Before the puck dropped for Bruins-Panthers at TD Garden, one lifelong B’s fan was preparing for what she knew was already going to be an emotional game. Little did she know how much the night had in store.
Hannah Carpenter was getting ready to head to Causeway Street to watch the Bruins host the Florida Panthers — something the 29-year-old Stoughton, Mass. native does as frequently as she can. But Monday’s game had a bit more meaning with Boston hosting its annual Hockey Fights Cancer night. Players entered TD Garden wearing white and lavender jerseys and had lavender tape on their sticks during warmups to honor those impacted by cancer.
Carpenter’s mother, Shannon McCarthy, died of pancreatic cancer in March. As soon as the Bruins’ schedule was released, Carpenter knew exactly which game she had to make it to.
“I knew right away, as soon as the schedule came out, that Hockey Fights Cancer was going to be the game,” Carpenter told MassLive. “And I knew when the season started, that I couldn’t just not go. TD Garden holds so much emotion for me. … All day I was so nervous, like that jittery, excited feeling. I got out of work, I changed and I ran from Downtown Crossing to TD Garden. I was like, ‘I have to get to the glass.’
“And thankfully, I met up with some friends and they were all down there with me, which was even cooler,” she added. “And I just knew I had to get a spot in front of where Charlie (Coyle) warms up.”
It was about to hold even more emotion for Carpenter, who was attending her first Hockey Fights Cancer night without her mom. She took her spot against the glass, donning her mom’s Hockey Fights Cancer jersey and a sign that read “I fought for my mom.”
Coyle — Carpenter’s favorite player — noticed the sign.
Coyle flipped the puck from his stick to glove and tapped on the glass where Carpenter was standing to signify his intent to get it to her. He tossed the puck over the glass into Carpenter’s hands. She fist-bumped the glass in appreciation and began to cry as she put her hand over her face. Carpenter immediately smiled. Her friends hugged her. They knew how important that moment was.
“It was just sadness, but also very excited to be able to honor her in that way,” Carpenter said of receiving the puck. “I think I just felt like I couldn’t be sad because I was surrounded by so many people that loved me and loved my mom. It was very, very emotional though.”
The overwhelming feelings stemmed from so much more than receiving a puck from her favorite player — it was about honoring her mom in the best ways she knew could. Aside from wearing McCarthy’s Bruins jersey, Carpenter’s sign was homemade and a little different than the ones given out to those in attendance.
Hannah Carpenter’s sign honoring her mother for Hockey Fights Cancer night. Photo via Hannah Carpenter.Photo via Hannah Carpenter
“I just thought of ways I could honor her, and her favorite thing was the sign. She always put ‘me’, but she always tried to make sure to put someone else, because it wasn’t just her. I really think she encapsulates the Bruins — they all play for one another and she always fought for other people,” Carpenter said. “So I made the sign and I knew I wanted it to be a little different than everyone else’s.”
Carpenter debated whether to wear the lavender jersey her mom always wore to Hockey Fights Cancer Night. And after some back-and-forth, she decided to wear it because it would signify McCarthy being at TD Garden.
Shannon McCarthy holds her Hockey Fights Cancer night sign at TD Garden. Photo via Hannah Carpenter.Hannah Carpenter
The moment quickly went viral. SportsCenter’s Scott Van Pelt used it for his “The Best Thing I Saw Today” segment. The Bruins posted it to the X platform, as did the NHL and several other media outlets. A friend told Carpenter she was on NESN’s pregame show, and Carpenter thought her sign might have made the broadcast.
Her phone was set to do not disturb, so when Carpenter got to her seat, she checked in quickly to find a direct message from a friend that said, “if you ever wondered how much my husband loved you, he yelled at the TV, ‘That’s our Hannah!’” There was no video attached to the message, so Carpenter was confused at first.
“I looked and my DMs were just filling up, my texts were filling up ,I had like 30 messages on Instagram. It was just going and going and then all of a sudden my notifications were filling. I still can’t even go on Twitter right now,” Carpenter said. “It just kept coming and it’s still coming. I think it will be a couple of days before everything calms down.
“It was really overwhelming but in the most amazing way to see all these people — I don’t know any of these people for the most part — and seeing them share their love and support and even stories of people they’re fighting for or fighting for themselves was just really incredible,” she added.
