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Boston Bruins

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Boston Bruins
Boston Bruins
Founded 1924
Home ice TD Banknorth Garden
Based in Boston
Colors Black and Gold
League National Hockey League
Head coach Mike Sullivan
General manager Mike O'Connell
Owner Jeremy Jacobs
AHL Affiliate Providence Bruins

The Boston Bruins are a National Hockey League (NHL) team based in Boston, Massachusetts. Their logo is comprised of a black "B" in a black circle with gold spokes radiating from the center.

Founded: 1924
Team Colors: Black and gold
Home Arena: TD Banknorth Garden
Former Home Arenas: Boston Arena (1924-1927); Boston Garden (1928-1995)
Stanley Cup wins: 5 - 1929, 1939, 1941, 1970, 1972.
Stanley Cup runner-up: 11 - 1930, 1943, 1946, 1953, 1957, 1958, 1974, 1977, 1978, 1988, 1990.
President's Trophy wins: 1 - 1990. Also the NHL's regular season champion in 1930, 1931, 1933, 1938, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1971, 1972, 1974 and 1983.
Main Rivals: Montreal Canadiens, New York Rangers.
One of the NHL's 'Original Six' franchises, along with the Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens, New York Rangers and Toronto Maple Leafs.


Franchise history

The Pre-War years

File:Ditclapper.jpg
Dit Clapper, longtime Bruins' captain and coach

In 1924, at the convincing of Boston grocery magnate Charles Adams, the NHL decided to expand into the United States. As a long-time hockey hotbed, Boston was a natural for the NHL's first genuine expansion team. Adams and his family would own the team for most of the next fifty years, and his club, which he named the Bruins, finished last in the league in their first season but garnered overwhelming fan support. The color scheme of brown and gold (in later years changing to black and gold) came from Adams' grocery chain.

In only their third season (1926-27), the team's fortune changed. Art Ross, the canny general manager of the team, took advantage of the collapse of the Western Hockey League to purchase several western stars, including the team's first great star, defenseman Eddie Shore. The Bruins reached the Stanley Cup final, losing then to the Ottawa Senators, but won their first Cup two years later by defeating the New York Rangers behind Shore, Harry Oliver, Dutch Gainor and superstar goaltender Tiny Thompson. The season after that (1929-30), the Bruins posted the best-ever regular season winning percentage in the NHL (an astonishing .875), but would lose to the Montreal Canadiens in the finals.

File:Bostonbruinslogo40s.gif
Logo used (1939-1947)

Except for a couple seasons, the Bruins would remain excellent through the 1930s with superb players such as Shore, Thompson, Dit Clapper, Babe Siebert, and Cooney Weiland, but failed to capture their second Cup until 1939. That year, in a move considered insane by hockey pundits, Ross dealt Thompson in favor of untried rookie goaltender Frank Brimsek. "Mr. Zero" Brimsek would electrify the league in his rookie season, and headlined by the "Kraut Line" (center Milt Schmidt, left winger Bobby Bauer, and right winger Woody Dumart), playmaking wizard Bill Cowley, Shore, Clapper, and unexpected hero "Sudden Death" Mel Hill (who scored three overtime goals in one playoff series), the Bruins won the Cup. Shore was dealt to the New York Americans for his final NHL season the next year, but the season following, the Bruins -- having led the league in a magnificent regular season, with only eight losses, won their third Stanley Cup with Weiland as their new coach, behind the brilliance of Cowley, the Krauts and Brimsek.

World War II and the "Original Six" Era

File:KrautLine.jpg
The "Kraut Line": Woody Dumart, Milt Schmidt and Bobby Bauer

Unfortunately, World War II decimated the Bruins worse than most teams; Brimsek, Schmidt, Dumart and Bauer all enlisted after the 1941 season, and lost the most productive years of their careers at war. Cowley, assisted by elder statesmen Clapper and Busher Jackson, was the team's remaining star. Even though the NHL had by 1943 pared down to the six teams that would in a later era be -- erroneously -- called the "Original Six", talent was depleted enough that freak seasons could predominate, as in 1944, when Bruin Herb Cain would set the NHL record for points in a season with 82. The Bruins wouldn't make the playoffs that year, and Cain would be out of the bigs two years after that.

