50 Fun Facts About Bruins

In what year did the Bruins begin play, making them the oldest NHL franchise based in the United States?

They are the third-oldest active NHL team overall, behind only Montreal and Toronto.

Which Boston grocery magnate bought the franchise that became the Bruins?

Sports promoter Thomas Duggan held options on three US franchises and sold one to Adams, who paid $15,000 for it.

The team's original brown-and-yellow uniform colors were borrowed from what?

The Bruins did not switch to black and gold until later, and they revived the brown look for the 2010 Winter Classic.

Which former player, the club's first general manager, came up with the name 'Bruins'?

He stayed on as GM until 1954 and later donated the trophy that still bears his name for the NHL's leading scorer.

The Bruins won the first NHL game ever played in the United States, in 1924, against which opponent?

The 2-1 win at Boston Arena was a rare high point: the team then lost 11 straight and finished last at 6-24-0.

Which of these teams was NOT one of the Original Six alongside the Bruins?

Despite the name, only Montreal and Toronto are true charter members; the six were simply the only teams from 1942 to 1967.

How many Stanley Cups have the Bruins won?

That ties them with Chicago for fourth-most, behind Montreal (24), Toronto (13) and Detroit (11).

The Bruins won their first Stanley Cup in 1929 by beating which team in a best-of-three final?

Boston did not lose a single playoff game that spring, a feat no team repeated until 1952.

Whose No. 3 became the first number ever retired by the Bruins, in February 1934?

It was only the second number retirement in North American pro sports, eight days after Toronto retired Ace Bailey's No. 6.

Which bruising Bruins defenceman was nicknamed 'the Edmonton Express'?

He won the Hart Trophy four times, still the most ever by a defenceman, and later owned the AHL's Springfield Indians for decades.

Which player was NOT a member of the Bruins' famed Kraut Line?

The three linemates all grew up together in Kitchener, Ontario, and enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force together in 1942.

What did the Kraut Line achieve in the 1939-40 season that no NHL line had done before?

Only Montreal's Punch Line (1944-45) and Detroit's Production Line (1949-50) have matched it since.

Which Kraut Line centre later coached the Bruins and, as GM, built the 1970 and 1972 champions?

He is the only person in franchise history to serve as captain, coach and general manager, and his No. 15 hangs in the rafters.

Which rookie goaltender, 'Mr. Zero', won both the Calder and Vezina for the 1938-39 champion Bruins?

He was the first rookie ever named to the NHL First All-Star Team, and his 1.56 goals-against average that year is still a franchise record.

Willie O'Ree became the NHL's first Black player on January 18, 1958, when the Bruins faced which team?

He kept a secret that would have kept him out of the league: an errant puck had left him blind in his right eye two years earlier.

Bobby Orr's famous overtime goal in 1970 completed a four-game sweep of which team?

It was Boston's first Cup in 29 years, and the same two teams met again in the 2019 Final with the opposite result.

Who set up Bobby Orr's Cup-winning goal in 1970 with a give-and-go pass from behind the net?

The two remained close for life; Orr later paid for his friend's rehab and they eventually ran a financial firm for hockey players together.

Which photographer captured the iconic image of Bobby Orr flying through the air after his 1970 goal?

Orr was airborne because Blues defenceman Noel Picard tripped him just after the puck went in; the shot still opens Hockey Night in Canada.

The bronze Bobby Orr statue outside TD Garden, unveiled in 2010, depicts him doing what?

It was unveiled on May 10, 2010, exactly 40 years to the day after the goal it captures.

In 1967 the Bruins got Phil Esposito, Ken Hodge and Fred Stanfield from which team?

Boston gave up Pit Martin, Gilles Marotte and Jack Norris; the following spring the Bruins made the playoffs for the first of 29 straight seasons.

How many goals did Phil Esposito score in 1970-71, a record until Wayne Gretzky broke it in 1982?

He also fired 550 shots on goal that season, a mark no one else has come within 100 of, and Esposito personally handed Gretzky the puck when the record fell.

At the December 1987 ceremony retiring Phil Esposito's No. 7, what did Ray Bourque do?

Bourque had been permitted to keep wearing 7 indefinitely; he surrendered it that night and wore 77 for the rest of his career.

In March 2000, after 21 Boston seasons, Ray Bourque was traded to which team, where he won a Cup?

Days after winning in 2001 he brought the Cup back to Boston for a rally of some 20,000 fans at City Hall Plaza.

Boston's 1979 first-round pick used on Ray Bourque came from trading which goaltender to the Kings?

GM Harry Sinden actually wanted Keith Brown, who went to Chicago one pick earlier; the Bruins 'settled' for Bourque.

In 1987 the Bruins sent Barry Pederson to Vancouver for which right winger, the archetypal NHL power forward?

'Bam-Bam Cam' later scored 50 goals in just 44 games in 1993-94 and became the team's president in 2010.

The Bruins lost the 1988 and 1990 Stanley Cup Finals to the same team. Which one?

