Alumni in the Pros - April 2009

CUontheslopes · April 20, 2009, 08:25:12 PM

Not watching the game, but noticed on the boxscore that Bitz scored an assist in the second period on Thorton's goal.

sah67 · April 20, 2009, 08:32:45 PM

[quote CUontheslopes]Not watching the game, but noticed on the boxscore that Bitz scored an assist in the second period on Thorton's goal.[/quote]

And it was some nice work by Byron that set up the goal: he fought for the puck along the boards, dug it out, and slid it to Thornton who was wide open in the slot.

Al DeFlorio · April 20, 2009, 09:21:57 PM

[quote sah67][quote CUontheslopes]Not watching the game, but noticed on the boxscore that Bitz scored an assist in the second period on Thorton's goal.[/quote]

And it was some nice work by Byron that set up the goal: he fought for the puck along the boards, dug it out, and slid it to Thornton who was wide open in the slot.[/quote]
And then got to talk about it in the between-periods NESN interview.

sah67 · April 20, 2009, 09:40:29 PM

Bruins win 4-2, and Bitz's 4th line came up big for the Bs, getting rewarded with lots of ice time for their efforts. Byron ended up with 13:02 of even-strength playing time, which was more than what several of the big guns (Kessel, Bergeron, Ryder, Kobasew) got.

Rita · April 20, 2009, 10:07:42 PM

I hope Bitz's performance tonight will be enough to keep him in the line-up for game 4. Great effort, gets a point and I thought that tripping call was a bit cheesy (looked to me like he touched the puck before the stick touched the Canadian's skate).

KeithK · April 20, 2009, 11:25:50 PM

[quote Rita]I thought that tripping call was a bit cheesy (looked to me like he touched the puck before the stick touched the Canadian's skate).[/quote]
Is that still the rule? Maybe it was a college game where the announcers said that it no longer mattered whether you got to the puck first - a trip is a trip. Personally I like the "puck first and you're clear" rule but...

cbuckser · April 21, 2009, 01:46:38 AM

[quote KeithK][quote Rita]I thought that tripping call was a bit cheesy (looked to me like he touched the puck before the stick touched the Canadian's skate).[/quote]
Is that still the rule? Maybe it was a college game where the announcers said that it no longer mattered whether you got to the puck first - a trip is a trip. Personally I like the "puck first and you're clear" rule but...[/quote]
The rule in the NHL is different from the one in the NCAA. In the NHL, there shouldn't be a penalty if the player gets the puck before the player on his sweep check. In the NCAA, it's immaterial whether the defending player touched the puck.

DeltaOne81 · April 21, 2009, 06:39:27 AM

[quote cbuckser]
The rule in the NHL is different from the one in the NCAA. In the NHL, there shouldn't be a penalty if the player gets the puck before the player on his sweep check. In the NCAA, it's immaterial whether the defending player touched the puck.[/quote]

Ah, that explains it. I turned into some of the Rangers game last night, and Ovechkin made a spectacular defensive play at one point to knock the puck away from a Ranger with a breakaway.

No penalty was called and we had that very discussion. I couldn't remember if the rule was changed or if it was an NCAA/NHL difference. Thanks for the clarification

ftyuv · April 21, 2009, 09:29:19 AM

[quote Rita]I hope Bitz's performance tonight will be enough to keep him in the line-up for game 4. Great effort, gets a point and I thought that tripping call was a bit cheesy (looked to me like he touched the puck before the stick touched the Canadian's skate).[/quote]
I doubt he'll be in on Wednesday. He had a great game, but he was only out because Lucic had a one-game suspension. Bitz is the B's first reserve, but he's still the reserve.

Edit: Did anyone else think that Bitz's feed for the assist looked a lot like the Minnesota goal in 2005? It wasn't completely identical, but it was close enough to remind me.

ftyuv · April 21, 2009, 10:27:34 AM

[quote ftyuv][quote Rita]I hope Bitz's performance tonight will be enough to keep him in the line-up for game 4. Great effort, gets a point and I thought that tripping call was a bit cheesy (looked to me like he touched the puck before the stick touched the Canadian's skate).[/quote]
I doubt he'll be in on Wednesday. He had a great game, but he was only out because Lucic had a one-game suspension. Bitz is the B's first reserve, but he's still the reserve.

