WILMINGTON – The Boston Bruins last had a dad’s trip during Peter Chiarelli’s first year running the Bruins when Dave Lewis was the head coach, but had never done one in the first eight years with Claude Julien behind the B’s bench. But that’s all changing this weekend after the Bruins players’ fathers arrived for Wednesday night’s win over the Penguins, attended practice on Thursday while crowding around the glass at Ristuccia Arena and are now traveling with the team for Friday night’s road game against the Carolina Hurricanes.
It’s something the Bruins players were understandably excited about, and ready to show their dads up close and personal what it’s like to be an NHL player.
“It’ll be fun for me…especially because he’s been a big part of my hockey career, and probably the biggest influence in my life. To take him on the road and show him what it’s like will be a treat for him,” said Torey Krug of his dad, Kyle. “I speak to him, I call him, after every game at home and on the road, so it will be nice to not have to pick up the phone this time.
“It’s great because you learn more about your teammates this way. We’ll probably go to dinner tonight with the dads, and just enjoy the time. You always want to impress your father, so I think it will be another opportunity to play a strong game. Hopefully we’ll get four points with the fathers here, and we’ll just have to keep bringing them back.”
The Krugs are a Detroit-area family just eats, breathes and lives hockey, and the elder Krug has coached over 30 NHL players in his lifetime. So father and son might be a closer to the NHL experience than most, and the same goes for Jimmy Hayes and his dad, Kevin, who did the same father/son trip with son Kevin and the New York Rangers last season.
Whether it was Krug or Hayes, or even Tuukka Rask’s dad coming all the way over from Finland, it’s something the Bruins would be wise to turn into some kind of an annual event.
“We had talked about it last year with Peter [Chiarelli] and I guess this year (general manager Don Sweeney) put it together, so I have no issues with that kind of stuff. It's always great to give the parents an opportunity to see the good work they've done with their kids, or some of the deficiencies they still need to work on,” said Julien, while cracking a big smile. “It just makes for a fun situation. There's no doubt players get motivated for that so hopefully that's the motivation we need tomorrow [when] we need to win a big hockey game.”
The Bruins fathers/sons are off to a good start after netting two points against the Penguins on Wednesday, and now just need to finish off strong with another big win in Carolina on Friday.