The Boston Bruins are America's oldest and most honored NHL franchise. Although they tasted success early on, the arrival of Bobby Orr in 1966 seemed like divine intervention. Over the past half-century, the Bruins have missed the playoffs only twelve times and have captured two Stanley Cups (1970 and 1972). When their twenty-nine-year streak of consecutive playoff appearances ended in 1997, it marked the conclusion of the longest such streak in North American professional sports history. From Shore to Orr to O'Reilly to Bourque to Thornton, the Bruins' style of play has been two-thirds...

In the beginning, the Boston Bruins were a rough tribe of Canadian tradesmen seeking their fortune with the first American team in the fledgling National Hockey League. When the Bruins played their first game in 1924, hockey was already a staple of the Boston sports scene. It was the prospect of attracting the capacity crowds that supported Boston's local club and college teams that lured Charles F. Adams to invest in the franchise. The Bruins were both an outgrowth of local tradition and a manifestation of the ambitions of the NHL. Their roster has included the likes of Eddie Shore, "Dit"...

For seven decades, the Boston Garden functioned as both a de facto community center and the indoor entertainment hub of New England. Known to millions as the home of the Bruins and Celtics, the Garden was also home to a variety of other events. The Boston Garden was truly a "people's palace," serving as a venue for events both grand and humble, monumental and mundane. It was nothing less than the city's playpen, music hall, political clubhouse, tavern, cathedral, and living room. The Boston Garden opened on November 17, 1928, to an overflow audience who witnessed local boxer Dick "Honeyboy"...