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What It Means To Be A 'B' - Nov. 13, 2023 - By Jared Clinton
RICK MIDDLETON STARTS BY telling a story. Growing up in Toronto in the 1960s, he had seen the Boston Bruins play the Maple Leafs. He recognized the spoked ‘B.’ He could picture the black and the gold. He could even recite the names of the then-Bruins greats, players such as Johnny Bucyk and Wayne Cashman and yes, eventually, some fresh-faced wunderkind named Bobby Orr. But what Middleton remembers most isn’t seeing the Bruins. No, it’s listening to them. It was during those clashes between the Bruins and Maple Leafs, narrated by Foster Hewitt, his voice emanating live from the Boston Garden, that Middleton could hear the raucous Boston crowd. He heard the oohs and ahs and the cheers for their – not his – hometown heroes.
But what Middleton couldn’t have known is that Bostonians would one day count him among those selfsame heroes, nor could he have guessed he’d one day become among the city’s many former Bruins players turned adopted sons.
As the Bruins celebrated their 100th anniversary and became the first American NHL club to do so, and in hearing from Bruins greats, we came to understand that Middleton’s story is a common one. Not, of course, the part about his listening to the seminal voice of Hockey Night in Canada, but what Middleton shares with many ex-Bruins is the singular experience of playing for and ultimately becoming part of the very fabric of the franchise. It’s for that very reason that Middleton and the many beloved players feted as part of the team’s centennial celebration are among those for whom the Bruins – and, by extension, Boston and New England – have become a part of their being. It’s also why a great many seem to still call Boston home.
What one quickly realizes is that it comes down to the people, even if not necessarily those who have graced Garden ice. While some franchises seem to wander for decades in search of an identity and others watch their once distinctive traits wax and wane and perhaps disappear, Boston’s has long felt immutable. It’s a rare thing, too – this ability for a team to seemingly, if not always or ever literally, mirror the environment in which it exists. It’s rarer yet to feel as though the franchise would not and could not exist anywhere else. To return to Middleton, he said it was “fate” that led him to becoming a Bruin. And it’s difficult not to feel as though it’s that same providence that placed the Bruins in Boston.
With that in mind, we spoke with six iconic Bruins – heroes who wore the ‘C,’ captured Stanley Cups or otherwise helped Boston carve out its special place in NHL lore – about what makes the franchise special. Whether it’s the feeling of entering the arena on game day, the weight of understanding and honoring those who have come before or the importance of creating a culture that spans generations, these are their experiences. This, to these franchise greats, is what it means to be a Boston Bruin.
>BRAD PARK
POS | D YEARS | 1975-83 GP | 501
“I BROKE IN WITH the New York Rangers, and I had the Rangers crest tattooed in my heart, and I ended up getting traded to Boston, who was our archrival or enemy. I was a little nervous. Once I got there and started to live in the Boston area, the community became such a big part of our lives. I can walk around in New York and nobody would know who I was, but I couldn’t do that in Boston. If I went to the store or if I was at a restaurant or wherever I was, their celebrities are their athletes, whereas New York is a little different because they have two baseball teams, two football teams, two basketball teams, three hockey teams now, and they get Broadway stars and movie stars around. It really is a different feeling being in Boston.
When I got there, it was the old Garden, where the balcony was hanging right over the ice. In the first and second balcony, they were so close they could see the sweat dripping off of your nose. That’s how close they were. You could hear their comments. If things weren’t going good, they basically let you know. If things were going good, they let you know. New England has a passion for sports. They really do. With all their colleges that are there and everything like that, it’s basically a young city, but it’s a blue-collar town.
I think just walking into the old Garden, the reception you get from the Bull Gang – the guys who change the ice, maintain the ice, everything like that – they would say things like, “You gotta get ’em tonight,” and they would be part of that energy. We would go in there and have to go by the Bull Gang to get into the building, and they’d be motivating us from as soon as you stepped out of your car.”
