Bruins Sweaters of the Past #2: Rick Middleton

RICK MIDDLETON (Nifty)

RIGHT WING , #16

BOSTON BRUINS (1976-77- 1987-88)

Born: December 4, 1953 in Toronto, Ontario

GP: 881 G: 402 A: 496 PTS: 898 PIM: 124

Rick "Nifty" Middleton is one of the all-time great Boston Bruins forwards.

Although he never made it into the Hockey Hall of Fame, No. 16 was the straw who stirred the offensive drink for Boston for a decade after Phil Esposito was traded to the Rangers.

B's GM Harry Sinden pulled off a heist when he sent Espo's buddy Ken Hodge to Broadway in exchange for the 14th overall pick in the 1973 draft, who had shown flashes of brilliance, but was not yet the sum of his parts. Obviously had Emile Francis realized what he had in Middleton, he would have never shipped him up to Boston.

Middleton scored a hat trick in his first game with Boston (with Bobby Joyce becoming the only other Bruin to turn the trick in his Hub debut in 1988). In 1978, Middleton began a run of seven consecutive 30 or more goal seasons, with eight in nine years before he retired at the conclusion of the 1988 season. Middleton finished his Boston career behind only Johnny Bucyk and Esposito as the third-best goal scorer in team history with 402 tallies in 881 games wearing the spoked-B.

This particular jersey was worn by Nifty during the 1981-82 campaign, the year he posted a career-high 51 goals in a single season (and was named to the NHL 2nd All-Star Team), the only time he would break the half-century plateau. He won the Lady Byng Trophy as the NHL's "Most Gentlemanly Player" as well as the Elizabeth C. Dufresne Trophy, which recognized Bruins MVP that year, receiving the award from Boston Globe and Hockey Hall of Fame writer Kevin Paul Dupont while wearing this garment. It is a heavy mesh home sweater manufactured by the Sandow SK company, who succeeded Stall & Dean as Boston's uniform maker after the 1980-81 season.

The sweater has multiple repairs, several unrepaired holes, stick marks and the always distinctive red-orange Boston Garden paint transfer on the sleeves and shoulders from where Middleton was jacked into the right wing boards all season. It also features the Sandow SK stamp on the back hem and is photomatched to a picture of a young, leisure suit-wearing KPD giving Middleton the Dufresne Trophy (which I can't post because of copyright laws). The jersey also has a slight pink tinge on the front material and crest, which I think was likely caused by spilled red Gatorade or some other sports drink.

This is one of my collection's true gems, and has incredible sentimental value for me, as I was a fourth-grader the year he wore it. Those Big, Bad Bruins teams of old were a real treat for those who can remember them, with Nifty being a consistent and valuable offensive finesse talent with a real flair for the game.

Bruins 2010 1st, 2nd Round Pick Position Updated Nov 9th

In our Monday ritual, here are Boston's updated pick slots for Rounds 1-2 in this June's draft if the season ended today. As always, my disclaimer is that the lottery is not taken into account.

2nd- Toronto (11 points)
9th- Boston (16 points)
32nd- Toronto
39th- Boston
42nd- Tampa Bay (17 points)*
Tampa tied with Islanders, Oilers, Red Wings for points. Slotted behind Isles, but ahead of Oilers and Wings by virtue of tie-breakers.

Toronto Wins Over Hurricanes, Red Wings Get Them Out of the Cellar

I funny thing happened when I traveled to South Carolina for my 15-year college reunion this past weekend: the Maple Leafs posted consecutive victories over the sinking Carolina Hurricanes and struggling Detroit Red Wings, moving them out of the NHL's basement.

I didn't see the games, but Jonas Gustavsson must have played pretty well for them, as he posted strong 30+ saves efforts in both games, helping his team overcome a 2-0 deficit against Carolina to prevail 3-2, and then helping Toronto to post a dominating score of 5-1 a night later against the defending Western Conference champions.

The wins give the Leafs a 3-7-5 record (3-3-4 in their last 10) for a total of 11 points (tied with Florida, but trailing them by virtue of two fewer wins) and second-to-last place overall in the standings (behind Carolina, who are in deep trouble).

If Gustavsson continues to play like this, he'll keep Toronto in a lot of games this year, and Phil Kessel looks good in the early going. B's fans will be extremely sad if the Leafs become a middle-of-the pack team, but so far, at least, the team is still in the running for the Taylor Hall/Cam Fowler/Tyler Seguin sweepstakes.

Leafs lose (again) in OT to 'Bolts

The good news for the Leafs and their fans is- the team got a point and a boost from the arrival of Phil Kessel, who made his debut for them Tuesday night against visiting Tampa Bay.

The bad news is- even though they outplayed Tampa, they still lost. Thanks to an inordinate amount of power play opportunities (eight) they finally cashed in with the man advantage when defenseman Ian White got a flukey goal off of standout Antero Nittymaki when he banked a pass off of Lightning d-man Matt Walker's skate. Every other shot that the former Flyer netminder saw, he stopped, including 10 from Kessel. Without the gifts of some real ticky-tack calls that went their way, the Leafs would not have even gotten the point, even though they played much better as a team than Tampa did.

Ryan Malone put the puck past "the Monster" Jonas Gustavsson to break the 1-1 tie (with Vinny Lecavalier scoring the Tampa goal) and give his team their first win on the road. The victory kept the Leafs still looking for their first home win.

As has been the case in all of Toronto's games save one this year, the opponent scored first after Lecavalier put home a rebound in the high slot off a shot from Mattias Ohlund, but the Leafs pulled even with about 10 minutes to go in the third.

