My Love for the Boston Bruins

Seeing the Stanley Cup at the Hockey Hall of Fame!

The Glue My Family Needed.
How I Grew to Love the Boston Bruins:

I am the first to admit that I am absolutely obsessed with the Boston Bruins and really I love all the Boston teams. This might seem strange to some since I am not a Bostonian or even a New Englander for that matter. In fact, I grew up in Southern Arizona far from what many would define as a "hockey town." Yes, Arizona has the Coyotes, but you and I both know they have had an unfortunate lack of success. I have been to many Coyotes games over the years, but I mostly go with my family when they're playing the Bruins. But the question still remains: how does a girl who grew up in Tucson, AZ fall in love with a hockey team over 2,500 miles away?

It’s often difficult for me to put into words what the Boston Bruins and hockey mean to me. I find myself crying over losses and crying some more for wins, but those are happy tears of course. I threaten to burn my Bruins stuff in frustration, throw my hat, cry some more, but I’m also genuinely happy for wins regular season or playoffs. For those who don’t like sports, it can be viewed as strange because I display so much emotion over the Bruins, but to me, that emotion is what makes watching the Boston Bruins so wonderful and what truly ignites my passion. I think the power of rooting for a team creates an ability to escape realities. Sports provide examples of strong work ethic, perseverance, and teamwork. Sports throughout history have glued us together as a society creating special bonds that people share. These bonds and the glue are similar to those that I share with fellow Bruins fans and my family.

I often get asked why or how I’m a Bruins fan given that I’ve lived in Arizona my whole life. No, I’m not one of those bandwagoners who fell in love the year they won the Cup or because of their successes of the past decade. Nope, I actually grew up watching the Bruins since I was a five year old kid in the desert of Southern Arizona. My stepdad came into my life in 2000, when I was a young five year old girl. This period of my life involved a lot of change and uncertainty. I had a new father figure whom I was just getting to know, my parents were divorced, and many things were going on around me that I did not have the ability to comprehend. However, it was hockey that really glued my family together. My stepdad Dave exposed me to hockey and the Boston Bruins. Dave loves hockey and the Bruins and perhaps at one time, he loved them more than I do now. He was a young boy when Bobby Orr was wearing the spoked-B and Dave said he flipped on the television one day to see the greatest player to ever play. Orr is still Dave’s sports idol to this day, but not only because of his hockey playing ability, but because of the kind of person Bobby Orr is. Witnessing the great Bobby Orr was all it took for Dave to become fixated on the Bruins for life.

Again, being a five year old, I wanted to bond with my new stepfather and began watching the Bruins with him during this time. These were the days when Bill Guerin, Paul Coffey, and who can forget Jumbo Joe Thornton were all playing. This team was mediocre at best going 36-30-8-8, but sitting on the couch watching Bruins hockey was a bond I shared with Dave and I was hooked. I was fascinated by the speed of the game, the hard hitting, fighting, flashy goals, and ridiculous athleticism and toughness of hockey players. Needless to say, Dave had morphed me into a fellow Bruins fan in the house. Dave also showed great emotion, we’d often be in bad moods for the rest of the day if the Bruins lost (sorry Mom!) and watched as much hockey together as possible. 

Dave bought Center Ice through our cable provider season after season throughout my childhood so we could watch Bruins games together on NESN, but of course we would keep track of other teams too, especially our hatred for the Bruins’ fiercest rival, the Montreal Canadiens and our hometown team then known as the Phoenix Coyotes. I learned so much about other teams this way by Dave allowing me stay up past my bedtime to watch games on the West Coast, which often started at 8pm local time. 

Though I loved hockey already, it wasn’t until 2009 when I became fully invested in it. I would sit in my room with my iPod Touch watching YouTube videos from around the league, highlights, interviews, insiders, reading articles and you name it, often when I should have been sleeping or doing homework (sorry again Mom!) I was determined to learn as much about hockey as I could. In fact, this was the year that I first saw the Bruins in person. My stepdad took me to a Coyotes game against the Bruins, a game that has since become tradition. I have been to every game the Bruins are in town since, but have also seen them play in Anaheim and Los Angeles. From my first Bruins game in 2009, I have a video of the players coming onto the ice, this is of very low quality because cell phone cameras were terrible back then, but that game, which the Bruins lost 4-1 by the way, solidified me as a Boston Bruins fan for life. I remember seeing Tuukka Rask and not really knowing much about him, but quickly grew to love after seeing the video of him throw a milk crate on the ice when he was with Providence. I remember seeing Zdeno Chara tower over everybody on the ice and dominate defensively, and I got my first glimpse of Patrice Bergeron, the embodiment of a true professional. My first Bruins jersey was a gift for Christmas that year, which I still have of course. A black Reebok jersey, donning the spoked-B with no player name or number. I would wear this to school with pride, even though very few students knew about hockey, some even thought it was a Pittsburgh Steelers jersey given that they have the same colors. Yuck!

