- 1 day ago
Bruins PBP Judd Sirott Joins Live!|| The Greg Hill Show
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00First, it is Bruins Thursday.
00:01Bruins Thursday here.
00:04Greg is not here.
00:04He and Wiggy are in the afternoons, but Judd is here.
00:07Our man Judd Nesson, play-by-play voice of the Boston Bruins.
00:10Hi, Judd.
00:10What's going on?
00:11How's everybody?
00:12We're good, although we were just talking Beanpot,
00:14and you are on the call next week of the title game,
00:16and I am outraged.
00:18Northeastern, who won five of six, they changed the rules
00:20and now are deciding games and shootouts.
00:23It's so weird that this is the hill that you want to die on.
00:25Why would you decide a Beanpot on a shootout?
00:27I just – they parachuted me in here to do these games,
00:32so I don't know the rules.
00:33I don't know everything behind that.
00:34That was a great game, by the way, between Northeastern and BU.
00:37Came down to the very end, a lot of energy, you know,
00:39a lot of guys on that ice who are National Hockey League draft picks,
00:44but it should be a terrific game next Monday on Nesson.
00:47300th meeting all time between BU and BC, and I love the picture.
00:51Oh, yeah, I just showed them a photo of me drinking out of the Beanpot
00:53back in my college days, but like –
00:55Sick brag there.
00:56I mean, BC kind of dominated Hutton and Hockey in my four years, just saying.
01:01But when you look at the Beanpot, like, nobody wants Harvard or Northeastern in it.
01:05What are you talking about?
01:06Northeastern is the modern power of Boston.
01:08BCBU is what people want.
01:11They want five of six.
01:12I mean, Curtis, now, Judd –
01:14So just let me simply say this.
01:15If you only have a hockey team and it's where all your resources go,
01:19you shouldn't be as bad as Northeastern.
01:20Now, Judd is a longtime Chicago guy, so we've been talking a lot about Brady not having a dog in the fight.
01:26If the Bulls were in the NBA final against a hated Chicago rival and he said,
01:32I have no dog in the fight, would you be upset or would Chicagoans be upset by that?
01:36Because that's –
01:37Sure they would.
01:37Yeah.
01:38Absolutely.
01:39I get it.
01:40You know, he's working for the network.
01:42He's supposed to be impartial.
01:44You know, but if you hit him with the truth serum, what would he actually say?
01:47This is what he's saying over the air.
01:50But there's no way, you know, I would think that a guy, Tom Brady, who played here for as long as he did
01:55and had the success that he had here, doesn't have deep down some feelings about the Patriots winning this thing
02:01and pulling for him against the Seahawks.
02:03Absolutely he does.
02:04And it's cool to see guys like Chara come back and be such a part of the organization.
02:08And so Boston, after he's – now he's getting paid by the team, I guess, in some ways, right?
02:12But still, I mean –
02:13I mean, in all ways.
02:14In all ways.
02:14Okay, fine.
02:15And he's got a sixth of the championships as Brady.
02:17Yeah.
02:18But the athletes that stick here and still have that connection to Boston, it's just – it's special.
02:23There's no way.
02:24I mean, you know, you can see the emotion, I think, in certain guys.
02:27And I guarantee if they started showing highlights of Tom Brady winning Super Bowls with the New England Patriots
02:32over those six Super Bowl spans, I guarantee that that would trigger some emotional pangs in that body.
02:39I guarantee it.
02:40Yeah.
02:41But of course they're going to play that.
02:42Like, there's going to be so many highlights, especially with the win against the Seahawks.
02:47Like, he's going to be such a big storyline the day of the Super Bowl leading up to the game.
02:51It's crazy for him to say what he said.
02:54Oh, well, I get it.
02:56He's working for the network.
02:57Eric, he's trying to get as many people to watch as possible.
03:00You know, and, you know, I know we talked last week about Tony Romo being a lightning rod around the National Football League.
03:06You know, I think in some ways Tom Brady can be that way.
03:08So you want to make sure you get the biggest audience possible.
03:11Yeah.
03:11And I feel like the other thing is, is that, like, I actually don't even think it's about impartiality.
03:16I think he is so protective of his true feelings of what went on here that he says, like, a generic, whatever popped in his head is this generic, like, let's make this question go away.
03:29I don't have a dog in the fight.
03:31And I think he'll correct it between now and Sunday, if I had to guess.
03:34And I just think the way in which we, like, Michael Jordan won six championships with Chicago, but he owned a different team.
03:45He finished his career in Washington.
