Trent Frederic Thinks Maple Leafs ‘Missed Out’ For Skipping Bruins Pregame Ceremony

The Boston Bruins continued their centennial celebration Thursday, welcoming back members of the 2011 Stanley Cup team as part of the organization’s final “Era Night.”

Tim Thomas, Tuukka Rask, Patrice Bergeron and Zdeno Chara among some of their other former teammates emerged from a duck boat and received a strong ovation from those in attendance during a pregame ceremony at TD Garden.

It was a cool moment for the Bruins, but not one the Maple Leafs wanted to witness. Toronto decided not to watch the ceremony from the visiting bench and instead stayed in the dressing room.

Boston clearly got a spark from the franchise’s last championship squad being in the building and Bruins forward Trent Frederic seemed irked that the Maple Leafs didn’t take in the ceremony when he did an interview with TSN between periods.

But Frederic clarified his comments after Boston’s 4-1 win and said he didn’t mean any disrespect toward the Maple Leafs.

“That’s not really what I was trying to say,” Frederic told reporters. “I talked to (TSN’s) Mark (Masters) after and I was like, ‘Oh, that might have came off wrong.’ But I was just saying that they missed out on a good ceremony that we got to watch, and I think that gave us a lot of energy.

“I mean, the Cup was in the building. It’s pretty cool to see. It gives you chills when you see (Chara) lift it up. I was just saying that I think they missed out. It was a cool thing to watch and kind of the history of hockey even though it wasn’t that long ago.”

The Bruins’ play resembled that of the 2011 Stanley Cup team. Boston brought the physicality to the Maple Leafs and got into several scrums throughout the game.

Frederic didn’t back down from any challenge, picking up two penalties in the game, including receiving a matching roughing infraction with Jake McCabe with less than two minutes remaining.

He also scored an unassisted goal 4:16 into the second period to give the Bruins a 2-0 lead. It was his 17th tally of the season, which tied his career-high.