Boston Bruins history for August 31:
1975: John Grahame (full name John Gillies Mark Grahame) is born in Denver, Colorado. He was drafted in 1994 by Boston but decided to play three years of college hockey before going pro, first spending time minding the net in Providence. During his second year with the P-Bruins, he was part of the team that won the Calder Cup. But in 1999-2000, he got the call-up to Boston to back up Byron Dafoe, doing so well that he was second in balloting for the league’s all-rookie team. He broke his ankle in the 2000 offseason and had trouble getting back to his top form, but he played three more years in Boston before a trade to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
That sparked him back to top form and he backed up Nikolai Khabibulin as the Lightning won their first-ever Stanley Cup. So, he started the next season as Tampa Bay’s starter, but slumped and got called out by then-coach John Tortorella and signed with the Carolina Hurricanes in 2006. While with the Hurricanes, he played a game at the 2006 Olympics and was the Team USA starter at the 2007 World Championship. Over the course of his career, he also played in the KHL, with the Flyers’ AHL affiliate, with Colorado and the New York Islanders. He’s also the goaltending coach for the USHL’s Sioux City Musketeers, where he used to play.
1986: Blake Wheeler (full name Blake James Wheeler) is born in Plymouth, Minnesota. His college career with the Minnesota Golden Gophers included some big highlights, like 39 points in 23 games his freshman year (playing alongside Phil Kessel), his hat trick in the 2007 Final Five against Wisconsin or his overtime game-winner against North Dakota in the championship game that year. Not only was that goal shown on SportsCenter, it was favorably compared to a similar goal scored by another Golden Gopher, Neal Broten, against North Dakota in 1979. Of course, the year after that, Broten was part of the Miracle on Ice team that beat the Soviet Union in the 1980 Winter Olympics and took home the gold.
Back to Wheeler, who was named an alternate captain the following year. But after that season, it had been four years since he’d been drafted by the Phoenix Coyotes and he had yet to sign any sort of deal with them. Even though Phoenix offered the max entry-level deal to him, he declined and became a free agent. Instead, he signed an entry-level deal with Boston in 2008, scoring his first goal that October and his first hat trick that November. He also played in the 2009 YoungStars game and learned the lesson about wearing a visor the hard way. After two full seasons with Boston where he had at least 38 points each campaign, he was traded in February 2011 to Atlanta along with Mark Stuart. He followed the team to Winnipeg and signed a two-year deal with them in July of that year.
Click here to read more Today in Boston Bruins History articles.
Buy Boston Bruins Tickets | Buy Boston Bruins Apparel
