Two things that all Bruins fans should find alarming...

[Colt.45Orr]

(1)
2009-10 was an eternity in hockey years (kind of like dog years) but the Bruins have not won ONE round in the playoff since that time unless McQuaid was in the line-up!

Although there are some of us that have always seen his value far more than the average hfboards Bruins fanboy ("but Trotman/Bartkowski/Hunwick skates better!!!!") I am NOT making a point here that he is a top-pairing Dman, rather that his value is severely underrated by most and he is the definition of the type of Dman that you win with in the playoffs.

2009-10
Rookie late season call-up, plays in the Buffalo series (W) and then goes out in game 3 against Philly --the Bruins proceed to lose the next 4 games to get knocked out. Obviously the Krejci injury in the same game was the real killer, but it is an interesting "coincidence", none-the-less.

2010-11
McQuaid plays in every series, Cup Final. Very valuable for us.

2011-12
Bruins team is actually better than the 2011 edition but get upset by underdog in round 1. McQuaid (inj) doesn't play in series. Coincidence?

2012-13
McQuaid plays in every series, Cup Final. Again, very valuable for us

2013-14
Bruins team is actually better than the 2013 edition but get upset by underdog in round 1. McQuaid (inj) doesn't play in series. Coinci..... ahh, screw it.

non-playoff-years

2016-17
Despite better players (Krug, Krejci) out, Bruins 1-0 with McQuaid in line-up, 0-2 in games he has been out. No way we blow that lead last game with McQuaid back on D.

Again, I'm not arguing that he is a top Dman in the league or even top 3 on the Bruins, but there is something weird going on here. I think (besides the timely shot blocks) he brings a swagger to this team and an element of toughness that is exposed when he is not in the line-up. Sens were throwing punches at Bruins all night and McQuaid simply doesn't tolerate that. When he hits (in the playoffs) he hits to hurt.

He's had lots of concussions, I don't know how long he has left in the league with all of his concussions but if his time is up in the NHL (or he goes to Vegas) then the Bruins D desperately needs to bring in someone who brings the size, meanness and physicality that he has. They also need him back in this series...... bad.

**before someone points out all the injuries and calls him a "glass" player, keep in mind the insane shots he will block (makes himself big instead of small) and some of the cheap hits he has taken...





**Too tired to type out the other thing properly.

(2) The second thing that should concern Bruins..


Basically --there is no grand conspiracy theory against the Bruins... the NHL doesn't contact refs before the game and tell them to do a ****** job BUT there is certainly a natural, human bias that some refs carry against them and here is why:

-The NHL is still driven by large Canadian markets and TV contracts (this is where conspiracy theorists go astray thinking that Rogers determines the games -haha) but the Canadian market's point of view dominates the sport still.

-The Bruins have the misfortune of being in a division that has the 2 biggest teams in hockey + yet another Canadian team (Ottawa)

-We played against the hockey giants in the playoffs recently --no other team can say that. Habs/Leafs have not even played each other in decades.

-On top of that, the Bruins played a SC Final against that other huge Canadian market team and played BigBadBruins style --as every Canadian announcer pointed out over, and over, and over

-100% of NHL refs watch games on TV on off days, and SportsCentre at the end of the night... everyone expects a little bit of homerism against the Bruins from the pro-Canadian CBC and Sportsnet announcers but it will get in your head over time. The anti-Bruins seed just keeps getting planted and watered, over and over and over.

- Brad Marchand Vs. Erik Karlsson. Compare the two poster boys: Rat Vs. Pure class. That then (unfairly) translates to the rest of the game/teams. A Bruin throws a punch and it is Big Bad Bruins antics, a Senator throws a punch and it is just good ol 'let em play' hockey.

