All About Behind the B

If you're any kind of Bruins fan, you watched the first episode of the Bruins' new 13 episode series on NESN, Behind the B. The show gives fans a behind the scenes view of what it takes to put together a Stanley Cup worthy team. The episode shows an in depth perspective on trying to sign old players and greeting the new ones. 

The first episode begins with the Bruins heartbreaking loss to the Chicago Blackhawks in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Coach Julien doesn't raise his voice or tear down his players, instead he says that they played their best hockey when it counted and tells his team, "don't hang your heads guys, because like I said, there is nothing to be ashamed of, don't hang your heads." President, Cam Neely, GM, Peter Chiarelli, and assistant coaches then went around the room thanking the players for all their hard work. 

We then backtrack a bit to when the Bruins were still playing in the Eastern-Conference finals; the front office was challenged with a lowering cap (Less money for each team to sign players). Andrew Ference's name was brought up because with the young guns showing their skill the veteran Ference is being replaced. While everyone loved Ference and agreed he has had a great seven years with the Bruins, they believe his time has come to an end and it is time to see what guys like Torey Krug can do for the team. Next on the chopping block was Tyler Seguin. This seemed to be a tough decision for Chiarelli while others were more than ready to see the inconsistent "super-star" go.

Chiarelli seemed shocked and disappointed when he finally got a solid decision from Nathan Horton's agent that Horty would not be returning. With that being done the group now had to make a choice with Tyler Seguin. Neely makes a point when he says, "I don't care what age you are, three years into the league, you should have some sort of improvement on the areas that I know the coaching staff has talked to him about and it's a little slower developing than it should be." The odds didn't seem to be in Seguin's favor in the board room. Chiraelli's seemed dismayed as he called the Unified NHL General Manager to break the news that he would be willing to trade Tyler Seguin. While there were no opportunities during the draft, the Bruins struck a deal with the Dallas Stars on July 4th and traded Seguin and Peverly for Loui Eriksson. 

In mid July Eriksson came to town to meet with Cam Neely, take a tour of his new arena, and check out some possible new homes. I don't know if it was just me, but Neely came across super intimidating in the meeting. He pretty much was like, listen up, you're now part of an original six team which means we're already better than the Stars, the fans expect a lot from their players so you better be ready to deliver, and you better work hard every game or else you're the next Wideman. After the meeting he learned REAL fast that it's black and GOLD not yellow. Then he got "a lot of free swag", which I'm jealous of! Loui Eriksson and his wife Mikaela have two young daughters and are looking for a place to live with a view. He finished off his trip with dinner in the North End. (Special guest appearance by Tos-Boss)


The episode continues with a visit to Lucic's hometown of Vancouver. Lucic's segment begins with him giving us a nice recap of the weather they've been having before debuting his adorable new baby girl Valentina. He shares what it is like being a new dad and mentions something his former teammate told him about being a parent. "Once you have the baby, you'll realize how selfish a person you actually were until you have the kid." Now Lucic tells us that his summer consisted of his off-season workout and Valentina and who could blame him, just look at those baby blues.


Lucic talks about the teammates that have left and the new guys coming in, "I couldn't think of a better guy to replace him (Horton) than Jarome, he's a proven guy, he proves that he can score goals and put up points, he's got that competitive edge to him and I'm just excited to see how things are going to go next year."

Next stop, Jarome Iginla, who has 'got some splainin to do'. With Iginla's trade to Pittsburg being so public in the media, Bruins fans were upset when his choice was Pittsburg and not Boston. Iginla says, "that wasn't a personal choice, I think Pittsburgh had won like 15 games in a row on a winning streak and they had guys out of the lineup, they had just made some trades. Boston at the time was, I think they were going through a bit of a losing streak, so at the time, obviously it's timing." Well we know (in time) he got his karma when the Bruins swept the Penguins in the Eastern-Conference finals. So no hard feelings? Well maybe a little, you've still got some making-up to do Igi! Iginla says he is ready to play physical and bring some of skill with that. He wants to come in and have fun with all the guys. "They seem like they have a lot of fun, winning's fun and that's why we play" Iginla admits that he has never been on a team that, at the start of the year, was a contender for the Stanley Cup and says he is looking forward to the start of the season. 

Rookie Camp: The Bruins show behind the scenes of what happens at their rookie camp. It's not all on the ice drill, off the ice the rookies take part in, "service work, classes on eating properly and nutrition, team building activities, even a ropes course out on Boston Harbor's, Thompson Island... but make no mistake this camp is definitely all about what it takes to become and what it means to be a Boston Bruin." One of my favorite parts was John Whitesides, the Bruins strength and conditioning coach and totally a hard-ass. He doesn't take any crap, say thank you, don't be late, give every drill 110%, and don't get into trouble off the ice because you will be replaced. The episode gives an off-ice look at which rookies they will be sending back to their college teams and which ones will be starting their first pro season with the Bruins affiliate team, the Providence Bruins. Side note: the clips they used for Brian Ferlin, did not make him look like a very good puck handler. (Poor lad- slow down) 


And to finish off the episode we get an inside look at the Deutsche Bank Championship (golf) with David Krejci and Tuukka Rask. Once again no one can understand what Krejci is talking about and then you've got Tuukka who brought his little brother, Joonas (his caddy). This little segment pretty much just includes Tuukka ripping on his brother and it is quite entertaining. "My caddy here doesn't know sh**." Turns out Tuukka isn't that bad at golf either. 

The episode wraps up with a short monologue by narrator Denis Leary that left me with a bit of chills. All and all I thought the production was fantastic; it was very well put together with great video content and narration. The time and effort put into the piece was definitely worth it.
If you missed the episode you can see it on NESN,
Saturday, Sept. 14th, 7-8 pm
Sunday, Sept. 15th, 4:30-5:30 pm 9-10 pm
Sunday, Sept. 22nd, 9-10 pm
Friday, Sept. 27th, 4-5 pm
Saturday, Sept. 28th, 4:30-5:30 pm
It is also available on the Boston Bruins website in a seven part video. You can CLICK HERE to watch it now. The date for the 2nd episode is not available at the moment but my best guess would be sometime in early October.
What did you guys think of Behind the B?