Frustration Sets In With The Boston Bruins
Apr 10, 2014; Winnipeg, Manitoba, CAN; Boston Bruins forward Brad Marchand (63) reacts prior to the game against the Winnipeg Jets at MTS Centre. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Fedyck-USA TODAY Sports
“Yeah, maybe mix in a couple of beers before the games. That would make us relax. That might be the final option. We don’t see a play and don’t make it, then we try to force a play and it’s a turnover where we spend a minute in our own end. That’s how it is. It’s mental…it’s mental. It’s not like the skill is gone.”-Tuukka Rask on taking the edge off before games
There is no doubt that frustration is beginning to set in with the Boston Bruins as a whole. In fact, frustration may be the only thing the team shares collectively as a whole at the moment. Coach Claude Julien mentioned how this is the toughest sub-par level of play he has had to deal with in his past 8 years of being behind the Boston Bruins bench and the players are recognizing it too. Dougie Hamilton told reporters yesterday that he wondered where the teams’ passion had gone.
“I think everybody is working, and I think everybody wants to win,” said Hamilton. “But I think our passion isn’t really there right now. You can kind of see it a little bit that it’s not really there, and I don’t know how to get that back. It’s obviously tough. We take losses pretty hard. We need to get some wins going to, I guess, get our mojo back, and kind of get going from there.”
The fact that players are starting to be more outspoken with their disgust in the teams’ performance as of late says a lot about their character. They have always been a team that has held themselves accountable, which in instances like this, is a good thing. While Tuukka Rask offered a more unorthodox approach in having a couple of beers before the game, they’re all still trying to find ways to improve and make the team better.
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Naturally, as frustration sets in, tempers begin to rise. Today at practice forward Brad Marchand and defenseman Torey Krug came to blows during battle drills. The scuffle resulted in other team members having to separate them before it escalated into something more.
Obviously we know that these things happen with professional sports teams and that everyone doesn’t always get along. Teammates fight, they throw one too many crosschecks, hit a little too hard into the boards, whatever, they move past it. The same goes for Marchand and Krug who started smiling at each other a few minutes after being split up.
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When asked about the scuffle after practice Coach Claude Julien replied;
“There was a lot of hugging going on at the end,” Claude Julien said of the two players. “I don’t think it’s a bad thing. That’s why I didn’t even react. If there’s no punches thrown…guys just wouldn’t let go of each other, and guys had to step in and separate them. They looked at each other, and five seconds later they were laughing at each other. I think it was for real, but I also don’t think it was that serious.”
The upside, the scuffle means there is passion buried somewhere and it wants to get come out and play. Lets just hope they can bring the same type of fiery attitude tomorrow against Pittsburgh.