Jim Dalrymple.com

It’s not too often I feel bad for an opposing team, but last nights defeat of the Pittsburgh Penguins by the Boston Bruins was one of those times. No matter what the Pens did, it wasn’t right—the look on the coach’s face let us all know his days were numbered.

The Pens got penalty after penalty, many of them not good ones either. The Bruins ended up with several 5 on 3 power plays and made the Pens suffer on most of the attempts.

The Bruins Joe Thorton, Glen Murray and Dave Scatchard all had great games, getting multiple points. I was kind of surprised with Patrice Bergeron—he didn’t have the best game. You can forgive Patrice though; he kept the Bruins in many games by himself this year.

Sidney Crosby was, without a doubt, the best player on the ice for the Pens. It’s surprising that the Pens are doing so poorly this year with all of the talent they have. I see changes coming for them.

As for the Bruins—it’s good to see them finally firing on all cylinders. I hope they can keep it up.

The Boston Bruins pulled off a squeaker tonight as they beat the Pittsburgh Penguins in overtime. With a 7-6 score, the Bruins won the game despite having a defense that resembles the keystone cops.

I remember part way through the second period thinking that if the Bruins win—and that was a big if—they wouldn’t deserve it. I’m amazed that they were able to come back and win.

Why shouldn’t they win? Because they are playing without a defense. The Bruins defense sucks ass! Why is it that players like Hal Gill, Brian Leetch and Jiri Slegr think that they game shoot the puck through their opponents. I have never seen so many dumbass plays in my life.

At the offensive blue line, with an opportunity to keep the puck in, the Bruins defense shoots the puck at the legs of the other team. Why not pass the puck, or at least shoot it in the corner.

The only players that showed up for tonight’s game for the Bruins were Murray (and not until late in the game), Leahy and Patrice Bergeron. Where the hell are the rest of you guys!

The Pens played a great game overall. While the Bruins relied totally on little bursts of speed to score their goals, the Pens played a more steady game. Lemieux had a couple of goals, starting his goal scoring season off.

Perhaps one of the highlights for everyone here in Nova Scotia was the performance by Sidney Crosby—wow, what a player! Sidney ended up with three or four points, but you can just tell this kid is something special.

Well, it seems only Andrew Raycroft showed up for the game as the Boston Bruins played the Buffalo Sabres tonight in Buffalo. It took Joe Thorton and the crew almost 50 minutes to get into the game and by that time Raycroft was too worn out to stop anything.

The game was pretty close for the most part, but the Bruins just couldn’t get it past the Sabres goalie, Miller. He played a really good game, but so did Raycroft—the difference was that the Sabres actually put players on the ice that wanted to play.

You have to feel bad for the goalie when your own defensemen seem more content to pass the puck to the other team than clearing the zone.

Mike Sullivan has to have a heart-to-heart with the team before tomorrow night’s game. Raycroft look hurt at the end of this game, so we’ll have to wait until tomorrow to see if he’ll play.

The New York Rangers’ big pussy, Dale Purinton, was suspended by the National Hockey League for an incident against the Boston Bruins in a preseason game last weekend. I say incident, what I mean is that instead of fighting like a man, pussy Purinton gouged the eye of Colton Orr.

Purinton was suspended for 10 games without pay, which means he loses just over $26,000. I’m glad the league is taking things like this seriously, but something has to be done with people like Purinton. Some players aren’t that good, but they make a living out of playing the tough-guy role—Purinton can’t even do that.

“Purinton’s actions were deliberate and dangerous,” NHL executive vice president and director of hockey operations Colin Campbell said in a statement. “In reaching this decision, it is also noted that Purinton has been suspended on three previous occasions by the league for deliberate attempts to injure an opponent.”

Yes, you read that right—THREE previous suspensions. Time to go flip some burgers pussy Purinton, you obviously can’t cut it in the NHL.

The Boston Bruins dropped their home opener on Wednesday to their archrivals, the Montreal Canadians. I was really disappointed with the referees and the sloppy play of the Bruins at times throughout the night.

First game of the season, so it’s not a big deal that the Bruins lost—even to Montreal. There were a couple of things that I found a bit distressing as I watched the game though.

The first was how much leeway the referees gave the players on the new rule changes. I like the new rules because it will open up the game again—penalties that would have been called just last week in preseason play were not called last night.

At one point Sheldon Souray lost his stick, so he just grabbed Joe Thorton’s and held on to it—hello, ref?! The Bruins got away with a few too, it wasn’t just Montreal. The league needs to keep a tight watch on this or the referees will let things slip right back to where they were.

Brian Leetch surprised me too. He seemed rather slow and lumbering on the ice instead of the fast, nimble player I remember. It is his first game back, so I’m willing to give all the players a chance to get into the game, but there was a lot of sloppy play in last night’s game.

Tomorrow we get to try again, so let’s hope things get better.

I was watching the Bruins last pre-season game last night against the New York Rangers and witnessed the play of what has to be the two biggest pussies in the National Hockey League—Ryan Hollweg and Dale Purinton.

With the Rangers losing badly, they sent out their goon to start a fight and hopefully spark their team. That’s fine; I have no problem with that. The Rangers called on Joe Rullier to come out and he chose the Bruins tough guy, Colton Orr.

The two went at it and Orr came out the victor after breaking Rullier’s nose. Rullier didn’t say much about it—he’s a fighter, he knows the risks and what he’s there for.

After the fight, Pussy #1 Ryan Hollweg started hacking and picking at Alex Zhamnov. Come on Ryan, if you want to make a name for yourself in the NHL picking on Zhamnov is not the way to do it.

Fed up with Hollweg going after Zhamnov, Colton Orr went over and gave Hollweg a hit to smarten him up. I think Ryan almost shit his pants when he realized who hit him and off he went down the ice, wanting no part of someone that would actually hit back.

The hit brings Pussy #2, Dale Purinton, lumbering over to give Orr the what-for. Hey, he looks like a tough guy, so Orr and Purinton drop the gloves and get ready to duke it out.

This would have been okay except Orr didn’t realize that Pussy #2 was indeed a Pussy of largest caliber. Instead of fighting, Purinton grabbed Orr and pulled him close and then drove his thumb into Orr’s eye. Orr dropped to the ice like a ton of bricks. It was very clear in the replay that it was intentional.

When Orr got up his eye had already swollen over. Purinton was kicked out of the game and Orr was taken to the medical center.

There was a clear intent to injure here and the punishment from the league should be swift and decisive. Pussy #2 should be kicked out for a substantial amount of time, just like the players that hit others in the head with their sticks.

As for Pussy #1, there is probably no hope for him. Once a pussy, always a pussy.

It’s about time the National Hockey League got wise and changed the rules of hockey. The old rules rewarded no-talent schmucks that only know how to hook and grab instead of playing the game.

Despite what some people think putting your stick around another guys waste and pulling him back is not what the game is about. Hitting a player that doesn’t have is interference, not part of the game.

Players that can’t keep up with these new rules should never have been in the NHL in the first place. These rules are going to allow the talented players like Sydney Crosby, Joe Thorton and others to do what they do best: play hockey.

On the Rangers, Bruins game tonight they showed highlights of previous games where players standing in front of the net were getting clobbered. I don’t know how they managed to stay in the game—they were being hacked, crosschecked from behind and punched in the head.

In tonight’s game there were penalties called all the time and good for them. If the game is going to be rebuilt, we need to support the officials and league.