Boston Bruins UNTOLD HISTORY – Mike Commito talks MUST READ ‘Bruins365’

Boston Bruins UNTOLD HISTORY – Mike Commito talks MUST READ ‘Bruins365’

There is a must-read Boston Bruins book coming out this October and today we’re discussing it with the author Mike Kamito. You’re Locked on Bruins, your daily podcast on the Boston Bruins, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. What is up, Bruins fans, and welcome back to the Locked On Boston Bruins podcast. I’m your host, Ian McLaren, and this is a daily show where we discuss all things spoke to B. Today is Friday, August 15th. Thank you so much for making Locked On Boston Bruins your first listen every day. It’s part of the Locked On podcast network your team every day. And today’s episode is brought to you by Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, and use code locked on NHL for $20 off your first purchase. On the show today, I’m very excited to have a special guest. He is a hockey historian, a huge hockey fan, and he’s the author of Bruins 365, a new Bruins history book that is coming out this October. Mike has previously written similar books on the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Montreal Canadians, and it is already getting some pretty heavy endorsements, including from Andy Brickley, Boston Bruins color analyst, who said, “I thought I knew it all, but Bruins 365 still surprised me. It’s packed with stories, some legendary, and some unexpected. So, we are going to discuss this with Mike, his process, how he came up with some of these stories, how he got into hockey and hockey history. And I’m very excited to get into this chat. Before we do, quick reminder, you can find the podcast on social media, locked NHL Bruins. That’s on XB Blue Sky, Instagram, Threads, Tik Tok, and you can find me, my hockey thoughts and dad jokes, Ian C McLaren. I’m a lifelong Boston Bruins fan. been covering this team for various outlets for 20 years. Fully expect to learn a lot from Mike’s book and very excited to get into our chat. So, let’s do it. All right. I’m so pleased today to be joined by Mike Camo, a guy that I’ve been following on social media for a long time. He is a wealth of hockey history information. He’s got a PhD from McMaster University, the author of Leafs 365, Canadians 365, and he is the author of the upcoming Bruins 365, which I’m very excited to to check out. I mentioned Andy Brickley, his comments about it off the top. Uh Jeff Merrick, favorite of everybody’s said, “Just when you think you know everything about your favorite hockey team, along comes Mike Kamo to open your eyes.” Uh so I’m really pumped to talk to Mike today, get into the book. Welcome to the Locked On Boston Ruins, Mike. How how you doing on this Friday morning? Doing well, Ian. Thanks so much for having me on. Really appreciate it. You’re coming uh at us from Sudbury, Ontario, I believe, this morning. I am. Yes. recovering from a golf tournament yesterday afternoon and evening. So, yeah. All right. Well, we’ll feeling good though. Feeling good. Uh, so I always love to ask people when they come on the podcast and I’m very interested in your response kind of your hockey origin story, kind of digging into your personal history and then uh maybe we’ll touch on how you got into the hockey history game as well, but what’s kind of your origin story with with the game itself? Yeah. So, I uh I think like a lot of Canadian kids, like just grew up playing a lot of street hockey, road hockey, whatever you want to call it, from wherever you’re from. Um I didn’t play hockey at an organized level, but I loved uh we often had a backyard rink or we had a neighborhood rink where we’d go and just play on the ice. Uh and that was really as far as like I got in in hockey. I mean, I was always a huge fan. You know, I grew up in the I was born 85. So, for me as a Leafs fan, had some good moments in the early 90s, obviously in the in the runs they made to the conference finals in, you know, in 93 and ’94. Um, but uh but also was a big hockey card collector as well. And so I think from there that kind of ties into the hockey history piece because I love those cards because I loved learning, you know, about the players, where they came from, what their stories were. Uh I even remember like there was I forget which set it was but they had the pictures of the trophies and just the origin story about like why the heart is named the heart and you know the you know all the like about the Norris and things like that right so even things like something as a picture of the trophy was like I still have those cards somewhere in my house somewhere because that’s I think I was drawn into the history of it and then you know as I got