When the season started last month, the Buffalo Sabres unveiled that this season, each player would have their own personal goal song (Miers, Jeff. “Sabres players picked their goal songs – and Jeff Miers has thoughts.” The Buffalo News. Oct. 22. 2021). It’s a fun idea that has been implemented in Major League Baseball with personal walk up songs, and has sparked conversation around the league, especially amongst fans.
Related: 4 Wishes for the Bruins’ 2021-22 Season
In a fun change of pace this week, I decided to pick goal songs for a variety of members of the 2021-22 Boston Bruins. Of course, there is no indication that the team’s goal song of Kernkraft 400 is going anywhere. This is just a fun thought experiment. For a few of them, it was hard to pick just one option, so there are two.
Patrice Bergeron – The Man (Aloe Blacc) or Legendary (Welshly Arms)
If there is any member of the Bruins that deserves the moniker of “The Man,” it would have to be Patrice Bergeron. He is the captain and still one of the best two-way centers in the league at age 36. He still looks like a top player in the league with three points through the first six games. He has no goals yet, but there is little doubt that those will come.
When Bergeron’s career is done it truly will be “legendary,” especially here in Boston where he is held in such high regard. He helped bring a Stanley Cup to Boston in 2011, the first one since 1972, and helped bring the team to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2013 and 2019. Not to mention, he’s been a Finalist for the Selke Trophy for 10 straight years and has won it four times.
Bergeron is The Man and a Legend. His goal song would need to reflect that.
Brad Marchand – Bad Guy (Billie Eilish)
Brad Marchand is one of everyone’s favorite guys to hate around the league. While he has cleaned up his act on the ice and hasn’t been suspended since January 2018, he still finds ways to get under the skin of opponents. Remember the whole, licking fiasco that resulted in the league stepping in to tell him to stop?
I doubt Marchand would ever chose Bad Guy for himself if he was to pick his own goal song. But, wouldn’t it be great if after every time he scored, it played “I’m the bad guy…Duh.” It would be just another way for him to do what he does best: score goals and troll opponents.
David Pastrnak – T.N.T. (AC/DC)
While his start has been a little slower than we’ve become used to from the play of David Pastrnak, he is still the most powerful goal scorer on the team, and one of the most best in the league. He is an explosive player, so it’s only fitting that his goal song is about explosives as well.
Like many of his teammates, Pastrnak has two goals through the first seven games of the season. But more points are sure to be coming. He’s shown that he can go through “slower” stretches in the season and still come out as one of the top goal scorers in the league. He’s an explosive goal scorer and as the season begins, more will come.
Jack Studnicka – What’s My Age Again? (Blink 182) or You’re Gonna Go Far Kid (The Offspring)
Jack Studnicka was a fan favorite during training camp and preseason this year and you knew that when he was sent back down to Providence, it was only a matter of time before he would get the call up. Unfortunately, the injury bug hit the Bruins pretty early this season and he was called up a little earlier than most would have liked. Still, he was one of the most impressive players in their loss to the Florida Panthers on Oct. 27.
What’s My Age Again? has the iconic line “nobody likes you when you’re 23.” Considering Studnicka will be turning 23 this February and is turning into quite the professional hockey player, he really may start to cause some problems in his 23rd year. Similar to Marchand’s goal song, that would also just be a fun line of a song to hear after the young player scores a goal.
In a similar vein, You’re Gonna Go Far Kid would also work as a goal song for Studnicka. As the youngest member of the team at the moment (Jeremy Swaymen is about three months older), it works. He’s one of the top prospects/young players in the pipeline, and after what he has demonstrated to this point, he really should go far in the NHL. He may be back down in Providence now, but it feels like only a matter of time before he breaks out in Boston.
Charlie McAvoy – Hey Look Ma, I Made It (Panic at the Disco)
Since coming into the league, Charlie McAvoy has been a star and has risen to the ranks of an elite defensemen. He was recently awarded with an eight-year contract extension worth $76 million. It will carry an average annual value of $9.5 million.
