The Boston Bruins

As the 2013-2014 NHL season is heading to an end, the Bruins have already clinched a playoff spot and are the top seed in the Eastern Conference as of right now. They have also clinched the Atlantic division but they do not know who they are going to play first round. The teams that they could play could be the Columbus Blue Jackets, Detroit Red Wings, Washington Capitals, Toronto Maple Leafs, Philadelphia Flyers, or the New Jersey Devils. The Bruins will know within a couple weeks or so who they will play first round of the playoffs. Home field advantage goes to the Bruins which is very good for them because they get to play more games at the TD Garden along with the best and craziest fans in all of sports. I would love to go route for my home town at the Garden one of these playoff games. I went to two playoff games over the past few years, and both of them were amazing games to watch because they won both of them. I went to Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals in 2011 in Boston with 16 of my best friends as they battled against the Tampa Bay Lightning. They won 3-1, and ended up winning the Stanley Cup for the first time since 1972. Also, I went to Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals in Boston with one of my best friends. They faced the New York Rangers and won 3-1. They won that series on that night and went on to face the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Eastern Conference Finals, and played in the Stanley Cup finals for the second time in three years, but lost to the Chicago Blackhawks, who won their second Stanley Cup in four years. I was so fortunate to go to both of those games because they won. Im hoping that the Bruins will go back to the Stanley Cup Finals this year because I love watching them in the playoffs along with all of my best friends. LETS GO BRUINS!!!!

Championship Games

Sorry that this post is so late, but I just want to mention some high school hockey teams on a tremendous season. Reading High School and Malden Catholic High School are both schools that I want to shout out because of their incredible journeys through the playoffs. Reading won the Division 1 State Championship against Braintree High School at the TD Garden on Sunday, March 16th, with a final score of 4-1. Everyone thought that this was Braintree’s year and how they were going to roll over Reading  in this final. Well, they didn’t. Braintree did not come to play, they looked flat, Reading actually showed them who the team to beat really is. Reading had a very good game all around. Some of my buddies played on the team and they actually scored in this championship game. I want to congratulate Reading on a successful season, I know how fun it is to play and win on the Garden, it’s a blast. Never forget. As for Malden Catholic, they have now won four consecutive Super 8 titles. You can not get any better than four rings in high school sports. Five seniors have four now and they are all really good hockey players, some are playing for Division 1 colleges next year. Also, these five players have recorded a historic memory, being 19-0 in the playoffs in their four years on Malden Catholic. They defeated Austin Prep 5-3 at the TD Garden just after the Division 1 game and they couldn’t be more happier. Four-peat. It’s destiny.      

Division 1 North Final

This week was a great week in MIAA hockey. So many games and so many stunning victories from some of the star teams. I went to three different games at the Tsongas Arena this week and all of them were wicked intense! The first one was Reading against Wilmington, playing each other in Division 1 North final. It was a very close game all the way through and it was very exciting to watch because my team played both of these teams. We beat and lost to Reading, and tied Wilmington both times we faced them. They have not played each other since the very first game of the season, which Reading won 6-3. This game was 3-3 going into overtime, and they had to play 6 minutes of 5 on 5…no one scored. Then, they had to play 6 minutes of 4 on 4 and again…no one scored. Since they went past overtime, they had to settle this in a shootout. This was probably one of the most intense shootouts I have ever seen. It went 11 rounds and Reading ended up winning in this extremely long shootout and are now heading to the TD Garden in place of where I have been the past two years. Reading will play Braintree at the TD Garden on Sunday for the Division 1 championship. I wish the best of luck to both teams especially Reading because I played with a couple of players on that team and they are very good teammates, leaders and role models, and I hope they will lead there team to victory on Sunday. 

Super 8 Updates

These past few weeks have been a very important time for the sport of hockey in the state of Massachusetts. The first round of the Super 8 is over and teams are still fighting to be the number one team in the state. The first round consisted of four individual teams who completely dominated their opponents in round one.