Her friends felt the emotions, too. Jess Donahue, who hugged Carpenter after she got the puck, said the moment was special for several reasons. Donahue’s mom, Maureen, died last November of cancer.
“It was so special seeing Hannah get a puck from her favorite player on such a special night for her,” Donahue told MassLive. “It’s so wholesome. When I hugged her I said, ‘I don’t know if a hug will help or make the tears worse.’ I wish I got to meet Shannon. But I feel like I did because Hannah is definitely a reflection of her mom.”
Warmup puck Hannah Carpenter received from Charlie Coyle. Photo via Hannah Carpenter.Hannah Carpenter
McCarthy is the reason Carpenter is a Bruins fan. Carpenter was really into the Boston Red Sox before her mom told her she was missing out on hockey. Their first game together was a playoff game, and Carpenter was hooked. They started going to a few games a year including Mother’s Day, or McCarthy’s Jan. 22 birthday.
“It was something that kept us together, conversations we could have, memories we made. We made events out of it,” Carpenter said. “We went to Florida. We went to MSG together. And really, it was just something for us. It was our time to be alone.”
After McCarthy’s initial breast cancer diagnosis in 2017, Hockey Fights Cancer night was added to the list. But the October 2017 game — the first Hockey Fights Cancer night they wanted to attend — was during a time doctors suggested McCarthy not be in large crowds.
“She was like, ‘Yeah, this isn’t happening. We’re going,’” Carpenter said of her mom. “So we started the tradition then. She was going through chemo but she was just incredibly strong. She was a force to be reckoned with. We would still go to games and she would triple layer, she would wear a mask and do everything she needed to do to be there. And it just grew into something so much more with people making signs for her and people rallying around her. And it was just something that I don’t even think I could put into words.
“The Bruins community was her chosen family and there were not many more things that made her happier than the Bruins,” she continued. “But it was never just about her. Her fight wasn’t just in our family. It wasn’t just for her. It was for everyone. She fought for people like “The Mighty Quinn,” and her friends. She was never sicker than the person next to her.”
McCarthy’s breast cancer went into remission, but was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2019. She convinced doctors to delay her surgery until after the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Her friends rallied around McCarthy and started campaigns to get her to be a fan banner captain before a playoff game. It came to fruition and Carpenter was right by her side as she waved the flag in her custom Bruins jersey that said “Fighter” on the back.
Hannah Carpenter and her mother, Shannon McCarthy waving the fan banner flag in 2019. Photo via Gabriella Richards.Gabriella Richards
Hockey Fights Cancer night has been something special for Coyle, too.
In 2019, Coyle visited Quinn Waters — a 3-year-old known as “The Mighty Quinn” who was diagnosed with a brain tumor — at his “Quinndow” in his Weymouth, Mass. home. Waters wasn’t permitted to go outside, so an array of people visited him through the window.
When the Bruins hosted Hockey Fights Cancer night six months later, before “The Mighty Quinn” dropped the ceremonial puck, he also asked Coyle to score a goal for him. Coyle delivered in the win against the San Jose Sharks.
In Monday’s win, Coyle created another special memory.
Carpenter was sitting in her mom’s favorite spot in TD Garden: In the fourth row of the loge behind the net. So she had a perfect view of the game-winning goal. She also had the “Fighter” jersey with her. When the two began going to games together, they sat in the balcony but eventually moved to the loge because McCarthy, “liked to feel the action” on the ice.
Carpenter will continue to attend Hockey Fights Cancer night in honor of her mother, and she plans to eventually visit every NHL arena for a Bruins game with the “Fighter” jersey in tow — a plan she had with her mother after seeing games in Florida and New York.
“That was something that we started. We sat down and we went to Florida, we went to MSG and we were like, ‘You know what? We could do this. We can go to every arena together,’ Carpenter said. “And obviously that was something that was cut short. That really sucks. And it was something that I was like, ‘I can’t do this without her.’ I didn’t think I could walk back into the Garden. I’m gonna take her fighter jersey and go to all 31 away arenas for Bruins games and really take her with me.
“It’s not just for me,” she added. “This is for her as well.”
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