2011 Stanley Cup Finals: Bruins Motivated to Win Cup for Injured Nathan Horton

The Boston Bruins are two wins from their first Stanley Cup title in 39 years, and while there are many people they’d like to win the Cup for, there is no person they are more motivated to win for than teammate Nathan Horton. 

Horton was carried off the ice on a stretcher in Game 3 because of a vicious hit to the head by Vancouver Canucks defenseman Aaron Rome. Rome was suspended for the rest of the Finals for the hit, and Horton will miss the rest of the series with a severe concussion. 

“I’ve said it for the last few days, he’s an unbelievable teammate,” said Bruins forward Shawn Thornton to reporters after the game regarding Horton. 

“He’s so positive; he’s such in a good mood all the time. He makes everyone around him feel better about themselves…” Thornton added. 

The Bruins have a tradition of giving a Starter team jacket to the player who played a big role from that particular night to wear. That player usually goes to the podium for the postgame press conference, so I’m sure most of you who’ve watched the Bruins in the playoffs have seen the black jacket.

Bruins defenseman Andrew Ference bought the jacket on eBay for $35. 

After their dominant 8-1 win in Game 3, the team hung the jacket in Horton’s locker. They were comfortable with leaving it there for the rest of the series, and not rewarding it to anyone else. 

But Horton went into the locker room after Game 4 to present the jacket to Game 4 hero Rich Peverley, who was Horton’s replacement on the top line and scored two goals in the win. 

“I mean I can’t, I don’t think I’ve ever met a more positive guy in the room. So for him to come in, the guys were pretty excited,” said Thornton about Horton coming into the dressing room after the game to present the jacket. 

In his own Game 4 postgame press conference, Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas talked about Horton visiting his teammates in the locker room. 

“Well, first of all, I was very, very happy to see Nathan up and around in the locker room. I wasn't exactly sure of his status. You know, I'd heard that he was okay, but then I heard it was a severe concussion. I didn't know if 'okay' meant he's going to live or...” said Thomas. 

“When I personally got to see him in the locker room, you know, I was incredibly happy and it gave me a big boost. He was there to pass the jacket on. We didn't pass the jacket on the last game with him gone. I think the team would have been happy leaving it with Horty for the rest of this series, but he wanted to give it away and keep the tradition going that we'd started,” Thomas added.

Since Rome’s menacing hit on Horton, the Bruins have outscored the Canucks 12-1, and all of them were allowed by Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo, who, like Boston’s Tim Thomas, is a Vezina Trophy finalist this season, an award given to the NHL’s most outstanding goaltender.

“You know it’s nice to score goals. It’s so important to be able to produce and win games by scoring goals,” said Bruins captain Zdeno Chara to reporters after the game.

However, Chara assured reporters that despite the lopsided scores in Boston, the series is still tied heading to Vancouver. “But it’s also one of these things that you score twelve goals but still it’s a two-two series so,” he added.

The decision on who to replace Horton with on the top line was a difficult one for Bruins head coach Claude Julien, who had several players capable of stepping into that role.

He decided to put winger Rich Peverley on the top line with Milan Lucic and David Krejci, and Peverley responded with two goals.

Julien spoke about Peverley’s performance in his postgame press conference:

“We had different looks. We saw Ryder go up there a few times as well when Rich was killing penalties,” said Julien.

“I said I'd use different players at that position. Pev's got good speed. Their line had forechecks pretty well with Lucic on one side. We thought we'd keep that going.  He still has pretty decent hands.”

The Bruins now go into Vancouver for the pivotal Game 5, and with a win, they would return to Boston with a chance to win the Cup in front of their home fans.

The hit on Horton was the turning point of the series and has certainly rallied an already close-knit team into a real family.

With one of their beloved teammates missing, the Bruins now have even more motivation to lift Lord Stanley’s Cup this season.

“Well I said it before that we are on big family, we play for each other, so obviously we are playing for him and for other things too but he is such a, he is so a likable guy and one of the favorite guys in this team,” said Chara after the game.

“You lose a guy like that so you want to play for him as well.”

Jacket photo was taken from WHDH, from this article.

Nicholas Goss is a Boston Bruins featured columnist for Bleacher Report. He was the organization's on-site reporter for the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals in Boston. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained firsthand. Follow him on Twitter for Bruins playoff news and analysis.