Phil Esposito played center for the Boston Bruins from 1967 to 1975. He played along side Ken Hodge, who was RW and Wayne Cashman, who was LW. The three players created a very powerful forward line. In fact, it was one of the most renowned lines in NHL history.

Phil Esposito began his professional hockey career with the Chicago Blackhawks in 1963 and was traded to the Boston Bruins in 1967, where he spent most of his professional hockey career and was then traded to the New York Rangers in 1975, where he played the remainder of his years as a professional hockey player, until he retired in 1981.

Esposito was well known for his powerful scoring abilities. He was able to score from any angle. Esposito was quoted as saying, “Scoring is easy. You simply stand in the slot, take your beating and shoot the puck in the net.” Esposito was the greatest goal scorer of his day. He was the first NHL player to score 100 points in a season. The saying back then, in regards to Esposito’s tenacious attitude and ability to score was, “Jesus saves, Espo scores on the Rebound.”

Esposito had a lot of practice before he started his professional career with the NHL. Not only did he play in the minor league, he practiced shooting the puck and scoring goals with his younger brother, Tony Esposito, who played goaltender for both the Montreal Canadiens and the Chicago Blackhawks, which is the team he is most known for.

Phil Esposito along with Bobby Orr, would go on to form one of the most powerfully dynamic scoring duos in NHL history. They were unstoppable.  Together, they led the Bruins in winning the Stanley Cup in both 1970 and 1972.

During his professional career in the NHL, Esposito won several awards for his top notch goal scoring.  He won the Art Ross Trophy in 1969, 1971, 1972, 1973, and 1974. He won the Hart Trophy in 1969 and 1974. He was the winner of the Lester B. Pearson award in 1971 and 1974 and he won the Lou Marsh Trophy in 1972. Esposito was also the NHL Goal Leader in 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974 and 1975. Phil Esposito is also the first NHL player to score 1,000 points in a decade.

Phil Esposito retired as a professional hockey player in 1981. After his retirement, he served as a GM and coach to the New York Rangers, for 3 years. He was one of the founders and became the GM to Tampa Bay Lightning, from 1992-1998. At the end of his professional hockey career, Esposito played 1282 games, with 717 goals, 873 assists and 1590 points. Phil Esposito was inducted into the Hall of fame in 1984.

Phil Esposito’s #7 jersey was retired with the Boston Bruins on December 3, 1987. The retirement of Esposito’s jersey, was a very emotional ceremony, as Boston Bruins’ Ray Bourque, who was wearing the #7 jersey at the time, removed the #7 jersey to reveal his new jersey #77, so that Esposito’s jersey could be retired. Esposito was quoted as saying, “I don’t care about being inducted into the Hall of Fame, to tell you the truth. My biggest thrill was having my number retired at Boston Garden. To me is where it’s at.”

Shannon Navarro

I’m a Bruinsfanatic from California

Information for the above article, can be found in the links below:

Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Esposito

Greatest Hockey Legends.com

http://bruinslegends.blogspot.com/2006/05/phil-esposito.html

When then, 19 year old Milan Lucic came on to the scene and started playing as a LW for the Boston Bruins in 2007, he brought something to the TD Garden with him. He brought back the ‘Old Time Bruin’ or “Big Bad Bruins” style of play, which had been lacking in the Boston Bruins for quite a few years. There was a lot of talk about Lucic being “the next Cam Neely”. Personally, I see more of a ‘Terry O’Reilly style of play’, when it comes to Lucic. Either way, it’s a good thing. How often does a player get compared to a Legend? Milan Lucic has a relentless, unpredictable, powerful type of play style. He isn’t the best skater or goal scorer, but he can run down any opponent that is standing in the way. He’s not afraid to throw off the gloves when need be, and he is absolutely protective over his teammates. He can be a downright brutal force to be reckoned with. I would hate to be on an opposing team, facing Milan Lucic.

The very first time I saw Lucic on the ice, the first thing that popped into my mind was, “that kid is totally the ‘real life version’ of Happy Gilmore”. He has this energy about him, a powerful energy. You can almost feel it through the television screen while watching a game.  He’s unpredictable and relentless. He’s raw emotion on the ice. He’s passionate and very tough. With his unpredictability, he keeps his opponents on their toes, never knowing what to expect from him. Lucic brought some life back to the Bruins and he quickly became my favorite player and a favorite to many others, as well. While there are quite a few good players on the team, Lucic is one, that if he were to miss a game, it would definitely not go un-noticed.

