Bruins’ Jeremy Swayman Reveals Origin Of Goalie Hug With Linus Ullmark

Jeremy Swayman is known as one-half of the Boston Bruins goalie tandem, but what you may not know is he is the instigator of the goalie hug.

The Alaskan native joined Dan and Chris Powers on their “Empty Netters” podcast to discuss how the goalie hug came to be in Beantown.

“I’ve actually been hugging goalies since college,” Swayman told the brothers. “Not too many people know that, but I just love the boys, and the goalie-to-goalie relationship is pretty unique because there’s only one net and it’s really something we compete for, right? And sometimes guys aren’t going to get along so I just took it as an opportunity to make each other better.”

The Bruins netminder didn’t hesitate initiating the hug when he he met his parter, Linus Ullmark.

“It was an instant connection,” Swayman said. “I knew that he was going to be an awesome dude and just a great competitor and a partner to be with, the hug was so natural. We were doing it in training camp just out of nowhere. To see what it is today is nothing like we could have imagined and it’s been pretty special to see how the fan base and the hockey community as a whole has taken to it.”

Swayman explained he doesn’t really have a specific style like butterfly or stand-up, but he grew up watching goalies like Carey Price, Ben Bishop, Pekka Rinne and former Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask.

“I’m a visual learner so watching them, I just wanted to model my game after them,” Swayman explained.”To this day, I don’t label myself as a cookie cutter goaltender. I just do whatever I have to do to stop the puck and that’s when I have the most fun because I just blackout and just have a blast gettign in front of that little (puck). It’s awesome.”

The Bruins will enter training camp on Sept. 20 with a litte bit of different look in the lineup, but with both Swayman and Ullmark returning in net, Bruins nation can expect more goalie hugs throughout the centennial season.