A Week in the Life of Brian Boyle

New York Rangers forward Brian Boyle hasn't had the best week.

Sure, his team hasn't been doing terrible, going 2-2-0 since Nov. 25, but Boyle has just been the league's punching bag lately. Hopefully, for his sake anyway, he can turn it around in Monday's game against the Winnipeg Jets. But before he laces 'em up, let's take a look at the week that was for Brian Boyle.

The former BC Eagle and company took on the Tampa Bay Lighting on Nov. 25, and the Bolts touched them up for 5 unanswered goals, winning 5-0.  Boyle was a minus-1 rating, and it halted a two-game win streak the Blueshirts had going. On Nov. 27, Boyle logged less than 15 minutes of ice time, and didn't win a face off, but this time it was the Rangers who potted five en route to a 5-2 victory over the Florida Panthers...no thanks at all to Boyle.

The next two games were pretty rough for the 6-foot-7 centerman.  His team traveled to Boston to face the Bruins, their longtime conference rivals. Boyle barely logged over 10 minutes of ice time, and got his head punched in by B's captain Zdeno Chara. Not only was the loss in the fight embarrassing, but the Rangers blew a 2-1 lead they held since the first period when Chara ripped a slap shot by Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist to complete his Gordie Howe hat trick in a 3-2 win.

By the way, look how stupid Boyle looks in the video above of that fight.  He's just trying to "fall" over to get away from Z. Well, that's what you get when you're from Hingham and you go on record saying you hate the Bruins "with a passion."

So as if Boyle didn't get his fill of fists, he decided to drop the gloves with Vancouver Canucks alternate captain Kevin Bieksa the very next night.



Needless to say, Boyle did not look great in this one either, pulling his signature flopping move.  Boyle doesn't even get a punch off, instead he just tries to push Bieksa up against the boards. But look how aggressive and cocky he gets once the refs take hold!  What a warrior! And its tough to see, but post-fight Bieksa takes Boyle's lid and boots it down the ice.  The Rangers pulled out the victory in John Tortarella's not-so-triumphant return to Madison Square Garden, but it was in no way influenced by Boyle's five useless shots on goal in his under 13 minutes of play.

So Boyle finishes the week with two pathetic scraps, a minus-1 rating, zero points, but actually a pretty sweet mustache.  But Movember is over and the 'stache is gone.  Will the first week be better for Mr. Boyle?

Probably not.

Jannik Hansen Sucker Punches Marian Hossa

The Vancouver Canucks, time and time again, continue to prove that they are an embarrassment to the sport of hockey.  Biting fingers, sending five players to fight one opponent, or now, punching people in the back of the head.

You can't really say that they play dirty, because they're not tough enough to get that adjective.  They play like cowards, taking cheap shots at opportune times for them when there is the smallest chance of retaliation.  The latest incident comes from Canucks winger Jannik Hansen.  In a game against the Blackhawks, Hawks captain Jonathan Toews played the puck into the neutral zone to teammate and winger Marian Hossa.  As the puck came in, and while his back was turned, Hansen delivered a pretty brutal forearm shiver into the back of Hossa's head.

Clearly intentional, clearly dirty.  Hossa luckily got up, but had to be helped off the ice by Hawks trainers.  Hansen faces a hearing at 3:30pm on Wednesday with NHL's head disciplinarian Brendan Shanahan.

Now, anybody with half a brain could tell that hit was dirty, and that something like that doesn't belong in the game of hockey.  But if you're a Vancouver fan...

Canucks Still Doing What They Do Best

 The Canucks do everything well, except play hockey.  They can cheap shot you, talk trash, bite you and now make excuses for why they're not still in the playoffs.  Their general manager Mike Gillis took the reigns on this one:

“I really felt the game in Boston for some reason was such an emotional and challenging game, it was almost like playing a Stanley Cup final game in the middle of the season and from that point on I don’t think our team ever really collectively got their emotions together,” Gillis said.  “We had some injuries that disaffected us and we just didn’t seem to play consistently as well from that point. There were certain points where our goaltending was so good it got us through. As a group I didn’t think we executed as well or played as well from that point for the remainder of the season.”

Oh, it wasn't that you guys just played like garbage against the #8 seed Kings, or that you just didn't have the legs to compete?  It was definitely the Bruins fault.  Sorry you guys wasted all of your energy fighting Shawn Thornton...at the same time...while he was against a wall...against your bench.

Stay classy, Vancouver...

Canucks are Gone

I'm not a huge fan of memes, but I figured if there was a good time to bust one out, this was it.  Last night, the Los Angeles Kings, the #8 seed in the West, eliminated the Vancouver Canucks.  That caps the 42nd year of misery in Vancouver... I love it.

Hey, at least Roberto Luongo played good... Wait, no, that was their back up Cory Schneider.  Well, at least the President's Trophy counts in the Playoffs... Wait, no, it doesn't mean anything.  Alright, at least the whole team played well... Oh, they only won one game? Nevermind, they're garbage.

I don't know how much further the Kings will make it, but clearing out the Canucks is a huge leap towards hoisting the Cup, even with possibly three more series to go.

The good news for the 'Nucks is they now have an extra month and a half of no distractions to figure out what to do with Luongo.  His $5.3 million per year through 2022, no-trade contract will be virtually impossible to move.  Plus, if you were a team with a chance at the playoffs, why would you want someone who's now twice proven to fold up?