Bruins’ Milan Lucic Makes Case For Athletes To Join Boston Teams

For Milan Lucic, the decision to return to the Bruins was an easy one to make given how much he loved playing in the City of Boston.

During Tuesday's episode of the "Spittin' Chiclets" podcast, Lucic tried to capture what it means to be an athlete in the Boston sports scene.

"For me, being an athlete in Boston, there's just something different about it," Lucic said. "Especially the time I was there and going back to. You gotta remember, I showed up in '07, and the Red Sox beat the Rockies and they win a World Series, the Patriots go 16-0, the Celtics get the big three and win the championship right away ... and we're kind of catching up, getting caught up to those teams winning championships."

Being a part of the Bruins for the first eight years of his career was special for Lucic, not just because he was playing in the National Hockey League, but also in front of the fans in Boston.

"There's just something, I don't even know how to explain it. You know when you think of as a kid what it's going to be like to play in the show -- whichever show you want to call it -- when you get to do it in a place like Boston, it definitely feels like 'the show,'" Lucic explained. "The way the fans embrace it, the way the fans care about it. … People in Boston care about their professional sports more than anything, too.

"I think there's a lot of these American cities where there's college sports that are bigger than their pro sports … the way they cheer for their pro teams and get behind them, even the way they're all over you if you're not playing well, it's just something different."

When Bruins general manager Don Sweeney called to discuss Lucic rejoining the team, the 35-year-old forward jumped at the chance to suit up for the historic franchise in its centennial season.

"For me, there was always a connection with the fans, there was always a connection with the city, and for me to go back to that, it's pretty awesome," Lucic said. "I get a little bit of goosebumps thinking about it."