Bruins' Trent Frederic drops gloves in NHL debut, and his parents loved it

NHL debuts happen all of the time.

Fresh-faced kids playing in their first game in the sport’s best league isn’t anything new and, usually, the hockey world doesn’t think too much about it. But Trent Frederic’s first contest with the Boston Bruins was anything but forgettable.

Coming into Boston’s clash with the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday night, the story regarding Frederic’s debut centred around David Backes, a teammate who was once Frederic’s childhood idol. Backes, a 13-year veteran who’s known for playing with a ton of grit, may have inspired Frederic when he got mixed up with Winnipeg’s Brandon Tanev after the whistle late in the second period.

Backes has been involved in 28 fights in his NHL career. Tanev, currently in his second season with the Jets, now has three regular season tilts to his name. Meanwhile, Frederic has one — and it was a doozy.

With a slight height and weight advantage, Frederic really took it to Tanev and landed a number of big shots while the Winnipeg Jet curled up to defend himself. Frederic has three AHL fights to his name in 37 games so far this season.

“It’s not what I’m trying to be, just a drop-the-gloves guy,” said Frederic yesterday, according to Conor Ryan of Boston Sports Journal. “But yeah, I’m willing to do it.”

Clearly, nobody informed Tanev of this.

Although there were plenty of fireworks on the ice, the best part of this may have been the reaction of Frederic’s parents. It’s probably fair to say they were excited about their son’s performance. (Let’s just erase that ugly celebration from our memories, though).

Although Winnipeg went on to win the contest 4-3 in a shootout, Frederic finished with 8:29 of ice time, two shots on goal, two hits, five penalty minutes and about a dozen right hands to Tanev’s face.

We have a feeling that Bruins fans are going to like this guy.

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