It’s been an incredibly difficult month for the city of Boston. The tragic bombings at the Boston Marathon shook the town to its core. Tonight, one of the heroes from that harrowing day will be on hand to give the Boston Bruins an emotional lift against the Toronto Maple Leafs in game two of the NHL Stanley Cup Finals.
Jeff Bauman, who helped identify one of the suspects in the Marathon bombings, will be the ceremonial flag waiver to open tonight’s game. Still heavily drugged during his recovery from the injuries suffered, Bauman wrote down that he looked suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev in the eyes before Tsarnaev planted the bomb. This will be Bauman’s first public appearance since the terrible event.
The tradition of waiving the flag at the Bruins playoff games has been quite a spectacle these past few years. During the 2011 Stanley Cup run, famous Bruins such as Cam Neely, Milt Schmidt and Ray Bourque opened the pregame rally by waiving a flag bearing their number.
Most notable was an appearance by Bobby Orr, a Boston legend considered by many as the greatest defenseman to ever lace up skates, in which he waived a flag with Nathan Horton‘s number. Horton had been seriously injured by Vancouver Canucks defenseman Aaron Rome, and this became the emotional spark that helped Boston rally from an 0-2 deficit against the Canucks, which eventually lead to Boston’s first Stanley Cup since 1972.
Bauman, who lost both of his legs in the Marathon attacks, will waive the flag from a press box. There have been plenty of touching scenes of courage and strength since the horrible events on April 15, and this will surely be a powerful moment for both the Bruins and the city of Boston.