Edit: Did anyone else think that Bitz's feed for the assist looked a lot like the Minnesota goal in 2005? It wasn't completely identical, but it was close enough to remind me.[/quote]

Edit 2: A couple nice mentions in the post-games on NESN. Thornton gave credit to his goal to Bitz. Tim Thomas had a funny response to a reporter who asked about "Byron"... he looked really confused and said "Who?" and when the reporter clarified "Bitz," Thomas chuckled and said, "Bitzy, we call him Bitzy."

Killer · April 21, 2009, 12:38:13 PM

Here's an article from today's Globe about Bitz and his role in last night's game:

http://www.boston.com/sports/hockey/bruins/articles/2009/04/21/in_his_debut_bitz_helps_cause/

He thinks they made the right call on the penalty, though I have to say, it looked awfully close on the replays as to whether he got the puck or the skates first.

ftyuv · April 21, 2009, 12:59:20 PM

This is probably just the homer in me talking, but I felt that the refs were generally pretty hard on us. On Kobasew's goaltender interference penalty, for instance, it looked to me like he got pushed in, and I thought Bergy's roughing minor was weak considering he was obviously trying to get away from the guy.

On the other hand... here we are with one of our D out for the playoffs, a huge checker with a suspension, and a list of penalties that wasn't in our favor, and we still came out strong. I think that says a lot for the team's depth, of which Bitz is a huge part.

(Like how I tied pro-Bruins claptrap into the "almuni in the pros" theme at the very end?)

RichH · April 21, 2009, 01:51:57 PM

Hehe. "Us." "We." "Our."

After reading the first sentence, I thought it was a review of the past year of ECAC officiating. Luckily, your postscript note eliminated the need for me to consult the NHL-fan thread to find out who the hell you were talking about.

[quote ftyuv]This is probably just the homer in me talking, but I felt that the refs were generally pretty hard on us. On Kobasew's goaltender interference penalty, for instance, it looked to me like he got pushed in, and I thought Bergy's roughing minor was weak considering he was obviously trying to get away from the guy.

On the other hand... here we are with one of our D out for the playoffs, a huge checker with a suspension, and a list of penalties that wasn't in our favor, and we still came out strong. I think that says a lot for the team's depth, of which Bitz is a huge part.

(Like how I tied pro-Bruins claptrap into the "almuni in the pros" theme at the very end?)[/quote]

ftyuv · April 21, 2009, 01:56:55 PM

[quote RichH]Hehe. "Us." "We." "Our."

After reading the first sentence, I thought it was a review of the past year of ECAC officiating. Luckily, your postscript note eliminated the need for me to consult the NHL-fan thread to find out who the hell you were talking about.

[quote ftyuv]This is probably just the homer in me talking, but I felt that the refs were generally pretty hard on us. On Kobasew's goaltender interference penalty, for instance, it looked to me like he got pushed in, and I thought Bergy's roughing minor was weak considering he was obviously trying to get away from the guy.

On the other hand... here we are with one of our D out for the playoffs, a huge checker with a suspension, and a list of penalties that wasn't in our favor, and we still came out strong. I think that says a lot for the team's depth, of which Bitz is a huge part.

(Like how I tied pro-Bruins claptrap into the "almuni in the pros" theme at the very end?)[/quote][/quote]

Touche, and sorry for the confusion. :-)

Until Cornell gets its act together and offers consistent (and quality) video feeds of its games, I'm sorry to say, my "us" is only peripherally CU. Extremely peripherally. I like all y'all and that's why I continue to post here, but I just can't get all that excited about a team I can't watch.

KeithK · April 21, 2009, 02:05:24 PM

[quote ftyuv]Until Cornell gets its act together and offers consistent (and quality) video feeds of its games, I'm sorry to say, my "us" is only peripherally CU. Extremely peripherally. I like all y'all and that's why I continue to post here, but I just can't get all that excited about a team I can't watch.[/quote]
BLASPHEMY!!! You will be cast out into hockey hell!!! (Maybe forced to attend every game at Bright when Cornell isn't there?)

I guess I understand your motivation but it's kind of sad that your connection to Cornell hockey is video dependant. Spoiled kids!