When Chris Kelly scored in overtime to win Game 1 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals against the Washington Capitals on Thursday night, he was rewarded with a mob of Boston Bruins teammates, adoring (glass-smashing) fans deliriously chanting his name and … well, this grandiose necklace:
Who designed the Bruins' postgame gear? John Cena?
Actually, this is the new playoff trinket that will be handed out to the player of the game each time the Bruins win during the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs: a thick metal chain with a lock on it (featuring a Bruins logo), with 20 links that represent the 20 players in each Bruins game — a reminder that no one wants to be the weak link in the playoffs.
"It's something, kind of like last year with the jacket. Andrew [Ference] made something that symbolizes a team, a chain," said Chris Kelly, recipient of the first chain. "Try not to be that weak link, and it's one of those things that you pass out after a game. It's one of those things that's all in good fun. It just started for the playoffs."
Kelly made a strong statement in the Bruins' playoff opener against the Capitals at the TD Garden. "He wasn't the weak link [Thursday night]," Tim Thomas added with a smile.
Please recall last season when Ference found a ratty old Bruins warm-up jacket on eBay and it became a celebratory trinket given to each player of the game. The result? Sixteen wins and a Stanley Cup championship for the Bruins.
Will this chain of love have the same effect? That remains to be seen.
But we like it, mainly because it's a multi-use piece of hockey voodoo: For example, the Bruins could use it to keep Milan Lucic attached to the bench in case an opponent makes him hulk out and take a dumb penalty; Tim Thomas can use it as a symbol of the federal government's enslavement of the rights of Free Citizens; Zdeno Chara can use it as dental floss; really, the possibilities are endless …