Only two days after the marathon bombings took place, a group of students from Plymouth State traveled down to Boston to watch the Bruins match up against the Buffalo Sabres in what proved to be an emotional and intense match-up.
Sporting Bruins’ gear and homemade shirts that read ‘Pray for Boston’, the group headed down into a city still reeling in tragedy. Inside the TD Garden, the atmosphere was reflective of a city trying to cope with such an event by doing what they do best, cheering on their team:
“This was my first game so it was a lot to take in already, but looking down, we were on the very top, all you could see was yellow and black and a few American flags that people were holding, wearing, and hanging up in their seating,” said senior, Kristen Spinney.
In what proved to be one of the most moving gatherings after the bombings, a short slideshow was shown on the big screen of photos from the explosion. Senior, Steph Melo, said, “the video was very emotional; I know a lot of people were touched by it. There were some great images and the tone throughout the Garden during the video was just great. The crowd cheered for certain photos and others it was dead silent.”
When it came time for the national anthem, Rene Rancourt stepped on to the ice as he always does, but this time he let the fans sing every word, pounding his fist to keep them in time with the music.
“I was looking around and everyone just seamed to be all on the same page,” said Spinney, “you could tell that it meant a lot to be able to all sing together for the same reason. It didn’t matter if you were there for the other team, at that moment when we were all singing together, we were all on the same side routing for the same team: the USA.”
The extremely intense game ended with theBruins losing in a shoot-out to the Sabres, but the game meant much more to the city, “they did not play the best that I’ve ever seen them play,” said Melo, “but it was still a good game. They did end up losing but I don’t think the fans really cared. I think the one thing that is great about Bruins’ fans is that it is more than just a game that they are there for.”