BOSTON — Bruins coach Claude Julien may have been born in Canada, but he’s made himself a Bostonian in the almost decade he’s spent as Bruins coach. Like almost every Bostonian, he’s also adopted the local sports teams as his own.
Julien was a regular old Boston sports fan Sunday in one of the greatest sports days in the historic town’s recent history. The Bruins head coach was lucky enough to be in attendance Sunday night for Game 2 of the American League Championship Series. That means he was there to see the Red Sox’ incredible comeback, which was highlighted by David Ortiz‘s game-tying grand slam and Jarrod Salatalamacchia‘s walk-off single.
Before getting to Fenway, though, Julien had his eyes and ears on the Patriots’ game. He listened to the New England game — which featured a last-second comeback win orchestrated by Tom Brady — on his way to the ballpark. All in all, not a bad day for a Boston sports fan.
“It was pretty neat,” Julien said before his team’s Monday matinee with the Detroit Red Wings. “What a day for Boston fans, right? When you look at the Patriots game ending which I heard on my way to the Sox game, to witness that comeback last night was pretty awesome.”
Julien is no stranger to historic comebacks. Just five months ago, his Bruins were on the brink of elimination, down three goals in the third period of Game 7 in their series with Toronto. The B’s scored three goals in the third before Patrice Bergeron won it in overtime, as Boston advanced to the second round.
“I like to think that maybe we started against Toronto. I didn’t want to feel left out.”
Julien was right in the middle of things Sunday, and he’s now one of the almost 40,000 fans lucky enough to say they saw the jaw-dropping comeback by a Red Sox team that looked all but dead.
“It was nice to see them come back yesterday,” he said. “To witness it right in the middle of the crowd, my high fives were going just like everybody else. Otherwise I would have been beaten up I guess. It was nice. It was a good win and what a day for the fans of Boston to see a comeback like that for the Patriots and shortly after you see the Red Sox do the same thing.
“I guess you’re proud to be a Bostonian.”