Milt Schmidt, Hall of Famer and captain of the Bruins in the early Fifties

The stars would return for the 1945-46 NHL season, and Boston would make the playoffs for the next four seasons under Clapper as the new coach. Unfortunately, Brimsek was not again as good as he was pre-war, and after 1946 the Bruins lost in the first playoff round three straight years, resulting in Clapper's ouster. An ominous bit of misfortune came with the banning of young star Don Gallinger for life on suspicion of gambling, and the only remaining quality young player who remained with the team for any length was forward Johnny Peirson, who would later be the team's TV color announcer in the Seventies.

Although there were some flashes of success thereafter (such as making the Stanley Cup finals in 1953, 1957, and 1958, only to lose to the Montreal Canadiens each time), the Bruins won no more Cups over the next twenty-five years after 1941. Further, in an era dominated by the Canadiens, the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Detroit Red Wings, the Bruins mustered only four winning seasons between 1947 and 1967. They missed the playoffs eight straight years between 1960 and 1967, but fan support remained high -- the Bruins consistently outdrew the Boston Celtics team, perennial professional basketball world champions.

During this period, the farm system of the Bruins was not as expansive or well developed as most of the other five teams. The Bruins sought players not protected by the other teams and in 1958 signed Willie O'Ree the first black player in the NHL and in 1962 signed Tommy Williams from the gold medal winning American national men's hockey team at the 1960 Squaw Valley Winter Olympics who was at the time the only American player in the NHL.

Expansion and the Big, Bad Bruins

File:BobbyOrr.jpg
Bobby Orr, the greatest blueliner in NHL history

There came change by the late 1960s. The Bruins drafted young Bobby Orr who entered the league in 1966 and would be in the eyes of many the greatest defenseman of all time. They would then obtain Phil Esposito, Ken Hodge and Fred Stanfield from the Chicago Blackhawks in one of the most one-sided deals in history. Hodge and Stanfield became useful players in Boston, but Esposito would blossom into the league's top goal scorer, being the first NHL player to break the one hundred point mark and setting many goal and point scoring records. With other stars like wingers Johnny Bucyk, John McKenzie, Hodge and Derek Sanderson, steady defenders like Dallas Smith and goaltender Gerry Cheevers, the "Big, Bad Bruins" became one of the league's top teams from the late 1960s through the 1970s, combining a rugged, barroom style of play with one of the greatest offensive juggernauts the NHL had ever seen.

In 1970, a 29-year Stanley Cup drought came to an end in Boston, as the Bruins swept the St. Louis Blues in four games in the finals. Bobby Orr scored the game-winning goal in overtime of Game Four. The famous image of Orr scoring, while being tripped up and flying through the air after the goal, his arms raised in victory, remains perhaps the best-known photograph in professional hockey to this present day.

1971 was in respects the high watermark of the Seventies for Boston. The Bruins' dominance was cataclysmic, shattering dozens of offensive scoring records. They had seven of the league's top ten scorers -- a feat not achieved before or since -- set the record for wins in a season, and in a league that had never seen a 100-point scorer before 1969, the Bruins had four that season. All (Orr, Esposito, Bucyk and Hodge) were named First Team All-Stars, a feat matched in the expansion era only by the 1977 Canadiens. Boston looked poised to repeat as Cup champions, but ran into a roadblock in the playoffs. Up 5-1 at one point in Game Two of a quarter-final match against the Canadiens (and rookie goaltender Ken Dryden), the Bruins squandered it to lose 7-5. They never recovered and lost the series in seven games.

File:Bostonbruinslogo70s80s.gif
Boston's logo used from 1967 to 1994

While the Bruins were not quite as dominant the next season (although only three points behind the 1971 pace), they returned to glory in the playoffs, defeating a strong challenge from the New York Rangers in six games in the Cup finals behind Orr's wizardry. The 1972 Cup win is Boston's most recent to date.