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>RICK MIDDLETON
POS | RW YEARS | 1976-88 GP | 881
“I REMEMBER WHEN I was growing up in the ’60s and the Leafs were winning four Cups, New York and Boston fought for last place every year. It wasn’t until Bobby (Orr) came – and they even missed the playoffs his first year – but all of a sudden, people knew who the Bruins were now because of Bobby, and then they built a team around him that became the Big Bad Bruins. They got that moniker, and they had a swagger to them. You had ‘Cheesie’ (Gerry Cheevers) and (Garnet) ‘Ace’ Bailey and a lot of characters on the team – ‘Pie’ (John) McKenzie, Johnny Bucyk – a lot of guys had an identity of their own. And the combination of all these guys – and winning helped, and they won two Cups – and everyone knew who the Boston Bruins were after that.
That identity that was formed in the ’70s still carries forward. They were close to losing it, I think, around the ’90s, when it was all about saving money and not building a team. It wasn’t until the lockout in 2005 that they rebuilt a whole new fan base, and you can see them today. They went out and got (Zdeno) Chara, and (GM Peter) Chiarelli and started spending right to the top of the salary cap and started putting quality players together trying to win. And by 2011, they did.
The young guys – (Brad) Marchand taking over as captain from (Patrice) Bergeron, and Bergeron from Chara – even in that era, it’s already passed on. And they see it back into our era, and now they see the Centennial Team, and it goes all the way back to Eddie Shore. There’s that history that you’re very proud to be part of. You’re very proud to be part of that history – and a winning history. It’s not the Montreal Canadiens, but the Bruins have won their share. They’ve had some tough breaks not winning it, but they’ve always tried to be there.”
>RAY BOURQUE
POS | D YEARS | 1979-2000 GP | 1,518
“IT’S BEING PART OF a special culture, a team that has a long history – what came before us, how long they’ve been around – and being part of that is a very special feeling. It’s a special feeling whoever has a chance to play here over the past 100 years. I would say a pretty high percentage of them always felt it was a very special place to play. For me, it certainly has been all of that. I grew up in Montreal. I knew somewhat the history and rivalry that Montreal and Boston had, and I was on the other side of it as a kid watching it. But once I got here in September 1979, it was all forgotten in terms of getting on the other side of it and knowing and feeling what that was all about. It was a lot of fun being part of that for my almost 21 years in a Bruins uniform.
You have the history of the Boston Bruins and what that is, being a team that has always been looked at as a fairly tough place to come in and play and a tough team to play against. As teammates, always having your teammates’ back. What’s expected of you is going out there and giving your best. And just the people who have come before you and then when you’re part of it, you realize what’s needed from you and how you should play and conduct yourself. Then you become part of the fabric of passing it on to the next guys coming in line. It’s just a big wheel that just continues to roll. It was fun to be part of it as a player, but it’s been fun to watch from being retired and still living here, bleeding Black and Gold and watching them do their thing, cheering for them. Knowing you’re part of that history is pretty special.
You know what’s expected of you here from the fans and being a Boston Bruin. They support you. All they want is an honest, hard effort. That you just go out there and do your job and work hard. The Bruins have been known as a team that really, most times, will deliver that. The fans really respect that, and that’s what they want. There’s expectations here, and you feel that, and that’s the kind of environment you want to play in if you’re a player and a competitor. You feel that when you play here in Boston, that the expectations are high and it’s your job to live up to that.”
>CAM NEELY
POS | RW YEARS | 1986-96 GP | 525
“IT MEANS A sense of community through the city and New England. It’s ingrained in a lot of Bruins players when they first get to Boston that you’re part of a community and giving back is a part of that, not just playing the games. When I came in ’86, I saw that right away. And then, obviously, the pride that the players before us had being a Boston Bruin and taking on the identity a little bit of the city at the time, it’s very blue collar. The fan base has grown up with hockey. They understand the sport, so first and foremost, they expect you to come and work hard. It brings that blue-collar mentality into the locker rooms.
