Two Bruins will be taking home an Olympic medal. Patrice Bergeron—although being the only Team Canada player with a minus rating—will be bringing Gold back to Boston. Goalie Tim Thomas will take home an Olympic Silver medal from Team USA, despite playing in just over 11 minutes of competition.

Player	Games Played	Scoring Totals	Shots on Goal	Penalty Minutes	Average Time on Ice	Country/Final
	7	0-1-1 - Minus-2	3	2	6:27	Canada - GOLD
	7	0-3-3 - Even	11	6	23:26	Slovakia - 4th
	6	1-1-2 - Minus-2	10	0	10:29	Slovakia - 4th
	5	2-1-3 - Plus-2	12	6	16:01	Czech - 7th
	4	0-1-1 - Minus-2	9	0	16:30	Germany - 11th

Player	Games Played	Record	Goals-Against Average	Save-Percentage	Country/Final
	11:31 minutes	NA	5.21	.857 [6/7]	USA - SILVER

Congrats to Team Finland for an amazing come-from-behind victory to capture the Bronze Medal over Zdeno Chara and Team Slovakia, 5-3.

However, tomorrow, is the moment we’ve ll been waiting for. The NHL break — which has now lasted for over just over two-weeks for most teams, and a roster freeze that ceased transactions between all teams — is now all worth while: Team USA vs. Team Canada for the Gold Medal.

USA: 5 games played, 22 total goals-for and six goals-against — 4.4 GF; 1.2 GA average
CAN: 6 games played, 32 total goals-for and 14 goals-against — 5.3 GF; 2.3 GA average

Both teams can light the lamp, and both teams’ have the net-minders to stand on their head and steal games. So nonetheless, goaltenders will be the equalizers and game-breakers this afternoon [3:15 p.m. EST on NBC, CTV, TSN, SNET, V, RDS]. Sit down, relax, and grab your favorite beverage(s), because we won’t see another game like this for another four years.

	USA vs. CANADA
Ryan Miller	2010 Olympics stats	Roberto Luongo
5	Game Played-In	4
5-0-0	Overall Record	4-0-0
1	Shutouts	1
.954	Save Percentage	.920
1.04	Goals-Against Average	1.75
103/108	Total Saves	80/87

The Boston Bruins will look to add-on to their four-game win-streak after this Olympic break as they kick things off at the TD Garden on Tuesday, Mar. 2 against the Montreal Canadiens. This will be the two rivals’ fifth of six total meetings on the season; with just one-point separates the seventh-place B’s [65] to the eighth-place Habs [64].

March is by far busiest month of the season for the Black-and-Gold, with 16 games scheduled in the 31 calendar days. They will have their longest road trip of the year — seven games in 11-days — through Long Island, Pittsburgh, Toronto, The City of Brotherly Love, Montreal, New Jersey, and Carolina.

The B’s will be playing in three sets of back-to-back games [the sets 13-15 of 17  total sets on the season]: the Mar. 6 at the Islanders and Mar. 7 against the Penguins; Mar. 15 at New Jersey and Mar. 16 at Carolina; followed by a two-game home-stand against the Sabres on the Mar. 29 and Mar. 30 against the Devils to put an end to the month.

There will be an even-split of eight home-games and eight away. Boston will play Eastern Conference opponents in 15-of-16 games in March, five Northeast Divisional games, and the Calgary Flames being  the lone Western Conference opponent. Although Boston stands-alone in seventh-place in the Eastern Conference, the log-jam between the sixth-place Flyers [67] and 11th-place Thrashers [62] carries on. So needless to say, the Bruins need to keep the same momentum coming back from this Olympic break as they did entering it.

Opponent	Date	Time (ET)	Where
	TUE. MAR, 2	7:00 p.m.	TD Garden
	THUR. MAR, 4	7:00 p.m.	TD Garden
	SAT. MAR, 6	2:00 p.m.	Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum
	SUN. MAR, 7	3:00 p.m.	Mellon Arena
	TUE. MAR, 9	7:00 p.m.	Air Canada Centre
	THUR. MAR, 11	7:00 p.m.	Wachovia Center
	SAT. MAR, 13	7:00 p.m.	Bell Centre
	MON. MAR, 15	7:00 p.m.	Prudential Center
	TUE. MAR, 16	7:00 p.m.	RBC Center
	THUR. MAR, 18	7:00 p.m.	TD Garden
	SUN. MAR, 21	3:00 p.m.	TD Garden
	TUE. MAR, 23	7:00 p.m.	Philips Arena
	THUR. MAR, 25	7:00 p.m.	TD Garden
	SAT. MAR, 27	1:00 p.m.	TD Garden
	MON. MAR, 29	7:00 p.m.	TD Garden
	TUE. MAR, 30	7:00 p.m.	Prudential Center

Quick goaltender stats’ comparisons between Slovakia’s Jaroslav Halak [Montreal Canadiens] and Canada’s Roberto Luongo [Vancouver Canucks]. The winner faces the victor of the  Team USA vs. Finland — game at 3 p.m. EST — in the Gold Medal Game on Sunday; while losers of each match square-off in Saturday’s Bronze Medal Game.

	SLOVAKIA VS. CANADA
Jaroslav Halak	2010 Olympics stats	Roberto Luongo
5	Game Played-In	3
3-1-1-0	Overall Record	3-0-0
1	Shutouts	1
.923	Save Percentage	.924
1.97	Goals-Against Average	1.67
120/130	Total Saves	61/66

The stage is set: Team USA versus Finland today at 3 p.m. EST on NBC, CTV, V. The winner advances to the Gold Medal Game on Sunday, at 3:15 p.m. EST, against the winner of Canada vs. Slovakia — who play later on tonight. The losers in each of the two games today will square-off tomorrow — Saturday, Feb. 27 2010 at 10 p.m. EST — in the Bronze Medal Game.

