Former Bruins teammates thrilled to see Tim Thomas at Capitals game

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Dec 11, 2019; Washington, DC, USA; Boston Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara (33) and Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin (8) participate in a ceremonial puck drop with U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame 2019 inductees (ML-MR) NHL alumni and Olympians Tim Thomas and Brian Gionta, Olympian Krissy Wendell, and Fort Dupont Ice Arena Founder Neal Henderson at Capital One Arena. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

WASHINGTON D.C. — For many of the Boston Bruins players, the sight of Tim Thomas prior to puck drop on Wednesday night against the Washington Capitals was the first time his former teammates had seen him since the last time they played against him in 2014 when he was still a member of the Florida Panthers just prior to getting traded to Dallas.

This time around it wasn’t about Thomas’ stint with the Bruins or his role on the 2011 Stanley Cup team, but instead was about the 42-year-old Thomas as one of the inductees for this winter’s U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame class. Thomas joined fellow former Bruins forward Brian Gionta along with several other inductees to drop the ceremonial puck prior to Boston’s 3-2 loss to the Capitals ahead of Thursday night’s induction ceremony.

There were only a couple of words exchanged between Thomas and Zdeno Chara during the actual puck drop, but other former Cup teammates like Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron made certain to say a few words to the Conn Smythe winner from their 2011 title team.

“I just told him I was happy for him and congrats. He looks like he’s got a 6-pack now, so I’m just happy for him. It was great to see him. It’s been awhile,” said Brad Marchand. “There are a lot of great memories from that group, especially for him to be honored in the Hall of Fame. He definitely deserves it. I didn’t know we were going to see him tonight.

“He competed so hard all the time. Even in practice if you scored on him he would be yelling at you. I think in practice the first time I scored on him, he started screaming at me. So I just shot it at his chest for the rest of the year. He was a competitive guy and that’s why he was such a good player.”

Everybody, of course, knows the numbers by now with Thomas posting a 1.98 goals against average and .940 save percentage during the 2011 Stanley Cup Playoffs, arguably the greatest postseason run by any goalie in recent playoff history.

Things were a bit strained with Thomas and the Bruins in the years that followed after he opted to skip the White House visit in 2012, and then ended his run with the team following a first-round knockout in the 2012 postseason.

It was more than a little ironic, in fact, that the B’s and Thomas crossed paths once again in Washington, D.C. nearly seven years to the day that the Bruins goaltender decided to forego the visit for ideological reasons.

But a lot of time has passed since then with fans even clamoring for Thomas to be the honorary banner captain for the Bruins during their Cup run last spring, and certainly it’s become a celebrated event whenever the remaining B’s core group from 2011 (Zdeno Chara, Bergeron, Marchand, David Krejci and Tuukka Rask) comes across one of their former teammates.

“It was great. It was my first time seeing him in a long, long time, so it was great to see him. He looked great too,” said Bergeron. “I congratulated him on the well-deserved honor. The impact that he has had for us with the Bruins, and also in that Cup run, is something that’s going to be remembered for a long, long time. We haven’t forgotten obviously, so it was good to see him.”

It remains to be seen if there might be some kind of reconciliation between Thomas and the Bruins organization where he could — or would — make an appearance at a game, or an event involving the Bruins.

But for a night anyway, it was good to see Thomas around some of his old teammates while being honored for the tremendous hockey career he enjoyed for both the Bruins and USA Hockey in international play.  

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