A four all-star, 2 Vezina trophy winner, Conn Symthe winner, Silver medalist and most importantly 2011 Stanley Cup Champion. Those are all the qualities any player in the NHL wants. Those are all of the qualities Boston Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas has. After playing all four year at The University of Vermont Thomas came into the NHL in 2002 after a few years playing in the AHL and IHL. It wasn’t until 2005 that he cemented his stay in the big leagues and has never looked back…until he recently decided he was going to take an entire year off from playing the game he loves. News of him not returning shocked the hockey world, most importantly Bruins fans. After witnessing a winning season in 2011, they saw their beloved Bruins fall in game 7 to the Washington Capitals in the first round of the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs. But Bruins fans never thought their starting goalie would leave.

Thomas is 38 years old. He has a wife and kids and claims to be taking time away from the game to be with the people he loves. With his family living in Colorado, after Thomas moved them mid-season, living in Boston would be difficult for him to see his family. But another thing Tim Thomas has is one year remaining on his four-year contract. This coming year while Thomas is enjoying his time away from the ice with him family, the Bruins will be eating $5 million that is left on Thomas’s contract, and that is with not knowing what the CBA will be in the coming months. Thomas has really put the Bruins in a bind. Tukka Rask would be a starter on any other team, and now he will get to prove himself in the 2012-2013 season. But knowing they will be out a significant amount of money, and now needing to find a decent backup goalie the Bruins management has their backs up against the wall. Thomas clearly is over playing in Boston after waiving his no trade clause in 2010 and with moving his family to Colorado he is sending a message loud and clearly to the entire league. He says he still wants to play because he has his sights on playing in the 2014 Winter Olympics but in reality, he will be 40 years old and haven taken an entire season away from the game where other US goalies like Jonathan Quick, Ryan Miller, Craig Anderson, among others will have had the time to improve. The 2012-2013 season will be one full of tests for the 2011 Stanley Cup Champs, tests no fans is ready to endure.

When this years Stanley Cup finals comes to an end, we may look back at the 5:07 mark of the first period of last nights game 3, as the turning point in the series. Boston Bruins forward Nathan Horton was skating near the middle of the ice, when he fed a pass to Milan Lucic on the left side, but, with Horton’s head still turned that way, Aaron Rome of the Vancouver Canucks, launched into him at the blue line. Horton’s head hit hard on the ice as the two players spilled to the ground. Immediately after the dirty hit, the raucous TD Garden fans instantly turned into a silent, and anxious fan base. As Horton lay on his back, cameras caught his eyes rolling back; the capacity crowd took a collective breath. Horton, who is second on the Bruins in postseason points, was cared to on ice for an extremely long time before he was finally taken of the ice on a stretcher. Watching this unfold, you had to wonder if this hit was the nail in the coffin for the Bruins, who are searching for their first title since 1973. How would the Bruins respond to watching one of their leaders, lay on the ice motionless?

Well, the Bruins did not score on the ensuing five-minute power play, nor did they tally a goal in the first period. It looked like they were physically tired, and emotionally spent. But then in the locker room, in between periods, something happened. Reports came in from Massachusetts General Hospital that Horton was “moving all his extremities.” The Bruins were finally able to take their mind for a little bit, off their fallen teammate and onto the task at hand. Bruins Coach Claude Julien implored his team to respond in a way that would make Horton proud. This was one of the moments that you usually only see in movies. One of those rare moments that can draw a team together and propel them forward. The Bruins seized this moment and never looked back.

It was time for the Bruins to finally get some payback. They decided not to respond with fists, but with something that hurts much more…. Goals. They rallied around Horton, their battered teammate. They propped up their embattled coach, then cashed in on their chance at redemption behind their goaltender Tim Thomas, who was again, in the words of Daniel Sedin, “beyond unbelievable.” The Bruins were finally playing with a purpose, as they went on to blow the Canucks out 8-1. They played such a hard-nosed, physical game, something we hadn’t seen in this final yet from the B’s.

