Bruins to begin centennial season with red-carpet arrival, home game against Blackhawks

Gerry Cheevers kicked, sprawled, dove, lunged, even rushed the puck on his way to his 1985 Hockey Hall of Fame induction.

The Boston Bruins lift the curtain on their centennial season against the visiting Chicago Blackhawks at TD Garden on Wednesday (7:30 p.m. ET; TNT, MAX), then with a fundraising gala Thursday. 

Excited for each event, their 82-year-old, forever-entertaining goalie guarantees one thing:

“Don’t look for me on the dance floor.”

Cheevers, not quite two months ago having had his left knee replaced, is among the many Bruins alumni in Boston this week, legends and lunch-pail grinders assembled to celebrate 100 years of a franchise that is part of the deep soul and blue-collar fabric of the city, New England and the team’s fans far beyond.

The Bruins are the third NHL team to reach this milestone and first United States-based organization to mark a century. They follow the Montreal Canadiens, whose 1909 birth predates the League by eight years, and the Toronto Maple Leafs, a charter-member franchise in 1917 first known as the Torontos, or Arenas, then the St. Pats.