Coyle family embraces forward's homecoming to Bruins

EAST WEYMOUTH, Mass.-- When you pull onto the cul-de-sac, it's easy to think that you've found the Coyle house. There's a Boston Bruins jersey on display, tucked between the storm door and the front door, a beacon on a quiet darkened street. Except, that isn't the right number.

You pass another house with a jersey, then another, and another. There are four with jerseys or shirts hanging, one with a large Bruins flag swinging. They were all quickly switched out from Minnesota Wild gear on the day, a month ago, that Charlie Coyle learned he was heading home.
The Bruins traded for the forward from East Weymouth on Feb. 20, sending fellow Massachusetts native Ryan Donato to the Wild along with a conditional fifth-round pick in the 2019 NHL Draft.
It was long-rumored that there might be a fit between the Bruins and Coyle, a 27-year-old center who came up through Weymouth hockey and the South Shore Kings and Boston University, before being chosen No. 28 in the first round of the 2010 NHL Draft by the San Jose Sharks. He has two goals and two assists in 15 games with the Bruins.
The Bruins, who are in second place in the Atlantic Division and have clinched a spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, host the New York Rangers at TD Garden on Wednesday (7:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN).

Finally, one of the shirts matches a house with the correct number, and the side door by the garage opens, revealing Chuck Coyle, his two daughters -- Jess, 31, and Jill, 28 -- and wife, Theresa. Theresa is wearing a Bruins long-sleeved shirt, though not one personalized to her son, along with black-and-gold socks, and Jill has accessorized her Bruins shirt with a pom-pom hat emblazoned with "Coyle" and "13."
It isn't an unusual scene for a family that shares a daily group text. They gather in this family room for most away games -- Chuck and Theresa have attended most of the home games since the trade -- especially those on weekends, when Jill and Jess, who live together in an apartment in Braintree, Massachusetts, don't have to work late or get up early. Chuck's 80-year-old mother watches every game, as does Theresa's 90-year old mom, often accompanied by a cowbell. Theresa recently woke up after a Bruins win to a voicemail that included only the ringing of the cowbell, and the words, "Need I say more?"
On this night in March, the Bruins are in Winnipeg. A second Weymouth native, Paul Carey, is making his Bruins debut, which feels perfectly in line with the insular world of Massachusetts and New England hockey on a team that has also employed Chris Wagner (Walpole, Massachusetts), Matt Grzelcyk (Charlestown, Massachusetts), Donato, and Noel Acciari (Johnston, Rhode Island) this season.
For now, the Coyles settle in. Jess -- who played on a hockey team with Carey as a kid -- and Jill take the far piece of the sectional that dominates the room. Theresa occupies the loveseat on the wall opposite from her girls. Chuck sits in a leather armchair that looks like his usual spot.

"There's a rule that we can't even like speak when the game's on, because of him," Jess says, laughing.
"Tonight's the exception," Jill interjects.
"We plan when we have to go to the bathroom," Jess continues.
"No, sir," Chuck insists. "Don't listen to these guys."
"We have to either crawl under or wait til there's a commercial -- and we run," Jess says.
"It's like the highway -- they keep on going by," Chuck complains.
This has all been an adjustment, born of the events of the past month. Before, the Coyles had a routine. They would journey to Minnesota a couple of times a year, perhaps meet Charlie on the road for a game -- New York, Montreal -- and see him in the summers, when he would return for offseason training.
Now he's here, 30 minutes down the road, laying on this couch on a Sunday off-day, accessible, as he was for so many years of his hockey life -- as they weren't sure he would ever be again.

