Welcome to a new week, fearless readers!
The last full week of August is upon us, which means the ramp-up to hockey season is just around the corner. Get stoked.
While there was little in the way of on-ice news or happenings last week, there were some cool B’s-adjacent items from the past few days that we can catch up on here.
Big Z’s big day
Zdeno Chara’s testimonial/retirement game took place in Trencin, Slovakia, on Friday, with the big man quite literally leaving his skates on the ice and walking away:
Chara also (allegedly) hit 108.8 MPH with a slap shot, though I’m guessing it was more of an honorary 108.8 than a legitimate 108.8; I can’t tell if the NHL account really believes it, but who knows with the Internet these days.
I WANT TO BELIEVE.
Anyways, Team Boston ended up winning the exhibition affair, with both Patrice Bergeron and Milan Lucic recording hat tricks.
Someone should remind Bergeron that the current Bruins are, in fact, still looking for a #1 center. David Pastrnak tried, at least.
Divver honored by the AHL
I don’t know if you consume a lot of AHL content, but we, in the Boston/Providence market, have been spoiled for years to have Mark Divver available to us.
Along with providing the best P-Bruins coverage around, Divver also keeps a close eye on New England prep hockey, college happenings, and other local hockey business.
Last week, Divver was named the winner of the AHL’s James H. Ellery Award, an honor given each year to an individual in recognition of outstanding AHL coverage.
To say it’s a deserved recognition is probably the understatement of the summer, but it’s nice to see someone who has dedicated so many years to AHL coverage be recognized for all of that effort.
When you see how little coverage some other AHL teams get (at least in comparison to their NHL cousins), it really illustrates how fortunate B’s fans have been to have someone like Divver on the beat.
Congrats to Divver on the hardware!
Other than that, hopefully you have a chance to enjoy some late-summer weather this week before fall envelops us all.
What else is on tap for today?