older um you know I still followed hockey um but obviously never thought that I would actually get into hockey history despite the fact that you know I went to grad school to get a PhD in history. Uh it was in a very different subject matter. I was you know doing environmental history. So I talk about in the book that when I was doing my PhD it was about the history of black bear hunting and management. So there’s many threads in my life where I could have should have been a Bruins fan because I had so much bear stuff in my life. Right. But by that point I was already well along the path of being a Leafs fan. Uh and then you know the hockey history stuff just kind of came around as like a creative outlet while I was doing grad school. Right. Like I was doing my dissertation, I was going to class and it’s like you’re reading a lot, researching a lot, but like I wanted something fun to do. And this was right around when blogging, you know, was was I think in its prime, in its heyday. And so I started my own blog and then kind of got opportunities with different sites just to try to, you know, get some get some credibility under me and and write some different things. It was often this weird Frankenstein where I would blend Canadian history with hockey. Um, eventually, you know, that did that for a little while and did that for a for a great site called The Royal Half where I was getting paid in t-shirts, blending, uh, California history with, you know, trying to do Pacific Division previews and then eventually just kind of got into the hockey history lane. Uh, and that’s that’s how it all really started. Very cool. And then transitioning from kind of blogging and stuff like that, big social media presence to um, beginning this 365 series. How did that all come about? Yeah. So, it was um at the time when I think when the germ of the idea for the 365 series came about, I was uh I was actually under contract to write a book for the University of British Columbia Press, which is going to be um uh my dissertation, but I was going to add on to it and that was going to be the manuscript. And for the life of me, I couldn’t get into it. Like, I would come home from work and, you know, I’d already spent five years working on my dissertation. So the idea that I would spend another like year or two basically editing this again or changing it and then have to go through peer review I I just I had my heart was not in it. And then we were on vacation in Mexico and I was reading uh Val James’s autobiography and I was reading a lot of hockey books at the time because I was you know starting to build my my presence on on Twitter and starting to do more blogging and more paid opportunities. I’m like maybe what I’m doing on Twitter like that could be a book idea. Like I share these daily facts. they seem to be, you know, wellreceived. Maybe if I enhance those and beef them up a little bit, like that could be a format for a book. And so on the way home from Mexico, I sketched out an outline on, you know, on the on the back of a napkin maybe. And then when I got home, put the wheels in motion and and that’s really how the hockey 365, that first book began. And then from there, you we did a second volume. And then uh after that kind of there was a thought of doing a third just because like I we’ve titled them the first and second period. So at some point I’ll have to complete regulation. Uh but haven’t done that yet. We kind of gravitated and moved towards team specific books beginning in 2023 as you mentioned with the Leafs and you know now here we are with uh with Bruins 365. Yeah. I want to we’ll get to the Bruins here in a moment but I I love the idea for these books. It reminds me of uh I don’t mean any disrespect by this comparison, but the old bathroom readers that we used to have. Uh I remember going to my aunt and uncle’s house and they had like a stack of them and I’d take way too long in the bathroom reading through those and uh yeah, it’s kind of a you know, everybody’s flipping through their phones and all that. It’s kind of a nice throwback to those those kind of books where you Yeah. learn something kind of in that uh it doesn’t take long to get through a chunk, couple minutes, we can learn something pretty nice. So, I’m excited to to check it out for sure. We’re going to get into the Bruins uh Bruins history, some Sudbury facts, uh and we’ll touch on that here as this conversation with Mike continues. We’ve all been there, right? logging on early and waiting forever for concert tickets to go on sale only to lose your spot for a show you’ve been dying to see. Live music should be about making memories, not dealing with the stress of ticket shopping. And that’s where Game Time