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Category: John Curry (Page 1 of 5)

The Everyone’s Favorite Goalie Watch: Because Even John Curry Needs A Montage

It’s been too long since I wrote an edition of the Everyone’s Favorite Goalie Watch, but what better time to bring back this feature than the occasion of former BU goalie John Curry’s 100th career AHL win.

On March 27th, Curry led the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins to a 3-2 overtime win over their storied and constant arch-rival Hershey Bears. The win clinched the East Division regular season title for the Penguins, who as of Friday night, had a 56-21 record. Curry has 22 wins in net this season, splitting his time with AHL Goaltender of the Year and former Northeastern goalie Brad Thiessen.

T0 celebrate Curry’s win over the Bears – the 100th win in his four seasons in the AHL – the team played a montage at their next game and posted it on YouTube. Thanks to the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins, I present to you the John Curry 100th win montage, complete with questionable fonts, strange lyrics, and the same sort of acrobatic saves that BU fans long for to this very day.


 

To Play Outdoors, To Not Play Outdoors

So are they playing a college hockey game here or not? (Picture by yours truly. Yes, I can take good photos once and a while.)

So are they playing a college hockey game here or not? (Picture by yours truly. Yes, I can take good photos once and a while.)

Remember when I noted that Denver’s men’s ice hockey schedule release may have squashed rumors of a college game being a part of Fenway Park’s all-but-confirmed Winter Classic festivities? Well, the Boston Globe’s Kevin Paul Dupont may have revived those rumors by claiming that a source close to the organizers are looking to have the ice system down for three weeks of use, and are looking to schedule a college tournament within that time.

Dupont went on to mention that any official announcement about all of the Winter Classic would most likely take place near the beginning of July.

These new details would seemingly make a Boston College-Boston University game a possibility, because of the length of time the ice will be available. BC could still keep their commitments to the Denver Cup on New Year’s Day, while still having time to fit in an outdoor game against BU.

I’ll keep my eyes out for any additional clues.

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Belated congratulations to the Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins. Marc-Andre Fleury definitely proved his worth as a goalie on Friday evening (he actually made an acrobatic save in those final seconds – who knew?)

On the Everyone’s Favorite Goalie Watch, John Curry did dress for Game 7, but his name does not get engraved on the Cup, and thus he was not allowed to carry it because of superstition. Until your name is on the Cup, you are not allowed to touch it as a hockey player. He was still spotted on the NBC broadcast wearing the nifty locker room hat though.

Speaking of locker-room hats, Puck Daddy posted a great feature on the conceptualization and production of NHL championship fan wear on Saturday. Those of you as obsessed with fan wear as I will geek out over the detail.

And a special congrats to the Pens fans at Puck Huffers (NSFW), who titled their championship post, “Our Curry in Heaven,” and part of their dedication to disappointed and bitter Detroit fans read:

It’s time for you to put your hands towards the sky and pray for redemption. It worked for us.
Then again, John Curry is God.

It’s clear I’ve been outdone. I think they might need to take over the “Everyone’s Favorite Goalie” posts.

The Everyone’s Favorite Goalie Watch: Riding a Taxi Without Paying a Dime

033108_curryIt’s been a while since we checked on Everyone’s Favorite Goalie – well, I mean, Everyone’s Favorite Goalie before Terrier fans were introduced to the John Curry clone that is Kieran Milan. (Thanks to blog commenter “Ogre” for jogging my memory to cover this topic.)

When we left last BU’s former starting goalie, Curry had returned to the AHL after impressing in his NHL debut around Thanksgiving. He then went on to set the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins team record for number of wins in a season in March, ending the season with 37 (33 in the regular season, 4 in the playoffs.) Curry earned those 4 playoff wins by leading the Baby Penguins team through the first round of the playoffs against the Bridgeport SoundTigers, but not without suffering a knee injury in Game 5 of that series.  (Of course, the SoundTigers are the team in which Curry participated in the now famous “goalie fight” last year. Can I just tell you that still, a year later, we play that video in the office when we’re having a particularly rough day? Or maybe it’s just me.)

