Projo Bruins Blog

With the NHL trade deadline looming at 3 p.m., the Boston Bruins today shipped offensive defenseman Paul Mara to the New York Rangers in exchange for defensive-minded defenseman Aaron Ward.

Ward, 34, is 6'2'' 225 pounds and played a key role on last season's Stanley Cup champions, the Carolina Hurricanes. He reportedly has feuded recently with Rangers' star Jaromir Jagr.

Mara, 27, is 6'4'' 219 pounds. He was acquired by the Bruins from Phoenix for Nick Boynton in June.

Mara is paid $3 million a year. Ward signed a two-year, $5.5 million deal with the Rangers last summer.

The Boston Bruins dealt free-agents-to-be Brad Stuart and Wayne Primeau to the Calgary Flames for Andrew Ference and Chuck Kobasew, general manager Peter Chiarelli announced late Saturday.

"There was no chance at signing (Stuart).'' said Chiarelli. "So you have to try to go out and find a replacement. We've had discussions with Brad since the fall and we weren't really getting anywhere, so that's part of the equation.''

Kobasew recently dislocated his elbow and is expected to be out of the lineup for 2 to 3 weeks, Chiarelli said.

Defenseman Stuart, 27, and center Primeau, 30, who were acquired along with Marco Sturm from San Jose in the Joe Thornton trade in 2005, will both be free agents at the end of this season.

Defenseman Ference, 27, has three years remaining on his contract after this season. Right winger Kobasew, 24, who played one year at Boston College, has another year left on his contract after this season.

Ference has 2 goals and 10 assists for 12 points in 53 games for Calgary while averaging 26 minutes of playing time per game.

Kobasew has 4 goals and 13 assists for 17 points in 40 games. He averaged 18 minutes per game.

"It's sad to see (Stuart and Primeau) go,'' said goaltender Hannu Toivonen. "They are both great hockey players and great people, but it's a business and we as players just have to do our job and play hockey. Management will do their's.''

The media and fans in Toronto are getting restless as the Maple Leafs, riding a five-game losing streak, stagger into the Garden for tonight's game with the Bruins.

The Leafs took a 2-0 lead into the third period in Atlanta Tuesday night, but Andrew Raycroft stopped only three of seven shots in the third, and Toronto lost, 5-2. Hal Gill had a giveaway that ended up in his own net, and committed a hooking penalty that led to an Atlanta power play goal.

Yesterday, Toronto Star columnist Damien Cox questioned whether Raycroft should continue to be the No. 1 goalie. After the Bruins traded him, Raycroft crowed about how much he welcomed the challenge of playing for the team he rooted for as a kid. Now it's time to put up or shut up.

Speaking of shutting up, before the last game between these two teams nine days ago, Darcy Tucker of the Leafs all but promised that he'd be looking for a rematch against Paul Mara after the Boston defenseman bested Tucker in a fight in the previous game. But once the puck was dropped, Tucker was hard to find.

On Saturday night, he took a run at Montreal's Francis Bouillon and got smacked down.

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None.

Zero.

Zilch.

That's how many New Englanders were named the other day to the U.S. team for the World Junior Hockey Championship.

Here's where the team members come from:

Minnesota 9

Michigan 6

Wisconsin 1

Illinois 1

Utah 1

Tennessee 1

NJ 1

NY 1

Colorado 1

It's clear that the system for developing hockey players in New England is broken. This region is no longer producing players on a par with other strong hockey areas such as Minnesota and Michigan.

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The URI club hockey team fell from second to fourth in the most recent ACHA national poll. Oklahoma and Penn State, which swept a recent two-game series in Kingston, vaulted over the Rams. Illinois remains No. 1. URI bounced back from the Penn State losses by beating Division III Worcester State 6-4 at home and taking a pair of 5-4 decisions from Arizona State on the road.

The Rams host No. 16 Washington & Jefferson tonight and tomorrow at 7. A huge measuring stick for URI comes at the end of this month when they play in the Norwich University holiday tournament.

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Ugly incident in Boston last weekend as three BU hockey players and a women's lacrosse player were attacked after a late-night party. Defenseman Kevin Schaeffer suffered serious eye injuries.

It recalls the incident early last Jan. 1 when Providence Bruins defenseman Chris Dyment, an ex-BU Terrier, was clubbed in the eye with a bottle outside an East Side restaurant. No arrests were ever made in that case.

Dyment is now with the Florida Everblades of the East Coast Hockey League.

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In case you didn't catch Pierre-Marc Bouchard's amazing shootout goal in Wednesday night's Chicago-Minnesota game, here it is.

By Mark Divver

Phil Kessel of the Boston Bruins reportedly will not be a part of the United States team at the World Junior Hockey Championship, according to a report on TSN.

Kessel, 19, led the U.S. team and the tournament in scoring at last year's WJC, with a 1-10-11 line in 7 games. Pittsburgh's rookie star Evgeni Malkin was second with 10 points.

The U.S. roster will be announced tonight between the second and third periods of the Chicago at Minnesota game on the Versus network. That's expected to be around 9:40. The roster will also be available at usahockey.com/

Two Providence Bruins, Petr Kalus and David Krejci, are listed on the Czech Republic's roster. However, Kalus is out with a knee injury and may not be healthy in time for the tournament, which opens the day after Christmas.