There was no better moment that exemplified the Bruins’ play last night than when Henrik Sedin, who leads the Canucks with 21 playoff points, attempted to bat down the puck right in front of the Bruins’ crease in an array of third-period activity. Tim Thomas sized up the young center, then sent him to the ice with a cross check that sent one message. Not in My House, and Certainly Not Tonight.

As the Bruins left the Arena last night, there were a lot of questions to be answered. They didn’t know how their teammate was doing, or how they are going to play without Horton for the rest of the series. The one thing they did know though, was that they represented Horton in a way that would make him proud.

Boston Bruins center David Krejci will miss the rest of the playoffs with a dislocated right wrist suffered in Wednesday night’s Game 3 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers, the team confirmed Thursday morning.

The 24-year-old Krejci took a vicious but clean open-ice shot from the Flyers’ Mike Richards in the first period and did not return.

The play led to the Bruins’ go-ahead goal in the 4-1 victory that gave Boston a 3-0 lead in their Eastern Conference semifinal series.

Krejci ended up in Baltimore after the game at Union Memorial Hospital, where he had surgery on the wrist. He is expected to be ready for the 2010-11 preseason.

Bruins coach Claude Julien did not take issue with the hit on Krejci, who had 4 goals and 4 assists in 9 games this postseason after tallying 17 goals and 35 assists in the regular season.

Losing Krejci could be devastating for the Bruins moving forward, especially because the team lost Marco Sturm for the remainder of the season when he tore his ACL and MCL in Game 1 of this series.

Click here to read the full article – By Joe McDonald of ESPNBoston.com

Too many men on the ice — a painful reminder of franchise futility for a generation of Bruins and their fans — is finally a reason to celebrate in Boston.

Miroslav Satan scored a power-play goal after Buffalo was called for having too many men on the ice in the second extra period, and the Bruins beat the Sabres 3-2 at 27:41 of overtime on Wednesday night to take a 3-1 lead in the first-round series.

“Finally, it’s over,” said an exhausted Satan, who was stopped by Olympic MVP Ryan Miller in the first overtime on what seemed like such a sure goal that the scoreboard operator even sounded the horn. “We have a 3-1 lead, so it’s a little more breathing space, but the whole series has been good hockey from both sides and great goaltending, and we know that’s not going to change.”

The Bruins rallied from a 2-0 deficit in the third period to force overtime, and it was still 2-2 when in the second OT when Drew Stafford was caught on the ice as a sixth skater and was unable to scramble back to the bench in time to avoid a penalty. There were just 9 seconds left in the power play when Satan got a pass from Michael Ryder in front of the net and put it past Miller.

Click here to read the full article – By Associated Press of ESPN.com

Marc Savard is one step closer to returning to the Bruins’ lineup.

Tthe Bruins forward passed his neuro-psyche test Tuesday afternoon and has been cleared to rejoin the team. He has skated on his own the last two days and now he’ll be able to continue his conditioning with the rest of his team. It is still unclear when he’ll be able to return to game action. It’s likely the Bruins will be cautious in deciding a timetable for his comeback.

“I have to be realistic here, and when I’m 100 percent condition-wise and mentally positive I can do this, I’ll be ready to go,” Savard said.

During his twirl on the ice Tuesday morning, Savard was able to work on stops and starts and said he felt pretty good.

The neurological test was done on a computer and consisted of choosing the right numbers and colors when asked, according to Savard.

Click here to read the full article – By Joe McDonald of ESPNBoston.com

Boston Bruins assistant coach Craig Ramsay is expected to rejoin the team for practice on Friday, a day after being taken to a Buffalo hospital, where he was diagnosed with the flu.

“He’s doing better,” coach Claude Julien said Thursday, after Ramsay missed the Bruins’ playoff opener, a 2-1 loss to the Sabres. “There’s probably a good chance we’ll see him back here tomorrow.”

Bruins spokesman Matt Chmura said Ramsay was feeling ill about an hour before the game. Escorted by a Bruins trainer, Ramsay walked under his own power to the ambulance and was driven to Buffalo General Hospital, Chmura said.

