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About DJ Bean

DJ Bean grew up in Section 127 of Fenway Park thanks to his grandfather's season ticket package and has immersed himself in the Boston sports scene ever since. In addition to co-founding multi-sport draft site DraftEmpire.com, DJ has written for the Boston Metro and 890 ESPN, among other outlets. He has been writing for WEEI.com since the summer of 2009 and continues to spread the Byron Leftwich gospel on Guest Street.

 
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MOST RECENT COLUMNS
Bruins' defense a major source of offense in playoffs
05/21/13 11:56 EST
NEW YORK – You know how they say the best offense is a good defense? That’s supposed to mean that having a strong defense is worth more to a team than scoring a bunch. Quieting the other team is more important than blowing them away -- something like that. Yet that’s not what it means this postseason for the Bruins. In the Bruins’ case, the best offense is a good defense because their offense is coming from their defense. There was plenty that stood out in the Bruins’ 2-1 win against the Rangers. The Bruins beat Henrik Lundqvist on the night that he played well enough to steal a game. The Merlot Line showed once again that it matters way more than your average fourth line. Tuukka Rask was once again superb as he continues a start to this postseason that is statistically better than where Tim Thomas was through 10 games in the 2011 postseason. Yet the thing that stands out – the thing that continues to stand out – is all of the scoring that is
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Who expected Bruins to get to Henrik Lundqvist?
05/19/13 09:02 EST
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“I’m not evaluating our goaltending. I don’t need to evaluate Henrik. We know what Henrik is.” Those were John Tortorella’s words Sunday after Henrik Lundqvist allowed five goals for the first time in over two years. It was the first time in his career that he’d allowed more than three goals against the Bruins in 32 starts. So don’t think this question is being raised just because he allowed five goals Sunday, because as the records indicate, it was a once-in-a-blue-moon occurrence. It’s an appropriate question to raise anyway: Do the Bruins actually have the advantage in goal in this series against the Rangers? The answer, so far, is yes. Even the biggest Rask fans should be a little surprised by that. Tuukka Rask and Lundqvist are in the top handful of goaltenders in the league. Rask had the better regular-season numbers this year, though Lundqvist finished in the top three in Vezina votes after winning the award a season ago. Rask’s
Read more » 
Dougie Hamilton doesn't feel like a rookie anymore
05/17/13 02:36 EST
It’s been quite the rookie season for Dougie Hamilton. In short, he’s gone from the teenager who couldn’t believe he was in the same room as Zdeno Chara, to the superstar rookie with all the poise in the world, to more of a regular rookie who made his mistakes, to a healthy scratch down the stretch and at the start of the postseason, to a contributor once again with the Bruins banged up on defense. Yet that’s just part of it for Hamilton. Though the lockout-shortened season has meant a lot less work for many NHL players, Hamilton’s last 10 months haven’t lacked a thing. He’s played more hockey in that span than the vast majority of the Bruins’ roster, as he played in the Canada-Russia Junior Hockey Challenge in August before heading back to the OHL to play during the lockout and eventually joining the Bruins once a new collective bargaining agreement was reached. After playing in 42 games of the 48-game regular-season, he was called upon in
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Rangers miss an opportunity with B's bruised
05/17/13 02:03 EST
For all the flak we’ve given the Bruins for not taking advantage of opportunities, let’s take a look at the Rangers for a moment. It’s Game 1 on the road. The other team gives you two goals and is playing three rookies on defense, one of whom is a 5-foot-9 kid who doesn’t kill penalties at the AHL level and who now is getting time on the penalty kill in his fourth career NHL game. Zdeno Chara plays over the half the game and has to be exhausted by the time it reached overtime. You catch a break on a couple of posts hit by the home team. You have to win that game. The Rangers didn’t, and this will be one they’ll probably want back later in the series. Look at where things stand now: The teams have two days off to rest up and get healthy, and that will help the Bruins more than it will help the Rangers. The Rangers have injuries of their own with Ryan Clowe and Marc Staal out, but the hit that the B’s have taken on defense would make wins against
Read more » 



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Elliotte Friedman of CBC …

Elliotte Friedman of CBC on the Bruins dominance of the Rangers

Elliotte Friedman joined the show to discuss the Bruins domination of the series thus far. He said that while nothing is certain he cannot see a way in which the Rangers come back and win the series.

Steve Zipay of Newsday on the Rangers

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Can the Rangers turn things around?

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Ed Olczyk, NBC Sports: "S…

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....uhhhh.....a bunch of bombs over there....

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Sounds like a prostate exam to me!

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