FanHouse BostonBruins

In the NFL, the motto is 'any given Sunday,' and it holds true. As the Miami Dolphins proved this year, you can go worst-to-first in one offseason.

In the NHL, it takes a bit longer than that to change your social standing, but how long it takes varies for every team. The Detroit Red Wings and the New York Islanders are two such instances, as they have been on opposite ends of the spectrum for the better part of two decades now. To be fair, there is some parity; the league does have 24 of its 30 teams within five points of a playoff spot at the current moment. Not to mention the free-for-all that was last season's playoff push.

Still, franchises in the NHL rise and fall over longer periods of time, while, in the NFL, fortunes seem to change from year to year.

It's time to enter the ring, the steel cage, the fire pit of doom -- whatever you want to call it -- or maybe a simple hockey rink could work, too. No matter how you want to look at it, this is do or die weekend for the 12 teams that are still playing hockey in the conference quarterfinals. Six of them have a chance to close out their series and, as you might expect, six are fighting for their playoff lives. The Rangers and Penguins, like me and you, are watching this weekend comfortably from their couches. Those two teams are probably hoping that their future opponents, who ever they may be, are getting the tar beat out of them. Softened up, if you will. Here's a quick look around the league at what is at stake this weekend around the league.

The fate of the entire Western Conference. Right now, the playoff picture out west is very cloudy. No series has concluded yet and as of right now they all have a good shot at going all the way to a seventh game. Each series is currently led by one team by a 3-2 margin. In two of the matchups the lower seed and Game Six road team has a chance to close things out in the sixth meeting. Of course, a bad bounce either way could change things around completely and send the series to a seventh game. Now, imagine all four series end up going the distance ... How awesome would that be??

Last night, the Ottawa Senators became the first team to be eliminated from the playoffs after being dispatched 3-1 by the Pittsburgh Penguins. Tonight, there is only one team on the slate with a chance to join the Sens on the golf course, but for two others their seasons could effectively be over.

The Boston Bruins are the only team that can be officially eliminated tonight, down 3-1 in their best of seven series against the Montreal Canadiens. To further their suffering, the game is taking place in Montreal, a city that is sure hockey mad right now. The Habs have not won a playoff series since prior to the lockout and you can bet their fanbase is going to be hungry for a victory tonight. According to WhoWins.com, the team leading a quarterfinals matchup in the NHL has advanced 95.3% of the time, so things aren't looking good for the Bruins. That being said, Boston is not out of hope just yet. The team up 3-1 has won Game Five 64.1% of the time, which isn't an overwhelming statistic. Things don't look good, but the Bs (who have put up a heck of a fight) aren't cooked yet.

Two other teams are in danger tonight. They're not facing elimination like Boston, but they might as well be. Both the Washington Capitals (not the Crapitals, as Mike Milbury would say) and the Anaheim Ducks are down 2-1 heading into Game Four of their first round series. Both teams are on the road and would be put in a precarious position if they were to lose and go down 3-1, even though they would be going back home for Game Five. You might as well call this moving day for these teams, even though this isn't golf. They better get moving otherwise they'll be sitting on the sidelines with the Senators soon enough.

In a rare moment of an NHL player not named Crosby getting celebrity treatment in America, Marc Savard of the Boston Bruins hosted this week's edition of VH1's VSPOT Top 20 Countdown. The show, which was filmed at the NHL Store in New York City, counts down the top 20 videos of the week, as voted on by VH1 viewers. Chances are that you missed the show this morning if you were like me and couldn't bear the excitement of getting up at either 3 am or 9 am on a Saturday morning. That's OK, because the show re-airs at 8 am tomorrow and 9 am on Tuesday (all times Eastern). I can't say I'll be awake for either of those airings, but maybe you will.

For me, the most surprising part of all this is that the show chose Savard as the NHL player best suited to make a celebrity appearance. If any hockey player is going to make a celebrity appearance in the States, Sidney Crosby would be the most likely candidate. Crosby would probably be out of the question for VH1 though, as he's likely too expensive and was also sidetracked with appeasing the masses in Western Canada this week. Scott Gomez and Chris Drury would be my second and third choices to make a guest appearance, since the show was filmed in NYC after all, but VH1 over looked them as well. To be fair to Savard, I would guess that he is better looking than either Drury or Gomez. Who knows, maybe he had a great screen test. Anyway, there you have it. An NHL player from an American team who isn't named Crosby actually getting some attention in America. I had no idea that it could actually happen.

The Boston Bruins, one of the NHL's 'Original Six', made a change to their logo under the radar of most everyone in the hockey sphere. While the Washington Capitals 'leaked' their logo to the market to create anticipation, the Bruins made a change to their logo that you'd have to look hard at to notice.

Look at the logos on the right. The new logos (main and alternate) are on the bottom. Compare and contrast the new look with the ones from the past.

From the Boston Bruins official website:

The elements here remain true to the long-lasting story that is the Boston Bruins. The B-spoke uses a centered more evenly placed B, creating a strong unified look amongst the spokes. The widening and openness of the B increases its legibility. The contrast of the black outlines combined with a white interior add to the strength of the logo. The angled serifs and cut corners on the B are found within the custom nameplate font and the Vintage Crest.

Each tweak and adjustment to the Bruins B-spoke is made for legibility, modernization and enhancement of a historic team and an icon of Boston.

It took me a while to notice, but there are two main differences.

1. The B has the two 'spikes' at the back, which matches the B they used to use earlier in their history.
2. The lines have been blackened even more and the logo has a 'harder' look.

While I don't think the new logo is necessarily bad, it just seems like an unnecessary change. If you are going to change a classic and very distinct logo, why the cosmetic changes? The uniforms, for the most part, still retain their classic coloring and design.

Do the Bruins expect to sell piles of new uniforms simply because they adjusted the B design a little bit?

Overall, the design gets a sideways thumb from me. The logo is still very nice, but it's not really an upgrade or downgrade. I'd honestly prefer the 'old' logo.

I'm not finding a whole lot of fight video in my late night wanderings, so I thought I'd share some footage from the past, in this case a classic brawl between the Boston Bruins and the Washington Capitals from November 21, 1998:

This game is so popular, that NESN regularly replays it as part of its "Bruins Classics" program. Because after all, reliving the past is more profitable than actually trying to win in the present. Horribly unfair, I know, but it wouldn't be the NHL Fanhouse if it wasn't!

Thanks to D.C. Sports Chick for the pointer.