--We are still referred to by the media from time to time as the Big, Bad Bruins --we have a bunch of smurfs and puppy **** soft forwards up front! That is our team's rep though. A team like Ottawa has a very good reputation --Methot is a big guy throwing punches all series (he actually punched Pastrnak in the mouth in game 1 and PAsta was spitting lots of blood on the bench --ref saw it clearly.... talked to bloody Pastrnak..... buuuut no call). If you put 6'4 Methot in a black uniform on the Bruins back end, it changes how you look at him. It does.

- The Bruins have a bad reputation (some of it earned, lots of it Montreal playing victim card) in the past, and currently subconsciously tainted by the large Canadian markets who drive the media and hate on us (naturally) over the course of a playoff series.


This still sounds rather conspiratory in nature, so let me say...

After I blew my knee out, I stopped playing and got back into reffing to stay active and "in the game".

I never went into ANY game planning on calling anything but a 50/50 game down the line --HOWEVER-- I know that there were a few teams that I didn't like, players that I didn't like and they sometimes ended up on the wrong side of calls, I'm sure, because of it. Not every time I reffed them, but if I'm being honest with myself, I would admit that I have a bias against some teams that came into the building with a bad reputation. I can remember one team (that I didn't like, they were rough but clean) complaining that all the refs "screwed" them and when I reflected back on the game I knew I had given them the short end of the stick. Did I do it on purpose? Human nature based on their rep?

Again, I know that NHL refs are not out to hurt us but I know that 45/55 instead of 50/50 is enough to bury a team in the NHL where the margins are so tight. The refs have a split second to make most of their decisions and the Bruins have a bad team reputation still.... what is the natural by-product of that?

Click to read more...

 

[Aeroforce]

Well presented, and well written.

I agree about there not being a grand conspiracy, mainly because I don't see the league as being clever enough to actually pull something like that off.

The OT call was truly brutal, but when you spot a visiting team three goals, there's more blame to go around than just the refs.

 

[Odie]

Been saying McQuaid is underrated for years. For a guy who's not known for offense, he's made some huge pinches in the offensive zone that have lead to GWGs (Horton in game 7, anyone?) that no one gives him enough credit for.

 

[Lobster57]

The B's lost to the Habs in the second round in 14. They beat the wings in round 1, without Quaider.

 

[Fenway]

Well presented, and well written.

I agree about there not being a grand conspiracy, mainly because I don't see the league as being clever enough to actually pull something like that off.

The OT call was truly brutal, but when you spot a visiting team three goals, there's more blame to go around than just the refs.

Very well written.

People across hockey laughed at how 'weak' the Atlantic Division was but no division in hockey has more pressure. You have FOUR of the Original Six teams and that brings the baggage of trying to repeat past glories. Toronto has been a sad sack team for 50 years now but yet the city is the center of the hockey universe.



Montreal - 1993 was a long time ago.



Buffalo wants to taste joy just once. Detroit wants to be Hockeytown again, Ottawa wants to stick it to both Montreal and Toronto and then you have the two Florida teams.

I DO believe in the integrity of the NHL. If I thought results were predetermined I would skate away in a heartbeat.

 

[BruinsPortugal]

Never thought about Quaider like that, and even if i think there's a lot of coincidence in there, he certainly brings an element to the team that no one else does. Maybe Kevan, but its not exactly the same.

As for the refs, its like in every sport. The refs are not machines and they are certainly biased towards some teams and the bruins look to be always on the wrong side of it because of our reputation, which happens because the division we are in. Being hated by both the Leafs and the Habs its not easy. That does not prevent us from winning though, its about being competent which we arent being at the moment.

 

[ashnathan]

Well written and I enjoyed it, although Boston nearly swept Detroit in Round 1 in 2014 without Quaider, then proceeded to puke on themselves all series against Montreal.

 

[Fossy21]

No one should think of the Atlantic as weak. Only the Metro had a better record (albeit much better), and Atlantic teams play those guys more often than the western teams (who still had worse records) do. Add to this that 57% of western teams make the playoffs compared to 50% of eastern, and the Atlantic had it harder than any division (well, Islanders probably had it worst, considering they almost got the last wild card spot, but just missed out, and playing in that division probably didn't help)

As for McQuaid, I thought he was bad the last dozen games or so of the season, but no doubt we'd be better off with him than without him right now.

