Turco Feels Bruins' Camaraderie Immediately Upon Arrival
WILMINGTON (CBS) -- For the second straight year, goaltender Marty Turco is joining a team that is the defending Stanley Cup champion. This year, the circumstances are obviously very different, with Turco signing with the team after a stint in Austria, but he also said the teams themselves are very different.
"The difference is that they had a lot of change in Chicago, and this team doesn't," Turco said after his first practice with the Bruins on Wednesday. "This team is intact from last year. What sets them apart, which you can just tell the way they play and act and talk, is their togetherness. You can feel that when you walk in the locker room instantly, that this team is competetive, that they're together, and they're in it to win."
Turco On Joining Bruins
Turco, 36, expressed great gratitude for the opportunity he got to play in Austria, a job that helped him reach his goal of making it back to the NHL. Thanks to the waiver process, though, he couldn't get there without sweating out a long wait to see if any other team in the NHL chose to essentially block the signing.
"I felt like I was 15 years old again waiting to practice with the big boys," Turco said. "It was even a better feeling when I got the thumbs up from [Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli]. I got out there with some excitement in the blood."
While Turco was excited for practice, coach Claude Julien said he doesn't yet know when the netminder will be ready for game action.
"I'll have to play it by ear and see how Marty is, and at the same time there are other ways to give our goaltenders rest," Julien explained. "If [Tim Thomas] has to miss a practice here or there ... not giong on the ice for a day is the same as not playing in a game, so you find ways. We'll balance all of that when the time comes and make the right decisions."
For now though, Turco said he's simply focused on working hard to get where he needs to be.
"It is crazy how things work out, but I'm kind of the guy who looks forward and not behind," Turco said. "As appreciative as I am, in my eyes, the work is just beginning for myself."
