Category — shane hnidy

Hnidy

Defenseman Shane Hnidy has left the Boston Bruins as an unrestricted free agent today to sign with the Minnesota Wild, according to Russo’s Rants.

Hnidy, who was acquired by the Bruins Jan. 2, 2008 from Anaheim, signed a one-year, $850,000 deal with the Wild. In 108 games in black and gold, he put up 4-13-17 totals and a plus-2 rating. Hnidy’s departure betters the chance that recently re-signed blueliner Johnny Boychuk has to make the NHL roster as a sixth or seventh defenseman.

Hnidy

When they start using DNA for human cloning, they’re going to take Shane Hnidy’s biological code and create a legion of sixth and seventh defensemen to populate the NHL. Never flashy and sometimes overmatched, Hnidy proved to be the perfect foot soldier for the Boston Bruins in their march to the top seed in the Eastern Conference and a berth in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Seemingly able to perform at a high level after weeks of time spent only practicing, and not playing games, Hnidy provided the Bruins with much-needed depth throughout the season when the injury bug bit key members of the defense corps. [Read more →]

RALEIGH — With defenseman Andrew Ference out for tonight’s Game 4 of the Boston Bruins’ Eastern Conference semifinal series with the Carolina Hurricanes at RBC Center, the club has to turn to a reliable old friend — “Sheriff” Shane Hnidy.

The veteran defenseman has appeared in just three postseason games for the Bruins, but he made the most of his opportunity with a goal and a plus-2 rating.

“I think this is where the years come in handy,” Hnidy said this morning about being ready to step in after sitting out the last three contests. “The nerves and everything, it’s more you know what to expect of yourself and what’s expected of you. It’s just a matter of going out there and doing it.” [Read more →]

Hnidy

BOSTON — Boston Bruins defenseman Shane Hnidy scored a key goal in his team’s 5-1 triumph over Montreal in Game 2 of the clubs’ Eastern Conference quarterfinal series tonight at TD Banknorth Garden.

The score pushed his career total of goals in 31 postseason games to four. Remember, this is a guy who in 477 regular-season games has scored just 14 goals (including three this year).

“I was telling the guys, this is the third year in a row I’ve scored in my first playoff game. It’s one of those things. We play this game, there’s stretches throughout the season where we lag, but when it comes to playoffs, you wake up, you’re ready to go. So it’s why we play the game — to be in playoffs,” said Hnidy, who probably wouldn’t have played had fellow defenseman Matt Hunwick not suffered a ruptured spleen.

Hnidy’s score came with the Bruins still ahead 2-1 but starting to feel some heat from the Habs, who had scored just 46 seconds into the second period. But at the 5:45 mark of that period the veteran blueliner snuck one past Montreal goaltender Carey Price from the high slot off a drop-pass by winger P.J. Axelsson.

“Coming into our lineup tonight and doing the job that he did is to his credit because he’s worked hard in practice, he’s kept himself sharp and the minute he’s had the opportunity, he’s come in and played well,” said head coach Claude Julien.

The Bruins now lead the series two games to none heading to Montreal for Game 3 Monday. There’s no doubt Hnidy’s goal was a momentum-changer for the game and maybe the series.

“We have put that on ourselves this year, as a team, if the other team scores, we really want to bounce back quick and try to get ourselves back into the game and put the pucks on net,” Hnidy said. “That’s what we did. It’s a tribute to this team and the way we like to bounce back from that shift and want the next shift to be good and create positives from that.”

Hnidy

WILMINGTON, Mass. — At 33 years old and in his eighth NHL season, Boston Bruins defenseman Shane Hnidy has seen it all and been in all situations.

That doesn’t mean he won’t act a bit prickly when he hasn’t played for nine straight games, like the stretch he ended by skating for 15:31 of ice time against Ottawa Thursday night. However, he knows how to handle the down time and that’s why he was able to seamlessly fit right back in next  to his longtime D partner Mark Stuart.

“I’ve been in all situations, so I think that kind of helped me in the long run. And we’ve been playing great, so it’s easy to (feel a part) of the team when we’re playing the way we are,” he said after the Bruins practiced at Ristuccia Arena.