Wayne Gretzky won the Conn Smythe in 1988, and in 1990 Boston's John Byce tied a record by scoring ten seconds into a Final game.

What suspended Game 4 of the 1988 Final at Boston Garden with the score tied 3-3?

A 1930s-vintage switchgear failed and the emergency generator did not start; the game was replayed in full two days later on the road.

Which boxing promoter designed Boston Garden and built the third New York arena of the same name?

It opened in 1928 as 'Boston Madison Square Garden' and outlived its New York namesake by 30 years.

In what year did the Bruins leave the old Boston Garden for the FleetCenter (TD Garden)?

The new building opened as the FleetCenter; the Bruins' first game there was a 4-4 tie with the Islanders.

The eight spokes on the Bruins' 'Spoked-B' logo nod to which nickname for Boston?

The wheel logo debuted for the club's 25th anniversary in 1948 and has been tweaked repeatedly since, including in 2025.

Which future pro hockey player named the Bruins' mascot Blades as a nine-year-old in 2000?

The NHL's first mascot, Harvey of the Calgary Flames, debuted in 1983; the Rangers remain the only team without one.

Leading late in Game 7 of the 1979 semifinal in Montreal, the Bruins were penalized for what?

Guy Lafleur tied it on the power play, Montreal won in overtime, and coach Don Cherry was fired soon after.

How many NHL games did Don Cherry play as a Bruin before his later fame as a coach and broadcaster?

As coach he built the 'Lunch Pail A.C.', which he claimed to model on the style of his bull terrier, Blue.

Gerry Cheevers was the first goaltender to decorate his mask with what?

He also gave the Bruins a scare in 1972 by jumping to the WHA's Cleveland Crusaders over a contract dispute.

How many consecutive games did Gerry Cheevers go without a loss in 1971-72, still an NHL record?

He capped that season with a shutout in the Cup-clinching Game 6 at Madison Square Garden, then jumped to the WHA's Cleveland Crusaders.

Which Bruins winger did teammate Phil Esposito nickname 'Taz', after the Tasmanian Devil?

The press preferred 'Bloody O'Reilly'; he topped 200 penalty minutes five straight seasons and later coached the team.

At which arena did Mike Milbury beat a fan with the fan's own shoe in December 1979?

It started when a fan smacked Stan Jonathan with a rolled-up program and stole his stick; several Bruins climbed the glass in pursuit.

Which future Canadiens Hall of Fame goalie did the Bruins draft in 1964, then trade to Montreal for two prospects?

Dryden then beat the heavily favoured Bruins in the 1971 playoffs and haunted them for the rest of the decade.

Which team had Zdeno Chara just left when the Bruins signed him and named him captain in 2006?

At 6 ft 9 in he is the tallest player in NHL history, and he wore the 'C' for all fourteen of his Boston seasons.

When Zdeno Chara won the Norris Trophy in 2009, he became the first player from which country to do so?

He was only the second European winner overall, after Nicklas Lidstrom, and won the All-Star hardest-shot contest with a 103.1 mph blast in 2008.

Who scored two goals, including the Cup-winner, in the Bruins' 4-0 Game 7 victory in Vancouver in 2011?

That win put him in the Triple Gold Club; he went on to win a record six Selke Trophies and is engraved on the Cup as Bergeron-Cleary.

What did Tim Thomas famously skip in January 2012, the only active Bruin to do so?

He said he was exercising his rights 'as a Free Citizen'; he sat out the entire following season and his rights were traded to the Islanders.

Which goaltender holds the Bruins' records for regular-season games (564) and wins (308)?

Toronto traded him to Boston in 2006 for Andrew Raycroft before he had played a game, a deal now considered one of the Leafs' worst ever.

The Bruins beat which team 2-1 in overtime at Fenway Park in the 2010 Winter Classic?

Marco Sturm tipped in the winner, and Boston became the first home team ever to win a Winter Classic.

Which team upset the record-setting 2022-23 Bruins in the first round after trailing 3-1?

Boston joined the 2007 Patriots, 2001 Mariners and 2015-16 Warriors among record regular seasons that ended without a title.

How many games did the Bruins win in 2022-23, an NHL single-season record?

They also finished with a record 135 points and were the fastest team ever to 50 wins, needing just 64 games.

Which Bruins goaltender scored an empty-net goal in February 2023 and won the Vezina Trophy that season?

He was only the 13th NHL goalie ever to score, and his post-win 'goalie hug' with Swayman became a team ritual.

David Pastrnak became the first Bruin to win which NHL award, sharing it with Ovechkin in 2019-20?

His 48 goals tied Ovechkin in a season cut short by the pandemic; the award had existed since 1999 without a Boston winner.

Who was named captain of the Bruins in September 2023, after the previous captain retired?

A third-round pick in 2006, he was traded to Florida in March 2025 and won a second Cup there that spring.

Which Bruin was the oldest player to score 50 goals in a season, at 35, until Ovechkin in 2022?

'Chief' scored 51 in 1970-71 and retired with 545 goals as a Bruin, still the franchise record.