Boston continued to dominate through the 1970s (despite losing Cheevers, McKenzie, Sanderson and other stars to the renegade World Hockey Association), only to come up short in the playoffs. Although they had three 100-point scorers on the team (Esposito, Orr and Hodge), they would lose the 1974 finals to the rough Philadelphia Flyers.

The flamboyant Don Cherry stepped behind the bench as the new coach in 1974-75. The Bruins stocked themselves with enforcers and remained a threat under Cherry's reign, the so-called "Lunch Pail A.C.," behind players such as slick Gregg Sheppard, rugged Terry O'Reilly and high-scoring Peter McNab.

Orr, however, did not. He left the Bruins for the Chicago Blackhawks after the 1975-76 NHL season and retired after many knee operations in 1979. The Bruins excelled without him (picking up another great blueliner, Brad Park, from the Rangers (along with Jean Ratelle) in a blockbuster trade early in the season that would see Esposito join the New York squad) as they made the semi-finals again, losing to the Flyers.

Cheevers returned from the WHA in 1977, and the Bruins would get past the Flyers in the semi-finals, but would lose to the Canadiens in the race for the Cup. The story would repeat itself in 1978.

The 1979 semi-final series against the Canadiens proved to be Cherry's undoing. In the deciding seventh game, the Bruins, up by a goal, were called for having too many men on the ice in the late stages of the third period. Montreal tied the game on the ensuing power play and won in overtime.

The Eighties and Nineties

File:Bourque wiki.JPG
Ray Bourque, highest scoring defenseman of all-time

Coupled with front office dislike of Cherry's outspoken ways, the following season saw his replacement as coach by a newly-retired Cheevers and the coming of Ray Bourque. The defenseman -- one of the true greats of NHL history -- was an icon for the team for over two decades, although in the end it took a trade to the Colorado Avalanche for him to win the Stanley Cup.

The Bruins made the playoffs every year through the 1980s behind stars such as Park, Bourque and Rick Middleton -- and had the league's best record in 1983 behind a Vezina-winning season from ex-Flyer goaltender Pete Peeters -- but usually did not get very far. By the late 1980s, they were once again a force. In addition to Bourque, players like the indomitable Cam Neely, Keith Crowder, and Don Sweeney would lead the Bruins to another finals appearance in 1988 against the Edmonton Oilers. The Bruins lost in a four-game sweep, but created a memorable moment in Game 4, when the lights at the Boston Garden went out in the second period with the game tied. The rest of the game was cancelled and the series shifted to Edmonton.

Boston returned to the finals in 1990 (with Neely, Bourque, Craig Janney, and Bobby Carpenter leading the team in scoring, and Andy Moog and Rejean Lemelin splitting goaltending duties), but would again lose to the Oilers.

The 1990s were not kind to the Bruins. Despite picking up more talent like Adam Oates, Rick Tocchet, and Jozef Stumpel, they did not get past the second round of the playoffs after 1992 (their second consecutive conference final loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins). In 1997, they missed the playoffs for the first time in 30 years, having set the North American major professional record for most consecutive seasons in the playoffs.

The 1990s also saw the Bruins moving from the storied Boston Garden, to their new home, the FleetCenter, now known as the TD Banknorth Garden.

Their bitterest archrivals have historically been the Montreal Canadiens, but the Canadiens' lack of success in recent years has muted the century-old rivalry.

The 21st Century

The Bruins got off to a poor start in the new century. Despite a 15 point improvement from the previous season, the Bruins missed the playoffs in 2000-01. They finished with 88 points, which left them out of the playoff picture, in a tie with the 8th place Carolina Hurricanes, behind the coaching of both Pat Burns and Mike Keenan.

The following season (2001-02) saw the Bruins with a 13 point improvement, their first Northeast Division title since 1993 and a solid core built around Joe Thornton, Sergei Samsonov, Brian Rolston, Bill Guerin, and the newly acquired Glen Murray. Their regular season success didn't translate to postseason success, as they bowed out in six games to the underdog 8th-place Montreal Canadiens. Goaltending was the biggest flaw in the previous season, as Byron Dafoe struggled in the playoffs.

