The Boston Bruins are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League, and are a Professional ice hockey team, based in Boston Massachusetts. The Boston Bruins have been playing since 1924, and entered the league as the first American based expansion franchise. They also belong to the Original Six team, with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Detroit Red Wings, New York Rangers, Montreal Canadiens, and Chicago Blackhawks. TD Banknorth Garden is their home arena, where they have being playing since 1995, after leaving Boston Garden which had been their home since 1928, the arena has a capacity of 17,565. Boston has the second most Stanley Cup championships by an American team.

Boston Bruins is the second most American based team with the maximum number of Stanley Cup championships. Detroit being the first ice hockey team has to its crown 11 Stanley Cup Championships. In 1923, Tycoon Charles Adams decided to expand the National Hockey League to the United States. Adams was a great ice hockey fan and convinced the NHL to grant him a franchise for Boston. The Montreal Maroons and the Boston Bruins thus became one of the NHL’s first two expansion teams.

 The Boston Bruins is one of the six teams that came into existence originally. The rest of the five teams are Toronto Maple Leafs, Detroit Red Wings, New York Rangers, Montreal Canadiens, and Chicago Blackhawks. The team played during the initial years at their home in the Boston Garden ever since its formation in 1928. From the year 1995, the team began playing at TD Banknorth Garden which became their new home arena with a capacity of 17,565 spectators.

 With the beginning of the World War II, like most teams Bruins was also affected. Most of the star players lost their productive years of their careers at war. By 1943, the NHL was reduced to just six teams which began to be called the “Original Six”.

The stars returned in the year 1945-46 and Clapper led the team back to the Stanley Cup Final. He retired by the next season and became to be known as the first player in the history to play twenty NHL seasons. Gradually, the team became short of good players.

 In 1954, the Bruins purchased an ice resurfacing machine which had been invented by a gentleman by the name of Frank Zamboni, the first known NHL team to acquire one for their use. The Bruins sought players not protected by other teams and in 1958 signed Willie O’Ree the first black player in the NHL and Tommy Williams from the 1960 Olympic-gold medal winning American national men’s hockey team, the only American player in the NHL at that time—in 1962.

In 1964, the Bruins were repurchased by Weston Adams, after Brown’s death, and set about re-establishing the team. Bobby Orr, who was a defenseman, signed on in 1996, he was announced that season’s winner of the Calder Memorial Trophy for Rookie of the Year and named to the Second NHL. The Bruins hired young forwards who became key elements of the team’s success. From the late 1950s through the 1970’s the “Big Bad Bruins’’ became one of the league’s top teams.

 After 29 years, in 1970 the Bruins made a comeback, after defeating the St. Louis Blues in four games in the Final. Orr scored the game winning goal. He was the only player to win four awards all in the same season. The Bruins set dozens of offensive scoring records; they had seven of the league’s top ten scorers. Every year, through the eighties, the Bruins made the playoffs, but usually did not get very far. The Bruins returned to the Stanley Cup Final in 1990, but again lost to the Oilers, in five games. In 1997 the Bruins missed the playoffs for the first time in 30 years. They moved from Boston Garden in the late 1990s, to their new home, the FleetCenter, now known as the TD Banknorth Garden. After a disappointing season, the team has seen some changes like that Claude Julien has been named as the new Bruins head coach, and Craig Ramsey and Geoff Ward as assistant coaches.

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