On that day, a young grocery store financier from Vermont, Charles Francis Adams, who had fallen in love with the game while watching the Stanley Cup playoffs, paid the National Hockey League a rumored $15,000 for the privilege of owning a team in the finest hockey league in the world and icing the first American based squad in the NHL.

After that seminal day, the Bruins have served as the beloved hometown hockey team for each New England town, hamlet, city and village.

At their best, the squad has been a world-beater, with names such as Orr, Esposito, Cheevers, Bourque and Neely becoming household words as they led Boston to numerous division and conference crowns and five Stanley Cups. And even in the years when they did not post much of a challenge to their NHL brethren, Boston’s hockey team held true to the notion that Bruins do not leave anything on the ice.

The first manager of the franchise, Art Ross, was a Hall of Fame innovator who led the team from its infancy through its first three Stanley Cups. However, his boss Mr. Adams certainly helped cement his credentials when he purchased the entire Western Canada Hockey League to supply talent for his club.