State of the Bruins quotes

Monday night at TD Garden, the State of the Bruins, the annual State of the Bruins town-hall style meeting for season-ticket holders, was held. The members of the Bruins management that was there included Cam Neely, owner Jeremy Jacobs, principal Charlie Jacobs, GM Peter Chiarelli and coach Claude Julien. On the player side, there was goalie Tim Thomas and forward Patrice Bergeron. NESN's Andy Brickley was there serving as emcee.

Here are some quotes from the evening:

Cam Neely
"This has been the most enjoyable State of the Bruins, there's no question about that," Bruins president Cam Neely said after the event. "It's gotten better every year, but this has certainly been the best."

Jeremy Jacobs
"I was never as happy and never as exhausted as I was when we finished [the Cup Final]," Jacobs said. "And that stuck with me for a couple weeks afterwards, and it truly hasn't settled in yet to be honest with you. It's hard to express or imagine what's involved in that. Winning a Stanley Cup was a dream come true."

"We have the same team," Jacobs said. "We've got the same organization. They know what it takes to win now, and it's an interesting phenomenon to see guys that have been there, what they're willing to reach down in order to succeed. This is a group of wonderful guys. We've been very lucky."

Claude Julien
"Now that we've won the Stanley Cup, I would certainly like to let the people here know that we're never satisfied," Julien told the crowd. "We look to get better from management down to the players. This year is going to be one of those years where every team is going to up their game against us, and I guarantee that we're planning to up our game as well in order to meet that challenge."

"We're different than players, for players rest and conditioning is the most important part," Julien said. "For us [as coaches], it's rest and the mental state of ourselves. Three days after we won the Cup, I was already going on how do I handle the offseason. That was automatic for me. You start worrying about the following year as soon as the job's done. But somehow during the summer I've tried hard to push myself away, just kind of block everything off and come back as fresh as I could."
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Tim Thomas
"Definitely, there's no question," Thomas said Monday night after the State of the Bruins town-hall style meeting with season-ticket holders at the Garden. "Last year at the beginning of camp I was still limited in what I was supposed to do at practice. And there was still a little bit of hip pain. It was definitely better than it had been before, but it was still there. This year I don't have to deal with that at all, so I definitely feel better than I did a year ago."

"The [lack of] confidence was related to, 'I don't know if I can do this physically,'" Thomas said. "It was on that end. It wasn't about confidence whether you could do it or not. Ultimately it was, but it was a physically-related confidence, rather than a mentally related confidence problem, which I think is much worse."

"Actually I feel good," Thomas said. "I didn't have any injuries I had to deal with, which is kind of amazing considering the amount of games we had. So physically, it's not even an issue. I haven't even had to think about it, which is nice."

"Actually I was able to do more than the summer before because the summer before I was having physical therapy on the hip," Thomas said. "I should be in more well-rounded good shape this year than I was last year."

"I was able to train my full body, instead of just the hip and core area, which is what I did mostly the summer before," Thomas added.

"In a certain way the season is a relief because you're back to a routine that you're used to," Thomas said.

"I think it's important to have goals, and that's something that's served me well over the course of my career," Thomas said. "Obviously, we set the goal for the Stanley Cup and were able to achieve it. To have a season like this, where me personally I won a Stanley Cup and the Conn Smythe and the Vezina, basically the conclusion that I came to this summer is that I have no choice but to shoot for it again."
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Also on Monday, Cam Neely introduced the "new look" banners that will be hanging in the TD Garden rafters starting this season. The banners depict the Boston Bruins primary logo from the era that they won the Stanley Cup in. Watch the video below of the past banners being brought up.