BOSTON — The Bruins, like many NHL teams, have made a habit of handing out some sort of trinket to the player of the game following wins. The B’s don’t do it all season, but the in-house award usually debuts just in time for the postseason.
The B’s gave the first look at this year’s player of the game prize on Saturday after a 5-2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers at TD Garden. This year’s award is a letterman’s jacket that reads “Old Time Hockey” on the chest. The jacket once belonged to Bruins legend Johnny Bucyk and was passed along to Zdeno Chara. The first recipient was Milan Lucic who scored two goals and added an assist in the Boston win.
“There’s a lot of respect for those guys, the past of this franchise, and the people that have been here,” Bruins coach Claude Julien said before cracking a joke at Bucyk’s expense. “It was Johnny Bucyk’s jacket and he gave it because he didn’t fit in it anymore. Otherwise we would have had to buy it, right? He’s been real good to us and he felt that this is a great opportunity for him to continue to be part of our group which he is and donate something that the players are finding real important right now.
“It’s an homage to those guys that have been here and done so well. I think our players have a lot of respect for those guys and want to continue that tradition. So they’re going to wear that jacket proudly.”
The Bruins passed around an Army Rangers jacket during their Stanley Cup Final run last season, a chain during the 2012 postseason and an old-school Bruins jacket back during the Stanley Cup season of 2011.
See the jacket in the photo below.