comes in. Game time makes getting concert tickets faster and easier than ever. Prices actually drop as it gets closer to Showtime, and you can save up to 60% off with their killer lastminute deals. My favorite part of the app is the panoramic seat view, so you know exactly what to expect when you arrive at the venue. And if you’re worried about what happens if your plans change, well, the Game Time Guarantee has your back with cancellation, protection, and more. Take the guesswork out of buying concert and show tickets with Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, and use code locked on NHL for $20 off your first purchase. Again, terms apply, but create an account. Redeem code locked on NHL for $20 off. Download the Game Time app today. Last minute tickets at the lowest price guaranteed. Well, thanks so much again for making Lockdown Bruins part of your daily routine. Not quite 365, but we’re uh you know, daily as it gets and very excited to continue our chat here with with Mike. interested to see how you landed on the Bruins for the next one. Is it a matter of kind of we’re going through the original six here? Is that the plan? Is there all 32 coming? Uh what’s uh what was the plan with with focusing in on the Bruins specifically? Yeah. So, um, we with starting with the team specific books like Leaps 365 obviously made sense for me because I’m a Leafs fan and then I think the publisher had the idea that let’s, you know, let’s really focus first on the original six just because there’s most history available for those franchises. And so I picked the Habs next just I think to stay within the Canadian realm. And then when it came time to do the third book, um, and this will hopefully be music to the ears of your listeners, that the publisher wanted me to do a Wings 365, they thought that would be the the place we should go to next, just again in proximity with uh with the border and uh in some of the the the book sellers and vendors they deal with. But I said, you know, I like the Red Wings. I think there’s a lot of great history there as well. Uh, but I’m like, I want to do Bruins first. Uh, and there was a number of reasons for that. And in the intro, I think I alluded to this to you as well that in another life I I could have been a Bruins fan, right? Um but I think also just the fact that, you know, I I think I have an understanding, maybe a tormented understanding of the franchise being a Leafs fan during like 2013, you know, 2017, 2018, 2023. Um I’m intimately familiar with the franchise in, you know, perverse way. And then, um in Sbury, we’ve had a lot of great, you know, players come through from our town that have joined the Bruins. So, I’ve always kind of had, you know, that uh, you know, the Bruins in the back of my mind. So, to be honest, for me, it was like kind of a no-brainer that if we’re going to go outside of the Canadian teams and and keep this, uh, the series going, the next logical team for me was was Bruins 365. Uh, without question. Yeah, very nice. I I didn’t realize there were as many kind of Bruins ties to Sbury until recently when Nick Felino, Felino family, obviously a big Sbury family. Tyler Batuzi, I believe, was born in Sbury. Uh talk about Sbury itself and kind of the history up there. I know there’s a great uh history of junior hockey as well. Some guys that have come through there. Uh, how did that growing up kind of in people consider it northern Ontario, but it’s kind of inade Ontario. How did that kind of inform uh your hockey knowledge and uh the history part of it as well? Yeah, so I’ve been in Sbury now for I guess 25 years. So more than more than half of my life. Um, and so I came into Sbury, you know, in in high school and, uh, you know, following hockey. You you learn later about a lot of these players that, you know, played before I was born, but Eddie Shaq is another one that that came from Sbury. Uh, Jerry Topazini is is probably one that people probably most associated with the Bruins coming from Sbury. Uh and and I got to know uh you know Topazini’s lore because after he after he retired you know from the NHL and he was a penalty killing special specialist with the Bruins like he was great. He was actually the last position player to go and net. Um so this was back in I guess it was probably in the 60s or so and uh he went in net you for the final minute of a game. No goalie equipment at all. Just went in there man the pipes. He didn’t face a shot, but again, if he if he would have faced a shot, he’s the type of guy you would have wanted in the net because he was a tough hard scrabble guy from Copper Cliff, Ontario. So again, SBY’s a mining town, so it’s got that like that hard, you know, that hard work