ROugh  night. Indicated by the capital O. Instead of jamming, a friend and I went off to watch the second game of the eastern conference finals for NHL, Bruins against Pitt. It involved much beer. I partook for the sake of the game, and besides that I was just in the mood. I had already trained and was hungry. It’s nothing to do often if you’re training hard, but it also won’t wreck your gains if it’s not a regular aspect of your life.

Hockey is a great sport.

Boston wasn’t supposed to make it this far and playing Pitt was supposed to be the end of the road (after defeating Toronto and the New York Rangers to get to the eastern conference finals.) Pitt is the highest scoring team in the NHL and they are absolutely more skilled, quicker, and have a handful of Hall of Famers. Yet, Saturday night the B’s took it 3-0, the first shutout Pitt has been handed in something like 90 games. And last night, the Bs were up 4-1 in the end of the first period, which is already a high-ish scoring game (in hockey). They went on to win 6-1 in a game that was never close.

The only reason I’m commenting on it is because it’s a good highlight of the importance of the collective mental state of a team. Pitt was flustered very early by a fast goal in the first minute, and they never recovered. Because Hockey is so fast, it’s incredible hard to “regroup” as you would in the NBA or NFL. They looked like a totally different team once they lost control. They tried to play physical, to apply more pressure, but no team should do that against a team filled with fighters like Boston is. It’s just the B’s style of play. They have a guy who’s 6’9″, 256. Another who’s 6’4″ 230lbs who loves fighting. And actually up and down their bench they have collected a roster of huge, skilled guys who like to play rough on the ice. When it get’s physical, they really get excited and end up hurting people badly. When they have lost games handedly, it’s because the other team doesn’t engage on that level, and instead stays on the outsides and takes many shots.

I’m sure the opposing coach was trying to get his team to settle down, but while trying to achieve that, the B’s kept scoring. When Pitt got physical, the B’s just took them out. If you’re getting beat down physically and you’re losing the game on points, it’s just nearly impossible to recover. So the result is that it wasn’t even close.

6-1 in a finals game is nuts.

We found a bar near Gaslamp which is downtown San Diego. It was a perfect place to catch the game as no one else there cared about it.

Off for now, catch you guys later.