As the song goes, he has definitely made it and everything’s coming up aces for McAvoy. The one area left for him to improve upon is scoring more goals. But, as a whole, the Bruins need to find the back of the net more. If this song was going to be used by anyone, it would have to be him, the star of the present and the future for the team.
Brandon Carlo – Anything Could Happen (Ellie Goulding)
I’m a big fan of Brandon Carlo, but goal scoring is not the strongest part of his game. He has 15 career goals in 331 games, and his season high was six, back in his rookie 2016-17 season. But hey, as the song goes, “anything could happen.”
Carlo has mentioned that he hopes to start shooting more this season and improve on the offensive side of his game. Even if he never becomes as offensive as some defensemen in the NHL, his defensive game is one of the best in the league and he is a central component to the Bruins defense.
Charlie Coyle – Best of You (Foo Fighters)
Since the departure of David Krejci over the summer, all eyes have been on Charlie Coyle. He’s coming off of a down year in 2020-21 and suddenly found himself in the second line spotlight. This season, the team really needs Coyle to be playing his best if the team wants to be contenders. Strength down the middle is almost always essential of a team wants to win the Stanley Cup.
So far, Coyle is off to a great start. He has five points in seven games, including three goals. To put that in perspective, last season, he had six goals in 51 games. He’s been an early star to the season and everything that the Bruins need him to be.
Best of You, beside being a great song in general, is a great pump up song and inspires listeners to do better. It’s emulative of what Coyle needed to be going into this season and so far it is working out.
Matt Grzelcyk – I’m Shipping Up to Boston (Dropkick Murphys)
If the Bruins ever did adopt personal goal songs for everyone, someone would be required to select I’m Shipping Up to Boston. It is a true crowd pleaser at any sporting event, or general large gathering, in Boston and a de facto city anthem along with Dirty Water, which already gets played at TD Garden after each win.
Since Matt Grzelcyk is a local Boston boy, growing up in Charlestown right down the street from the Garden, he would be the best option to use it as a goal song. It would be sure to get everyone on their feet after he scores.
Jake DeBrusk – Under Pressure (Queen & David Bowie) or Congratulations (Post Malone & Quavo)
Jake DeBrusk is another person on this list who gets two song options. After a down year in 2020-21 and currently in a contract year, Under Pressure is an accurate description of his situation coming into the start of this season. It is also another objectively great song that would be sure to quickly become a crowd pleaser.
So far, he has two goals in seven games and overall looks like a completely different player than last year when he had only five goals in 41 games. As a guy who has primarily been known in his juniors and young NHL career so far as a goal scorer, it’s hopeful to see the start he has had.
With his start so far, Congratulations would also be a great option for a goal song for DeBrusk. He has a bit of a chip on his shoulder going into this season, so a song calling out the “haters” would be fitting.
Taylor Hall – Don’t Stop Me Now (Queen)
Taylor Hall has been one of the best additions general manager Don Sweeney has brought into this team in several years. Since arriving to Boston via the Sabres at the trade deadline, he has had 19 points in 23 regular season games, including five points in the first seven games of the 2021-22 season. This includes 10 goals.
Hall has been unstoppable since arriving in Boston, and genuinely seems to be enjoying his time as a Bruin. He is exactly the type of player this team has been missing for several years now as the team has struggled with its depth at the wing position.
Whatever Hall is doing, he shouldn’t stop. Even without Krejci as his center, he’s off to a great start to the season.
Share Your Own Selections!
These were the songs I came up with, but we’d love to hear what you think! Are there other songs that you’d think would work? Are their songs you think would work for players not on this list? Comment below and share your thoughts.
Related: Bruins Need to Stop Playing Losing Hockey & Find Consistency
Overall, I think personal goal songs are a great way for NHL players to showcase a bit of personality. Like I mentioned above, there’s no indication that any other teams are planning to adopt this going forward. But, I don’t think its a bad idea for more teams to adopt moving forward, especially if they are coming into a season with little to be excited about, such as the Sabres.