Assistant Doug Houda, who regularly watches games from the press box, filled Ramsay’s role behind the bench.

Click here to read the full article – By Associated Press of ESPNBoston.com

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Coach Claude Julien made it clear after the morning skate that fans should not expect any costly retribution Thursday night when the Bruins face the Pittsburgh Penguins.

It will be the first meeting between the teams since March 7, when Matt Cooke laid a blindside hit on Marc Savard, which resulted in a Grade 2 concussion that likely ended Savard’s season.

NHL disciplinarian Colin Campbell is scheduled to be at the game, as are Penguins owner Mario Lemieux and team president David Morehouse.

Julien discussed the possible repercussions of retaliating, pointing out the lawsuit that stemmed from the infamous Todd Bertuzzi-Steve Moore incident in 2004, when Bertuzzi sucker-punched Moore from behind and drove him head-first to the ice. Moore has not played hockey since.

Click here to read the full article – By Joe McDonald of ESPN.com

Patrice Bergeron, a guy who wasn’t invited to Team Canada’s orientation camp in August, got to the rink Monday and got a nice surprise.

From being on the outside to finding a spot on Canada’s top line as they open the Olympic tournament today against Norway (4:30 p.m. PST), Bergeron felt like like one of the luckiest guys in the world.

“For sure,” said the Boston Bruins forward, “(Crosby)’s such a great player and Rick Nash is an unbelievable player, as well. The two of them, having a chance to play with them is a real honour. I’m just trying to go out there and not get too nervous about playing with them.

“It seems like we find each other on the ice and seems like the chemistry has been pretty good from the get-go.”

Crosby and Bergeron played together at the 2005 world junior tournament with great success – Bergeron was in the middle then and Crosby on the left side – and at the world championships.

“Me and Berg have played together a couple of times now. Hopefully the familiarity there is going to help to adjust quicker,” said Crosby. “Nash and I played together in the summer camp and he’s a pretty straight forward guy to play with, he’s got a lot of speed and tries to use it to the outside. It shouldn’t be too hard to figure everything out.”

Click here to read the full article – By Toronto Sun

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In his younger days, Daniel Paille was expected to be an NHL star.

Unfortunately, Paille’s big league career hasn’t worked out quite as hoped, with 35-41-76 totals in 193 games.

But Paille showed his pedigree Tuesday night in Buffalo, where he scored twice in the Bruins’ 3-2 shootout win against the Sabres. He has played several such standout games in recent weeks, nights on which he was one of the best forwards on the ice.

A winger who has skated on every B’s line since arriving from Buffalo in a late-October trade for a 2010 third-round draft pick, the speedy Paille of late has earned a spot on the No. 1 threesome with center Marc Savard and Miroslav Satan.

“Dan is one of those players, his speed alone creates a lot and his forecheck creates a lot, whichever line he’s been on,” coach Claude Julien said yesterday at the Tampa Bay Lightning’s suburban practice rink. “With Savard, there’s no doubt if he uses that speed, Marc is going to find him.

Click here to read the full article – By Boston Herald

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So much for the Bruins having a full, healthy team.

In one of the better games of their recent skid, the B’s lost defenseman Mark Stuart to a broken pinkie on his right hand in Saturday’s 3-2 shootout loss to the Los Angeles Kings. Stuart was operated on yesterday and will be lost until after the Olympic break.

“The last couple of games I thought (Stuart) was playing some of his best hockey, and we liked his game. Unfortunately, you lose him for 3-4 weeks,” said B’s coach Claude Julien, who just got Marc Savard, Marco Sturm and Steve Begin back from injuries. “It’s the second major injury for him, a guy who’s been as reliable as you can find as far as health issues are concerned until this year.”

Stuart, who suffered a broken sternum earlier in the season, got hurt in one of the turning points of the loss to the Kings. Early in the second period, LA defenseman Peter Harrold sent a breakout pass to Anze Kopitar, and Stuart blasted the Kings’ top scorer. Wayne Simmonds immediately went after Stuart, and the B’s defenseman eagerly obliged.

Click here to read the full article – By Boston Herald

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