03:47Like, there's a lot of similarities there.
03:49And I could see Michael Jordan being incredibly, I mean, go watch his Hall of Fame induction.
03:54He is as petty as they come, and that's what makes these guys great.
03:57Like, I could see him not outwardly rooting for the Bulls.
04:00I don't know.
04:00I mean, he signed a deal with NBC, and he did one interview, and he left.
04:03I mean, the guy makes his own rules.
04:05Well, Judd, it's interesting.
04:06We'll talk about the game last night and the whole Florida trip.
04:09But now, because of the Olympic break, you've got to switch your allegiances.
04:13It's very tough, I would think, for a lot of Boston fans to now root for Kachuk again.
04:16Here it is.
04:17The Olympics are back after he's being Mr. Agitator again last night.
04:20But, you know, thank God McAvoy is healthy because that almost went a bad way last night.
04:24Well, I don't know where you want to start on that.
04:26But when it comes to the Olympics, you know, listen, we're all Americans.
04:29We're going to be rooting for the American team.
04:30That's what we're watching.
04:31And when Charlie McAvoy went down, I'm sure every American hockey fan who was watching that game
04:36and saw what happened last night all of a sudden had to hold their breath.
04:40And thankfully, he was able to come back.
04:43Hopefully, there's not any residual issue.
04:47And listen, that was great news for Charlie McAvoy, you know,
04:51and in the bigger picture for the Boston Bruins because what he experienced last night
04:55could have easily been a season-ending injury.
04:58He's had some huge injuries in the past.
05:00Like, I think I had a conversation with Charlie, this was like right before he came back this season.
05:05Because if you look, he's been in the league technically for 10 years,
05:09but this is essentially his ninth full season.
05:12The stuff that he has gone through across that time, he's had a heart procedure very early in his career.
05:20He's had a knee issue, two shoulders, the busted jaw.
05:24Now he gets smoked in the head last night.
05:27You know, and if you want to, you know, sort of break down what steamed Marco Sturm last night.
05:32So in the National Hockey League, just going back a few years, they instituted some tools.
05:38So what did we hear all the time?
05:40It's a hard game to officiate.
05:41It's really fast.
05:42So the National Hockey League, what they did is they put in a replay system.
05:45And in order on a play like that, you have the opportunity to look at that.
05:51All you have to do as the referee on the ice is to call a major penalty.
05:56That then gives you the opportunity to slow it down, take a much better look at exactly what happened.
06:02But the referee on the ice, or the referees in this case, chose not to do that.
06:07A minor penalty is not reviewable in the National Hockey League.
06:11And that, the hit, and the fact that they chose that route not to call a major penalty and take the opportunity to take a look and make the right call.
06:21Because that's what we're talking about, or that's what we get all the time, that we want to get it right.
06:26They did not use the tools at their disposal to make the right call.
06:31Incredible.
06:31But also, like, I don't understand how that can't be looked at after the case.
06:36Like, shouldn't officiating have to answer for it today?
06:40Shouldn't the NHL have to come out today and say, you could watch this play in real time, in slow-mo?
06:47It does not matter.
06:49Somebody needs to come out today and correct what went wrong.
06:52It just doesn't function that way.
06:55I'm not saying that you're wrong, Courtney.
06:56It just doesn't function that way in the National Hockey League.
06:59Give the bones an extra point.
07:00But the NFL goes out and says, like, we got this call wrong after a game.
07:04The National Hockey League in the past has been – maybe they've done it in the past, but I think that they're very reluctant to do that, if at all.
07:14Because we've seen plenty of those.
07:16Yeah.
07:16Certainly in the playoffs, Sam Bennett, like, throwing Charlie Coyle into Jeremy Swamon, and they're allowing a goal.
07:22But I digress.
07:24You know, I think somewhere behind the scenes that that conversation is being had by Stephen Walkham, who runs the officiating,
07:32and maybe someone above them who's talking to some of the officials on the ice about the choice that they made on the ice.
07:40But, again, that's behind the scenes.
07:42That's not anything we know about.
07:43I don't know how accountable that they will be.
07:45I think what has the team steamed, what had Marco frosted, and that's why he got a bench miner, was because they chose not to look at it.
07:57That's ridiculous.
07:57Now, go ahead, Chris.
07:58I was just going to ask you.
08:00Obviously, most people do not have the broom where they are right now at this stage of the season.
08:05What would you say Marco Sturm's best asset has been in sort of being someone that many of us didn't foresee as their first option really seem to be one of the best coaches in the NHL right now?
08:16It's a really good question.