 

[Fenian24]

Yeah but Matt Grzelcyk is small and fast and will be better and is younger

I protect McQuaid in the expansion draft. Krug, McQuaid and Chara. Then I resign him and listen to the wails of anguish from the McQuaid haters and laugh and laugh.

 

[chizzler]

Yeah but Matt Grzelcyk is small and fast and will be better and is younger

I protect McQuaid in the expansion draft. Krug, McQuaid and Chara. Then I resign him and listen to the wails of anguish from the McQuaid haters and laugh and laugh.

He's resigned all ready.

 

[Pia8988]

Yeah but Matt Grzelcyk is small and fast and will be better and is younger

I protect McQuaid in the expansion draft. Krug, McQuaid and Chara. Then I resign him and listen to the wails of anguish from the McQuaid haters and laugh and laugh.

Yeah, re-signing a 33 year old McQuaid would be brilliant. I'm think 5 years x 4 million.

Now being serious, there is too much youth in the Bruin's system on defense. Even for all the good he has done, I don't see McQuaid another deal in Boston. He might not even finish his current one. Kevan has out played him.

 

[LouJersey]

When was the last singular roughing penalty called in an overtime playoff game?

 

[SPLBRUIN]

Yeah, re-signing a 33 year old McQuaid would be brilliant. I'm think 5 years x 4 million.

Now being serious, there is too much youth in the Bruin's system on defense. Even for all the good he has done, I don't see McQuaid another deal in Boston. He might not even finish his current one. Kevan has out played him.

K. Miller is clearly a better player then McQuaid. Love Darth but he is just too injury prone

 

[chizzler]

K. Miller is clearly a better player then McQuaid. Love Darth but he is just too injury prone

Mcquaid is the only guy that will stick up for his teammates and fight. That goes a long way. Miller has lost that after his multiple shoulder injuries.

 

[Buckets and Gloves]

1st part fine but 2nd part....

Bruins d line is depleted and that's why we are losing imo... Ottawa just a better team right now

 

[TCL40]

I don't believe in an out right conspiracy but I absolutely believe bias towards teams or individual
Players comes into play.

Reputations matter and a player like Marchand is going to get calls against him more
Often than the players like Crosby even if they both play dirty at times.

 

[MtlBoxFan]

(1)
2009-10 was an eternity in hockey years (kind of like dog years) but the Bruins have not won ONE round in the playoff since that time unless McQuaid was in the line-up!

Although there are some of us that have always seen his value far more than the average hfboards Bruins fanboy ("but Trotman/Bartkowski/Hunwick skates better!!!!") I am NOT making a point here that he is a top-pairing Dman, rather that his value is severely underrated by most and he is the definition of the type of Dman that you win with in the playoffs.

2009-10
Rookie late season call-up, plays in the Buffalo series (W) and then goes out in game 3 against Philly --the Bruins proceed to lose the next 4 games to get knocked out. Obviously the Krejci injury in the same game was the real killer, but it is an interesting "coincidence", none-the-less.

2010-11
McQuaid plays in every series, Cup Final. Very valuable for us.

2011-12
Bruins team is actually better than the 2011 edition but get upset by underdog in round 1. McQuaid (inj) doesn't play in series. Coincidence?

2012-13
McQuaid plays in every series, Cup Final. Again, very valuable for us

2013-14
Bruins team is actually better than the 2013 edition but get upset by underdog in round 1. McQuaid (inj) doesn't play in series. Coinci..... ahh, screw it.

non-playoff-years

2016-17
Despite better players (Krug, Krejci) out, Bruins 1-0 with McQuaid in line-up, 0-2 in games he has been out. No way we blow that lead last game with McQuaid back on D.

