The B's are historically known as one of the scrappiest franchises in major sports. Year in and year out, the team has at least one or two gritty, blue-collar brawlers that bring the crowd to its feet by keeping justice on the ice.
This year is no different as this team has plenty of protection up front in Shawn Thornton, Greg Campbell and Milan Lucic, as well as on the blue line in Adam McQuaid and Zdeno Chara.
Some of the game's toughest customers donned Black and Gold on an annual basis dating back to the 1920s and 30s when Eddie Shore patrolled the ice like a hungry shark in shallow waters. In the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s, it was Terry O'Reilly, Wayne Cashman, Stan Jonathan, Lyndon Byers, Jay Miller and Cam Neely taking care of the dirty work with pleasure. Today, when the B's need a spark or if an opponent is asking for a donnybrook, Thornton is the first guy to answer such requests.
On Tuesday, NESN Daily caught up with Micky Ward, who was at Boston’s Newbury Fine Arts Gallery to check out a painting by local artist Brian Fox of the Lowell, Mass., boxing great and Arturo Gatti, commemorating the first fight of their great trilogy. Although it's tough to compare the sweet science to a couple of goons throwing haymakers on the ice, which Bruin would make the best boxer?
Which Bruin would have been the most successful boxer?survey software