The 2002-03 season saw very little improvement between the pipes, as the Bruins entered the season with weak goaltending once again. They platooned between the inconsistent Steve Shields and the inexperienced John Grahame for most of the season, but a mid-season trade brought in veteran Jeff Hackett, who showed signs of improvement, but wasn't the answer to the Bruins problems. The Bruins managed to finish 7th and lose to the eventual Stanley Cup Champion New Jersey Devils in 5 games.

The 2003-04 season was sure to be an odd season, with two rookies playing key roles. The Bruins again failed to bring in a solid goaltender and began the season with yet another inconsistent goalie between the pipes, Felix Potvin. Potvin started out solid, but struggled soon enough, forcing the Bruins to put rookie Andrew Raycroft into the starting role. Raycroft proved superb and finally gave the Bruins an answer to their goaltending problems. Raycroft, as well as Thornton, Samsonov, Rolston, Murray, Mike Knuble, Nick Boynton, and rookie Patrice Bergeron carried the Bruins to another division title. The Bruins appeared destined to get out of the first round for the first time in five years, with a solid 3-1 series lead on the rival Montreal Canadiens. The Canadiens miraculously rallied back to win three straight games, upsetting the Bruins once again. The Bruins however, did seem to find a suitable coach in Mike Sullivan, after going through five coaches in three previous seasons.

The 2004-05 NHL season was wiped out by a lockout, and the Bruins appear to be in good position, with a lot of space in the salary cap that will be implemented in time for the 2005-06 NHL season.

Season-by-season record

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime losses, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes

