Mikey Eyssimont has arrived in Boston pretty much as advertised when he was signed in the offseason by the Bruins, bringing high energy, feistiness and the occasional timely goal.
But he has also brought something none of us expected – an impeccable, ring-a-ding-ding taste in music.
Eyssimont is the old soul behind the Bruins’ new victory song that can be heard blasting out of their Garden dressing room after each win, “That’s Life.”
Every team needs something to rally around. Sometimes it’s a fight. Sometimes it’s a comeback win. And sometimes it comes away from the ice, perhaps in the wee, small hours of the morning. And that’s where the idea for their new victory song was hatched.
“We were in LA and we all had the day off the next day,” recounted Eyssimont to Herald after the Bruins’ 4–1 win over the New Jersey Devils on Saturday. “We all went out to a karaoke bar, just a team bonding thing. I just closed it down with some Frank Sinatra karaoke.”
And like many karaoke moments, it became the stuff of legend.
“I’d never done it for karaoke before but I’ve always had it in my back pocket and one night I just decided to pull it out,” said Eyssimont. “I think (Sean Kuraly) was all over it. He really liked the idea.”
And so the Bruins had their new anthem.
But the 29-year-old’s appreciation of the good life goes far deeper than one song.
“Oh yeah, I’m a big fan of the Rat Pack, old Vegas, those old movies, the Golden Age of Hollywood, just a fan of nostalgic, analog-type of things,” said Eyssimont, who first listened to the greats on his father’s record player.
“I think coming around Christmas time, it’s definitely part of the energy I was around growing up. Sometimes those songs are reminiscent of the holiday season. You’re kind of always chasing that as you get older and you just appreciate it more….That’s what I listen to at home, that’s what I listen to just to relax. My fiance and I just enjoy it.”
And while some of his peers may listen to hip-hop or techno to get themselves ready for a game, Eyssimont can sometimes go with a different vibe. And his love of crooners goes beyond the Chairman of the Board.
“I was listening to Dean Martin coming to the game today, some Volare. Who else? Some Ella Fitzgerald,” said Eyssimont.
And Sammy?
“Of course. Big fan,” said Eyssimont of Mr. Davis, Jr.
The ultimate feeling of the song “That’s Life” is in the ear of the interpreter. It is a song, after all, of being “up and down and over and out.”
“I honestly think it should be our losing song. If we lose, we should be blasting that,” said Eyssimont with a laugh.
But resilience is its underlying theme. The idea that they may actually be “back on top by June” may still be far-fetched. But for any warts this Bruins team has – and it possesses a few, to be sure – it has already shown that it’s got plenty of resilience, especially with injuries to their best players David Pastrnak and Charlie McAvoy. Luck has definitely not been a lady to them lately.
Many observers thought this would be a lost year even before it began. This is a team that is not yet out of the calendar year in which they sold off a handful of key players – including their captain and face of the franchise — for mostly future assets. Yet here they are, 30 games into the season and still very much in the hunt for a playoff spot.
In truth, Eyssimont may have very well hit on the perfect theme song for this team….
The B’s took just one penalty in their win on Saturday – a crosscheck by Nikita Zadorov — but coach Marco Sturm wasn’t wild about that one. He said it’s a fine line with what you live with when dealing with Zadorov, who is one of the physical tone-setters for the team.
The infraction came on one of the several shifts in the second period in which they were trapped in their zone for a lengthy period.
“Yes, I don’t want him to lose that edge. But also, he’s been around the league a long, long time, or long enough that he should be smarter than that,” said Sturm. “He was tired, he got caught. That’s where the brain shut off. But that’s the time on that shift, that’s where we need his leadership, I would say, in not taking a penalty like that. And he knows it, too. Usually we talk about it a little bit, we address it and I expect him to be smarter next time. But yeah, I don’t want him to be losing that edge because that makes him so good.”
Zadorov did indeed take responsibility for the bad and obvious penalty….
With their win on Saturday, the B’s finally pushed into the black in goal differential at plus-2. They and the Lightning were the only two teams on the plus side in the Atlantic Division after Saturday’s games. The Bolts are plus-15.
