Willow Ruel was admittedly nervous at the sight of Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and Jeremy Swayman approaching her like they would any other Boston Bruins teammate, offering a fist bump with a hockey glove and a pat on the head.
This actually happened at 12:30 pm Saturday on TD Garden ice, moments before the Bruins played against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The 11-year-old from Mattapoisett was the Bruins’ fan captain for a day, a pregame ritual that selects a youth hockey player to join the team for starting-lineup introductions and the national anthem. Ruel, a fifth grader at Old Hammondtown Elementary School, plays right wing for the Bridgewater Bandits.
“I thought I was going to actually skate. I was, like, shaking,” said Willow afterward while hastily throwing off her hockey gear so she and her mother Jenn could be escorted up the elevator to watch the NHL game.
Unfortunately, she missed both goals that the fast-starting Bruins would score in their 2-1 victory that clinched a Stanley Cup playoff berth.
One goal horn blew while Willow was being interviewed just outside the Zamboni runway by arena host Michaela Johnson and the second while she sat in a makeshift dressing room collecting her thoughts. The interview was played during intermission on the giant, four-sided video screen hovering over center ice.
Hockey is Willow’s passion sport, but she is really good at golf too, and that subject was also covered in her interview with Johnson.
Having won the Regional PGA Drive, Chip and Putt competition on September 25 at TPC River Highlands outside Hartford, Connecticut, Willow earned a spot in the National Championship held April 3 the week of the 2022 Masters at Augusta National.
“I don’t even have words,” said Willow of the experience. “I had time to talk to Bubba Watson.”
Willow won the chipping segment of the competition.
“Everything else was fine, but the driving was the worst,” she said candidly about her four warmup drives and then two in competition. “Hit one out (of bounds) and one only went 100 and, like, 20 yards.”
With just 15 minutes in between events to collect herself, Willow responded with her best play to take the chipping contest, putting her into a tie for fourth place overall in the 10-11 age group.
“I just hit the ball,” she said.
This week she is back to passing and shooting the puck in Hub City select-team tryouts at Bridgewater Ice Arena. Then it’s off to Elite Hockey Camp in July in New Hampton, New Hampshire.
Hockey camp will conflict with this summer Bay Club’s sectional Drive, Chip & Putt contest for 2023, but Willow will make sure she gets that done in another sectional competition in Rhode Island.
By Mick Colageo