Milan Lucic grew up in Vancouver, BC, Canada, being a fan of the Vancouver Canucks and idiolizing Todd Bertuzzi, who was a power forward for the Canucks. Lucic played minor league and junior league hockey during his youth.

Milan Lucic signed an entry-level contract to play with the Boston Bruins on August 2, 2007. Lucic started his professional hockey career with such intensity, that it didn’t take long for the Boston Bruins or the Bruins’ fans, to see that Lucic was not only beneficial, but essential in bringing back the “Big Bad Bruins” ambiance to the team and TD Garden.

Being a huge Lucic fan myself, it’s upsetting to see how quickly some so-called ‘Lucic fans’, lose their faith and jump onto the ‘get rid of Looch’ bandwagon. Yeah, he’s had a few bad games. What player hasn’t? He’s played through illnesses, some painful injuries….. in fact, he pushes himself hard to play through the injuries. Milan Lucic has been quoted as saying, in regards to his injuries and playing during the 2011 Stanley Cup Championship, “I think if you broke my leg I still would have tried to do it and get out there.” He’s not one that will give up easily and works hard to make his team proud. One of the things that I really admire about Lucic, is that he is always looking to improve himself and his skills. If us fans, and the NHL were to give up on a player, every single time they had a bad game, players like Cam Neely and Terry O’Reilly, never would have reached ‘Legendary Status’. Think about it. Terry O’Reilly wasn’t the best skater or goal scorer and look how far he advanced. Could you imagine if the fans or the NHL, were to give up on him before he was able to progress? If the Canucks wouldn’t have traded Neely to the Bruins, we may have never got to see his full potential, we would have never seen “Bam-Bam Cam” in action.  At least not on our side of the ice. Don’t be so quick to judge, people. That’s all I’m saying.

Burly, intimidating Milan Lucic also has a very ‘soft’ side to him, as well. Lucic has hosted the “Rock and Jock Softball” charity event for 3 years because he likes giving back to the community, and in his free-time, Lucic also visits local schools to spread encouragement to our youth. He’s a very caring person. Lucic married his longtime girlfriend, Brittany Carnegie, this past summer and the couple are expecting their first bundle of joy, within the next few months.

Milan Lucic signed a 3 year contract extension with the Boston Bruins, on 9/15/2012 and he absolutely deserves it. The Bruins aren’t stupid. There is no way the Boston Bruins are going to let Lucic go, anytime soon and personally, I am very happy about that. The games wouldn’t be half as exciting without Lucic. Milan Lucic is now and will forever be a Boston Bruin, in my eyes.

Shannon Navarro

I’m a Bruinsfanatic from California

Information in the above article was obtained from the below sites

Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milan_Lucic

Bettor.com

http://blogs.bettor.com/Boston-Bruins-forward-Milan-Lucic-played-through-the-Stanley-Cup-Finals-with-a-broken-Toe-NHL-Updates-a76693

Rock and Jock Softball

http://www.rockandjocksoftball.org/about

While I was growing up, I heard a lot of stories about the Boston Bruins and the Bruins’ Legendary Players, from my Father. In fact, that is why I, myself, am a huge Boston Bruins fan, even though I was born and raised in California.  My Father mostly talked about the Legendary Bobby Orr, however, there is another player that he mentioned more than a few times and that player is Terry O’Reilly. My Pop’s eyes lit up, every single time he told the story about the game where O’Reilly scaled the boards to get to a Rangers’ fan, who was messing with one of O’Reilly’s fellow teammates, but I will get more into that story a little later. Terry O’Reilly and I, have something in common. We are both huge fans of Milan Lucic. It’s funny because, I have always associated Milan Lucic with the character “Happy Gilmore” (played by Adam Sandler) in the movie “Happy Gilmore”.  The very first time I saw Lucic on the ice, I thought to myself…..”That kid is totally the ‘real life version’ of Happy Gilmore”. What’s funny about it to me is,  in the movie, Happy Gilmore admires and aspires to play like Terry O’Reilly. Mind you, I’m not saying that Lucic plays just like O’Reilly. There will never be another O’Reilly and Lucic has his own playing style but I do see some similarities between the two. Similarities that attract me as a fan.