ethic into the bones of a lot of people from here. Um, and then after he retired, he came back to Sbury. He coached the Subbury Wolves junior team here uh for a couple of years, but then he opened this bar called the Beef & Bird and uh it has the spoked bee in the logo uh and the walls are just adorned uh with Bruins memorabilia. There’s a lot more I think hockey general memorabilia now, but I can seem to recall and again I spent a lot of blur eyed nights at the beef and bird on Fridays that uh there was a lot more Bruins stuff back in the day and there was a lot of pictures of Jerry, there was a lot of pictures of you know Bobby Yor, a lot of players that he played with in the Bruins and so it was and still is in my mind a veritable shine shrine to the Bruins here in Sbury. We don’t really have many like stronghold bars. I guess there is uh there’s one that has like kind of a Blackhawks theme, but the beef for my money is is still like the when I think of a Bruins bar, that’s what I think of. Uh but but the beef was also known, I’ll just share this quickly, that every Saturday during the hockey season, they do what is known as porquetta bingo. And uh they use they do this to raise money for minor league hockey in Sbury. But basically, it starts around 11:30 in the morning and it goes until 6 p.m. And you know, by the end of that session, like you’re probably not going out. You’re you’re going to go home and you’re going to go to bed because you spend the day in the bar. You’ve got a a set of three cards in front of you. The dealer has a deck of cards and basically you just try to get all three of your cards lined up and if you win, you don’t say bingo at the beef because you’ll get booed. You’ll get taunted. uh you you scream out Porquetta, you go up, they validate your card, and then they bring you like a pound of of Porquetta that’s been uh that’s been set up for that day. And so it’s a lot of fun. But uh but I remember when when Nick Felino signed with the Bruins, we did a story with him because I was thinking, you know what, if if you at the time, especially the Bruins were a powerhouse that the Bruins win the cup, like Nick’s going to bring it back to Sbury. You know, I talked to the owners of the beef. uh you know, Jerry’s son Anthony still runs the bar with some of his siblings. And he said that if you know, if Nick wins the cup and brings uh this the cup to Sbury, which he would, of course, probably bring it to the beef, you know, he’s going to get Porquetta for life, which in my mind, that’s that’s just as good as the cup, but ultimately, we know the story didn’t unfold quite that way. Hopefully, I didn’t jinx them by uh by putting that into the ether, but it was uh there’s a lot of those Sbury connections. And again, I think the Fino family, which is, you know, well regarded as a hockey family here in Sbury, also really regards the topazi family and what Jerry did and what they still do for the community, you know, through the beef and through those fundraisers. Very cool. And and since you mentioned Felino, I believe the book kind of goes from the beginning and kind of culminates with that uh recordbreaking regular season the Bruins had. Of course, we all know what happened in the playoffs, but um maybe just talk about what you kind of learned about that season and how it fit into kind of NHL history and we all know the wasted opportunity, but Nick Felino being part of that regular season, uh nice way to end the book even though it didn’t quite work out for for the Bruins and their fans, I guess. Yeah. Yeah. So, that that comes up a couple times and fortunately for the Bruins fans uh listening right now that we did not cover uh the the the playoffs that year. Okay. For whatever reason that that didn’t make it into some of the dates I had in mind for uh I guess for April and into May. U but yeah, that season was certainly one for the books and I remember following that closely just as a fan of hockey, right? Because again when you you think about how many wins they racked up that year, uh like it’s just incredible, right? And I mean to your point, it’s it’s unfortunate that they weren’t able to convert such regular season success and just get into a run in the playoffs. I mean I don’t know if it makes it sting any less that then you know they lost to the team that went to win back-to-back cups. I don’t think that ever takes the sting out of it. But at least like you know this was a team that was on the cusp of of achieving greatness, right? And they and the Panthers went on to the cup final that year. But again, as a lease fan, I try to talk myself into these things. We’re like, well, they lost, you know. Yeah. But but anyway, it was it was a great