BOSTON — Twenty five years ago, Matt Williams was a 10-year-old boy with a Salem News paper route, a love for hockey — and a dream.
He wanted Boston Bruins season tickets.
"I delivered over 100 papers a day on my route in South Peabody," says Williams now, "and it took me about an hour-and-a-half to finish a day. But it was worth it; I saved up all summer and got two season tickets: Section 43, fifth row in the Stadium section of the old Boston Garden, at the end where the Bruins shot in the first and third periods. They cost me $1,476 a year for the two seats; that's how much I had saved."
Williams was once told by a member of the Bruins' organization that he was one of the youngest season ticket holders in NHL history. Last night, he was one of numerous North Shore fans who turned out to watch the Bruins defeat the Washington Capitals, 4-1, in the 2010-11 (domestic) home opener.
For this season, Williams added two more seats so both his mother, Marilyn — who has attended hundreds of Bruins games with her son over the last quarter-century — and his fiancee, Jean Kent, could both go to games with him. His 10-year-old nephew Drake, a fourth grader at the South Memorial School in Peabody, took the fourth seat last night.
"I'm getting married this coming year (May 7 at the Hellenic Center in Ipswich) and I believe the Bruins are going to have a great season, so who was I going to leave home if I kept just the two seats: my mother, who's been coming with me to games since I first got the tickets, or my wife-to-be?" he asked.
"Other than staying home and sending them both to the game, I thought getting the extra two seats was the best solution."
Marilyn Williams, sporting a light yellow sweatshirt festooned with logos from the Bruins, Red Sox and Patriots as well as a shamrock and the words 'Boston Is My Home' across it, laughs when she recalls how she'd deliver papers for Matt when he had a youth hockey game of his own to play in.
"I didn't think he'd do it at first," she said of her son's desire to get season tickets as a youngster. "But there have been many years since then I've gone to 40 games a year with him."
Kent, who goes to as many games with Williams as possible (and, when he's coaching the Peabody High junior varsity hockey team or assisting with the varsity, will go to Bruins games with Marilyn), said she loves the atmosphere of attending games at the Garden.
"It's a different vibe than watching on TV," she said. "It's great when everyone around you is into the game."
Former Bishop Fenwick hockey star Chris Nagy was also at last night's home opener, seated back in his familiar spot: Loge 8, row 23.
The new father (he and his wife Amy have a 4-month-old baby daughter, Rilee) has had Bruins season tickets for two years and feels this could be the season something big happens for Boston.
"I'm really excited," said Nagy, who now serves as an assistant coach for the St. Mary's of Lynn hockey team and also operates his own company, CNHockey. "My buddy and I figured two years ago that this could be a special team for 3-4 years with all the talent and young guys they had coming up, so we thought, 'Why not get season tickets now?'"
Nagy, a Lynn native who now calls South Boston home, splits up the tickets with a few buddies and estimates he goes to between 10-15 games a year, plus all playoff contests. With the infusion of even more youth on this year's squad, plus what he feels is better overall team balance and scoring up front, he's planning on potentially going to a lot of home playoff games next spring.
"It's a hockey town again," said the 34-year-old Nagy. "I haven't seen speed like (heralded Bruins rookie Tyler) Seguin's since ... I don't know when. The wingers are flying around, especially guys like (Michael) Ryder and (Blake) Wheeler, because their jobs are on the line and younger guys are pushing them for playing time. It's what the young guys fans want to see."
If he has any complaints, said Nagy, it's with Bruins captain Zdeno Chara. Not for the 6-foot-9 behemoth's prowess as one of the NHL's top defensive defensemen, but rather for his work on the power play.
"I can't watch the guy (on the PP); it's painful," said Nagy. "How many breakaways do we have to give up before we switch it up? I realize defensemen like him don't grow on trees; I just want him off the power play.
"Sometimes you can park him in front of the (opponent's net) — the rest of the time, park him on the bench."
For Williams, who now calls row 3 in Section 8 home during Bruins games, watching his favorite team win its first Stanley Cup in 39 years next June would be ... well, second only to getting married.
"Oh, man," Williams smiled, allowing himself to dream of the possibility. "That would be the ultimate."
