Bruins Unveil Winter Classic Equipment, Test it During Practice

BOSTON - Linus Ullmark was born in 1993 and grew up in Northern Sweden.
As such, he did not have regular access to Bruins games on television.
But he remembers, nonetheless, flipping through hockey magazines and his hockey card collection and seeing former Black & Gold backstops Andy Moog and Byron Dafoe among some of the game's great goaltenders of that era like Dominik Hasek and Patrick Roy.

So, when the chance to create some custom goalie gear came about with the Bruins set to take part in the 2023 Discover NHL Winter Classic against the Pittsburgh Penguins at Fenway Park, Ullmark jumped at the chance to pay tribute to those that came before him.
"Growing up, those were the pictures I had of hockey cards with [Moog], Darren Puppa, Patrick Roy, Dominik Hasek and some other guys from the early '90s, early 2000s," said Ullmark. "They always had cool gear at that point. That's where my love for goaltending and gear started. I always wanted to have something that was from that time."
Ullmark got his wish, or at least the closest thing to it.
The B's netminder debuted his Winter Classic get-up during Friday's practice at Warrior Ice Arena, as Boston began to break in some of its equipment for the upcoming outdoor game on Jan. 2.

Ullmark's goalie mask features a paint job, courtesy of David Gunnarsson, that resembles the growling bear that Moog donned with the Bruins during the later portion of his six-year tenure with the club.
"I really like that old look of the mask, especially now when we're gonna have the bear [from that era] on the jerseys," said Ullmark, who also has his usual four polar bears displayed on the backplate, representing himself, his wife Moa, and children Harry and Lily.
"It really suited how I wanted the mask to be. I wanted it to be a little bit more old school. I like the yellow cage. I've had it before. We talked it through, added the [vintage] Spoked-B on both sides as well.
"But overall, I wanted to have something that's very simple but also detailed in a way. When you look at it from a distance you can see what it is but also come closer and see the little details."
For his pads, glove, and blocker, Ullmark went with a tribute to Dafoe and his design from the late 1990s.
"Lord Byron, Byron Dafoe…I just loved the swag that he had on the pictures that I saw," said Ullmark. "I never had the opportunity to watch him play but same thing [as Moog] where I would see his pads, catchers, and blockers in magazines or anything like that and it goes well with what I wear now…we thought that would look cool. It turned out great."
While the pads themselves remain modern, the technology that Bauer used created what appears to be Dafoe's old design on the front, which also feature stars with each of the Bruins' 12 retired numbers.
"It makes it look older than they are," Ullmark said of the technology. "It has some great details with the retired numbers on the side which I'm proud to wear and pay tribute to other people who have put down their blood, sweat, and tears with this organization. It feels great to do that."

Jeremy Swayman, meanwhile, took care of the baseball portion of this year's Winter Classic theme. In addition to the vintage bear and Spoked-B logos, Swayman went with Red Sox, Fenway Park, and Winter Classic logos on the left side of his mask, and images of Red Sox greats David Ortiz, Ted Williams, and Curt Schilling on the right side.
"Ted, Papi, Schill...David Ortiz, just the impact that he had on the game and of course this city alone…to be able to put him on my mask and pay tribute is something special," said Swayman. "All three of those guys did some incredible things for this city so it will be great to represent that on a unique stage.
"I just wanted to make sure I put everything on the mask, obviously represented the Bruins and Red Sox, as well, because Boston…every team here means a ton to this city…I was excited to put both the Red Sox and Bruins logo on the mask."
Swayman's goalie pads feature a brown, leather throwback look, reminiscent of those worn by netminders back in the day before personalization became the norm.
"That [bear] logo has the throwback look and vintage color so I thought something cool would be to match it up with the pads and kind of have that waffle board looking pad color like they had back in the old days," said Swayman. "I think it's gonna look sweet and it's gonna match all the guys' gloves, too. That was kind of my thought process of throwing it back and playing the part."

Many of the Bruins skaters also tested out some of their Winter Classic equipment during Friday's skate, as they donned the pants and brown/gold gloves that will be worn with the uniforms that were unveiled late last month.
"Yeah, brown gloves…kind of brings you back a little bit," said Matt Grzelcyk. "I think it looks better once the full ensembles are on, so we haven't really had a chance to look. [Patrice Bergeron] put it on [for the photoshoot] - he looks good in anything, so we'll see once everyone else puts it on how good it looks. But I'm a big fan."

For Grzelcyk, it won't be the first time he suits up at Fenway Park, having skated on the rink that was built for the 2010 Winter Classic when he was playing at Belmont Hill.
"This is a little bit of a step up, for sure. I got a taste of it in 2019," Grzelcyk said of playing in the 2019 Winter Classic against Chicago at Notre Dame Stadium. "Those are the games that you kind of remember…it's the stuff that goes on there before that I think makes it special.
"You get the family skate, you get to share that moment with them.I think that's kind of what they remember most - and obviously the game is super important and it's back to business once the puck drops. But just a special event to take part in."

Taylor Hall has yet to participate in an outdoor game during his career, but remembers well attending the NHL's inaugural outdoor game, the Heritage Classic between the Oilers and Canadiens at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton in 2003.
"It'll be cool. It'll be awesome. It's my first outdoor game, so it's something I want to really take in," said Hall. "I was really excited for something like this when I got traded here, knowing that the Bruins usually play in these special events, so this is awesome for me.
"I went to the first one in Edmonton as a kid when they played Montreal…I was there, I was freezing my butt off there…20 years later, almost, it's cool to be playing in one.
"I was so young. I remember thinking, like, why is everyone drinking cold beer? But now as an adult, I can see why you'd want to have anything to make you feel a bit warmer."

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