SALT LAKE CITY – Jim Montgomery is no stranger to Utah.
Boston’s bench boss played for the Utah Grizzlies – then the Dallas Stars’ AHL affiliate – for two seasons (2001-03) and called Salt Lake City “one of the best places I’ve ever lived.”
“I loved it…aesthetically, with the mountains right on top of you. The weather is outstanding, and people are really, really nice,” said Montgomery
The team Montgomery leads, however, is not as familiar with this town as Boston gets set for its inaugural matchup against Utah Hockey Club on Saturday night.
The Bruins have been in town since early Thursday morning, having flown in after their win over Colorado in the road-trip opener, leaving them plenty of time to soak up the enthusiasm for hockey that is building around the city.
"We’ve all been very impressed with how much the people are talking about the hockey, how excited they are,” Montgomery said following morning skate at Delta Center. “There’s a buzz and an energy downtown that we’ve noticed that is very exciting for the league and for them.”
And within that buzz, there is plenty of Black & Gold.
“I was surprised because I was like, ‘this might be the one place where you don’t see a lot of Bruins jerseys.’ But [on Friday], I was walking around downtown and saw a lot of Bruins hats and jerseys already. Thank God for Bobby Orr,” Montgomery said with a chuckle.
Utah is off to a strong 3-1-1 start in their inaugural campaign, sitting just a point back of Winnipeg and Dallas for the top spot in the Central Division, though they have dropped two straight – a 3-0 loss to New Jersey and a 5-4 overtime setback against Anaheim in their last outing on Wednesday.
“Just their speed in transition is very noticeable,” said Montgomery. “They got three lines that can score. We’re just gonna have to be really good checking, we’re gonna have to be really good at getting above pucks so they’ve got to come through us.”
