Bruins, Canadiens united in support for Laing

MONTREAL – Prior to the Montreal Canadiens and Boston Bruins renewing their rivalry for the 911th time in their history, a video was shown on the Bell Centre scoreboard, and the starting lineups of both teams moved back from their respective blue lines to watch.

The video was a tribute to Denna Laing, the player with the Boston Pride of the National Women's Hockey League who was injured during the Outdoor Women's Classic one day prior to the Bridgestone 2016 NHL Winter Classic between these teams at Gillette Stadium.

There were 12 players on the ice watching the touching video, which encouraged fans to bid on the Winter Classic jerseys the Canadiens and Bruins were wearing in the game. The proceeds from the auction are earmarked to help Laing during her recovery. But the moment hit home for one player in particular.

Canadiens goaltender Mike Condon was not Laing's best friend, but he knew her for three years while both attended Princeton University and played in the hockey program.

"Obviously it's tough. It's been a tough couple of weeks for everybody, and for her especially," Condon said after the game, a 4-1 Bruins victory. "It's nice to see two teams come together and support someone in the hockey community."

Condon and Laing are both Massachusetts natives, with Condon hailing from Holliston and Laing from Marblehead, two towns about 45 miles apart on opposite edges of the outskirts of Boston. Condon attended Belmont Hill School and Laing attended Noble and Grenough School, two rival prep schools from the area.

"She's a very nice girl," Condon said. "It just [stinks] that something like this happens to someone that's so nice."

Another player who was on the ice watching the tribute to Laing was Bruins center Patrice Bergeron, and it hit home for him as well.

Bergeron recently announced he will be holding a raffle for a night in his suite at TD Garden on Jan. 26 to see a Bruins game against the Anaheim Ducks, plus a meet and greet afterward. Raffle tickets cost $5 each and all proceeds will go to the Denna Laing Foundation.

"I thought they did a great job at the beginning of the game, that tribute," Bergeron said. "I think it's a great thing that both teams are…I guess it's an easy thing for us to do and hopefully we can raise a lot of money for that."