath...never mind. While the Bruins on-ice time is done, they continue to reap the benefits of their outstanding regular season, with two more individual award finalists: Linus Ullmark is a finalist for the Vezina, along with Connor Hellebuyck and Ilya Sorokin. David Pastrnak is a finalist for the Lindsay Award, along with Connor McDavid and Erik Karlsson. The Lindsay Award, in case you forgot, is...

Photo by Erica Denhoff/Icon Sportswire via A lot of them. It is Wednesday, my dudes. Hopefully you’re having a decent week thus far. The Bruins held what is likely their last 2023 post-mortem yesterday, with Don Sweeney, Cam Neely, Jim Montgomery, and Charlie Jacobs addressing the media. It went about how you’d expect: disappointment, surprise, lack of execution, etc. It was interesting, in a way, in how this one differed from recent seasons in that all parties involved seemed to agree that management did everything it could to ice the best possible team, only for...

Photo by David Kirouac/Icon Sportswire via Not a banner few weeks for the organization. Welcome to Monday, folks! A new week is upon us. For the Boston Bruins’ organization, this week begins with all three teams out of action: the Bruins, Providence Bruins, and Maine Mariners have all been eliminated from the playoffs. Providence was the last team standing, but was brushed aside by Hartford in a 4-0 loss on Friday, dropping their first-round series three games to one. Still, the playoffs roll on without us, and the team that ended the NHL Bruins’ playoffs remains...