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Charlie had called his parents that day, knowing he had been traded, but not knowing his destination. Wild general manager Paul Fenton had told him only that he would like the result.
"I said, 'That's the Bruins!' [Fenton] is from here, and I just had that feeling," Chuck said. "Either that or to a first-place team. But my gut was telling me the Bruins."
They turned on the NHL Network. They fired up the computer. Kevin Hayes's father was calling. Chris Wagner's father was texting.
It was the Bruins, of course, to Charlie's delight.
"It's just as simple as being close to my family," Charlie said. "I can go home on off days and have a home-cooked meal with my mom and dad, two sisters. I've got an 80-year-old grandmother, a 90-year-old grandmother I don't see very often. So just to see them -- I think that's what counts.
"[With Minnesota], I came home for Christmas, Thanksgiving, just those holidays. You don't feel as [much a] part of the family. That's better than nothing. But you can't beat this."
This was a near-idyllic place to grow up. Other kids were everywhere, and there was a neighbor with a pond for pond hockey. Otherwise, they set up a net on the cul-de-sac to allow for hours of entertainment and skills development. Though eventually there were enough broken pickets on the house's fence that the Coyles encased the hockey goal in a soccer net to catch some of the stray pucks that they still unearth in their bushes from time to time.
"We'd put [it] behind the net so Charlie could miss, so he wouldn't dent the garage or hit my dad's car," said Jess, now the director of adult performance and a strength and conditioning coach at Edge Performance Systems in Foxborough, which trains numerous NHL players.
Memories of those early years abound in this room, which is covered with photos. Next to the large-screen TV is a medley of pictures from Coyle's home debut with the Bruins, a game in which the team honored the family of Weymouth police officer Michael Chesna, killed in the line of duty last July. Captain Zdeno Chara stayed back on the bench for the ceremonial puck drop, urging Coyle out instead.

On the other side of the fireplace are Coyle's first skates, hung by some birthday balloons and a blown-up picture of an early Wild goal with an inscription to Chuck from Charlie. The skates are a bit sun-damaged, Theresa says ruefully, having split in the back after being hung in the doorway. They have been moved here for protection from the elements.
The family jokes about someone else wearing them one day. Or the Hall of Fame requesting them.
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In the past few weeks, the Coyles have become regulars at TD Garden, helped by the Wagners, who they've known since Charlie and Chris played together at 18 years old. The two families traveled to road games then and formed a bond that endures. Paul and Cindy Wagner, Chris's parents, have made introductions to other Bruins parents, easing the way in for a new family joining near the end of the season.
"They're showing us the ropes around the Garden: What to do, what not to do, where to go," Chuck says.
They have been adjusting to this new life, one where everyone around them knows exactly what their son is up to -- and not just those who have sprung for NHL.TV. One neighbor, not really a hockey fan, told Chuck recently, "I've never watched so much hockey [as] in the last six games in my life."
A trip to CVS that once took minutes now takes an hour, as people want to stop and chat about the Bruins' latest addition. A call to a doctor's office sees the last name ring a bell for a season-ticket holder. They understand how much everyone cares. They understand that having him home, now, truly worked out for the best.
"It was nice that he got drafted and got to play, but it was nice that he got that time away," Theresa said of the good and bad of playing at home. "Maturity and all that other stuff, navigating things on your own. It was nice. To have him come back this way is priceless. But it's nice to see him come back as a 27-year-old."
When he was with Minnesota, visits were few, even for a family as close as the Coyles. Charlie would get home for the Christmas break, for summers, but during the season there were always demands.

Now, there are off days. There's a 30-minute commute. There are grandparents in the stands for his birthday and there is someone to go car shopping with him when he needs a second opinion. Home is not easy for everyone, and it's obvious there is pressure for Charlie, who on this night still has yet to score his first goal as a member of the Bruins.
When Charlie gets a chance near the net midway through the first period, the entire family screams, "Shoot it!" simultaneously, and groans when the chance doesn't connect.
"We're looking for the first goal here," Jill says. "I think you can tell."
He will get it, in the final minutes of this game against the Jets, a tip off a shot by Chara. It will not provide the difference, as the Bruins lose their third consecutive game on this road trip, but it will provide a moment of celebration -- and relief -- for at least one family on this dark side street in East Weymouth.
"All this bashing of Charlie was good karma," Jess quips.
It is likely that, despite the Bruins loss, other families are happy with the outcome for Coyle, families of Bruins fans converted to Wild fans converted back to Bruins fans again. The Coyles know how that goes.
Though they were always a Bruins family at heart, when the kids were little there was probably as much Chicago Blackhawks fandom in the house as there was for the home team. The kids had grown up during the years in which Tony Amonte, a cousin on Chuck's side, played in Chicago, and they would be fully outfitted when he came to town.
"The kids would all be decked out, faces painted," Chuck said.
They didn't mind the looks. They welcomed them. This time, though, the Wild clothes have been shed. The Blackhawks gear has been long outgrown. Black-and-gold is the rule, with the No. 13 well represented.
"It used to cost me an arm and a leg back then to bring the whole family in there," Chuck said, of those old Bruins-Blackhawks games. "Who would have thought we'd be doing it again?"