As expected, Hnidy had to shake off a little rust after not playing since March 8. He turned the puck over on his first pass attempt, but things got a little physical and he was back to being his old self. [Read more →]

Hnidy

Boston Bruins defenseman Shane Hnidy, who has missed the club’s last two games with a severely swollen left eye, was able to participate in the team’s full practice today at Ristuccia Arena in Wilmington.

Hnidy, who took a Cal Clutterbuck shot to the face against Minnesota Jan. 6, usually does not wear a shield on his helmet, but he did today and will have to for a short time. Hnidy said today that he was awaiting doctor’s clearance to return to game action.

Bruins head coach Clade Julien can sympathize with Hnidy. The Bruins’ bench boss revealed today that he suffered a similar injury in Europe during his playing days, and “almost lost” his eye. He had to wear a shield for a short time but then discarded it because he couldn’t get used to it.

“For me, my thought process is on that, if you’ve played your whole life with one, or at least a half visor, why take it off if you’re used to playing with it. Guys that haven’t played with it, I know it can be something that’s not that easy to get used to,” Julien said. “At the same time, there’s going to be a debate. I’ve seen a lot of injuries happen with guys that have visors. The blade gets caught under the visor and they’ve lost an eye anyway. So it can be a debatable thing.”

Hnidy

BOSTON — While Patrice Bergeron addressed the media in the Boston Bruins’ locker room this morning, the team took the TD Banknorth Garden ice for a practice.

The 10 remaining healthy forwards were out there with the six defensemen, plus Shane Hnidy, who took the ice for the first time since Tuesday night’s loss to Minnesota.

During that game, Hnidy took a Cal Clutterbuck shot above his left eye.  He returned to the line-up during the game wearing a visor but under doctor’s orders was kept off the ice the last two days.

His eye still scarily swollen mostly shut, Hnidy said after practice that he can see fine but he won’t be able to play tomorrow against Carolina. Yesterday he biked a little bit to keep up his conditioning.

He recalled that six years ago when he was with Ottawa he had a similar injury and then wore a visor for a short time. Now he’ll have the visor on again, temporarily.

“It takes a little getting used to. I’ve worn it before when last time it happened,” he explained. “It’s one of those things, it’s a pretty poor excuse but the longer you play you kind of get used to playing without it. But at the same time, I think, obviously I have to wear it for a while. It didn’t bother me.”

“The first time, I took a lot of  heat when I took it off,” Hnidy continued. “But it’s a game of risk. Anything can happen out there — visor or not. So for right now the decision will definitely be for the visor.”

Hnidy

The Boston Bruins have been boasting about their depth since Day One of their 2008 training camp.

And they’ve proven to have tons of talent at their disposal during their 19-5-4 start, as they’ve overcome lengthy injury absences by star winger Marco Sturm and defensemen Andrew Ference and Aaron Ward.

But not all the depth has had to make its way up I-95 from Providence of the AHL. No, some of it was already on the active roster awaiting an expanded role.

Among that group of players is Shane Hnidy, who for all intents and purposes started the season as the Bruins’ sixth or seventh defensemen. While he still spends the bulk of his ice time forming the Bruins’ third-pair with second-year backliner Mark Stuart, the 33-year-old Hnidy has had to do a little more (witness his 24:14 or ice time during Dennis Wideman’s absence at Tampa Bay) at times and he’s also made sure that head coach Claude Julien doesn’t have to fret when it comes time to spell his top four blueliners at pivotal points of games. [Read more →]

Hnidy

SUNRISE, Fla. — The Boston Bruins flew home last night fresh off completing a two-game sweep of their Sunshine State road trip. Today they were scheduled to have an off day at home, and tomorrow they’ll host the Tampa Bay Lightning.

One player who’s probably getting a little extra enjoyment out of the rest day is defenseman Shane Hnidy, whose playing time has increased of late because of the injury bug that’s bit the defense corps. But Hnidy can also take a little satisfaction that his contribution during the road trip can now be quantified on the stat sheet — he scored his first goal of the year in the 4-0 win over Florida last night. [Read more →]