The consummate local-boy-makes-good, Charlie Coyle was a fan favorite in his six-plus years in Bruins. In his return to the Garden as a Columbus Blue Jacket, the Weymouth native let it be known that the feeling was mutual.<\/p>\n
Coyle was playing in his first game at the Garden since being traded to the Colorado Avalanche at the trade deadline last March.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a special thing,\u201d said Coyle after the Jackets\u2019 morning skate on Thursday. \u201cI was looking forward to this game, just playing in the Garden again. I missed it. Now I\u2019ll be on the other side. But I\u2019ve got to switch gears, too, because it\u2019s a really big game for us. (The Bruins) right ahead of us in the standings. You can maybe even bring a couple of different emotions, but as long as you\u2019re ready and be prepared and focused on what the task is, you\u2019ll be ready to play.\u201d<\/p>\n
Playing for the B\u2019s was a dream fulfilled.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was pretty fortunate to play and play for so many great teams and learn from a lot of different players and coaches and everything that comes with it here. That stuff comes to mind pretty quickly. I\u2019m just lucky and fortunate to have been here for so long and play in front of my family and friends, play for an Original Six team, a team I grew up watching,\u201d said Coyle.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a very special thing. And the more you get away from it and time passes, you think more about it, you feel very, very fortunate. Because not a lot of people get to do that for as long as I got to. I feel very, very lucky. Nothing but grateful and fortunate to have played here. Grateful they traded for me, bring me in and keep me there as long as they did. It\u2019s just an awesome thing. I know I\u2019ll look back on it as time goes throughout my life and think about all the good times and memories that I\u2019ll bring with me. Just a very, very special thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now he has a new hockey home, one that\u2019s been growing on him \u2013 and him on it. Colorado traded Coyle to Columbus in the offseason and, after a slow start, the Jackets went into Thursday\u2019s game on the heels of the B\u2019s for the second wild card spot.<\/p>\n
Coyle is having a good season with 15-27-42 totals in 56 games going into Thursday.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been growing and growing more and more, which is what you want throughout a season,\u201d he said of his fit in Columbus. \u201cA lot of times things don\u2019t click right away, but it\u2019s just a very, very easy group to come in and just be myself and play the way I can play and add to the group of what they already had. They made some huge strides this last year, just missing the playoffs by two points. It\u2019s been a great thing to get in that locker room, learn from their leaders, how they do things and just try to do my part and add to it with the experience I have and having played as long as I have now. I just do my part in that and try to do produce as much as I can and play the right way, lead by example, which is what I think they brought me in for.\u201d\u2026.<\/p>\n
B\u2019s coach Marco Sturm elected not to even have Jeremy Swayman on the bench, opting to go with Joonas Korpisalo as the starter and Michael DiPietro as the backup. Sturm expects him to play on Saturday in Philadelphia.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust give him another good practice. (Wednesday) was not really a practice. He just went out and was happy to be at the rink. Today will be a good practice and (Friday) will be a good practice. And it\u2019s an afternoon game (on Saturday, 3 pm), so there\u2019s a lot more to it and we just want to make sure we do the right thing.\u201d\u2026.<\/p>\n
One of the most touching moments in the aftermath of USA\u2019s gold medal win was when the players went to the stands to bring the late Johnny Gaudreau\u2019s children onto the ice for the team picture. Gaudreau and his brother Matthew, who both played at Boston College, were killed by an alleged drunk driver in 2024. \u201cJohnny Hockey,\u201d as he came to be know at the Heights, would have been a member of the American team.<\/p>\n
Zach Werenski played with Gaudreau internationally and with him as a member of the Blue Jackets.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe see his jersey hanging every day here in Columbus, last year at the 4 Nations, the world championships and the Olympics. And these are all events, he would be at,\u201d said the Columbus defenseman. \u201cTo see it hang there, obviously we had a lot of pride playing for him, we wanted to make him proud and to see his family there supporting us there \u2013 his kids, his wife, his parents \u2013 to bring the kids on the ice and have his jersey there, that\u2019s what it\u2019s all about. It was one of my favorite moments of the whole thing. He touched a lot of people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Werenski was a key part of the winning goal, knocking Nate MacKinnon off the puck and passing it to Jack Hughes for the golden goal. Werenski pointed out that there were many huge plays leading up that and that it was a team effort. But he understood that that play will live for generations.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s going to be hundreds of thousands, if not millions of kids who want to be Jack Hughes. I guess somebody has to be the one that passes to him. And that\u2019s me,\u201d he said with a smile\u2026.<\/p>\n
Charlie McAvoy on his trip to the White House: \u201cI\u2019ve said that if I ever get the chance to do something cool enough to get to the White House, just the history of that building in our country, then I\u2019m certainly going to go. You never know if you\u2019re ever going to get back there, just all the history and the names and faces up on the wall, it was really just a very surreal moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
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