Category — milan lucic

Lucic

Make sure you don’t miss the ESPNBoston.com player diary with Bruins forward Milan Lucic. It is a must-read for any Bruins fan.

This week, Lucic revealed that someone showed up to the team Halloween gathering dressed as former Boston winger Phil Kessel. There’s no word on whether he shied away from contact when asked to shake hands or was slowed down by the ridiculous amount of cash in his pockets.

Lucic

WILMINGTON, Mass. — Boston Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli announced today that winger Milan Lucic would be out four to six weeks after he underwent successful surgery for his broken right index finger Sunday.

The absence of Lucic, who broke the finger against Dallas Friday and did not face Phoenix Saturday, plus the trade of Chuck Kobasew to Minnesota opens up lineup spots for Brad Marchand and Vladimir Sobotka to provide the club with some much-needed grit, toughness and determination.

Now we know that there is a bigger difference between Milan Lucic and Phil Kessel than just their size, nationality and style of play.

Yesterday Lucic declared his love for Boston while discussing his three-year contract extension. So instead of going through a lot of haggling next summer as a restricted free agent, Lucic now knows he’s going to stay in the only pro city he’s ever known. [Read more →]

The Boston Bruins today announced the signing of left winger Milan Lucic to a three-year contract extension. Lucic was scheduled to become a restricted free agent next summer.

Monetary terms of the deal were not disclosed. The deal is worth a little more than $12 million over the course of the contract.

For my take on the signing, check out my blog at ESPNBoston.com.

Lucic

In just his second NHL season, Milan Lucic leaped up the depth chart to the Boston Bruins’ first line, threw a hit that put a player through the glass and will be replayed on every reel for decades to come, and was a major piece of the first Bruins team to win a playoff series in 10 years.

This offseason, things got even better with Lucic’s invitation to Hockey Canada’s Olympic orientation camp in Calgary last month. [Read more →]

As a former Memorial Cup champion and MVP, and a player that personifies the nose-to-the-grindstone sort of hockey every young Canadian aspires to play, Milan Lucic has been a darling of the media from North of the Border from even before he became an NHL sensation.

Lucic’s attendance at the Hockey Canada Olympic orientation camp has provided Canadian writers with the opportunity to rekindle their admiration for Lucic. George Johnson of the Calgary Herald today looks at Lucic’s desire to hit someone at the contact-free camp. [Read more →]

Lucic

Boston Bruins winger Milan Lucic was today announced as one of 46 invitees to attend Canada’s National Men’s Team orientation camp from August 24-27 in Calgary. The camp will be used as a tool to pick the team that will compete at the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver in February.

The 21-year-old Lucic just completed his second NHL season, during which he set career-highs for goals (17), assists (25) and points (42). [Read more →]

Kane

MONTREAL — NHL Central Scouting’s Blair MacDonald sums up Vancouver Giants forward Evander Kane, the third-ranked North American skater heading into tomorrow’s 2009 NHL Entry Draft at Bell Centre, like this:

“He has power forward qualities from the blue line in. He’s the type of player who doesn’t like being denied access to the net. You can almost see when he’s got the puck he’s going to the net and defying people to stop him. He’ll be a 200-pound forward in the National Hockey League. He plays like he’s 6-2, 6-3, bigger than his size. He’s surprised a lot of people with his strength going to the net.”

Does the currently 6-foot-1, 176-pound sound like someone? How about Boston Bruins 6-3, 228-pound winger Milan Lucic, Kane’s former captain and mentor with the ‘07 Memorial Cup-winning Giants club? [Read more →]

Boston Bruins winger Milan Lucic is certainly a man of his word.

When his rookie season concluded, Lucic said his goal over the summer was to improve enough that he could return for the 2008-09 season as a fixture among the Bruins’ top six forwards. Well, except for a few short stints on the club’s fourth line, Lucic spent this season banging bodies and creating room for some of his most-skilled teammates on one of Boston’s top two lines. And he wasn’t just a physical presence on those lines, as Lucic displayed improved hands and offensive dexterity throughout his impressive sophomore season. [Read more →]

Lucic

For those who missed it, Sports Illustrated recently picked a list of “The NHL’s Most Rugged Players.”

No. 12 on this all-encompassing list, none other than Montreal Canadiens defenseman Mike Komisarek. Now for the most part I’ve been a fan of Komisarek. Prior to his crosscheck to the head of Milan Lucic near the end of Game 4 of the Boston Bruins’ Eastern Conference quarterfinal series with the Habs (see below), the former Michigan standout has always been a pretty stand-up guy. [Read more →]

BOSTON — He’s the spark plug Johnny Damon was for the 2004 Red Sox, the straw that stirs the drink — to steal a phrase from Reggie Jackson — and a leader even John Wayne would follow into battle.

Technically he’s not old enough to drink yet in this country, but with game-changing performances like the one he produced tonight in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference semifinal series at TD Banknorth Garden, 20-year-old Milan Lucic should be able to have his choice of celebratory postgame beverages.

