The Bruins host the Canadiens tonight at TD Garden, and the club has turned the night into a college-hockey Homecoming.
The Bruins are 13-4-1 and first in the Atlantic Division, riding a four-game winning streak into one of the loudest dates on the calendar.
Then there's the sweater. Just this morning, the club put out a look back at its uniform history to introduce the "Varsity Sweater."
The Bruins' own post says it's the first all-brown uniform since the franchise's inaugural season in 1924, with Ivy League prep stylings that pay homage to Boston's college hockey scene.
An all-brown sweater in a league full of white and black and gold is a bold swing, and it fits the theme. Nobody has said it's on the ice tonight, but it clearly belongs to the Homecoming atmosphere around this game.
The sound will match the look. Charlie McAvoy found out the Northeastern pep band will play at TD Garden, and the defenseman lit up. We told you about McAvoy learning a band is coming on Wednesday.
Why McAvoy loves the college feel
The Bruins posted his reaction, and McAvoy sounded like a guy who misses the college game.
He called the band "really unique" and said it's "by far one of my favorite things that I remember." Jack Studley relayed another piece of it, with McAvoy saying "The Dog Pound doesn't mess around."
McAvoy has 9 points in 12 games this season and a +10 rating. He'll be in the middle of a Garden crowd that should be louder than usual.
The opponent adds to it. Marco Sturm said Wednesday that Montreal is still the Bruins' biggest rivalry, "not even close." We covered Sturm naming that rivalry when he said it.
The Canadiens come in at 11-3-4, third in the Atlantic, and they lost 2-1 in overtime to Minnesota on Tuesday. They have gone 7-0-3 in their last 10, so this isn't a team that shows up to be a prop in somebody's party.
Boston is 8-1-0 at home, and that's the number that makes tonight interesting. Montreal is the first real Atlantic measuring stick for a Bruins team that has been rolling, and the band, the brown sweater and the rivalry only raise the volume on it.
This article was written with the help of artificial intelligence, based on public reports and official sources.
Should the Bruins wear the all-brown Varsity Sweater on the ice every Homecoming night?
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Charlie McAvoy learns a band is coming to TD Garden