Other Bruins prospects who are expected to play in the tournament are Finland's Tukka Rask and Mikko Lehtonen.

Brad Marchand has been invited to Canada's training camp.

One year ago tonight, Bruins Nation was turned on its ear by the news that Joe Thornton had been traded to San Jose for Brad Stuart, Marco Sturm and Wayne Primeau.

Few Bruins fans thought it was a good deal at the time, and it doesn't look any better 365 days later. At best, the Bruins received 75 cents on the dollar for their captain and franchise player.

After the trade, Boston fans' worst fears were realized when Thornton finally played up to his seemingly limitless potential, winning the scoring championship and MVP trophy. The Bruins, meanwhile, finished miles out of the playoffs and underwent a long-overdue front office housecleaning.

But those who assumed that Thornton would pick up where he left off last season are being proven wrong.

He is currently 22nd in the league in scoring with a 7-20-27, -5, line in 26 games. Thornton is tied with eight other players, including Boston's Marc Savard (6-21-27, +5, in 22 games).

Those aren't bad numbers, unless you are the reigning scoring champ, MVP, and potentially one of the 10 best players in the world.

Thornton has scored only 11 points at even strength, piling up most of his points on the power play. In Thornton's defense, his sidekick Jonathan Cheechoo (56 goals last year) has been out with an injury.

But here are a couple of stats that speak volumes about Thornton's play this season: He has been credited with only eight hits in 26 games. And there have been 19 games in which he has registered zero hits.

For a man who is 6'4'' and 235 pounds and playing a contact sport, this is mind-boggling.

So far, it hasn't really mattered to the Sharks. Ron Wilson has his team rolling along with a 19-7 record. A slightly better-than-average Joe Thornton is still an upgrade over most NHL players.

It's just Joe being Joe.

By Mark Divver

What in the name of Terry O'Reilly is going on with the Bruins?

I don't mean wins and losses. The team is playing decent hockey after a slow start.

I'm talking about fights. Lack of fights, actually.

Heading into tonight's game in Pittsburgh, it's been nine games since a Bruin was involved in a punchup.

And the last fight -- Wade Brookbank vs. Ottawa's Chris Neil on Oct. 28 -- is one of only four fights the Bruins have had in the first 18 games.

Four.

In the late 1970s, there might be four fights in the first ten minutes of a Bruins-Flyers matchup.

In the new NHL, speed and skill are in, punches in the nose are out.

Not that I'm advocating a return to the old days. The game is far more entertaining than it was before the lockout.

I'd just like to see a good scrap more than once a month.

By the way, the Bruins who have dropped the gloves this season -- Brookbank, Jeff Hoggan (2) and Yan Stastny -- are all playing in Providence now.

Eddie Shore must be spinning in his grave.

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If you need an old-time hockey fight fix, you can always turn to the Web. Go to youtube and punch in (no pun intended) Terry O'Reilly's name, and you'll find an excellent tribute. The Stan Jonathan-Pierre Bouchard brawl from the 1978 playoffs is there, too.

As noted hockey writer Dickie Dunn might say, it captures the spirit of the thing.

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This is Mayor's Cup weekend, with the Brown and Providence College women facing off at 7 o'clock Friday night, and the men at 2 p.m. on Sunday. Both games will be at Meehan Auditorium. The PC men and women are defending champions.

On Saturday, the Brown men will host American International College, which currently holds the unfortunate distinction of being the worst Division I men's team in the nation. The Yellowjackets, who play in the Atlantic Hockey conference, are 0-11 after going 6-21-5 last season.

Of course, that doesn't make them bad people. Last weekend, two players helped rescue six people from a burning house in Springfield, Mass. Read about it here.

Which is the worst D-1 women's team in the U.S.?

We take no pleasure in pointing this out, but right now it's probably Brown, which is 0-9 and was embarrassed by Harvard (8-1) and Dartmouth (5-1) at home last weekend.

Yes, the Bears play in a very tough league and have lost five one-goal games. Digit Murphy's record at Brown is 291-160-41, so if anyone can turn it around, she can. But there's no way to sugarcoat zero for nine.

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The University of Rhode Island club team will undoubtedly fall out of the number-two slot in the next ACHA poll, which comes out on Dec. 1, after losing twice to Penn State last weekend. The Rams host Worcester State of the D-III ECAC Northeast league on Saturday night at 7. Former Mount St. Charles standout Nathan Perreault of Smithfield is a junior assistant captain for Worcester State.

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News on former Bruins coaches:

ESPN.com says that Don Cherry is the biggest mouth in sports.

Pat Burns says he's healthy and wants to coach again. Here's the story.

The Bruins recalled Yan Stastny from Providence this morning for tonight's game with Toronto, possibly to fill in for Brad Boyes, who was hurt Wednesday night.

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The weekend's best matchup on ice in these parts won't take place at the Dunk, Schneider Arena or Meehan Auditorium, but at the Boss Arena in Kingston. The defending national club champion University of Rhode Island Rams will host Penn State Friday and Saturday night at 7 o'clock. It's a rematch of last season's ACHA championship game. In the most recent ACHA poll, URI was ranked second in the country behind Illinois, while Penn State was third. Coach Joe Augustine is in his 16th year at URI; first-year Penn State coach Scott Balboni played defense for Providence College from 1992 to 96.

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