Due to Curry’s injury, backup Adam Berkhoel received most of the starts in the Baby Pens series against the pesky Hershey Bears, which the Bears won on their way to the Calder Cup finals (in which they currently have a 3-1 series lead over the Cory Schneider led Manitoba Moose.)

But why is it then that a detail-oriented hockey fan might find Curry’s name on the active roster for the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Stanley Cup Finals? Because despite his knee injury, Curry was called up to be the third string goalie for the remainder of the playoffs for Pittsburgh. He is on what sports fans and writers call “the taxi squad.”

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The Everyone’s Favorite Goalie Watch: Oh, Mr. Thiessen. I Didn’t See You Over There

After giving Everyone’s Favorite Goalie, John Curry, a fellow Hockey East alum earlier in the week – Northeastern senior Joe Vitale – the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins surprised us college hockey fans, and it seems others, by signing Northeastern junior goalie Brad Thiessen on Friday.

Although some had speculated he might leave school early (including myself very briefly last weekend before his team’s NCAA semifinal loss to Cornell), I don’t know if it was particularly expected.  Especially a move to the Penguins organization, which seems to be stockpiling goalies like 1950s families stocked canned vegetables in fail-safe shelters. (At the end of the world, there is not such a thing as too many cans of creamed corn. Or, it seems, too many undrafted college goalies.)

What does this mean for Everyone’s Favorite Goalie? Is this a confirmation of his spot as the somewhat-revitalized Marc-Andre Fleury’s backup next season? Or does the Penguins organization think that they want to have some grand goalie cage match next training camp? Thiessen, Curry, Fleury, Dave Brown, Chad Johnson and Adam Berkhoel all go at it, and the two still standing get a chance in the NHL? That would make an amazing reality show…in Canada.

As for Thiessen, I’m kind of disappointed he won’t be back next year. Given the youth of Northeastern’s team, they were a lock to compete for the top spot in Hockey East again next year.  Since Thiessen started every single game for the Huskies last year, no one is quite sure what type of goalies they have coming up behind him.  Thiessen definitely was deserving of the Hockey East Player of the Year award, and really kept the Huskies in the mix all season long. Now the Huskies seem like a giant question mark heading into 2009-10.

Hanging Out in the Cheap Seats – The Hockey East Semifinal Liveblog

I hate Duke. Darn dominant college basketball power…you know, Duke, you’ve had enough wins and titles and all of that. Why not just share the wealth? Let a team like Binghamton win once. Really, Coach K, don’t you want to like, take a vacation or something?

Now that I’ve gotten that bitterness out of my system, let me introduce you to the …On Being a Sports Girl Hockey East Semifinal Live Blog. I’m going to be there from the very beginning of the UMass Lowell Red & Blue Pigeons versus Northeastern Stick-Throwers game till the very end of the Boston University versus Boston College game.  I honestly enjoy being in an arena for hours and hours on end, especially during early tournament games where I have like an entire section of the Garden to myself.

So to help out those of you unable to join me at the TDBanknorth Garden tonight, I’ll be sharing my witty observations (like if BC’s band breaks out any new pep band renditions of hip-hop songs) here through CoverItLive. I may not be delivering hard-hitting hockey analysis – I mean, I could if I wanted to, but what’s the fun in that? – but who needs that when I can muse about the fact that a riverhawk is really a pigeon?

Oh, but I will provide play-by-play at one point tonight – my favorite event of the Hockey East season, the Annual Mascot Game. My money is on the Skating Monk of Providence College – he had a rough year, and he may be out for revenge. I was hoping that Bananas the Bear might not be as depressed as he was last year, but I think he might be even more. Bummer Bananas – you really could be a contender in this game, especially if you pick up the patented Simon Danis-Pepin defense of literally sitting on the forward closest to you.  Oh, and the Merrimack Warrior will inexplicably show up. Who invited him?

Oh wait, they’re still in our league? Oops.

Well, friends, join me at 4:30pm for what looks to be quite the evening of hockey.

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