Photo from the first Bruins game I saw live in Glendale, AZ.

Well, we all know what happened when the Bruins lost in overtime of game 7 of the Eastern Conference semi-finals against the Carolina Hurricanes. I still remember how dejected my stepdad looked when we saw the puck in the net past Tim Thomas at the hands of Joel Ward. That was the first of now many times, I cried after a Bruins loss and the first time my stepdad and I shared real disappointment at the hands of the Bruins together. 2010 was another rough year for Bruins fans after the Bruins fell in game 7 against the Philadelphia Flyers after being up 3-0 in not only the series, but game 7 too. That was the first year my family and I started doing NHL playoff brackets, before the NHL made it cool to do. Of course I picked the Bruins to go all the way and was emotional after the collapse, but I did not jump ship, it was the Bruins from then on out.

2011. The year it happened. The playoffs this year and the Cup run for the Bruins was everything to me. My stepdad waited those LONG 39 years after he was convinced they’d never win again in his lifetime. We shared those victorious moments together, something I’ll always remember (more on this later). 2013 was the year we experienced the 17 second collapse, which I still refuse to watch the highlights of and never have to this day.

One of my Facebook posts from the Cup run.

My family's playoff brackets from 2011 playoffs.

Year after year while growing up, I knew I could watch the Boston Bruins with my stepdad and have into my adulthood. The power of rooting for this team is something I hold deeply in my heart. When things were so uncertain as a five year old, I knew I could crawl up on the couch next to my stepdad and watch the Bruins. The Bruins brought us together and helped me learn that everything was going to be okay. For that, I am internally grateful. The Bruins brought my family together, gave us something to look forward to, to bond over, to love, and cry over.

Dave, myself, and my mom at a Bruins-Coyotes game.

Hockey is something that has brought me so much in life. It brought me my wonderful boyfriend of six years who grew up playing hockey in Southern California. We met in freshmen English at Northern Arizona University and bonded over writing an essay on the movie, Miracle. Trent soon realized I knew more about the NHL than he did, little did he know what he got himself into with me. ;) I had also decorated my dorm and apartment with all Bruins merchandise. Trent's story of what hockey means to him is truly quite remarkable due to his health and an injury that I will share at a later time too. He played hockey at NAU for five seasons. One of the craziest times of college was when I decided to buy second row tickets for the Ducks-Bruins game in Anaheim a week before my final exams. I drove seven hours to Anaheim from Flagstaff, AZ, watched the Bruins lose, and drove seven hours back all in the same day. Not to mention I had class early the next morning (sorry again Mom!)

Trent and I on his senior night at NAU.

Fast forward to 2019 Trent and I went to Boston for game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final. My second time in my favorite city of Boston and first time at TD Garden seeing the Bruins, which I admit was long over due. We also went to Fenway for a Sox game earlier that day too! This experience was truly one of the best days of life, I only wish my stepdad could have been there (more on this experience later too). 

Game 1 of the Final, 2019.

Currently, I am still living in Arizona, while in grad school at the University of Arizona. Once I finish my PhD I hope to move to Boston. I am currently conducting research on youth hockey here through Trent’s team that he is coaching as he wants to pay it all forward. I am also working for the AHL affiliate of the Arizona Coyotes, the Tucson Roadrunners. Not the Providence Bruins I know, but still an incredible experience and so much fun. I also decided to enroll myself in an adult learn to play hockey program through the Coyotes. I always wished I could have played growing up, but there was no access to ice in Tucson, but I figured better late than never. I have seen the game grow here in Arizona so much, but don’t you worry, I remain loyal to the Boston Bruins and will forever. 

Myself and fellow Rally Runners.

Hockey has done so much for myself and my family. From so much uncertainty as a five year old to creating the wonderful bond I have with my stepfather. So thank you hockey and thank you to the Boston Bruins, for being the glue that my family needed, for getting me through some tough times, for bringing me the love of my life, and for all the smiles, laughter, and tears.