Keith Robinson grew up playing hockey, and his father and uncle worked as visiting locker room attendants at the old Boston Garden. After his high school days in Tewksbury, Mass., he knew his future wasn’t as a player, but the allure of being around the game was strong.
In February, he celebrated his 30th year with the Boston Bruins on the gear side, having been the team’s head equipment manager since the Stanley Cup-winning season of 2010-11.
Robinson sat down recently with NEHJ’s Billy Jaffe to discuss his profession, lifestyle and what it means to be an integral part of the team.
New England Hockey Journal: Being a native of Tewksbury, is it safe to assume you were a Bruins fan growing up?
Keith Robinson: Absolutely. I wore a Bobby Orr hat watching the Bruins since I was old enough to watch. It is pretty neat to work for your hometown team. It’s kind of rare, I think, in professional sports. A lot of avenues take you through universities and junior hockey or minor hockey and you end up relocating to move up the ladder, so you end up being kind of a transplant. It is special to be from this city and always loving the Bruins and the Boston sports teams.
NEHJ: What do you remember about that Cup year that was, for you, the best part, the biggest challenge?
Robinson: It was a unique year to begin with, because right out of the gate we were starting out in Northern Ireland and Prague and a couple of other spots over in Europe, so that was something that was new to our organization. There’s a lot of different logistical things in a trip like that as far as the transportation and the handling of the equipment. It was mid-July when it all went down as far as becoming the head equipment guy, and I immediately started talking to other teams that had done similar trips, and talking to the right people that had the answers to the questions, as far as what the equipment rules were going to be for the flights and the way the equipment had to be marked and tagged and weighed. The guys that worked with me were awesome. We just got a lot of advice from other places, got the right help, and the trip was a success. The team had the opportunity to bond, and got off on the right foot for what was going to be a very special year.
NEHJ: What have you learned through your three runs through the Cup — one win and two losses, unfortunately, for Bruins fans?
Robinson: You don’t know from Game 1 of the playoffs that you are involved in a Cup run. It kind of unfolds game to game. It’s like a roller-coaster ride. You lose a game, you’re like, “Oh shoot, maybe this isn’t going to go the way we hope.” But as you do advance each round, stuff starts to come up where the guys are starting to dial in a little bit differently and kind of getting a little more habitual in their gear and stuff like that, so we try to keep their stuff exactly the way they expect to see it when they come in on a daily basis. It just becomes a little bit more detail oriented. Then as you get further and further, you definitely don’t want to leave anything overlooked. Heaven forbid a goalie mask breaks or something like that and no one threw the backup goalie mask in for that goalie. It’s a whatever-it-takes mentality.
NEHJ: Who has been the biggest influence for you?
Robinson: Hockey players in general are very blue collar and down to earth and approachable, so I am thankful that I am involved in professional hockey. Bobby Crocker was the head equipment guy for the Boston Bruins, and he asked me if I was interested in the opening. So he was actually the guy who got me in there in the first place. Then he left after that year, and I had the pleasure of working with Ken Flager, who had been around the game since he was a young man. I got to travel and work with him for several years. He was probably the biggest influence.
NEHJ: Are players pickier than ever right now, because of all the options they have?
Robinson: CCM, Bauer and Warrior, those are probably the big three (companies). I don’t think the guys are pickier. I think things have turned toward weight … how light, how protective, how light they stay during the course of a game, how well they wick away the sweat. The older materials would just absorb it, and inevitably would get heavier and heavier as the game went on. They’re not pickier, but everyone wants lighter, faster and still have the protection. Those companies have done a great job — and some of the others, like STX and True — they all make very nice equipment now.
NEHJ: Is equipment more durable than it was before?
Robinson: We definitely go through a significant amount of sticks and skates and perhaps gloves (maybe more) than we used to. Partially it’s to do with manufacturing, but if you’re trying to go lighter and lighter, chances are the stuff won’t hold up as it had in the past, where there were leathers, but it was heavy. All the stuff today is light — lighter foams, lighter everything. It doesn’t necessarily last like it did in the past.
NEHJ: Sidney Crosby’s cup protection is legendary. I think he’s worn the same one since juniors. Are there any players who had something they just would not give up and you had to constantly put it back together?
Robinson: Some guys want new gloves all the time, some guys push ’em and push ’em and push ’em. Nate Horton, we worked on his gloves a lot, he wouldn’t part with them. Everything is so light and is not really made for the long haul, so to prolong the life of a glove or shoulder pad, as “Doc,” the old equipment guy, used to say, “You’ve got to know how to put a stitch on a stitch sometimes.” That was truly the case with Nate’s gloves. They were truly destroyed. Not just fixing and replacing spots and holes on the palms, but the gussets, the outside of the fingers, would wear out and we’d have to redo a covering of the outside. ... A lot of guys keep the inner stuff a lot longer — shoulder pads, elbows and shins, they start conforming to fit around their body parts and their straps become stretched in such a way that allows enough movement and comfort level while still protecting.
NEHJ: What’s the toughest part?
Robinson: It’s a unique commitment where you don’t have a normal schedule like other folks might have. A game day might very well end up being 20 hours, from start to finish, depending on if you’re traveling postgame, then having to set up when you get to the next spot.
NEHJ: What’s the best part?
Robinson: The opportunity to work with the best in the world in what they do, and having the responsibility of meeting their needs and expectations, in a sport that I love. I don’t think I was ever going to be a 9-to-5er or have a desk job, so it is unique. It’s a relatively small group of people who do what I do, and I’m very fortunate to do it at this level. It’s very rewarding to work with these guys at this level.