Again, I'm not arguing that he is a top Dman in the league or even top 3 on the Bruins, but there is something weird going on here. I think (besides the timely shot blocks) he brings a swagger to this team and an element of toughness that is exposed when he is not in the line-up. Sens were throwing punches at Bruins all night and McQuaid simply doesn't tolerate that. When he hits (in the playoffs) he hits to hurt.

He's had lots of concussions, I don't know how long he has left in the league with all of his concussions but if his time is up in the NHL (or he goes to Vegas) then the Bruins D desperately needs to bring in someone who brings the size, meanness and physicality that he has. They also need him back in this series...... bad.

**before someone points out all the injuries and calls him a "glass" player, keep in mind the insane shots he will block (makes himself big instead of small) and some of the cheap hits he has taken...





**Too tired to type out the other thing properly.

(2) The second thing that should concern Bruins..


Basically --there is no grand conspiracy theory against the Bruins... the NHL doesn't contact refs before the game and tell them to do a ****** job BUT there is certainly a natural, human bias that some refs carry against them and here is why:

-The NHL is still driven by large Canadian markets and TV contracts (this is where conspiracy theorists go astray thinking that Rogers determines the games -haha) but the Canadian market's point of view dominates the sport still.

-The Bruins have the misfortune of being in a division that has the 2 biggest teams in hockey + yet another Canadian team (Ottawa)

-We played against the hockey giants in the playoffs recently --no other team can say that. Habs/Leafs have not even played each other in decades.

-On top of that, the Bruins played a SC Final against that other huge Canadian market team and played BigBadBruins style --as every Canadian announcer pointed out over, and over, and over

-100% of NHL refs watch games on TV on off days, and SportsCentre at the end of the night... everyone expects a little bit of homerism against the Bruins from the pro-Canadian CBC and Sportsnet announcers but it will get in your head over time. The anti-Bruins seed just keeps getting planted and watered, over and over and over.

- Brad Marchand Vs. Erik Karlsson. Compare the two poster boys: Rat Vs. Pure class. That then (unfairly) translates to the rest of the game/teams. A Bruin throws a punch and it is Big Bad Bruins antics, a Senator throws a punch and it is just good ol 'let em play' hockey.

--We are still referred to by the media from time to time as the Big, Bad Bruins --we have a bunch of smurfs and puppy **** soft forwards up front! That is our team's rep though. A team like Ottawa has a very good reputation --Methot is a big guy throwing punches all series (he actually punched Pastrnak in the mouth in game 1 and PAsta was spitting lots of blood on the bench --ref saw it clearly.... talked to bloody Pastrnak..... buuuut no call). If you put 6'4 Methot in a black uniform on the Bruins back end, it changes how you look at him. It does.

- The Bruins have a bad reputation (some of it earned, lots of it Montreal playing victim card) in the past, and currently subconsciously tainted by the large Canadian markets who drive the media and hate on us (naturally) over the course of a playoff series.


This still sounds rather conspiratory in nature, so let me say...

After I blew my knee out, I stopped playing and got back into reffing to stay active and "in the game".

I never went into ANY game planning on calling anything but a 50/50 game down the line --HOWEVER-- I know that there were a few teams that I didn't like, players that I didn't like and they sometimes ended up on the wrong side of calls, I'm sure, because of it. Not every time I reffed them, but if I'm being honest with myself, I would admit that I have a bias against some teams that came into the building with a bad reputation. I can remember one team (that I didn't like, they were rough but clean) complaining that all the refs "screwed" them and when I reflected back on the game I knew I had given them the short end of the stick. Did I do it on purpose? Human nature based on their rep?

Again, I know that NHL refs are not out to hurt us but I know that 45/55 instead of 50/50 is enough to bury a team in the NHL where the margins are so tight. The refs have a split second to make most of their decisions and the Bruins have a bad team reputation still.... what is the natural by-product of that?

