OK, Charo is the talented proponent of Latin culture and Chara is the hulking defenseman of the resurgent Bruins. It's great to see New England getting back to its love affair with hockey after so many decades away. The great Robert Gordon Orr is the same age as I am, and I can still remember the voice of Fred Cusick coming through the radio at night telling Bruins fans that our savior was on the way from Junior Hockey. Hockey and baseball were my grandfather's favorite sports and he made sure I'd seen plenty of both before he passed away in 1961. The very first autograph I ever got was the aforesaid Mr. Cusick.

Before Bobby Orr kids played hockey outdoors on natural ice with broken sticks that had been taped again and again. We played without pads or helmets, and I still have dents in my leg bones from stopping shots as a goalie wearing only jeans over two pairs of long underwear. After Orr and the other Big Bad Bruins, it seemed like a million rinks were built, and hockey moved indoors for the career of Easton's Jim Craig. As a young teacher I remember attending a high school tournament game with OA's Craig in goal against the Randolph team lead by my student Rod Langway. Randolph won that night. Langway went on to a long career in the NHL and the Hockey Hall of Fame. Jim Craig went on to do something or other also.

The Bruins have been so-so to bad for so long many of the indoor rinks have disappeared, and hockey is once again a sport you can actually see kids playing informally on their own outdoors at the Yardley-Woods rink. High school and college hockey  remained an important part of the sporting landscape so it shouldn't be so surprising that all of a sudden everyone is a fairly knowledgeable hockey fan. I heard a complaint about watching hockey on TV last night that wasn't the usual newbie one of not following the puck. This person was complaining about not being able to see the action away from the puck-the one thing that makes live hockey ten times more fun than the TV version. Although the close-up of goalie Tim Thomas in a scrum with a Canuck was something you'd only see on TV.

It's hard to believe hockey has become a summer sport that I'm writing about on a day that's supposed to hit a hundred degrees, but let's enjoy it while we can. Even if the Bruins win the Cup, it's unlikely they will eclipse the Red Sox as the lingua franca of conversation starters in New England (it's unlikely the Sox will eclipse the weather in that regard, but that's another story. Do any people in the world talk about the weather more than New Englanders?). However, "How about those Sox?" works like a charm with just about anyone. I remember being introduced to a teacher from Jamaica in the early '70s who began our conversation with a posh British accent and New England twist "How about that Booma?" Referring, of course, to George "Boomer" Scott. I wouldn't recommend this as an opener in New York, by the way, but right now "Go Bruins" might work even there. But then again, the Rangers haven't won the cup since, when-was it 1918?