I can only speak to playing in Vancouver and Boston, and I really felt it when I came to Boston that the team has the identity of the fan base or vice versa. I don’t know if it was the chicken or the egg, but it certainly has permeated into the organization about coming to work hard every night. And it goes hand in hand with the better players working the hardest over the course of the decades that I’ve been involved.
Having a franchise like this, with all the great players that have come through here, a lot of the players today may not have watched players in the ’60s, ’70s or ’80s. But a lot of them are hockey junkies and like to learn and understand the organization they play for and the players that played there. But I also want us, as an organization, to help them get a grasp of who came through those doors and what that feeling was in the city. When things go well, understand that our fan base really is knowledgable about the sport, very passionate, and when that building gets cranking, there’s nothing better. For me, it’s not in your face, but there are subtle reminders of who else came through those doors.”
>DON SWEENEY
POS | D YEARS | 1988-2003 GP | 1,052
“THERE’S AN ENORMOUS amount of pride when you talk about the history of the organization. Here we are celebrating 100 years, and you talk about the players who have worn that jersey that you grew up idolizing as a young player yourself. Just understanding the legacy and how it really is bred into the grassroots of what hockey in New England is all about. Pride is the first thing that comes to mind. It’s a privilege.
You put forth the effort, first and foremost. That commitment to play. Stylistically, things change over time. We’re in a league, and you have to adapt in that regard, but the foundation of effort, of it being an effort-based team, is what our fans will identify with. Playing with a grit that the game, no matter what, always requires has always resonated with our fans. That probably goes back to the blue-collar mentality. It doesn’t mean we don’t want skill and that fans don’t appreciate skill or scoring or all the things that make the game exciting, but I think the foundation of what the Boston Bruins were built on revolves around grit and effort.
The military owns the phrase, “You take care of the guy to your left and your right,” but those teams that had success in the ’70s, they were a tight group. A tight, tight group. And I got to come into this organization, and we went to two Cups, and Raymond (Bourque), as an extension, he played with some of those guys. People were able to carry that over. Did we do the best of jobs for a period of time? Maybe not. But certainly with Zdeno (Chara) and Patrice (Bergeron), guys started to get that moving in the right direction. And coaches. Claude (Julien) was an extension of that. The guys that have come in in leadership positions have been an extension of that and decided to carry that and pass it along and treat that like a privilege. To have gratitude for playing for the Bruins and pass that along to the next generations. We pass it along to Brad (Marchand) in the captaincy, but you quickly saw Charlie (McAvoy) and David Pastrnak assume a mantle, saying, “We need to continue to shape our legacy as an extension of what was passed on to us.” And I think that’s important.”
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>ZDENO CHARA
POS | D YEARS | 2006-20 GP | 1,023
“WHEN I SIGNED WITH the Boston Bruins, I obviously knew I was coming into an Original Six franchise, but you don’t realize right away how deep the history is and how many great sports legends were part of that organization and sharing that crest, the logo on the jersey, before you. It takes a little bit of time to realize it’s very unique and a privilege to be playing for an Original Six franchise, and then you start to realize there is a certain legacy, a certain culture, that people want to see being connected to or related to that organization. I quickly realized I wanted to follow up in those footsteps or the paths that were created or built by players like Johnny Bucyk, Bobby Orr. You want to make it count. You want to make your own footsteps and leave some positive marks behind you. That was a huge motivation for me, and I wanted to do my best with the pride, dedication and discipline to do that.
When I got to Boston, the culture was a little bit broken up. It was not quite what it was or what it is now. For whatever reason, the team went through different stages of transition, and, obviously, there were some parts and some areas where everything needed to be fixed. When I came over, I realized right away a few red flags were popping up, and I wanted to make sure that, first and foremost, I would be leading by being a good example on and off the ice with my work ethic and my discipline and dedication and drive and setting a good tone for practices, conditioning and treating everyone the same way. We became better and better at that, and with a few acquisitions coming in – Claude Julien joining the team, Peter Chiarelli was the manager – every year we got better and better and built on things we wanted to build on. That led us to ultimately winning the Stanley Cup in 2011.”
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