McQuaid is a depth defenseman. If he's injured, they have to add someone who is otherwise not good enough to be in the lineup.

However, this doesn't make McQuaid anything more than what he is. A 5-6 defenseman that is physical. To make it anything more than that is like giving full credit to passenger 32b for a safe flight from NY to LA.

 

[MtlBoxFan]

(1)


I stopped playing and got back into reffing to stay active and "in the game".

Again, I know that NHL refs are not out to hurt us but I know that 45/55 instead of 50/50 is enough to bury a team in the NHL where the margins are so tight. The refs have a split second to make most of their decisions and the Bruins have a bad team reputation still.... what is the natural by-product of that?

Usually, people that ref have nothing but staggering respect for the job that the NHL refs do. With the pace of the game and the pressure, I think the refs are pretty amazing. To say they are sliding 55-45 would probably get a ref to kick your butt.

The guy punched him in the face, right in front of the ref, away from the puck...it SUCKS, but it happened.

 

[PatriceBergeronFan]

Usually, people that ref have nothing but staggering respect for the job that the NHL refs do. With the pace of the game and the pressure, I think the refs are pretty amazing. To say they are sliding 55-45 would probably get a ref to kick your butt.

The guy punched him in the face, right in front of the ref, away from the puck...it SUCKS, but it happened.

Didn't matter when it was Ottawa doing it. 55-45 sounds about right.

 

[Gordoff]

Didn't matter when it was Ottawa doing it. 55-45 sounds about right.

Yeah, not sure if the numbers are supposed to reflect the percentage of penalties doled out to each team but the numbers aren't the only indicator of POOR refereeing. The other is the timing of the penalty. IMO, NHL refs are astute in cheating (there is no other, better description of it) of one team for another. Last night was yet another in a long, long litany of unabashed.............cheating. Looking the other way, saying that they don't see multiple punches to the face of Schaller etc, over and over says something nasty. That the "officials" officiate to the laundry.

 

[MtlBoxFan]

Yeah, not sure if the numbers are supposed to reflect the percentage of penalties doled out to each team but the numbers aren't the only indicator of POOR refereeing. The other is the timing of the penalty. IMO, NHL refs are astute in cheating (there is no other, better description of it) of one team for another. Last night was yet another in a long, long litany of unabashed.............cheating. Looking the other way, saying that they don't see multiple punches to the face of Schaller etc, over and over says something nasty. That the "officials" officiate to the laundry.

Is anyone going to validate the opinion that refs are cheaters...not even little cheaters but guilty of a long long litany of unabashed cheating?

We diminish ourselves like this.

 

[SPLBRUIN]

Mcquaid is the only guy that will stick up for his teammates and fight. That goes a long way. Miller has lost that after his multiple shoulder injuries.

I totally agree but the guy is always hurt.

 

[SPLBRUIN]

Is anyone going to validate the opinion that refs are cheaters...not even little cheaters but guilty of a long long litany of unabashed cheating?

We diminish ourselves like this.

There are cheaters in every industry in the world, to think that some refs don't have a thing for or against certain players or teams is just being naïve IMO.

 

[Salem13]

I totally agree but the guy is always hurt.

His worst seasons were some time ago.

2012-13 he played 32 games

2013-14 only 30

Since then he has played 63,64 and 77 game seasons.

 

[BsEuphoria]

Well written. And I agree. First I love me some McQuaid.

Second, as the reputation goes, the Bruins are the Patriots of the NHL. Literally everyone else around the league can't stand them. Not because they win though like the Pats, but more because they still think we are a team full of the "Big Bad Goons" as you stated which obviously is not the case anymore.

If your a neutral fan, and you can't see any sort of bias when you watch them on the ice vs. most teams, take the rose glasses off. I'm not going to go as far as saying there is a clear agenda out there, but the bias is real. Tim Peel is a complete abomination of a ref, but it wasn't hard to see it there last night.

It's sad really but it's not going to change anytime soon.