Here’s a quick net-minder comparison between USA’s Ryan Miller, and Finland’s Mikka Kiprusoff and Niklas Backstrom.

	USA VS. FINLAND
Ryan Miller	2010 Olympics stats	Mikka Kiprusoff	Niklas Backstrom
4	Game Played-In	3	1
4-0-0	Overall Record	2-1-0	1-0-0
1	Shutouts	1	1
.944	Save Percentage	.947	1.00
1.25	Goals-Against Average	1.33	0.00
85/90	Total Saves	71/75	24/24

With the quarterfinals now complete, and the semi-finals set to take stage tomorrow, some B’s will be traveling back to Boston to resume their NHL stride, while others will be vying for an Olympic Medal. Here’s how the Bruins’ have fared through five Olypmic games thus far:

D Zdeno Chara: Slovakia
5 GP – 0-2-2, 4 PIM, plus-2, 10 shots on goal, 23:24 average time on ice [TOI]

F Miroslav Satan: Slovakia
4 GP – 1-0-1, minus-2, 8 shots on goal, 9:09 TOI

C Patrice Bergeron: Canada
5 GP – 0-1-1, 2 PIM, plus-1, 3 shots on goal, 7:44 TOI

C David Krejci: Czech Republic
5 GP – 2-1-1, 4 PIM, plus-4, 12 shots on goal, 16:01 TOI

F Marco Sturm: Germany
5 GP – 0-1-1, 2 PIM, minus-2, 9 shots on goal, 16:30 TOI

G Tim Thomas: USA
4 games dressed, 0 GP

Well, at least two– or three — Boston Bruins’ participants will be receiving a medal from this year’s 2010 Winter Olympics — Tim Thomas for the United States [4-0-0], Patrice Bergeron for Team Canada, and/or Zdeno Chara with Slovakia [4-1-0]. With Russia and Sweden now eliminated from competition, Team Canada [4-1-0] is left as the pre-competition favorites left in these Medal Rounds.

TIME	HOME TEAM	AWAY TEAM	TV/NETWORK
3:00PM EST	FINLAND	USA	NBC/CTV/V
9:30PM EST	SLOVAKIA	CANADA	CNBC/CTV/V

Peter Chiarelli announced today that the Boston Bruins had recalled goaltender Matt Dalton from the Reading Royals of their East Coast Hockey League [ECHL] affiliate on an emergency basis.  Bruins’ undeclared No. 2 net-minder Tim Thomas will remain in Vancouver with Team USA at the 2010 Winter Olympics, as Dalton will join the Black-and-Gold for their first schedule practice since the Olympic break this Thursday, 10:30 a.m. EST, at Ristuccia Arena in Wilmington, MA.

Dalton, 23,  has appeared in 36 games this season for the Royals with a 16-18-2 overall record, a pedestrian .905 save-percentage, and a 3.54 goals against average. The 6′1″, 194 lb, Dalton has also appeared four games in the AHL with the Providence Bruins this season, and has posted a losing 0-4-0 record, .889 save-percentage, and a goals-against average of 3.98.

The Clinton, Ontario native was signed by the Bruins as a free-agent on April 22, 2009 after playing two seasons at Bemidji State University, where he posted a career 2.29 goals-against average — the best in school history.

The 2010 Winter Olympics preliminary round is complete in the Men’s Ice Hockey competition. Team USA locked-up the first-seed in Group A and was rewarded with a first-round bye into Wednesday’s Quarter Finals. Finland, Sweden, and Russia also all earned byes into the second-round of the playoff on Wednesday. Here’s how the Black-and-Gold participants are faring through the first three games of the preliminary’s.

C Patrice Bergeron: Canada
Totals: 3 GP – 0-1-1, 2 PIM, Even, 3 shots, 9:07 average TOI

C David Krejci: Czech Republic
Totals: 3 GP – 1-0-1, 4 PIM, plus-1, 3 shots, 15:04 average TOI

D Zdeno Chara: Slovakia
Totals: 3 GP – 0-0-0, 4 PIM, plus-1, 5 shots, 23:46 average TOI

LW Marco Sturm: Germany
Totals: 3 GP – 0-1-1, 0 PIM, minus-1, 8 shots, 16:23 average TOI

F Miroslav Satan: Slovakia
Totals: 2 GP – 0-0-0, 0 PIM, Even, 4 shots, 3:28 average TOI

G Tim Thomas: USA
0 GP: stats NA

Men's Playoffs Qualifications' Games

TIME	HOME TEAM	AWAY TEAM	TV/NETWORK
3:00PM EST	BELARUS	SWITZERLAND	USA/SNET/RDS
7:30PM EST	GERMANY	CANADA	CNBC/CTV/RDS
10:00 PM EST	LATVIA	CZECH REPUBLIC	CNBC/CTV/RDS
11:55 PM EST	NORWAY	SLOVAKIA	CNBC/CTV/RDS

On Feb. 22, 1927, a flashing red light was used for the first time at the Boston Arena to signal a goal scored. Goal judges — originally named umpires in their inception in 1877 – had waved a flag prior to that time

The Bruins won that game, 83 years ago today, against the Detroit Red Wings, 3-2. Boston also finished in first-place in the American Division that 1927-28 season with 51 points, but lost to the Stanley Cup winning New York Rangers in the Semi-Finals.