BOSTON — The same guys who Joe Sacco grew up watching, emulating and rooting for as a kid in Medford as the same guys who have been around celebrating and being celebrated as part of the Bruins’ year-long celebration of the 100th year of the franchise.
So encountering them during the team’s year-long celebration of 100 years of Bruins hockey and winning in front of them during Sunday’s Centennial Game against the Montreal Canadiens was special.
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“Of course we want to win. We wanted to make the fans and the players from the past proud of our effort today,” Sacco said. “To look over course of the years and the tradition of this franchise and the history of it, it’s important to know your craft as a player.”
Among the players who participated were Ray Bourque, Rick Middleton, Wayne Cashman and Terry O’Reilly, who were all prominent Bruins when Sacco was growing up.
“It was a special day, me being a local kid growing up here, seeing these guys I watched play when I was a young kid. It was a lot of fun today, I enjoyed it,” he said. “I think it’s great that, that they’re around and so many former great players here today marking a special occasion. These are the players that built and established this culture here as far as being a Boston Bruins.
“I always loved watching Ray Bourque as a young kid, but I wasn’t a defenseman, I was a forward. So I set my sights on different players. I always, I just always liked the way the Bruins played as a kid,” Sacco added. “They played with passion, they played with emotion. There wasn’t one particular player that I singled out growing up in the area. I had such a large gap of teams that I’ve watched over the years growing up here.”
Sacco continued former coach Jim Montgomery’s tradition of wearing a scally cap during the games that honor the team’s history. Despite playing and coaching in the NHL, Sacco admitted the novelty of seeing and meeting some of those players hasn’t worn off.
“You get starstruck still. I’ve obviously gotten to know some of the guys over the course of the years being out here for 10 years,” he said. “I’ve established a relationship with some of the former players but you never forget who they are and what they meant for the organization.”