season. Again, we’ve got a lot of the I think the goalie hugs um make it in in into the book as well, just because obviously those two played incredible that year. It was a lot of fun to watch those those celebrations. Um and then certainly as a Siberian um you know, I was really rooting for Nick and the Bruins uh to to take the cup home, but ultimately um it didn’t come to pass. So, I would have liked to have had a different you know, maybe story to include in the book that maybe focused on that, but but you get what you get and that’s what it was. Yeah, it worked out for me nicely in 2011 because I’m uh down in G and uh Rich Beverly is a G native so he actually uh brought the cup here the Sleman Center where the G storm play. It was the floor was packed with people. Uh so that was a nice uh nice tiein to be able to celebrate the cup in G uh with Rich Preverly if I wasn’t able to be down there in Boston for the for the ceremony or whatever. but or the parade. But uh yeah, always people always talk about Canadian teams winning the Stanley Cup, but always forgetting that the players bring the cup to their respective hometowns and the majority of the summer. The cup is in Canada, so that’s a kind of a different twist that you could take on it in terms of Canadians and winning the Stanley Cup, I guess. Well, I’ll give you I I’ve actually forgot this story probably and I don’t think I’ve ever told it. It’s not really that interesting, so I don’t want to preface it too much, but we were um my uh my then fiance, you know, now wife and I were living in Georgetown in uh 2010, 2011. I just started my my PhD at McMaster that year. And we were there over the summer because we were getting ready to like move back to Sbury and Tyler Sean was bringing the cup to Georgetown at this like rodeo bar that we I guess not rodeo bar but it kind of had like a country vibe to it and we’d been maybe once or twice and we had friends to come and visit us and uh nobody was visiting that weekend and I’m like maybe we should go. You know, he’s bringing the cup and uh we ultimately decided we’re not going to go. Like I wasn’t obviously like I’m not a Bruins fan, but also I I don’t know why I didn’t go. Especially we know about Tyler about Tyler Se and the parties that you know he’s he’s been to. I’m sure it would have been quite the time, but I I opted to stay at home in our Georgetown apartment instead of going down the road. I can’t even remember the name of the bar, but I’m kicking myself now that I didn’t go and experience that. I’ve actually heard I’ve actually heard some stories about about those Georgetown parties that we had for the cup there. Um, all right. We’re going to take another quick break and then we’re going to come back and touch on some maybe older Bruins history that uh we might learn about in the book that Bruins fans can get excited about. We’ll touch on that here as the podcast continues. August 26th is officially FanDuel Futures Day, a brand new holiday for football fans who live for bold predictions and pre-season hunches. For just 24 hours, FanDuel is giving you deals on NFL season predictions. So whether you’re calling your MVP, eyeing a longot division winner, or ready to crown your Super Bowl champ before week one even kicks off, this is your moment. For me, I think it’s the Bills year. I’m going with Buffalo and I’ll be taking advantage of this August 26th FanDuel Futures Day to make that official. Visit the FanDuel app today and start planning your future bets now because futures day is one day only at FanDuel where you can play your game. All right, continuing our conversation here with Mike Kamito, author of Bruins 365. Uh during the Centennial season, I tried to work some of history into the podcast going back to, you know, uh how the team was formed, how the team was named, uh and learned a lot just from from that. um you know fans will know you know the big events in history but are there some things that uh popped out for you that uh even as a hockey historian you didn’t know about or that uh was really kind of eye opening about the history of the Boston Bruins. Yeah. When I when I do these books, I think what always, you know, surprises me is just being able to go back and learn more about some players that I don’t want to say have been forgotten in history, but I think depending on which vintage you are and which generation of fan you are, like these names may not be, you know, as as top of mind for you. So, I think that’s always the thing that I like most about the books. And certainly I think there is definitely especially with a team that I’m not necessarily a fan of personally like I’m learning a lot about the the history of the franchise and some notable