Bruins' Charlie Coyle has fun story behind ‘Rock, Paper, Scissors' video

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May 29, 2019; Boston, MA, USA; Boston Bruins center Charlie Coyle (13) celebrates after scoring a goal against the St. Louis Blues in the first period in game two of the 2019 Stanley Cup Final at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports

BRIGHTON, Mass. — If you’re a Bruins fan, you’ve probably seen by now the viral video of Charlie Coyle playing “Rock, Paper, Scissors” with a young Bruins fan during pregame warm-ups in Buffalo on Friday night.

The fact that it was actually spelled “Rock, Paper, Sissors” on the sign just made it all the better.

The video showed Coyle and the young fan playing the game three times with the youngster finally winning a puck from the Weymouth native on the third and final trip that the Bruins center made over to the side boards where the fan was holding the sign. Well, according to Coyle it actually went on for much longer than that, which makes the story even better of the interaction between the Bruins player and the adoring young hockey fan.

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“I had never seen [a rock, paper, scissors sign] before, so I thought it was pretty clever,” said Coyle. “I usually do my warm-ups on the other side [of the ice] and I thought ‘Oh, somebody will be over there playing with him.’ I thought it was pretty creative, and he still had the sign up toward the end [of warm-ups] so I thought I’d go over there and play with him for a little bit.

“It was funny because the video only showed me doing it three times with him. When I first went up to him I did three separate [games] with him and I beat him every time. So I was 3-0 and then his friend banged on the glass and said ‘my turn’ and he beat me right away. So I tossed him a puck. I’m pretty sure I did one more with the kid and I beat him again.

"So then I went and did a lap, and that’s when the laps started happening. So I think I beat him a good seven times and I was feeling pretty good about my rock, paper, scissors shoot game. I was starting to think I might get stuck out there with the Zambonis coming out. I wanted to give one to him so bad. And he finally won, and I had a lot of fun with it. You could tell they were having fun with it and having some smiles."

Coyle has shown an eagerness throughout his career to interact with the young fans by the glass during warm-ups, and it probably goes back to his days as a young Weymouth kid watching his older cousin Tony Amonte go through warm-ups at the Garden. Amonte always did something for the Boston kids hanging around by the glass during warm-ups and now Coyle gladly carries on the tradition when he sees Bruins fans.

“When my cousin Tony Amonte was playing and we’d go for warm-ups, we’d have the face paint on and the jerseys. He used to shoot a couple in the stands and we’d hopefully get one or two [pucks],” said Coyle. “Kids eat that stuff up, you know? You see more and more signs now and they’re being more creative. It makes it fun and a little more entertaining. It lets the kids have some fun and that’s really what it’s all about.”

So does the video show the B’s center making a Charlie Coyle fan for life after playing the shoot game with him for a puck?

“I don’t know,” said Coyle with a smile. “But I’ve got his number in rock, paper, scissors. I’m 7-1 against him.”

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