Four highlights from Bruins’ Centennial Game ceremony
Several Bruins legends took part in Sunday's pregame ceremony.
One hundred years to the day since the Bruins first took to the ice on Dec. 1, 1924, the Bruins celebrated their centennial on Sunday in an extended pregame ceremony.
Boston’s Centennial Game ceremony took place on the TD Garden ice more than an hour ahead of puck drop between the Bruins and Canadiens — with decades of spirited scraps, hockey legends, and iconic plays chronicled in the extended celebration of the oldest U.S.-based club in the NHL.
Sunday’s event — which featured appearances from multiple Bruins alumni from the “Big Bad Bruins” era all the way to the 2011 Cup-winning club — served as the culmination of over a year’s worth of festivities involving the Bruins’ 100 years in Boston.
Here are four highlights from Sunday’s nostalgia-filled ceremony:
Welcoming back the past
Much as they did last season during their “Era Night” celebrations, the Bruins reflected on several chapters of the franchise’s 100-year history to open Sunday’s ceremony.
The five eras honored on Sunday were the “Early Years” (1924-1959), “The Big Bad Bruins” (1960-1976), “Lunch Pail A.C.” (1977-1985), “New Blood, New Beginnings” (1986-2000) and “Return of a Champion” (2001-Present).
Each era was ushered in with a tribute video showcasing some of the top players and moments from that respective chapter in Bruins history.
Each highlight reel was punctuated by moments immortalized in Bruins fans’ collective memory like Bobby Orr’s Cup-clinching leap in 1970, a brawl in the Madison Square Garden stands in 1979, and Tim Thomas’ brick-wall saves in 2011 and Boston’s Game 7 comeback against the Maple Leafs in 2013.
Once each video wrapped, several Bruins alumni made their way onto the TD Garden ice.
Here are all the full participants for each Bruins era:
Early Years: Willie O’Ree and relatives of Milt Schmidt, Eddie Shore, Dit Clapper, and Lionel Hitchman.
“The Bag Bad Bruins”: Bobby Orr, Phil Esposito, Johnny Bucyk, and Wayne Cashman.
Lunch Pail A.C.: Rick Middleton and Terry O’Reilly.
New Blood, New Beginnings: Cam Neely, Ray Bourque, and Jason Allison.
Return of a Champion: Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand.
“What It Means To Be A Bruin”
After the Bruins alumni made their way onto the Garden ice, the TD Garden jumbotron played a video called “What It Means To Be A Bruin”.
The video, narrated by Harry Sinden, featured the countless stars and cherished players — be it 50-goal scorers or fourth-line scrappers — who have donned the spoked-B over the years.
“I’ve often been asked what it means to be a Boston Bruin — the most important traits are skill and will,” Sinden said in the video. “Hockey’s a game where you have to have the will to play. You can have all the skill in the world, but if you don’t have the will that’s required on the ice, it’s probably true that you won’t be as successful as you could be.
“Amongst the ones I should really be applauding are the fans who have been our biggest supporters for the last 100 years. There has been a century of Bruins hockey, and it’s time to start another 100 years.”
To signify the end of Boston’s extended centennial celebration, the Bruins alumni closed the “vault” located in the middle of the Garden ice — raising their sticks in salute to Boston’s triple-digit tenure in the NHL.
Welcoming in the next generation
As a video highlighting the next wave of Bruins fans played on the Garden screen, an impromptu cheer of “Let’s Go Bruins!” started to ring out.
As part of a symbolic passing of the torch to the next generation of hockey players in the region, the Bruins invited countless youth hockey players onto the ice — with the Bruins’ alumni passing pucks to them before posing for photos.
Dropping the puck
Just ahead of puck drop, Orr drew another loud cheer from the TD Garden crowd by participating as Boston’s “fan banner captain” — a tradition usually reserved for Bruins playoff games.
Following the introduction of the starting lineups and Todd Angilly’s dual renditions of the Canadian and U.S. national anthems, the Bruins honored the past, present, and future of Boston’s heated rivalry with Montreal.
As current captains Brad Marchand and Nick Suzuki lined up for the puck drop, Bucyk and Montreal legend Ken Dryden were joined by a pair of youth hockey players from Quebec and Cambridge to close out the festivities and usher in the latest matchup between the B’s and Habs.
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