With the amount of Bruins players from Massachusetts in the Stanley Cup, we had to expect at least one Player's Tribune piece, right?
Charlie Coyle's came on Monday afternoon and even though the "Coyle's from Weymouth" storyline is a bit overdone, his essay on it had some different things.
His greatest hockey achievement was playing in the Super Eight with Weymouth High School as a freshman in 2007. The main reason: his cousins were on the team as well.
There was also an interesting tidbit on when he first met Patrice Bergeron as a young teenager.
"I was only 12 or 13 at the time, and we were playing in a tournament at Bridgewater Arena," said Coyle. "The lockout was going on, and we heard the Providence B's were playing a game there. It must've been Patrice's first year in the league or around that, and he was playing for the P-Bruins at that time since the NHL was shutdown."
Coyle vividly remembers it.
"I still remember all of us waiting around outside the arena after the game, just to get a glance at some legit, real-life NHL players," said Coyle. "When Patrice came out, we were all so pumped. He was giving the guys high fives and signing autographs. I was wide-eyed just being that close to him. I remember one of my teammates going in for a huge hug and he was cool wit it. From that moment on, if anyone ever asked, I told them Patrice was the greatest. I was a lifelong fan."
In the piece, Coyle went on to explain what it was like to hear he was being traded to the Bruins and the challenges that came with playing in Boston.
"So, fun fact for you: You only get two comped tickets per game when you play in the NHL," said Coyle. "As you can probably guess, that fact is not as fun when just about everybody you're related to, vaguely related to or allegedly related to lives in the Boston area and are huge Bruins fans. When I first got here, I had guys I hadn't spoken to since elementary school hitting me up for seats."
Now he's in the Stanley Cup.
Game 1 is Monday night with puck drop slated for 8 pm.