This round was a three game series but to let you all know, the seedings are 1. BC High, 2. Malden Catholic, 3. Springfield Cathedral, 4. Austin Prep, 5. Central Catholic, 6. Duxbury, 7. Catholic Memorial, 8. Xaverian. BC High defeated Xaverian 2 games to 0, winning the first game 2-1 and the second 4-0. The three time defending Malden Catholic eliminated Catholic Memorial 2 games to 0, winning the first game 4-3 and the second 6-4. Springfield Cathedral beat Duxbury, the only public school in the tournament, 2 games to 0, winning with a final of 4-1 and the next 6-3. Lastly, Austin Prep sent home Central Catholic 2 games to 0, winning the first with a final score of 2-1 and the second 4-1. Every series was 2-0 which kind of surprised me because I thought a lot of these lower seeded teams would've given the higher seeded teams a rough time but I think we have found our top 4 teams in the state.

I have been to almost every Super 8 game this year and I just want to mention that I think it is very boring to watch just because there is practically no one at these games watching. In the past, the seats were filled completely and now, it's not the same but I will still always go watch because it's very exciting to me and I love watching hockey. Hope to see a lot more people at these next few games because it is so quiet!

As you know, there are 4 teams left and I know that they will be very intense because these teams are so evenly matched. The match ups are…

1 BC High vs. 4 Austin Prep
2 Malden Catholic vs 3 Springfield Cathedral

I know these teams are the top four teams in the tournament because I have seen them play and they work very well with each other and as a whole, but I would've loved to see some upsets by the 5-8 seedings to make it interesting.

The Super 8 continues next wednesday and I hope to see some more exciting hockey! Wish I was still playing…

    

Succeeded but Depressed

My days of playing hockey are officially over and I can not believe it. I am so desperate to get back on that ice and skate with my team but it will never happen again. Two nights ago at the Chelmsford Form in Chelmsford my team lost in the first round of the Division 1 State Tournament. First time I have ever lost a playoff game in my three years on the Burlington High School hockey team after winning the states two years in a row. We lost 4-0 and I could not be more upset about it. I wanted to end out strong with my boys but it just didn't happen that way. As soon as that third period ended, all my memories of being on this team sunk in my head real fast and I couldn't help but cry until I got home. An hour of continuous crying. I was depressed at the time and I still am today. I know one day my depression will end but I know for a fact that won't be anytime soon. I just wanted to end my last year of ever playing hockey on a good note by defending our championship. I wanted to be like the last two senior classes, by ending it with a win. They were my biggest idols ever and I couldn't help but thank them for an incredible ride through the season and the playoffs the last two years. This year was amazing as well, but it wasn't enough to send us off with another title. But now, I am starting to realize that I have succeeded so much in just three years of high school hockey that not many people have accomplished in there high school hockey career, and that's winning two state championships and having two beautiful state championship rings that will keep me with an enormous amount of memories that will last a lifetime. Even though the accomplishment of winning one state championship is incredibly hard to do, winning two is extremely hard to accomplish. I will always love my teammates no matter what happens and I can not thank them enough. Love you guys. Thank you.

Purple The Palace 2

To start off, I am very proud of the USA Olympic hockey team for crushing the Czech Republic 7-1 in their first game! I also wish them good luck in their next game against Russia. But most importantly, I want to thank everyone who came to the Burlington Varsity hockey cancer game wednesday night, also known as "Purple The Palace 2," because it was a very special night in our community, our team, and for Stoneham as well. We raised an enormous amount of money for a great cause. Our team was fighting and playing for a very young, kind, and great kid named Marty who is fighting Leukemia and he is feeling a lot better right now so that's a good sign for him and our community. Stoneham had a kid on their team named Brandan who is also fighting cancer. We ended up defeating Stoneham 2-0 that night and won it for Marty so it was a fun night for everyone from Burlington.

2014 Olympics (Hockey)

The 2014 Winter Olympics are ready to kick off! All the winter olympic athletes are traveling around the world at this very moment to compete and represent their country. Although all the sports are very interesting to watch, I am mostly focused on hockey because I love hockey. I think it is going to be an exciting two weeks of hockey with upsets from countries waiting to happen and I wish I was there to watch. I guess I'll just be sitting on my couch with all my friends watching the games which is still fun but obviously not as fun as being there. The one and only bad part about the hockey olympics is that it is right in the middle of the NHL season and there are no NHL games for a straight two weeks so teams that are on a roll before the olympic break can come back and do terrible and form a huge slump or maybe not, or a team that's doing bad could be doing terrible before the break and come back and form better as a team because of that break. So honestly anything can happen to any team during this long break. Anything can happen to any player like an injury of some sort caused in the olympics.  I wish every player, team, and country competing the best of luck trying to win the gold for themselves and their country! I am very excited and can't wait to watch!