Morning Skate: Paddles

Welcome to Tuesday, folks!

While the Bruins won’t be competing on the ice today, they’ll still be competing — albeit in a different sport.

The Bruins and 98.5 The Sports Hub’s Pucks & Paddles fundraiser is this afternoon at Boston’s House of Blues, an event that raises a bunch of money for Special Olympics Massachusetts.

The event is always gold for photos and other interactions, as it pits Bruins, Sports Hub people, and winning bidders against one another in a giant ping pong tournament.

What’s not to like?

Elsewhere, Dmitry Orlov capped off his initial run-in with the Bruin with a nice feather in his cap yesterday, being named the league’s First Star of the Week.

Orlov has 28 points on the season, and nine (!) of those came in the team’s last four games.

Seems like he was worth that first-round draft pick after all, eh?

Today’s discussion topic

This isn’t related to hockey, but: the New York Times had a cool article yesterday about Czechia’s national baseball team, which qualified for the World Baseball Classic.

(I didn’t know that tournament was coming up, but I guess it’s starting this weekend.)

Given our affection for Czechs around these parts, it’s worth a read.