08:17I think he's come in, and he's really instituted structure, I think, first and foremost.
08:21I think that he's gotten that group to play as a group.
08:26And, three, the special teams, let's take the penalty kill out of it a little bit because I think what's happened is that they've taken so many minor penalties that it's really had an impact on how they kill penalties.
08:39But the power play has been a massive part of their success this season.
08:42Listen, a lot of credit goes to the players and what they've been able to do.
08:45What I was thinking about last night, you know, when Mikey Acemont scoring goals or we see Alex Steves or Matt Patra scoring the other day in the stadium series game, they've also had guys, and this is where I credit a lot of the players, they've had guys who have been given opportunities, who have taken advantage of those opportunities.
09:04And collectively, because of that, they put themselves in a playoff spot.
09:08Now, last night when I was watching and listening to the game, you know, they were talking about, hey, this has a supreme meeting for a team like the Florida Panthers because they're outside the playoff picture.
09:19They're trying to catch the Bruins.
09:20There are a bunch of teams between the Panthers and the Bruins.
09:23And the team that's right behind the Bruins, that's the Columbus Blue Jackets.
09:28And I think they've won again, they've won like seven or eight games since they've made the coaching change and Rick Bonas has taken over.
09:35That's the team that's right on your heels.
09:37I want to say they're four points behind the Bruins and they've got a game in hand and they haven't faced the Bruins yet this season.
09:43That's going to be their first game after the break at TD Garden.
09:47That's the team that you have to be concerned with.
09:49As well as the Bruins have played, they are still barely holding on to that spot.
09:55And I think in the bigger picture, if you looked at, you know, before you started the Florida trip and you told the Bruins you're going to go down to Florida, you're going to see Tampa, you're going to see Florida in their buildings without your top two centers.
10:06I think you probably would have taken essentially what was a split.
10:10You earned two points.
10:12But was there a possibility that you could have earned a little bit more, not just in those two games, but beyond that?
10:19And that's what you want to, you know, at this point, there's no way to be able to look back and earn some of those points that maybe you had an opportunity to do early in the season.
10:29But going forward, because it's going to be a sprint, and I mean a sprint with a capital S, between after the Olympics and before you get to the end of the regular season, those are the times where you really have to take advantage.
10:41Olympic opening ceremonies tomorrow, and last week, I believe Wiggy was the one to ask you, when it comes to these players right now that are playing in the Olympics, where do they fall?
10:50Like, what's more important to the player right now winning an Olympic gold medal for their country and representing their country or winning a Stanley Cup?
10:57And then after you left, Wiggy and I kind of continued this conversation, and you had said, you know, you've never asked a player straight up that question.
11:04And as you've gotten closer to a guy like Charlie McAvoy leaving, does it feel a certain type of way to you, like these guys are more juiced to go to the Olympics and compete for their country?
11:16Again, I still haven't had that question, you know, and I did think about it afterwards, after Wiggy brought it up, and we all had that discussion about that.
11:24And again, I can't give you an unequivocal answer.
11:27You know, here's what I will say, is that the players desperately wanted this to happen.
11:32This was something that was completely player-driven.
11:36The National Hockey League and its owners, while they're certainly supportive of the players going to the Olympics, it's not something that they necessarily pushed for.
11:44The players wanted a best-on-best tournament.
11:47So all those players, whether you're American, Canadian, whatever country you're competing for, it matters to them.
11:54Does it matter in the same way that it does a Stanley Cup?
11:57I don't know.
11:58It's almost like if you ask somebody with kids, you know, which kid do you love the most?
12:02Usually the answer is, I love them both, but I love them differently.
12:06What did your parents say?
12:07Yeah, Kim, my sister.
12:09Judd Serrata's here, Nesson, play-by-play voice.
12:12And you got a couple weeks off, too, which is nice.
12:13But not to nitpick on the Bruins on this trip, but there are some things to pick at here.
12:18Why no Mac Pasternak in the shootout last night?
12:21That's odd.
12:22And why so many penalties?
12:24Not necessarily.
12:25You know, I think that there are a lot of guys, even though they are great goal scorers, they are not great in the shootout.
12:29Alexander Ovechkin, for a long time, would never go in the shootout.
12:32He wasn't really good at it.
12:33So typically, and these are specialty events, you know, since we're going back to the bean pod.
12:39You know, these are skills competitions, and they are really hard to replicate in practice.
12:43Because you can't sit at Warrior and put the game on your stick with 17,000 fans bearing on, and this has playoff implications.
12:50It's just so hard to replicate in practice.