Season GP W L T OTL Pts GF GA PIM Finish Playoffs
1924-25 30 6 24 0 -- 12 49 119 264 6th (last) in NHL Out of playoffs
1925-26 36 17 15 4 -- 38 92 85 279 4th in NHL Out of playoffs
1926-27 44 21 20 3 -- 45 97 89 521 2nd in American Lost in Stanley Cup finals
1927-28 44 20 13 11 -- 51 77 70 558 1st in American Lost in semi-finals
1928-29 44 26 13 5 -- 57 89 52 472 1st in American Won Stanley Cup
1929-30 44 38 5 1 -- 77 179 98 449 1st in American Lost in Stanley Cup finals
1930-31 44 28 10 6 -- 62 143 90 403 1st in American Lost in semi-finals
1931-32 48 15 21 12 -- 42 122 117 373 4th (last) in American Out of playoffs
1932-33 48 25 15 8 -- 58 124 88 517 1st in American Lost in semi-finals
1933-34 48 18 25 5 -- 41 111 130 385 4th (last) in American Out of playoffs
1934-35 48 26 16 6 -- 58 129 112 368 1st in American Lost in semi-finals
1935-36 48 22 20 6 -- 50 92 83 397 2nd in American Lost in quarter-finals
1936-37 48 23 18 7 -- 53 120 110 303 2nd in American Lost in quarter-finals
1937-38 48 30 11 7 -- 67 142 89 284 1st in American Lost in semi-finals
1938-39 48 36 10 2 -- 74 156 76 251 1st in NHL Won Stanley Cup
1939-40 48 31 12 5 -- 67 170 98 330 1st in NHL Lost in semi-finals
1940-41 48 27 8 13 -- 67 168 102 246 1st in NHL Won Stanley Cup
1941-42 48 25 17 6 -- 56 160 118 349 3rd in NHL Lost in semi-finals
1942-43 50 24 17 9 -- 57 195 176 364 2nd in NHL Lost in Stanley Cup finals
1943-44 50 19 26 5 -- 43 223 268 207 5th in NHL Out of playoffs
1944-45 50 16 30 4 -- 36 179 219 275 4th in NHL Lost in semi-finals
1945-46 50 24 18 8 -- 56 167 156 273 2nd in NHL Lost in Stanley Cup finals
1946-47 60 26 23 11 -- 63 190 175 463 3rd in NHL Lost in semi-finals
1947-48 60 23 24 13 -- 59 167 168 515 3rd in NHL Lost in semi-finals
1948-49 60 29 23 8 -- 66 178 163 434 2nd in NHL Lost in semi-finals
1949-50 70 22 32 16 -- 60 198 228 449 5th in NHL Out of playoffs
1950-51 70 22 30 18 -- 62 178 197 656 4th in NHL Lost in semi-finals
1951-52 70 25 29 16 -- 66 162 176 601 4th in NHL Lost in semi-finals
1952-53 70 28 29 13 -- 69 152 172 528 3rd in NHL Lost in Stanley Cup finals
1953-54 70 32 28 10 -- 74 177 181 685 4th in NHL Lost in semi-finals
1954-55 70 23 26 21 -- 67 169 188 863 4th in NHL Lost in semi-finals
1955-56 70 23 34 13 -- 59 147 185 929 5th in NHL Out of playoffs
1956-57 70 34 24 12 -- 80 195 174 978 3rd in NHL Lost in Stanley Cup finals
1957-58 70 27 28 15 -- 69 199 194 849 4th in NHL Lost in Stanley Cup finals
1958-59 70 32 29 9 -- 73 205 215 838 2nd in NHL Lost in semi-finals
1959-60 70 28 34 8 -- 64 220 241 932 5th in NHL Out of playoffs
1960-61 70 15 42 13 -- 43 176 254 810 6th (last) in NHL Out of playoffs
1961-62 70 15 47 8 -- 38 177 306 712 6th (last) in NHL Out of playoffs
1962-63 70 14 39 17 -- 45 198 281 636 6th (last) in NHL Out of playoffs
1963-64 70 18 40 12 -- 48 170 212 858 6th (last) in NHL Out of playoffs
1964-65 70 21 43 6 -- 48 166 253 946 6th (last) in NHL Out of playoffs
1965-66 70 21 43 6 -- 48 174 275 787 5th in NHL Out of playoffs
1966-67 70 17 43 10 -- 44 182 253 764 6th (last) in NHL Out of playoffs
1967-68 74 37 27 10 -- 84 259 216 1043 3rd in Eastern Lost in quarter-finals
1968-69 76 42 18 16 -- 100 303 221 1297 2nd in Eastern Lost in semi-finals
1969-70 76 40 17 19 -- 99 277 216 1196 2nd in Eastern Won Stanley Cup
1970-71 78 57 14 7 -- 121 399 207 1154 1st in Eastern Lost in quarter-finals
1971-72 78 54 13 11 -- 119 330 204 1112 1st in Eastern Won Stanley Cup
1972-73 78 51 22 5 -- 107 330 235 1097 2nd in Eastern Lost in quarter-finals
1973-74 78 52 17 9 -- 113 349 221 968 1st in Eastern Lost in Stanley Cup finals
1974-75 80 40 26 14 -- 94 345 245 1153 2nd in Adams Lost in preliminary round
1975-76 80 48 15 17 -- 113 313 237 1195 1st in Adams Lost in semi-finals
1976-77 80 49 23 8 -- 106 312 240 1065 1st in Adams Lost in Stanley Cup finals
1977-78 80 51 18 11 -- 113 333 218 1237 1st in Adams Lost in Stanley Cup finals
1978-79 80 43 23 14 -- 100 316 270 1222 1st in Adams Lost in semi-finals
1979-80 80 46 21 13 -- 105 310 234 1460 2nd in Adams Lost in quarter-finals
1980-81 80 37 30 13 -- 87 316 272 1836 2nd in Adams Lost in preliminary round
1981-82 80 43 27 10 -- 96 323 285 1266 2nd in Adams Lost in division finals
1982-83 80 50 20 10 -- 110 327 228 1202 1st in Adams Lost in semi-finals
1983-84 80 49 25 6 -- 104 336 261 1606 1st in Adams Lost in division semi-finals
1984-85 80 36 34 10 -- 82 303 287 1825 4th in Adams Lost in division semi-finals
1985-86 80 37 31 12 -- 86 311 288 1919 3rd in Adams Lost in division semi-finals
1986-87 80 39 34 7 -- 85 301 276 1870 3rd in Adams Lost in division semi-finals
1987-88 80 44 30 6 -- 94 300 251 2443 2nd in Adams Lost in Stanley Cup finals
1988-89 80 37 29 14 -- 88 289 256 1929 2nd in Adams Lost in division finals
1989-90 80 46 25 9 -- 101 289 232 1458 1st in Adams Lost in Stanley Cup finals
1990-91 80 44 24 12 -- 100 299 264 1694 1st in Adams Lost in semi-finals
1991-92 80 36 32 12 -- 84 270 275 1752 2nd in Adams Lost in semi-finals
1992-93 84 51 26 7 -- 109 332 268 1552 1st in Adams Lost in division semi-finals
1993-94 84 42 29 13 -- 97 289 252 1442 2nd in Northeast Lost in conference semi-finals
1994-95 48 27 18 3 -- 57 150 127 793 3rd in Northeast Lost in conference quarter-finals
1995-96 82 40 31 11 -- 91 282 269 1039 2nd in Northeast Lost in conference quarter-finals
1996-97 82 26 47 9 -- 61 234 300 1369 6th (last) in Northeast Out of playoffs
1997-98 82 39 30 13 -- 91 221 194 1117 2nd in Northeast Lost in conference quarter-finals
1998-99 82 39 30 13 -- 91 214 181 1182 3rd in Northeast Lost in conference semi-finals
1999-00 82 24 33 19 6 73 210 248 865 5th (last) in Northeast Out of playoffs
2000-01 82 36 30 8 8 88 227 249 1325 4th in Northeast Out of playoffs
2001-02 82 43 24 6 9 101 236 201 1454 1st in Northeast Lost in conference quarter-finals
2002-03 82 36 31 11 4 87 245 237 1370 3rd in Northeast Lost in conference quarter-finals
2003-04 82 41 19 15 7 104 209 188 1208 1st in Northeast Lost in conference quarter-finals
2004-05 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
2005-06

