Boston Bruins: How Cam Neely's Toughness Has Rubbed off on the B's

The Bruins, a storied franchise that have seen some of the greatest players in NHL history wear their team's jersey proudly, have won numerous Stanley Cups and are looking to rise to greatness once again in 2011.

One of the NHL greats spoken of is former Bruins right winger Cam Neely. Neely is now the president of the Bruins and he knows a thing or two about playing hockey at a high level. In his day, Cam Neely was not only a great goal scorer, but a feared fighter on the ice.

As recently as December, Neely stressed that the B's are a better team than they have been playing like and really feels that a key issue that needs to be addressed is their inconsistency.

To be consistent, Cam feels the Bruins need to improve their power plays.

The Hall of Famer also spoke about some reported tiffs between various Bruins players at practices on occasion.

"You have to respect each other, you don't have to necessarily like each other," he said. "When things are going bad, you should be a little ornery, antsy and upset. From my perspective, if guys are battling each other in practice and and are upset, it's not necessarily a bad thing."

While Neely seemingly remains somewhat optimistic and confident, he did come back to one thing: consistency.

"I dunno if we're at a crossroads," he said. "We just have to figure out how to play more consistent. I think we're a much better team than we're showing, and we feel we can be more consistent."

It is important as the president of a team to show that you care. In addition because Neely speaks from personal experience, the players really respect his view and opinion. Recent trades by the Bruins have shown Neely's focus on the team and its needs and show that it is not only the players who are pushing to win the Stanley Cup, but the front office, too.

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Cory Ducey, a fan of the Bruins sums it up best when he said, "With players such as Tomas Kaberle, Rich Peverley and Chris Kelly in place, the B's seem to be more motivated and on the same page." The Bruins have seen a drastic turnaround from that December slump and now with David Krejci returning to his play-making ways, the B's find themselves sitting on top of the Northeast Division and second in the Eastern Conference with 84 points, only two behind the Philadelphia Flyers who have 86 points.

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Now that the Bruins have what the front office feels they need to win it all, it is up to the players to be consistent and play hard for the full 60 minutes. Let's see how things turn out for the Bruins as the season progresses and revisit this article at a later hour.

Stay tuned for more on this and other Boston Bruins news.