"And I don't think you can have success if you're not enjoying the game," Cheevers said. "I've played with guys who really didn't like the game, who were fighting it all the time. Goaltenders, even though the majority think we're different, which is probably right, have to enjoy it. If you don't, your team knows. This Bruins team right now is seeing what Tuukka is all about -- a top goalie enjoying the game, playing with confidence, not being afraid to do a few things he might not have done before, just being the goalie that they want and need him to be."
As the regular season unfolded, Cheevers heard rumblings from Boston and closer to home, his Florida golfing friends grilling him about the Bruins goaltending picture. Rask, he said, probably heard the white noise of the criticism swirling around him, much more than Cheevers heard during his days before social media, but said that as he had done, Rask likely shrugged it off and focused on the job at hand.
Where today's players might avoid Twitter and 24-hour talk radio, Cheevers, an enthusiastic horseman, found his own happiness by opening the daily sports pages and going straight to the racing entries, skipping past Bruins news and the NHL scoreboard.
"Boston was a pretty difficult town," he recalled, expectations always high for Bruins teams stacked with firepower led by sniper Phil Esposito and a blue line that featured Bobby Orr.