BOSTON — On the night the Bruins celebrated him for playing in Game No. 1,000 of his NHL career, James van Riemsdyk spent a moment remembering Game 1.
It was Oct. 2, 2009. He was 20, seven months removed from playing at UNH and just over two years removed from being picked No. 2 overall by the Flyers in the 2007 NHL draft. Philadelphia was opening its season in Raleigh, North Carolina against the Hurricanes and van Riemsdyk was in the lineup for the first time.
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“My parents missed it,” said van Riemsdyk, who couldn’t remember why. “A few of my buddies that I grew up with in New Jersey drove down for that. It was a 3-1win. I think I had an assist.”
He was almost right. The Flyers did win by two goals, but it was 2-0 behind a 28-save shutout by Ray Emery. Van Riemsdyk remembered the assist correctly. He got his first career point on the second goal of that game, which was scored by Mike Richards. Daniel Briere, who is now the general manager of the Flyers was his teammate and Rod Brind’Amour, who is now the coach of the Hurricanes was still playing for them.
“Crazy to think it was 15 years ago,” said van Riemsdyk, who’ll turn 35 in May.
The Bruins had a pregame ceremony to honor him before the game as van Riemsdyk’s parents, his wife and children joined him on the ice. He said there were 78 friends, family, former teammates and coaches in the stands for the game. After a tribute video with messages from current and former teammates and coaches as well as Bruins management, he was presented with a silver stick, a painting and a painting by Boston then Philadelphia players, who he’d been teammates with last year gave him a plaque with box scores from his first and 1000th games.
After eight years over two stints with the Flyers and six years with Toronto, van Riemsdyk signed a one-year deal for $1 million with the Bruins. He’s been a bargain with 11 goals and 27 assists in 63 games.
Before Saturday’s game against the Flyers, he was asked if he could give 20-year-old van Riemsdyk any advice, what we he’d tell him.
“I would say. Develop a good routine and stick to it. I’ve found over the years, to have consistency and longevity, that’s the biggest thing,” he said after pausing to ponder. “Have a good routine and a process you buy into to prepare yourself to play every single night. My first year we’d get to the rink and watch “Everybody Loves Raymond” for a couple of episodes then we’d go out and practice.
“The routine has changed quite a bit since then. All the preparation that goes into feeling good each and every night,” he continued. “That was nice showing up and getting out there, but you realize how much more goes into it and you learn a lot more things a long the way.”
