Boston Bruins

The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston. The Bruins compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team has been in existence since 1924, making them the third-oldest active team in the NHL, and the oldest in the United States.

The Bruins are one of the "Original Six" NHL teams, along with the Detroit Red Wings, Chicago Blackhawks, Montreal Canadiens, New York Rangers, and Toronto Maple Leafs. They have won six Stanley Cup championships, tied for fourth-most of any team with the Blackhawks (trailing the Canadiens, Maple Leafs, and Red Wings, with 24, 13, and 11, respectively), and tied for second-most for an NHL team based in the United States. The Bruins have also won the Presidents' Trophy four times, with their most recent win in 2022–23 having amassed 135 points—the most in one season in NHL history.

The first facility to host the Bruins was the Boston Arena (now known as Matthews Arena), the world's oldest (built 1909–10) indoor ice hockey facility still in use for the sport at any level of competition. Following the Bruins' departure from the Boston Arena, the team played its home games at the Boston Garden for 67 seasons, beginning in 1928 and concluding in 1995, when they moved to TD Garden.

In 1924, the NHL made the decision to expand to the United States. The previous year in 1923, sports promoter Thomas Duggan received options on three NHL franchises for the United States, and sold one to Boston grocery magnate Charles Adams. The team was one of the NHL's first expansion teams, and the first NHL team to be based in the United States. Adams' first act as owner was to hire Art Ross, a former player and innovator, as general manager. Ross, with assistance from his secretary, came up with "Bruins" for a team nickname. The team's nickname also went along with the team's original uniform colors of brown and yellow, which came from Adams' grocery chain, First National Stores.

On December 1, 1924, the Bruins won the first ever NHL game played in the United States, hosting the Montreal Maroons at Boston Arena, with Smokey Harris scoring the first-ever Bruins goal, spurring the Bruins to a 2–1 win. This would be one of the few high points of the season, as the Bruins lost their next 11 games and only managed a 6–24–0 record, finishing in last place in its first season. The Bruins played three more seasons at the Arena, after which they became the main tenant of Boston Garden.

The Bruins improved in their second season to a winning 17–15–4 record, which originally held the record for the biggest single-season improvement in NHL history. However, they missed out on the third and final playoff berth by one point to the expansion Pittsburgh Pirates.

In their third season, Ross took advantage of the collapse of the Western Hockey League (WHL) to purchase several western stars, including the team's first great star, defenseman Eddie Shore. With the Bruins, he would go on to become one of the greatest players in NHL history. Boston qualified for the then-expanded playoffs. In their first-ever playoff run, the Bruins reached the Stanley Cup Final where they lost to the Ottawa Senators. The Stanley Cup-winning game for the Senators would see Bruins' Billy Coutu attack the referee, earning him a ban from the NHL for life, the only in league history.

The 1928–29 season was the first played at Boston Garden. It also featured the NHL debut of goaltender Tiny Thompson, who assisted the Bruins in defeating the New York Rangers to win their first Stanley Cup.