Bill Burt
BOSTON — Blake Wheeler knows where he was the night of April 19, 2008. He was over his girlfriend's apartment at the University of Minnesota.
"I was with her watching Game 6," he said. "It was one of the greatest games I ever saw. I remember thinking how great it would be to play in that atmosphere."
The "Game 6" Wheeler refers to is, of course, the memorable sixth game of the Bruins-Canadiens first-round matchup at the TD Banknorth Garden.
The Bruins trailed the No. 1-seeded Habs by one goal for most of the game (1-0, 2-1 and 3-2) before scoring two late goals.
They survived a tying goal, which was topped off by Marco Sturm's still talked about game-winner with 2:37 remaining, forcing a Game 7, which the Bruins lost.
But the 6-foot-3 Wheeler, who played one year with fellow Bruin Phil Kessel at the University of Minnesota (both were freshmen), said that special night was on his mind when he became an unrestricted free agent in June.
While it was far from a "Game 6 atmosphere" last night (it was 2,174 short of capacity), it was more memorable for Wheeler. The 22-year-old, in only his 13th NHL game, scored a hat-trick, leading the Bruins to a 5-2 win over the Maple Leafs.
"Obviously with Phil here, I knew a lot about the Bruins," said Wheeler. "Phil and I are close. I watched a lot of their games last year. But it wasn't just Phil. I loved the tradition here. I also loved the fact that they were developing a lot of young guys. It was a perfect fit for me."
Ditto, at least so far, for the Bruins. They have more than their share of games depending on goalie Tim Thomas (1.85 goals-against-average), who is one of only two netminders who have allowed less than two goals per game this season.
Wheeler's three goals last night gave him six on the season, the most for all rookies.
Wheeler's first came on the power play, when he tipped in Dennis Wideman's wrister while in front of Toronto goalie Vesa Toskala at 7:36 of the first period. That put the Bruins ahead 2-0.
His second goal, putting the Bruins ahead 3-0 5:16 into the second period, was an easy back-hander with Toskala down.
His last one was an empty-netter with 57.2 seconds remaining.
Per tradition, a few dozen hats were tossed onto the ice, as well as a particular undergarment that was handed to him by Bruins defenseman Andrew Ferrence.
"It was a bra," said an embarrassed Wheeler. "It was very funny. I didn't ask any questions."
That's what a good rookie is supposed to do, with an emphasis on "good."
"I've been impressed with his maturity from the beginning of training camp," said Wideman, who chipped in with a goal and an assist.
"I don't know how old he is, 19, 20 or 21 (he's 22). He doesn't act like a rookie. And I have to tell you he is a tough guy to defend in practice. He is big and really protects the puck with his body."
A humorous subplot to Wheeler's story was that his big night coincided with his changing numbers, from 42 to 26.
He said he wore "17" his entire as a youth, high school and collegiate player.
"But I wasn't going to fight (Milan) Lucic for it. He would obviously kill me," said Wheeler. "My buddies at home have been getting on me about the 42. So I chose 26 for no special reason."
After the game, he brought up the idea of changing his number again.
"I told Dumzie (Bruins equipment manager Mark Dumas) I might change my number for every game," said Wheeler. "But he said that probably wouldn't be a good idea."
E-mail Bill Burt at bburt@eagletribune.com.
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