Bear blogs

If you’re a Bruins fan you’ve already heard the following phrase that references Boston:

“The Hub of Hockey.”

Well, Boston’s professional hockey team may want you to believe that Boston is the hub of hockey, but with Red Sox gearing up for the World Series, the Patriots winning every game they play, and Boston College claiming the No. 2 ranking in college football, hockey has taken a backseat in this region.

But inevitably, baseball and football season must come to an end, and hockey will surely reclaim its prominence in Boston. In the meantime, for hockey fans there are a number of outlets to read up on the Bs while other sports teams hog most of the space in the sports section.

One of the more popular blogs about the Bruins is Boston.com’s Bruins Blog. Fluto Shinzawa, the Boston Globe’s Bruin’s beat writer, keeps the blog pretty up to date. He even blogs live during the game on occasion and posts multiple times during game days. Shinzawa seems pretty well connected with Bruins insiders and provides readers with a good story.

There’s also the Bear Essentials, a blog written by John Bishop, who works for the team’s official web site. Bishop doesn’t seem to be as well connected as Shinzawa, as he often gets beaten, or is just slow to post, but he does post as often. The Bear Essentials also seems to be more a public relations tool for the Bruins as it sometimes can fill up with information on upcoming promotions or ticket opportunities. It appears to be more of a fan’s blog than a straightforward informational blog like Shinzawa’s.

There are a number of other Bruins blogs out there in cyberspace, but a lot of them barely post, even on game days.

The only downside of the two more popular blogs is that they aren’t too critical of a team that could use a good kick in the backside sometimes. They writers provide a lot of compliments and pats on the back to the team when they write, but when the team plays poorly there’s usually some sort of excuse.

Hopefully, if the Bruins continue to play the way they have been over the past few games, there will not be much criticism anyways.