Kessel played very well, and if he shows up every night like that, he's going to score a lot of goals for Toronto. He did get rocked in the first period on a hit by Ohlund that cut his lip, but he bounced back and showed no ill effects. Kudos to him.

The point gained gives Toronto seven points (1-7-5), which ties them with Carolina, but they stay in last place by virtue of having one fewer win. That said, the Leafs won't be in last place for long given the way they've played of late.

It was Gustavsson's best game to date in my opinion as he showed very good lateral movement, making several stops on bang-bang cross-ice shots, but he probably should have had that last shot by Malone.

Bruins Sweaters of the Past #1: Nevin Markwart

NEVIN MARKWART

LEFT WING

BOSTON BRUINS (#17)

5-10, 180

Boron: December 9, 1964 in Toronto, Ontario

1983-84-1987-88; 1989-90-1991-92

GP: 299 G: 39 A: 67 PTS: 106 PIM: 769

As some of you may know, I collect gameworn jerseys primarily of Boston Bruins players or Bruins prospects (though I do have a killer collection dedicated to Mike Liut, never a Bruin but my favorite hockey player of all time).

I thought this might be a good place to periodically (every week) highlight a Bruins player of the past and post photos of one of his jerseys.

First up is winger Nevin Markwart.

This undersized (listed at 5-11, 175), but tough-as-nails forward was Boston's top pick in the 1983 draft, selected 20th overall out of the Regina Pats of the WHL. He was a wolverine on skates: pound-for-pound one of the toughest players in the NHL when he was healthy enough to play and always willing to drop the gloves, no matter how much he gave away to opponents in terms of size and reach.

Born in Toronto, Markwart's parents named him for Bob Nevin, a Maple Leafs player in the early 60's (when Markwart was born in 1964) before going to the Rangers, where he had the best years of his career from 1964-71.

Markwart made the Bruins at age 18, and had a strong rookie season, posting 14 goals and 30 points in 70 games with Boston, adding 121 penalty minutes. He went on to split time between the big club and minors (Hershey, Moncton, Maine) for the remainder of his career, but led the B's in penalty minutes during the 1986-87 with 225 in just 64 games.

He finished his NHL time with the Calgary Flames after the Bruins moved him out west during the 91-92 season. In the end, his penchant for playing a punishing style took its toll on his small frame, forcing his retirement before he reached the age of 30. Markwart finished his NHL career with 41 goals and 109 points with 794 penalty minutes in 309 games (all but 10 of them spent wearing the spoked B on his chest.)

This game-worn jersey of Markwart's was made for the 1989-90 season, as evidenced from the sublimated gold 'Custom Crafted' stamp on the rear hem. This stamp is a feature of the 89-90 set of Bruins jerseys, before the NHL issued a cease and desist order to the North Attleboro, Mass. company to put its logo on the outside of the jerseys where they would be visible. However, the moderate to heavy wear on this jersey leads me to believe that Markwart may have worn it in both the 89-90 and 90-91 seasons, as he only played a handful of games in 89-90 (eight total) and 23 more the following year. There are stick marks, pilling and some obvious fight abuse on the left sleeve, with four unrepaired holes likely caused when he fought Luke Richardson in a game in Toronto that year, his only recorded fight of the season.

Bruins 2010 1st, 2nd round pick position Updated Nov 2nd

It's Monday, so that means I'm back with the updated Bruins pick position in rounds 1-2 for the 2010 draft if the season ended today. As always, I am not taking the lottery into account.

The Carolina Hurricanes have been absolutely putrid of late, and Toronto will overtake them in the standings soon if the 'Canes continue to redefine the term "underachievers." It's hard to fathom after watching Carolina this season that this is the team who knocked the Bruins out of the playoffs last spring.

OK, onto the picks:

1st (Toronto- 6 points)
12th (Boston- 13 points*)
31st (Toronto)
38th (Tampa Bay- 12 points)
42nd (Boston)

Islanders, Predators, Red Wings tie Boston in points, but gain higher draft position on tie-breakers. Flyers also have 13 points, but Boston has tie-breaker.

And just a friendly reminder- Boston's third-round selection was traded to Buffalo for Daniel Paille, who's done a pretty good job on that line with Blake Wheeler and Vladimir Sobotka.

Leafs Show Spark Late in Two Extra Session Losses

I've been highly critical of the Toronto Maple Leafs on this blog ever since I started it last month, so I'm here to give some credit where it is due.

Although still in last place, Brian Burke's creation has managed to battle back from what looked like regulation losses in Buffalo and Montreal on Friday and Saturday to tie the games before falling in overtime (against Buffalo) and shootout (to the Habs).

More impressive was the Saturday night game at the Bell Centre, when with about four minutes to go, the Canadiens held a 4-2 lead, but defenseman Tomas Kaberle continued his outstanding offensive production, assisting on one, and then scoring the equalizer to pull the Leafs even (his 16th and 17th points on the season) at the 19:02 mark.

Vesa Toskala gave up goals to Mike Cammalleri and Brian Gionta, giving Montreal the extra point, but give Toronto credit. As was the case against Buffalo, the Leafs battled back and salvaged a point from what should have been a pair of losses. Their record stands at 1-7-4, still in last place, but they are slowly creeping up on other teams near the bottom of the standings.

The late Herb Brooks once said, "You don't have enough talent to win on talent alone," and in Toronto's case, this is absolutely true. Coach Ron Wilson has his guys playing hard, at least, and for them to move up in the standings, they'll have to play like their lives depend on it each and every night.