BOSTON – There is nothing quite like coming home.
Among several other New England natives on the roster, Charlie Coyle (Weymouth, Mass.) has learned that while playing as a timely in-season acquisition for the Boston Bruins en route to the first Stanley Cup Final appearance of his career.
Meanwhile, Auburn, N.H., native Zach Sanford comes into Game 2 of the best-of-seven series at TD Garden as a visitor. Still, he shared the same dreams as Coyle and the area natives who he will oppose with the Western Conference champion St. Louis Blues.
The opportunity is a special one for the 24-year-old playing on a team that is filled with fellow Stanley Cup newcomers.
“This is awesome,” said Sanford, who was born in Salem, Mass., during Sunday’s Stanley Cup Final Media Day. “It’s every kid’s dream to play for your hometown team or to play against them, especially in the Cup. It’s pretty cool to be a part of this and come back home to play the team I grew up watching.”
The two-year Boston College product has enjoyed the most productive and longest National Hockey League tenure of his young career this season, more than doubling his previous career-high point total with 20 through 60 games. Eight of his 12 career goals came this season.
Reaching the NHL pinnacle during this year in particular is that much sweeter for Sanford, who missed all of last season with a dislocated shoulder and then unexpectedly lost his father, Mike, this past September. Even on this stage, returning to Causeway Street was not without plenty of memories, both of his dad and getting to skate at the Garden as an Eagle.
“Growing up, my dad and I used to watch every Bruins game. I was a huge fan,” said Sanford, who played his first 26 career NHL games with the Washington Capitals. “Later on in my career, you think of things like the Beanpot. It was pretty special getting to win one of those. I just think about a lot of positive memories and good wins with families and teammates.”
Sanford has not appeared in a postseason game since the beginning of six-game, first-round series against Winnipeg, but it takes a great deal of depth to find success at this point in the season. Both the Bruins and Blues have that with 19 and 18 different players finding the back of the net throughout their respective three-round runs.
That depth and the renewed confidence since Craig Berube was named interim head coach in November have gone a long way in getting Sanford’s team ― bringing up the Central Division rear at the time of the coaching change ― to this final series against the league-best Bruins.
“We weren’t the team we expected to be,” Sanford said. The Blues, after missing the playoffs by a point last year and losing in the second round during Sanford’s first season with the team (2016-17), were 7-9-3 when Mike Yeo was fired. “A couple switches later ― ‘Chief’ taking over and (Jordan) Binnington in net ― and a couple more guys starting to play better, and we were happy and loving each other. We’ve just be able to come together to what we were hoping for at the start.”
Though the 6-foot-4, 207-pound Sanford has watched all but the first three games of this epic run, over which the Blues have gone 12-7, the Granite Stater’s teammates know that he’s ready to and can contribute to making this series turn out in favor of St. Louis. He didn’t factor into the scoring against the Jets to start his second career postseason, but registered three hits.
“He's been a big player for us throughout the course of the regular season,” defenseman Joel Edmundson said of Sanford. “He hasn't been in too much during the playoffs, but he's been working hard and knows he can get his chance whenever. He's one of the next two guys in line. He's a great guy in the locker room, everyone loves him, so it's pretty special.”
Players like Joe Thornton, Glen Murray, and Sergei Samsonov come to mind when Sanford thinks of his early Bruins fandom. During his high school tenure at Pinkerton Academy, Boston broke its 39-year Cup drought with the likes of Zdeno Chara, Patrice Bergeron, and David Krejci playing a key role as they do today.
Of course, the Sanford allegiances now lie a little differently.
“It is crazy having watched those guys, especially Chara,” Sanford said of the B’s cast of veterans. Brad Marchand and Tuukka Rask were also members of the 2011 Cup-winning club. “It's pretty amazing that he's still around because it's been such a long time and he's still playing at a really high level in this league.
“I was a Bruins fan all the way through. I hate them now.”
