Lucic gets the crowd going after a fight in a manner reminiscent of the last great Bruins Bruiser and my personal favorite, PJ StockIn general, I make it a rule not to watch sports besides my token 3-4 Yankees games per year. The one exception to this rule is hockey. Back in college, I was obsessive. I played Fantasy Hockey, read NHL.com every morning before class and didn't miss a single Bruins, Hurricanes (Let's Go Whalers!) or Colorado Avalanche game unless they happened to conflict with each other. Some friends even had NHL Center Ice which really enabled my obsession. However, after college, I found I just didn't have time to follow three or even one teams obsessively. Recently, I have made some good friends who also share my love of hockey, which has re-sparked the flame of love I feel for this sport. However, when I looked at the Bruins roster, all the familiar faces I loved had moved on (Joe Thorton, PJ Stock, Hal Gill, Glen Murray) with the unfortunate exception of Tim Thomas. (Why the Bruins can never invest in a decent goalie is beyond me. I'm not asking for a Roy or Brodeur, just someone who is reliable rather than hot and cold. But I digress...) These guys were replaced with names such as Kessler, Savard, Wideman, and Lucic. I remember seeing the buzz last year surrounding a rookie by the name of Lucic but didn't really pay attention. However, while watching the season opener at home vs. the Penguins, I really started to take notice of him. He plays vintage style hockey. Hard body checks, fights - basically he's the enforcer - the replacement for the sorely missed crowd favorite PJ Stock. In his rookie year last season, he started his Bruins career off with a fight, followed the next week with a Gordie Howe hat trick (goal, assist, fight). Interestingly enough, my least favorite player in the NHL, Brendan Shanahan apparently holds the record for the most number of Gordie Howes according to Wikipedia. Lucic managed to land 181 hits in his rookie season, placing him second behind Chara for most hits by a Bruin last season. I also believe he holds the record for second place in number of hits by a rookie (behind some guy from the Rangers who I can't remember).
This season is so far shaping up to be another banner year for Lucic who thus far leads the league in hits for the 2008-2009 season with 18 hits as of Wednesday. He banked a couple more at last nights game versus the Maple Leafs, but none as impressive as the hit against Van Ryn of the Maple Leafs that started the second period and resulted in a complete shattering of a piece of glass. The hit had so much force behind it that Van Ryn is probably still picking glass out of his back. It was probably one of the coolest things I have ever seen in a game of hockey, and one that the commentators are sure to be talking of for the rest of the season.
I'm definitely going to keep my eye on Lucic this season. He'll never replace PJ Stock as as my favorite enforcer (back in the day, I had a shirt that I bought on the street in Boston that said "PJ stock, Official Ass Kicker), but he just might come close.
2 comments:
Yay! Another girl hockey blogger. We need to think of clever plays on his name and stuff and make them into obnoxious signs that will get us on TV at Bruins games. In the past I was very good at stuff like this.
The Bruins do have some exciting young talent, Bergeron was turning into a force but then had the concussion last year that really slowed his development. Phil Kessel was huge in shoot-outs last year, and you obviously have Lucic covered. Plus, nothing beats Hockey in HD, football and baseball are nice, but Hockey was made for HD.
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