From the looks of it, the Boston Bruins have a very tight locker room.
It started with a trip to China in the preseason and carried on throughout the regular season.
While it’s hard to measure team chemistry, it certainly has been noticeable that the Bruins — who marched to a 49-24-9 record and the No. 2 seed in the Atlantic Division — are a close group. It’s also been easy to tell how close the team is off the ice, and there is no better example of that than Brad Marchand and Torey Krug.
The duo has engaged in a social media battle for the ages throughout the season, trading blows on Twitter and Instagram, parodying videos and using teammates like David Pastrnak and Patrice Bergeron to help poke fun at one another.
Things ramped up a bit over the last week, with Marchand dubbing Krug as a munchkin from ‘Wizard of Oz’ and Krug answering back by depicting Marchand as “Mini-Me” from ‘Austin Powers.’
Their Bruins teammates often chime in in the comments, and it appears they have another fan in Bruce Cassidy.
The Bruins’ bench boss told The Boston Globe’s Kevin Paul Dupont that he thinks the back and forth is “hilarious.”
“Listen, I’m not even on (social media), so I am the last one to find out,” Cassidy said. “I have to watch NESN or the NHL Network to get it. I think it’s been hilarious. Good stuff. … I like to see it come out. As long as it doesn’t cross the line.”
It seems that in his two seasons behind Boston’s bench, Cassidy has encouraged players to let their personalities out when they can.
“They’ve kept it light but funny. And good for them,” Cassidy added. “They are personalities and we are in an entertainment industry. So I think fans do like to see the other side, other than just robotic hockey players. Some have it naturally. Some are more guarded. I’ll never change a guy that’s more guarded, if he doesn’t want to be out there. But I don’t want to discourage a guy that has a little personality, too. Especially if they’ve been in this market a while, which Marchy and Krug both have. Then have at it.”
So with the approval of their head coach, here’s to hoping there are plenty more chapters to the Marchand-Kurg social media war ahead.