moments but it’s it’s always you know it’s always the stories about those players and you come across some of these things where you know the one that I enjoyed uh kind of doing the research on was you know there was a snowstorm back in ‘ 61 and uh Jerry Topazini and Johnny Buick had to hitchhike their way to the game because they couldn’t get out of the snow and like I just love the stories where this is seems was just so out of touch with what would happen now and how that these two guys just hitchhiking and there’s a story of like then they got into a car and they the car got stuck and they had to get out and like dig the car out of the snow and Buick dropped his wallet and he lost his wallet then he eventually got it back. Uh and there’s actually a couple stories like this where even earlier Eddie Shore was also stuck in a snowstorm and he ended up having to get a get a like a horse and carriage to get him to the game. Um or no, sorry, it wasn’t a horse and carriage. He was in a car, but uh the car went off into a ditch and then there was horses in a carriage that he was able to get to help him pull the car out of the ditch. He still made it to the game on time. I think he was the he scored the only goal of that game, which again, good thing he made it there because the Bruins would have been uh they would have put up bagel that night had intrepid Eddie Shore not found a way to make it to this game. Um so it’s stories like that that are always um you know, fun to me. And again, also as uh it’s my book, so I’m able to kind of inject some some players that I think, you know, deserve their due. So I mean, Doug Moans is one that uh not many Bruins fans may be familiar with, but he’s from Capriel, which is a rail town not far from Sbury. It’s I guess part of the city of Greater Sbury, but it’s its own distinct uh place. And Doug was from Capriel. His nickname was Diesel, which is fitting because, you know, you’ve got a lot of trains going through that junction. uh and and he had he had quite the the the Pistons on the ice and he had actually he played wing uh for the Blackhawks. He was on the scooter line with with Stan Makita, but he was on defense for the Bruins. And so I I took the I took the opportunity to kind of do a little ode to to Doug and and what he did because he’s obviously a legend up here in Sbury in the Capriel community. So it’s it’s those things, right? And I think just it’s always fun just to kind of highlight a player that you know I think I think the Dire fans will probably remember but uh but for me some of these players where you’ve heard the names but like let’s kind of dig into what they did before they got to the Bruins, what they did during the Bruins. It’s always a great way to explore that history as well. Yeah. Right. I mean, a lot of people obviously know like the past 20 years, maybe going back to the the Bobby Y kind of couple cup wins, but the previous cup wins, a lot of people don’t know a lot of the names that were featured on those teams, appreciate the history of kind of way back in the day. Was there anything from those kind of first cup years that that stood out at all? Yeah, I mean I think it’s just like how how dominant especially those teams were, you know, in in in the 40s when they won those cups, right? And I think there was the, you know, the after that first, I think the one in 42, Art Ross talking about like how this is the best team they know that he’s ever had and and basically they were able to run it back pretty much with the same crew and somehow again just an even better hockey team. So, I think it’s just also you look back on some of those teams and it’s like the versatility of these players where they often didn’t start, you know, playing at the position they ended up becoming legends at. You know, they come in playing wing or they come in playing defense and they get shifted. And ultimately those moves that, you know, somebody like an Art Ross identifies and is able to kind of take advantage of is part of the reason why those teams were so dominant, right? And I mean, even just somebody like Art Ross who, you know, he he appears in the book, but somebody like that just so innovative with all the things he did with the design of the pucks, the design of the nets, like he really was always thinking outside the box in ways that uh, you know, we can improve the game and some of those those innovations that he did at the time back in the, you know, the early days of the team. Uh, they’re still they’re still around today, right? So, it’s always cool to kind of try to highlight that as well. Yeah, for sure. Uh, I grew up kind of in the late 80s, early 90s Bruins loving mode. A lot of younger Bruins fans kind of