With the Bruins fighting for their playoff lives, Lucic answered the bell and set the tone for a hard-hitting, high-flying, 4-0 win over the Carolina Hurricanes, who still lead the series 3-2 heading back to Raleigh for Game 6 Tuesday. [Read more →]

Lucic

MONTREAL — We’ll never know how Mike Komisarek would’ve handled the post-series handshake after the Boston Bruins completed a four-game sweep tonight in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals at Bell Centre because the Montreal Canadiens defenseman was sent to the showers early with a game misconduct for cross checking Bruins winger Milan Lucic with 7:21 left in the contest.

We do know that Lucic had no problem, after a hard-fought series and a 4-1 Boston Game 4 win, skating through the handshake without incident, unless you count the bear hug he got from former Bruins center Glen Metropolit — who like his Habs teammates is heading home for the spring.

Lucic and Komisarek are longtime on-ice rivals dating back to last year’s playoff series, which the Habs won in seven games. In the second period tonight, things boiled over with the briefest of fights. Lucic leveled Komisarek with one mighty blow. Then in the third period came the crosscheck that ended Komisarek’s evening.

“I just went in and finished my check and he felt like he needed to crosscheck. I could stand here and talk about (it) and be unclassy and all those types of things, but really it feels a lot better when you win a series, so it doesn’t really hurt after that,” said Lucic, who was cut above his left cheek by the crosscheck. [Read more →]

MONTREAL — The Boston Bruins skated this morning at Bell Centre in preparation for Game 3 of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series with the Montreal Canadiens.

While his teammates went through line drills, winger Milan Lucic stood at the red line near the official scorer’s booth watching with a look on his face like a kid on the playground that no one will play with. At one point he took a swipe at Marc Savard as the center skated by. But Lucic missed and Savard didn’t stop to mess around.

It’s tough when you’ve been handed a one-game suspension by the NHL for a “reckless and forceful blow to the head of his opponent,” as the league deemed his hit on Maxim Lapierre in Game 2 of this series when it announced the suspension last night.

“Obviously it was a decision made by (NHL disciplinarian) Colin Campbell. Obviously you know you’ve got to respect his decision,” Lucic said after the skate. “He has one of the hardest jobs when it comes to hockey so he made his decision that he felt was right and I respect the decision.”

Lucic, who helped the Bruins jump out to a 2-o lead in the series, also accepted some of the blame for taking an action that required league review.

“I guess you can say I’m a little bit disappointed in myself because I think our team’s done a reall good job of being disciplined this whole series,” he explained. “So there’s a little bit of disappointment now.

“I think that’s the biggest thing that I can take out of this is you learn from this, you take a lot out of this. It’s the playoffs, so you really can’t do things like to jeopardize your team.” [Read more →]

Lucic

BOSTON — The joy of the Boston Bruins’ 5-1 win over Montreal in Game 2 of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series tonight at TD Banknorth Garden was tempered a bit by a late-game hit Milan Lucic made on Canadiens agitator Maxim Lapierre with 4:32 left in the game.

Lapierre skated at Lucic in front of the Montreal goal after Lucic and Habs defenseman Mathieu Schneider exchanged pleasantries. You can see the hit in the clip below, but Lucic seemed to catch Lapierre in the head with either his glove or his stick. Either way, he is definitely still holding his stick when he hits him. And what was originally announced as a fighting penalty was changed to a match penalty. That means Lucic is suspended upon review.

While Lucic was unavailable to the media after the game, Bruins head coach Claude Julien defended his player.

“I think in Looch’s situation, obviously he might’ve lost his composure a little bit in that area. But what you’ve got to remember is he got elbowed in the head and then high sticked by Schneider. And then Lapierre comes in — Lapierre, who’s been an instigator throughout the whole series and even during the regular season. And what Looch did is react to him coming at him. It wasn’t premeditated and in reviewing it, he hit him with his glove. He had his stick in his hands, but the glove hit the helmet,” said Julien. [Read more →]

Lucic

BOSTON — Tempers were flaring and his team had already racked up 21 minutes of penalties through just a little more than 28 minutes of game time.

Winger Milan Lucic had been responsible for four of those penalty minutes with a pair of roughing calls. So when he spun through the neutral zone and long-time nemesis Mike Komisarek stepped up at the Canadiens’ blue line and threw a hit that caught Lucic in the numbers, it wasn’t surprising to  see the second-year winger snapped a bit.

Lucic chased the Montreal defenseman deep into the Habs’ zone — where Boston tough guy Shawn Thornton had already gone after Komisarek. When Lucic got near his target, he wrapped his arms around Komisarek’s face from behind and scored a takedown. Not much ensued after that and Komisarek seemed to avoid injury. But whether Lucic avoids suspension will be determined by how much NHL disciplinarian Colin Campbell is willing to chalk it up to heat-of-the-moment and also accept Lucic’s admittance of wrongdoing after the Bruins’ 5-4 overtime win tonight at TD Banknorth Garden.

“Not much,” Lucic said when asked what he was thinking during his pursuit of Komisarek. “I mean, looking back, maybe I shouldn’t have went to that extreme. Maybe I lost my temper a little bit. But it’s part of the game and it happens.” [Read more →]