12:54There are certain guys who are really good at it.
12:57And I think the coaches have an idea of who they like, or maybe they like a certain matchup.
13:02Charlie McAvoy went last night.
13:03I remember him having a shootout game winner, you know, in the past.
13:06Just because he hasn't gone, or he went instead of David Pasternak, that's typically how coaches work it.
13:13There are certain guys who are really good at it.
13:15And some guys, even though they may score a lot, aren't great.
13:17And why the penalties?
13:18Do they have an undisciplined problem?
13:21They take, like, 15 a game.
13:22It's unbelievable.
13:23They're always in the box.
13:23I think they would admit to you that, you know, it depends on the game.
13:27I think early in the season, there were a lot of stick infractions.
13:30And a lot of times, they were reaching, or they weren't checking with their feet.
13:33And because of that, they were taking ill-advised penalties.
13:35I think here in the last couple of games, and I think Morgan Geeky had mentioned it,
13:40that maybe they had lost their composure or didn't have the right discipline at certain times.
13:44Because, you know, in looking ahead, if the Bruins, if they're going to continue to play meaningful games here between now and the end of the regular season,
13:52and if they're fortunate enough to make the playoffs, that will have an even higher sense of importance.
13:58Because you cannot give these opponents these opportunities with the extra man.
14:02But the math will tell you, an average power play in the National Hockey League, an average power play, is scoring one of every five times.
14:11So you want to try and limit that.
14:12Like, as good as the goalie fight was in the outdoor game, it kind of jump-started Tampa in a weird way.
14:17I mean, and last night, they're defending themselves.
14:19There's some good fights lately, but they're, you know.
14:21It probably did, you know.
14:23But I think the other thing is, you know, when I look at that game,
14:26when I look at whether it was last night for the Bruins or last night for the Florida Panthers,
14:30sometimes if you take one and now you're shorthanded, now you have to defend,
14:34and then maybe you have to prevent a goal, then you have to take another penalty.
14:38And that's part of the issue that happened to the Bruins in that stadium series game.
14:45You know, I mean, Jeremy Swamin flicking the puck out, you know, the delay of game penalty,
14:49which I absolutely abhor since it was instituted in the National Hockey League.
14:54But I think that that's the problem.
14:56The more you have to defend in your D-zone,
14:58the greater likelihood that you're going to have to take a penalty in order to prevent a goal.
15:03And then the penalties start to compound.
15:06And then the power play chances for Tampa or for Florida last night,
15:10you know, and it actually worked in the Bruins' favor last night in the third period.
15:14When Florida, that's the team that's right behind them in minor penalties taken.
15:18Florida started to stack some of those penalties.
15:20That allowed the Bruins to rally from two down to pick up a point.
15:24All right, Chad.
15:24Well, so you got a little time to break, although the beanpot is important.
15:27I know you got a dog in that fight.
15:28We're all rooting against BC, right?
15:30Oh, please.
15:32Just on principle.
15:33It's unbelievable.
15:34Huskies.
15:35Just wanted to wake Curtis up.
15:37I want Courtney to relive, you know, well, you can't relive it now,
15:40but, you know, maybe you can tell some stories, you know,
15:42about what you were doing in Chestnut Hill.
15:45Oh, my God.
15:45Did you hear Courtney during the break?
15:46I mean, her and Judd are going deep into beanpot more.
15:48Basically, I mean, talking about midday bones.
15:50No, but, no, beanpot Mondays, especially if BC won,
15:54were some of the highlights of my college career.
15:57Shyam, who are you betting on in the tournament, the Olympic hockey tournament?
16:01Do you have a – is there a good bet there?
16:04I'll be honest, Ken, haven't really done a deep dive.
16:06I've been too worried about the anthem.
16:07Hey, Shyam, I got a fact for you.
16:09Did you know that Jamaica has a bobsled team?
16:11Oh, nice.
16:13Judd Surratt, you can hear him on Nessun.
16:14You'll hear him next week for the beanpot final,
16:16and then back for the stretch run, as you say.
16:18It's going to be a sprint.
16:19Pretty cool that the Bruins are in the mix,
16:21and it's going to be – every night will be a must-watch.
16:23Oh, it's going to be awesome.
16:24Trade deadline's coming up,
16:25then the stretch run to the end of the regular season,
16:27so it's going to be some terrific hockey,
16:29and all the best to the American team as they get started for the Olympics.
16:33All right, we'll see you back here in a few weeks.
16:34Sounds good.
16:34Thank you, Judd.
Comments