Jim Montgomery Excited To Kick Off Bruins Fan Fest In Lewiston

The Boston Bruins are just under a month away from the start of training camp, and the franchise is kicking off the upcoming 2024-25 NHL season with a trio of Fan Fest stops this weekend.

Head coach Jim Montgomery will attend the first Fan Fest at the Colisee in Lewiston, Maine, on Friday.

"It's nice because you get to see familiar faces. You get to see the excitement of the fans, especially the energy they bring to our home games and to these types of events in the community is outstanding," Montgomery told Jared Carrabis and Tom Caron on NESN's "Unobstructed Views" on Tuesday. "And, it starts the ramp up to training camp."

The other two stops on the Fan Fest tour will take place at the Tsongas Center in Lowell, Mass. and Memorial Hall in Plymouth, Mass.

The Bruins bench boss noted that he sees passionate fans across New England at not only Bruins games but also attending Red Sox, Patriots and Celtics games.

"I do know that in our league, Bruins fans are special," Montgomery said. "They travel well. They travel all over North America to support us, and they come in droves. I ask a lot of them, if I'm in Western Canada or Southeast United States, 'How come you guys are Bruins fans?' And there's usually two reasons -- it's either Bobby Orr or Ray Bourque and the future of Boston fans, it's probably going to be Patrice Bergeron's name coming out of their mouths."

Carrabis couldn't help but ask the question on everyone's minds -- when will the Bruins sign goaltender Jeremy Swayman?

"Oh, that'll happen. I'm sure it will happen," Montgomery said. "I'm just very thankful it has nothing to do with my job detail."

In addition to the eventual Swayman contract, Montgomery will have some new faces donning the Spoked-B for the Bruins this season.

"We're excited with the two big additions that everybody's talking about, with (Elias) Lindholm and (Nikita) Zadorov," Montgomery said. "They're special players, and they're gonna mean a lot to impact of our games. But, there's a lot of other additions we've made that we're excited about as well, that are going to add to our size, our strength, our speed and our ability to play more of an offensive game in the offensive zone."

Bruins rookie camp begins on Sept. 11, and training camp a week later on Sept. 18. Boston begins its 2024-25 campaign on the road against the reigning Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers on Oct. 8. The Black and Gold will host the Montreal Canadiens in their home opener at TD Garden on Oct. 10.