somewhat understandably hate on Cam Neely, Don Sweeney for kind of their managerial stuff, but forget the contributions they made as players. Uh, Neie specifically, I’m sure he appears in the book as a player. Uh, anything that that jumped out about Neie and or Sweeney as players that appear in the book? Yeah, there’s I’ve got quite a few uh Cam Neely stories. Uh and again I think what what what surprised me about him was just like how he was able to do what he did especially you know with the injuries he had you know with his back and with his knees and that the fact he was able to come back and then still be you know as dominant as he was like for at the time like in his prime like he was just like an exciting player for what he did you know with the puck in the back of the net but also just like laying people out and bringing fans out of their seats. Yeah. So for me, um, he comes up quite a bit and I think one of the ways that I incorporate a story with him was that I wanted to include it as part of his story was just, you know, the the 50 and 50. It’s not an official 50 and 50, but it should be like this arbitrary rule that because he didn’t start the season with the Bruins, but still managed to get, you know, 50 goals in under 50 games, you know, that’s and especially knowing that how banged up he was, and he still did that. Yeah. like just because he didn’t do it in Boston’s first 50 games shouldn’t matter. He did it in 50 games regardless. So I I made sure that when I did that story about I think one of the first stories about Neely that appears in the book I I make the record clear that I am a firm believer that that should be a 1550 official goal scorer club. Right. For me that was probably the highlight of you know those teams fell short. They came up against the Oilers and the Penguins. But for me as a young fan, that was like the pinnacle of of uh like hockey glory for me, apart from those cups. That was such a great uh a great run. Not a lot of appreciation as team president, but without question my favorite player as a kid. Uh and speaking of hockey history, I’m actually tonight my my wife’s uncle randomly has this uh pretty extensive Bobby or memorabilia collection that he has put out on display at his house. So, we’re heading down there uh tonight to check that out. I’m pretty excited about that. Uh maybe we’ll end on uh everybody knows the Bobby or Leap story. Was there another kind of off the radar radar Bobby story that that jumped out at all? Yeah. One that I’ll share that I and again, I’ve always tried to find a way to include Terry Fox in any of my books. Yeah. Um when Terry Fox was doing his marathon of hope in in 1980, he he went through Perry Sound, which is obviously Bobby Y or’s hometown, right? And Bobby met him in Perry Sound uh and he presented him with a check uh I think it was $10 for every mile that uh that Terry had run to that point for on behalf of Planters Nuts. I think Bobby had a sponsorship or an ambassadorship with the company at the time. And there’s this great shot of that day where, you know, Bobby Yur’s got his pant leg rolled up and they’re comparing battle scars. Ultimately, you know, I think Terry Terry wins that uh by a mile. But I uh I I I I included that just because obviously that is a it’s a Bruin story because it’s, you know, it’s it’s Bobby Yor, but ultimately like Terry Fox is still, you know, for my money’s worth the greatest Canadian who ever lived. And I think athletic achievement Yeah. even athletically like to be able to run a marathon a day for as long as he did on one leg. Yeah. Like we talk about Terry, I think, in terms of what he did in terms of helping to raise awareness and raise money for cancer research, but I think just athletically we don’t talk enough about like how incredible a feat that was. Yeah. And so, um, you know, he ended up meeting, you know, his hockey idol was Daryl Sitler when he went to Toronto, but for me, you know, him and Bobby Yor sitting together in Perry Sound, uh, you know, looking at their respective battle scars. Uh, but ultimately just what Terry represented and how, you know, we’re we’re talking today and a month from now, we’ll be, I think, gearing up for the annual Terry Fox run and especially this year being the 45th anniversary of of the Marathon of Hope. Um he’s still somebody where I ever whenever I’m out for a run and it’s like ah I’m tired, it’s too hot, it’s like, yeah, but like look what he did. Just suck it up. Get your get your workout in. Go home. And uh yeah, so he’s still an inspiration for me. And that’s why I I always try to include him when I can in these books. Oh, that’s awesome. Yeah, that’s what a great way to end. Yeah, I 100% agree. Terry Fox, uh