Andrew Ference isnt trying to recreate last years 1980s Bruins Starter jacket with The Chain that Chris Kelly was wearing after his overtime game-winner over the Washington Capitals in Game 1.
The vintage throwback jacket took on a much greater meaning when Nathan Horton went down with a concussion in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals, and then braved his way to TD Garden for Game 4 to present the jacket to Rich Peverley per that teams tradition after playoff wins.
The jacket represented the inspiration Boston played with while attempting to win the Stanley Cup for the felled Horton. It was the tangible, wearable, double-reversible symbol of the camaraderie each Bruins player shared with each other as they bled, sweated and sacrificed their way to a Cup.
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Boston sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
Ference tracked down the 20-link chain, bought the padlock off EBay after one with an embroidered bear head on it was purchased by somebody else and fashioned the B on the lock after he taught himself lettering with a do-it-yourself-engraving kit.
I guess I just have too much time on my hands, and nobody else knows how to use the Internet, said a laughing Ference. I just liked that Kelly had to wear it first. I dont know if people knew whether it was a fashion statement or not because he kept a pretty straight face.
Kelly joked that the gigantic linked chain reminded him of the Junkyard Dog from World Wrestling Federation fame, but admitted Hulk Hogan was a big deal. Andre the Giant was huge back in the day. Who didnt love Jake the Snake, the Iron Sheik and the Ultimate Warrior?
But all kidding aside Kelly was honored to have the chain hanging in his locker while waiting to pass it along to the next playoff hero to emerge for the Black and Gold.
The 20-links on the chain represent each of the 20 players on that nights active game roster, and the notion that nobody will be the weak link on the chain during the playoff run.
We have success when everybody is going and playing their roles, so we talked about nobody being the weak link and having a lot of pride, said Ference. We kinda feed off that. We have a lot of proud guys in this room. It was just kind of from that and being goofy.
Were not necessarily trying to replicate the jacket, but its just a fun thing to do after games. You dont want to put too much meaning into it. Its not that important or this big rallying point. I think with the jacket it ended up becoming more than it was meant to be with Horton and stuff like that. The way the circumstances worked out with his injury and giving it out to Peverley in the next game during an emotional exchange.
The player of the game in every Boston win playoff win will inherit the chain and wear it in the postgame locker room, and each winner will select the recipient in the next Bs postseason victory.
When a player is awarded the chain, he puts a notch on one of the links with his uniform number as a permanent reminder of his Stanley Cup playoff heroics.
But the Bruins defenseman and assistant captain was quick to point out that he wasnt looking to recreate the unique emotional power tapped into by last years hand-me-down Black and Gold jacket.
The Bruins were mocked as pulling Pee Wee hockey by Kevin Bieksa and the Vancouver Canucks during the Stanley Cup Finals, but Ference said The Chain and The Jacket is what makes hockey the purest sport of them all.
They are fun, goofy things to do, but its one of those good ingredients that go into having a fun environment to work in. Even with our success last year we like to take some pride in that we stay true to our roots and what this sport is all about, said Ference. Once you lose that you lose the soul of what hockey is pretty proud of. Its like the Pee Wee team thingBieksa said that, but the Canucks had their own thing going.
I think thats a hockey thing. Theres a lot of pride in the atmosphere that surrounds our sport and the teams. So its just one of the ingredients.
Hockey players are a prideful, salt-of-the-earth sort to begin with, and the Bruins proved last season that there is something extra special going with dressing room chemistry thats the envy of the rest of the NHL. The Chain might be fun and a little goofy, but it also represents a group of hockey players ready to love each other and fight for one another every time an obstacle gets through in their direction.
The Bruins are only as strong as their weakest link, and there are no plans for that chain to be breaking anytime soon.