Happy Tim Thomas' Day With The Stanley Cup, everyone.
Tim Thomas' highly anticipated day with the Cup in Michigan kicks off with a visit to his family's church and his formrer high school. Through it all, through all the pictures of Thomas with all his silver, think back to the last few years. To his injury-addled season last year; to the signing of Manny Fernandez a few years ago, ultimately a bust but doing nothing to prove that the organization was confident in Thomas' skills, to the years in Europe spent honing his skills.
You had to know this year was going to be special right from the beginning, when Thomas posted his beastly record in the month of October - and then kept on rolling, all the way through June. What a great story.
Not after the jump: news on Brad Marchand, because guess what? He still hasn't signed.
After the jump, a little network TV analysis, more Blackhawks news than usual, and an update on the Black and Gold game.
Bruins News:- The Bruins' scheduled scrimmage, aka the Black & Gold game at the Dunkin Donuts Center in Providence, is sold out! It marks the first time in ten years that the Dunk has sold out a hockey game. [Projo]
- Tim Thomas' Cup Day starts out quiet, but will likely pick up as it rolls on. [M Live]
NHL News:
- Steve Lepore looks at the most frequent nationally-shown NHL matchups since 1994. [Puck the Media]
- Did the Stanley Cup loss actually have an effect on Canada's economy? [The Hill]
- Biosteel, an up-and-coming energy drink in the NHL, is also running a camp, which the Bruins' Tyler Seguin is attending, along with other players such as Paul Bissonette and Mike Cammalleri. [Globe and Mail]
- Some inferior schools are playing outdoor games and calling it "Frozen Fenway" again. Excuse me but BU-BC was Frozen Fenway, get your own name. (A few players from that BU-BC game on twitter were complaining about this yesterday, in fact. It's not just me.) [USCHO]
- Taylor Hall is looking to build off his shortened rookie season. Should be an interesting sophomore season to watch. [NHL]
- NHL.com assembles the best stats-based fantasy team of all time. [NHL]
- Catching up with Bob - the Flyers' goalie talks about his offseason. [Puck Daddy]
- Patrick Kane might not be ready for training camp, but his goal is to be good to go by the season opener. [Committed Indians]
- Sort of relatedly, here's Joel Quenneville singing "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" very badly. [PHT]
- Matt Cooke? A changed man? Yeah, forgive me if I don't believe a word of that. [PHT]
Non Hockey Link of the Day:
- Here are 20 shocking images of yesterday's earthquake devastation on the east coast. [Buzzfeed]