Terry O’Reilly played RW for the Boston Bruins from 1971-1985. O’Reilly brought ‘pain’ to the game. Well, pain for the other team, that is. He was one of the most effective enforcers in NHL History. Terry O’Reilly was like a ‘train’ on skates and I use the term ‘train’, because he’d come at his opponents full speed. He’d crash into them with fists swinging. O’Reilly was one of the most feared players on the ice. His teammate Phil Esposito, gave him the nickname “Taz” (short for Tazmanian Devil), because of his non-stop, come at you, reckless, never give up, relentless,’ beat the opponent down’ type of playing. O’Reilly was also very protective over his teammates. You simply did not mess with any of his teammates. O’Reilly earned the nickname “Bloody O’Reilly”, when he racked up 200 penalty minutes, within 5 consecutive seasons. After all was said and done, he had a total of 2,095 penalty minutes at the end of his professional hockey career.

O’Reilly wasn’t one of the best skaters, but he was faithful and played the hardest he could in every single game he played. He wasn’t too bad at scoring goals, either. Not the best, but definitely not the worst. During practices, Terry O’Reilly was always the first to skate onto the ice and the last to skate off of the ice. He really gave the game and team, his all. His coach at the time, Don Cherry was quoted as saying, “Terry typifies our team. He’s tough, really tough, and that’s the way I like ‘em.” Terry O’Reilly would do anything he could do, to win. O’Reilly was a “True Bruin”, “The Ultimate Bruin”, according to many. If a Bruins’ player gets called a “True Bruin” in today’s day, they take it as a huge compliment and it’s because of Terry O’Reilly.

On December 23, 1979, the Bruins had just beat the New York Rangers 4-3, at Madison Square Garden and as the Bruins fans cheered and Rangers fans booed and complained, Terry O’Reilly scaled the boards in active pursuit of an ‘unruly’ Rangers’ fan. Most of O’Reilly’s teammates followed along after him. According to my Father, it was a sight to see. Honestly, I would give anything to be able to travel back in time to witness it. The story is, this rumble started when Boston Bruins’ Left Winger, Al Secord sucker punched New York Rangers’ Ulf Nilsson, as soon as the buzzer sounded. Al Secord was quoted as saying, “I remember the sucker punch he gave me earlier in the game, so I thought, eye for an eye, and I suckered him.”

As all of this went down, there were a lot of words exchanged back and forth between the players of both teams. In the midst of all of the madness, John Kaptain, a Rangers’ fan hit Boston Bruins’ enforcer Stan Jonathan with a rolled up program, which caused some bleeding under Jonathan’s eye. Stan Jonathan recalled, “He just reached over the glass and whacked me with it. I put up my stick to protect myself, and he just took it, and I can’t be hitting no fan with a stick, really, eh so I just let him take it.”  According to Kaptain, his brother got hit by one of the Bruins (his reasoning for hitting Stan Jonathan), although he wasn’t exactly sure which player the ‘hit’ came from.

O’Reilly, being very protective over his teammates, scaled the boards to go after the person who ‘attacked’ his fellow teammate. Terry O’Reilly was quoted as saying, “There was no way he was going to strike one of my teammates and steal his stick, wield it like a weapon and then disappear into the crowd and go to a local bar with a souvenir and a great story.”

O’Reilly was suspended for 8 games. Fellow teammates Peter McNab and Mike Milbury were suspended for 6 games and all 3 were fined $500.00 each. The rest of the Bruins who participated in the brawl, were fined up to $500.00 each. The Kaptain family filed a lawsuit but didn’t follow through with it, from what I understand. Reflecting back on the incident, O’Reilly was quoted as saying, “Under the same circumstances, I don’t think I’d go through a process of sorting through the rules and regulations and legal consequences. I think I’d jump over the glass and grab the guy again.”     

O’Reilly was captain of the team from 1983 until he retired as a professional hockey player in 1985. At the end of his career with the NHL, he had a total of 204 goals, 402 assists for 606 points with a +212 plus/minus and 2,095 penalty minutes. He came back to coach the Bruins, but ultimately quit after the 1988-1989 season, to be with his son who was sick.

Terry O’Reilly’s #24 Jersey was retired with the Boston Bruins on 10/24/2002. O’Reilly was quoted as saying, “I gave everything I had to the Boston Bruins Organization. This will always be my home.”

I love the attitude that O’Reilly had. He just kept pushing himself, despite not being the best skater or the best goal scorer. He worked with the playing skills that he had. No matter what, when he got on the ice he fought hard to win. Without a doubt, the “Ultimate Bruin”.

Shannon Navarro

I am a Bruinsfanatic from California

Information for the above article, found on the below sites

Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_O’Reilly

The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/23/sports/hockey/23brawl.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

The Hockey News

http://www.thehockeynews.com/articles/48396-Terry-OReilly.html

Greatest Hockey Legends.com

http://bruinslegends.blogspot.com/2006/05/terry-oreilly.html