The question was just one of the dozens we asked in our preseason interview sessions with the team, designed to reveal the personal sides of the players who are masked behind helmets, padding and hockey identities. We pre-tested the questions on some of our NESN colleagues, and from then, we knew it would bring out some humorous responses.
“Why would I want to be invisible?” asked returning Bruins defenseman Dennis Wideman, utterly perplexed as to why this could fall into the category of desirable superhero powers.
“Because maybe you want to sneak around, I don’t know,” I responded as our timekeeper signaled for our interview session to end. “Just pick one, like teleporting.”
Wideman’s eyes suddenly lit up as though this was actually a dream thought possible.
“Oh, that’s a good one,” he said with his thick Ontario accent, more evident after a summer at home in Canada.
But the questions also brought about some interesting and insightful trips down memory lane, as we asked the players about their first hockey sticks, their experiences playing outdoors as children and the coldest rinks they’ve ever played in.
“Wilmington is pretty cold,” responded both Milan Lucic and Marc Savard, laughing while thinking about the practices endured on winter mornings at Ristuccia.
Marco Sturm spoke of a rink in Germany, and Derek Morris described a rink in Alberta, while Tim Thomas remembered a rink in Finland near the Arctic Circle. Stories about rinks from peewee days and crying in the car ride home from frozen toes also came out in abundance.
Answers about their first hockey sticks ran the gamut from Titans to the Easton Gretzky aluminum shaft stick, with an occasional Montreal wood or, for Michael Ryder, homemade ones put together by his father. In spite of the silliness surrounding some of the other questions, the players certainly had fun with their answers, all of which we will show on NESN as the season rolls along.
Amidst the competition that has immediately begun for coveted and limited open roster spots, and the rush to prepare for preseason game action just three days into camp, there is an air of contentment.
Hockey season has begun, and so has the Bruins’ quest to complete the unfinished business from their second-round playoff exit. While the climb to the next postseason opportunity will undoubtedly be a long and arduous road, there is at least time right now to pause and appreciate the return of their teammates and a return to the sports-adoring city of Boston.
“Being able to see through things,” responded Tim Thomas to the superhero-powers question. “Because then I wouldn't have to worry about screens.”
Two and a half weeks to go until opening day.