greatest Canadian and um that’s a great story. I’m excited to check that out in the book. Before I let you go, I always ask people um kind of apart from hockey, hockey history, is there anything that you are reading or watching or enjoying this summer that uh that you can recommend? Well, that’s a great question. Right now, we’re watching um the yogurt shop on Crave, which is, you know, disturbing me in ways that I had not anticipated. I didn’t know the story going into it. So, that’s, you know, that’s a tough uh hang before bed. So, we always we always try to find a pallet of cancer to like kind of go to sleep. We do have two girls at home. Um, and in terms of reading, um, what I just finished a book. Um, I’m trying to think of what the most recent book was that I was reading, but because I’m not reading anything new yet. I’ve got a a trip upcoming, so I’m trying to like plan strategically which books I will bring uh on that trip. Um, but I I do love to read. So, it’s always a big part of what I do in the summer. I’m just trying to get something for you that I could actually give you and the listeners that would be tangible of what I’ve what I’ve read that I recommend. I mean, I just actually read a biography of Anna Wur, who’s obviously the face of of Vogue and now, right, chief of publishing for Kai Nast Naste. Um, but like I I love reading books outside of hockey just because I feel like as a writer, it’s important to read far and wide in order to improve your writing, right? So, I actually haven’t read a hockey book in a little while. There’s a lot of great ones coming out in the fall. So, I think I’ll dive in there. But, uh, yeah, my genre is all over the place. So, again, if you find if you find me on social media at Mikeo pretty much anywhere and you have a good book recommendation, I’ll always take those. Yeah. Um, yeah, always love a good true crime doc recommendation. We’re watching that one. And also on Crave, we just watched the uh the Christine Jessup documentary as well, which was a Crave original. really we knew the story but yeah really kind of eye openening that one as well. I recommend that one. Uh Mike I can’t thank you enough for taking the time to chat. Please before I let you go uh tell people where they can find you on social media and more importantly where can they uh pre-order Bruins 365. Yeah. No thanks Ian. It was my pleasure today and uh yeah you can find me at Mike Kamo pretty much anywhere we use social media. Uh as for the book you can definitely still pre-order it now. it will officially be released October 21st. So you can go to Indigo, Amazon, uh but you can also go to your favorite bookstore. So again, if you shop local or independently and you go to that store, if they don’t have it yet or you can ask them to pre-order it for you or get it in store when it’s available. U but yeah, just look for Brewster 65. You can pretty much find it anywhere where books are sold. Uh so again, pre-orders help help authors. So if you want to pre-order it, I’d appreciate it. But otherwise, uh tell your friends. Brewster 65. Very nice. All right, Mike. Well, thanks so much. Uh, have a good rest of your day. Have a good rest of your summer. And maybe we’ll uh touch base again once the the regular season starts and talk some, you know, developing hockey history. Sure. Sounds great. Very cool. What a treat that was to talk with Mike. There’s so many different uh rivers we could have gone down in terms of Bruins history. There’s going to be 365 stories to take a look at. And uh please do check out that book. Subscribe to the podcast if you have not already. And do check out the Locked On NHL podcast next. It’s all part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. We’ll be back with fresh episodes next week here on Locked On Boston Bruins. Please take care of yourselves. Take care of each other as well.

In this episode of Locked On Boston Bruins, host Ian McLaren sits down with hockey historian Mike Comito, author of the upcoming book Bruins365. They explore Mike’s path from his hockey roots to writing acclaimed history books, and the unique process behind creating a team-specific collection of stories.

From underappreciated Bruins like Doug Mohns, to fan favorites like Cam Neely, the conversation uncovers hidden gems from franchise history — plus fresh perspectives on the record-breaking 2022–23 regular season. Mike also shares memorable anecdotes involving Bobby Orr and Terry Fox, and reveals where fans can pre-order Bruins365 and follow his work online.

It’s a conversation packed with nostalgia, little-known tales, and excitement for one of the most anticipated Bruins books in years.

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