Matt Grzelcyk Slowly Finding Silver Lining From Cup Final Loss

It’s been exactly two months since the Boston Bruins fell 4-1 to the St. Louis Blues on home ice in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final. In a recent one-on-one interview with Boston Hockey Now, defenseman Matt Grzelcyk, admitted that at least for him, the sting of what could’ve been is still there and likely will never leave.

“I think that’s something that will never go away, but I try to deal with it just on the fly I guess,” Grzelcyk said at the Corey Griffin Happy Hour honoring a local hockey player and philanthropist who passed away in 2014. “At this point, I’m just trying to use it as motivation for next season, but it certainly still stings. I still think about it a lot, but there’s nothing you can do to change the past. You just have to keep working hard for next year and hopefully get a different result.”

Grzelcyk almost didn’t play in the crushing loss back on June 12 at TD Garden as he missed Games 3-6 with a concussion suffered in Game 2 of the Final. Fully recovered and healthy now, the Scituate, MA native and former Boston University star has been working out with teammate and fellow blueliner Charlie McAvoy over at his former hockey home, Agannis Arena. Grzelcyk is hoping the restricted free agent and the Bruins find some common ground soon and iron out a new contract.

“We try not to bother him too much about that, but hopefully he figures that out soon and we get back to hockey,” Grzelcyk told BHN.

Playing in his second season, Grzelcyk played on the Bruins third pairing mostly but saw time on the second defensive pairing when Torey Krug missed some games. He also saw some solid minutes on the team’s second power play unit where he amassed six power play points. He finished the season with three goals and 15 assists in 66 regular season games and had a solid playoff run with four goals and four assists in 20 playoff games. He now has six goals and 27 assists in 129 regular season games and four goals and five assists in 31 playoff games.

As he does his best to train and be ready to improve on those numbers, he’s also made an effort to find a silver lining in the loss to the Blues and the playoff run he and his teammates went on this past spring.

“I think at the time you’re kind of just locked in and just trying to eliminate distractions as much as possible,” Grzelcyk said. “Just talking to your family and friends after though, you kind of realize just how impactful the season we had was. It still stings to not get the last win, but yeah, there’s still a lot to be proud of.”