WickedBruinsFan's Blog

The "meeting" started with an intro video of highlights, followed by another video of goals from the playoffs that made you relive the excitement of Game 6 all over again.

Andy Brickley moderated the panel and asked some basic questions to get the ball rolling. There was some talk about an outdoor game taking place in Boston and Jeremy Jacobs explained how the league takes the game over and is in charge of it.

Brickley stressed that the meeting was informal and fans could ask any question.

The first question of the night involved defenseman Andrew Alberts. To answer any questions, no I did not ask it. And no, I did not pay anybody to ask it despite some whisperings that I did.

The majority of the questions centered around the team, surprise, and certain aspects of it. The toughness factor was one, and how they came about to sign Stephane Yelle and Michael Ryder. Not being able to sign Glen Metropolit was also addressed and Chiarelli confirmed there was a contract offered to Metropolit that he didn't accept. Another key question was about players who could possibly come up from Providence and make some key impacts. Among those named were Matt Lashoff, Martins Karsums and Matt Hunwick.

Another key question was about the programs and roster sheets that are included. The woman asked why do we have to pay the full price for the program if we only want the roster sheet. It brought up a good point that nobody really came to addressing. In AHL arenas, the roster printout is usually a dollar or free. When I went to the Bruins game in Los Angeles, the rosters were handed out at the gates on the backside of a player picture. I think that would be a great idea for Boston to look into. Unless they want fans purchasing countless numbers of programs that end up on the floor of the arena or stacked away in a closet.

The most important question and answer of the night came from a fan who asked about the one beer limit during Montreal games. Obviously one beer at a time isn't enough to get through a Montreal game. Nobody took initiative with the answer until Neely spoke up. Neely said that the Canadiens fans would get no beer and Bruins fans would get all of the extra beer. Now that's an improvement I am definitely for.

There were less serious questions as well. One regarded a season ticket holder lounge with discounted concession prices. That isn't a bad idea, but that kind of shuts other types of fans out. I don't think that would be very fair.

One kid wanted to know how big Chara was. Chara responded, "Really big."

Another kid wanted to know what Ward ate before games. Ward explained that the Bruins organization is great at having breakfast items available in the morning, as well as lunch. But he confessed that he sneaks out to have the chicken piccata at the Cheesecake Factory.

The last kid question came from a girl and she stumped the entire panel. She asked when they thought they would draft a female hockey player. Nobody on the panel answered and all we heard were crickets. A fan did take the initiative and shouted, "Kovalev is already in the league!"

The most concerning news of the evening came when Chara said his shoulder wasn't 100% yet. He hopes to be 100% by the start of the season.

The final treat of the evening came when the panel (I forget who, maybe Brickley?) announced the Bruins were going to unveil their third jersey. The Bruins plan on wearing the third jersey for about 17 games this season. They even had a model to show it to the season ticket holders.

Behold, Milan Lucic... who added in a twirl as the crowd chanted, "Looooch." He replied, "I love you too."

All photographs used with permission.