Notable Players

Current Squad

As of October 18, 2005

Goaltenders
Number Player Catches Acquired Place of Birth
1 Canada Andrew Raycroft L 1998 Belleville, Ontario
32 Finland Hannu Toivonen L 2002 Kalvola, Finland
Defensemen
Number Player Shoots Acquired Place of Birth
18 United States Ian Moran R 2003 Cleveland, Ohio
22 United States Brian Leetch L 2005 Corpus Christi, Texas
25 United States Hal Gill L 1993 Concord, Massachusetts
41 United States Andrew Alberts L 2001 Minneapolis, Minnesota
44 Canada Nick Boynton R 1999 Nobleton, Ontario
58 Canada Kevin Dallman R 2002 Niagara Falls, Ontario
71 Czech Republic Jiri Slegr L 2004 Jihlava, Czechoslovakia
Forwards
Number Player Shoots Positon Acquired Place of Birth
10 Russia Alexei Zhamnov (Injured Reserve) L C 2005 Moscow, U.S.S.R.
11 Sweden P.J. Axelsson L LW 1995 Kungalv, Sweden
12 United States Tom Fitzgerald R RW 2004 Billerica, Massachusetts
14 Russia Sergei Samsonov R LW 1997 Moscow, U.S.S.R.
17 United States Shawn McEachern L LW/RW 2005 Waltham, Massachusetts
19 Canada Joe Thornton L C 1997 London, Ontario
13 United States Ryan Winters R RW 2004 Lowell, Massachusetts
21 Canada Brad Isbister R LW 2005 Edmonton, Alberta
26 Canada Brad Boyes R C 2004 Mississauga, Ontario
27 Canada Glen Murray R RW 2001 Halifax, Nova Scotia
37 Canada Patrice Bergeron R C 2003 L'Ancienne-Lorette, Québec
39 Canada Travis Green R C 2004 Castlegar, British Columbia
75 Canada Colton Orr R RW 2001 Winnipeg, Manitoba
83 United States Pat Leahy R RW 2003 Brighton, Massachusetts

Hall of Famers


Team captains


Not to be forgotten


Retired Numbers

See also


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