The Ontario countryside. (photo by John Bishop)

Bonjour/Good Day from Ottawa!

I am actually in a hotel outside of Ottawa and as I do not have a car, I am stuck inside on this very cold, very snow-covered day in Ontario. 

Not much to report from practice today, because most of the team had the day off. Obviously, coach sought to mitigate any fatigue factor by having a majority of the guys sleep the day away. No doubt some of the guys will end up watching movies, shopping -- and I'll imagine a bunch of the Bruins are still sleeping, even at this hour.

I did travel to the Bell Sensplex, a beautiful practice facility near Scotiabank Place, and saw a short on-ice session involving Tim Thomas, Aaron Ward, Vladimir Sobotka, Petteri Nokelainen, Jeremy Reich and Matt Lashoff.

Coaches Ward, Houda and Essensa presided.

It did not look like heavy lifting, with a bit of skating, shooting and shots on Timmy, and it lasted under an hour.

The hotel is very unique. (photo by John Bishop)

Afterward, John Bucyk treated everyone to selections from Harvey's (hamburgers, sandwiches) and Pizza Pizza (duh).

The Pizza Pizza pizza (ha!) created quite a controversy, as at least one of the B's swears by Boston Pizza -- another pizza chain above the border -- and that transitioned into a debate over the relative merits of the Harvey's cheeseburger.

One member of the Black & Gold agreed with me when I said that A&W makes the best fast food hamburger in these parts, although I must admit that Harvey's does make a tasty burger.

I didn't have the heart to ask Chief to bring me back my favorite French-Canadian snack, a poutine (French fries drenched in cheese curds and gravy).  But hey, the day is young.

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10:26 p.m.
Late update. Shawn Thornton was kind enough to cut his nap short his afternoon and talk about the team's day, yesterday's game and tomorrow's matchup with Ottawa.

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11:26 p.m.
A friend just informed me that my voice is on NESN.com today, too. I had the pleasure of holding the NESN microphone for Brian the Camera Guy during the postgame interviews, Sunday. Thankfully I did not stammer too much as I spoke to Alex Auld and P.J. Axelsson. Click here to view.