Boston Bruins
“With what he’s been by way of this yr, and just a little little bit of final yr, very comfortable for him for certain.”
As Charlie McAvoy and Jeremy Swayman celebrated with the remainder of their Crew USA teammates on the ice in Milan after winning Olympic gold for the first time in 46 years, their Bruins teammates additionally hit the frozen sheet some 3,800 miles away.
Marco Sturm and a number of other different Bruins skaters and coaches don’t hail from the U.S. However, because the Bruins took to the ice at Warrior Ice Area on Sunday afternoon, they discovered a strategy to salute McAvoy and Swayman for profitable some Olympic {hardware}.
“Did you hear after we went on the ice? The nationwide anthem was on. I can’t imagine that. I don’t know who was it,” Sturm told reporters Sunday. “You see a man like Fraser Minten, such a younger child, rooting for Canada — he was devastated. So hopefully, he’s going to be in a single quickly. On the opposite facet, the Individuals are so proud. … It’s nice.”
Whereas Jack Hughes and Connor Hellebuyck supplied the heroics in Crew USA’s 2-1 additional time conquer Canada, McAvoy made his presence felt throughout the Olympic event.
The Bruins’ blueliner completed with 22:45 of ice time within the victory, the second-highest ice time on Crew USA behind his D accomplice, Quinn Hughes.
Whereas he didn’t file a degree in these six video games, McAvoy served because the American’s go-to shutdown choice and bodily equalizer, doling out some heavy hits in opposition to Sweden and Slovakia in the course of the knockout spherical.
McAvoy’s prime play got here within the midst of a 1-1 impasse within the third interval. Hellebuyck stopped 41 pictures that got here his manner in opposition to Canada, nevertheless it was McAvoy — located behind the U.S. goalie amid a scrum — who was there to bat down a fluttering puck launched by Tom Wilson.
Had McAvoy not been there to knock the puck out of hazard, it will have sailed previous Hellebuyck and into the web — giving Canada its first lead of the gold-medal showdown/
“That was fairly loopy,” Casey Mittelstadt said. “We had been watching, and somebody yelled, ‘I feel Chucky saved it.’ Then we noticed the replay. Clearly, a pivotal level within the recreation. I feel that in all probability will get ignored by the additional time aim. Who is aware of for those who get there if he isn’t there.
“Confirmed up in massive moments, made massive performs in each ends,” Mittelstadt added of McAvoy’s affect. “With what he’s been by way of this yr, and just a little little bit of final yr, very comfortable for him for certain.”
Together with McAvoy, Swayman earned a gold medal in his first style of Olympic competitors. After helping the U.S. win gold in the IIHF World Championships last May, Swayman made one begin for the Individuals in the course of the Olympics, giving up three objectives in a win over Denmark throughout group play.
Sturm is hopeful {that a} gold medal for each McAvoy and Swayman will give each key cogs on the Bruins an added increase as they return for the stretch run of the 2025-26 common season.
“I’ve to watch out, as a result of [Bruins GM Don Sweeney] is on the opposite facet [as Canada’s assistant GM], proper,” Sturm stated of McAvoy and Swayman. “So I’ve acquired to watch out. He’s my boss. … The issues particularly with, even Sway, and Charlie — the issues they went by way of the previous yr, two years, this yr.
“To have them come residence with gold, that for me makes me comfortable. After all, they’re one in every of us. So we’re actually excited.”
For Andrew Peeke, it was rewarding to see each the U.S. males’s and ladies’s hockey groups go away Italy with Olympic gold. The women’s team defeated Canada in overtime en route to their own triumph.
“It’s unbelievable. That ladies’s recreation — I used to be glued to the TV for that one, too. All in all, USA Hockey has taken a giant step within the final decade or so,” Peeke stated, including: “It’s actually thrilling for our recreation typically, and hopefully it continues to maintain blossoming.”
Bruins defenseman and former Northeastern captain Jordan Harris was comfortable to see just a few different Husky alums thrive on the Olympic stage. Team USA goalie Aerin Frankel won gold and Alina Müller scored the OT winner to secure a bronze medal for Switzerland.
“She’s a stud,” Harris told WEEI’s Scott McLaughlin of Frankel, who additionally stars for the Boston Fleet. “I acquired to observe quite a lot of Aerin Frankel in faculty. All these ladies, simply to see what they did — I’m not likely stunned, simply because I’ve seen the work they put in through the years.
“I’ve skated with Aerin a bunch in the summertime, and he or she’s a troublesome cookie. She skates with all the boys’s teams in the summertime and provides all of them complications. So, yeah, she’s a beast.”
Because the Bruins proceed to get able to resume play on Thursday in opposition to the Columbus Blue Jackets, it stays to be seen when McAvoy and Swayman shall be again on the ice with Boston.
Crew USA is flying again from Italy on Monday, however they are going to be touchdown in Florida because of the poor weather set to hit many of the Northeast.
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