Jim Dalrymple.com

I have always been a fan of Wayne Gretzky—he is one of the most amazing players to ever lace up a pair of skates. However, his pathetic decisions in choosing the Canadian Olympic team has convinced me that its time Canada kicked him out of hockey in the this country.

For Canadians hockey is it—that is our national pride. I felt a tremendous amount of disgust for our hockey program when Gretzky chose Todd Bertuzi over so many other talented players in the NHL.

Just look at the list of players that he left out. Topping the list is obviously Sidney Crosby, the Nova Scotia born rookie phenom. Why wasn’t Crosby picked? Because he didn’t have the experience that Gretzky wanted—What? Are you completely stupid!!

When someone like Crosby comes to the NHL and performs like he did, you don’t have a choice but to bring him to the Olympics—well I guess you do if you’re a complete idiot. The Olympics is a place to show off a countries top athletes, not the old dead horses like we did with our hockey team.

Crosby is just one example. There is also Patrice Bergeron and don’t forget Brad Boyes—both playing for the Boston Bruins.

Let’s take a look at the World Hockey Championships currently going on. Scoring leaders for the tournament are: 1. Sidney Crosby 2. Patrice Bergeron 4. Jason Williams 6. Brad Boyes.

So four of the top six scorers are from Canada!

So who did Gretzky choose instead of these high-caliber players? Todd Bertuzzi. Yep, that’s right, Todd Bertuzzi. A goon among goons that revels in putting young players out of the league with cheap shots to the back of the head represents Canada in the most prestigious hockey tournament in the world.

Did Bertuzzi score? No! But according to Gretzky, he waited his turn and Crosby has lots of chances left to play in the Olympics. Yeah, Wayne that’s exactly what the Olympics are all about you moron.

I can only assume some of the bets your wife was laying down prior to the Olympics were against Canada. That is the only reason I can think of for making the idiotic decisions that you made.

It’s time to move on Wayne, retire from hockey—at least don’t get involved in Canadian hockey anymore. You obviously have no pride for this country or our hockey program.

The Boston Bruins Harry Sinden finally pulled the trigger and dropped Mike O’Connell from his duties as General Manager. Unfortunately, Sinden didn’t do the deed before O’Connell made a couple of really bad moves that will hurt the club for years to come.

O’Connell should have been fired when Sinden first heard of O’Connell’s plan to trade Joe Thorton. I don’t dispute the contribution Sturm, Primeau and Stuart have made to the team, but come on, we’re talking about Joe Thorton here.

Thorton was the future of the team and as of today is listed second in total points for the NHL this year. There isn’t a Bruin anywhere in the top 30.

The Bruins have a sad history of doing stupid things like this. They had the makings of a dynasty a few years back and if they were smart, they would have held on to people like Knuble, Rolston and Billy Guerin.

Instead, Bruins fans find themselves once again at the bottom of the pack with several years of rebuilding ahead of us. And that’s if the new GM doesn’t screw things up like O’Connell did.

There are few days in the Bruins’ modern history that are any sadder than today. Certainly the Ray Bourque trade was a sad day for fans, but everyone knew why Ray went to Colorado and everyone accepted it and were happy for Ray when he hoisted the Cup. However, to trade Joe Thorton is lunacy.

Thorton is one of the premier players in the NHL —he is the guy you build your team around, not trade for three ho-hum players just to shake things up. The Bruins management will live to regret this day.

The Bruins got Marco Sturm and Wayne Primeau and defenseman Brad Stuart from San Jose for Thorton. The Bruins should have held out for the rest of the Sharks team before trading Thorton!

Even the Sharks knew what an opportunity this was. “Players like Joe Thornton don’t come available very often,” said Sharks GM Doug Wilson. Of course they don’t—most teams aren’t stupid enough to trade people like Thorton.

There are a lot of reasons why the Bruins have lost nine out of their last 10 games, and sure, Thorton had a role to play in that. But, if you want to trade someone, take a look at Gill, who has really sucked of late; Samsanov can’t keep the puck on his stick; Bergeron has been in a slump; and put Andrew Alberts back to the minors or trade him for a water bottle or something.

I’ve never had a lot of faith in the decisions of the Bruins management. When they let people like Bill Guerin and Mike Knuble slip through their fingers, you know you are in trouble. Their trade record is so bad, they even go back and get players like Murray that they happily traded away a few years before.

I’m a diehard Bruins fan, but this has really shaken me today. I say we trade Mike O’Connell.

Every new hockey season brings with it a new batch of young energetic players that want to make their mark in the league. Some, like Sidney Crosby, do it with their goal scoring skills, while others rely on their fists.

This year, three new players are making their mark. Fortunately for me, the Bruins have one of them with the promotion of Colton Orr from the minors. The other — 6’4” 225lb Brian McGrattan — plays for the Ottawa Senators, but nobody can compare to the “Boogeyman.”

Minnesota Wild’s 6’7” 270lb Derek Boogaard has taken on all comers and handily beaten everyone so far. Realistically, how could he not beat his competition — this man is an absolute monster.

I watched a few clips on the ‘Net today of Boogaard’s fights and I just don’t see any way that anyone is going to be able to beat him. We’ve had some great fighters in the league over the years including the likes of Bob Probert, Troy Crowder and Stu Grimson. Boogaard definitely has some big boots to fill, but I think he can do it.

McGrattan’s claim to fame so far this year is knocking down Tie Domi the other night. Tie is a great fighter and I think he could do better given another opportunity with McGrattan.

Colton Orr has also been doing well, taking on all comers. I don’t think Orr has really lost a battle yet, but his closest match was probably against McGrattan, which ended up in a draw.

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.