Inside Bruins Hockey With Micky And Marchy

Upon entering the TD Garden for the photo shoot and interview, Roxanne McGregor seemed like your everyday Bostonian. “It probably comes from being born in Massachusetts and living in Boston for the past two years as an average person, just working to sustain a living till I really found what it was I wanted to do.” McGregor comments when told this as she settles in to the interview seat, shedding her black jacket. Roxanne McGregor grew up in Southern Massachusetts in a quaint, little town of Sutton. “Cow town.” She says with a cheerful laugh. “That’s what all the kids called it who lived there. It really was too. It’s a good twenty minute drive to get to a grocery store past fields and fields of corn and cows. Sometimes it might even turn into a thirty minute drive if you get the grand honor of getting stuck behind a tractor.” She holds up her hands with a smile. “No joke. It was also another good twenty minutes to reach the mall and that was for the outdoor strip mall that wasn’t fun to go to in the winter. You have to go nearly and hour, hour and a half to get to the large, multifloored malls.” Roxanne continues to reminiscent fondly of her childhood, talking about how beautiful the place really was.

“It was always quiet, peaceful, and everyone’s property was private. It was also the best place to learn hockey, it really was. Woods surrounded nearly everyone’s house but deep inside there were ponds everywhere that just seemed to be made for hockey. Nothing felt better than taking long walks through the trees in the snow in your winter clothing lugging hockey gear with your family and friends to a pond.” Roxanne said that in the warmer seasons, Sutton was the biggest soccer place you could walk through. Nearly everyone played it and there were nothing but soccer fields in that town. But in the winter, the place changed into a worshipping ground for the world of hockey. Ponds would be covered in makeshift hockey rinks and everyone would be watching the games at home, as long as football didn’t get in the way. “We would build our own outdoor rinks using discarded lumber we would find lying around in people’s front yards they didn’t want. Good thing it was free too! Cause every year we had to build a new one for we never took our rink down at the end of the year till it was too late for the ice would get to thin to stand on and bloop, under the water all the wood went.” She gave a small laugh as she imitated the sound of wood falling through water.

“But this was all four years ago, I haven’t seen it since I graduated high school.” She gave a sad smile. “I don’t know what it looks like now, as everyone knows, things can change a lot in four years.” They sure can too, the McGregor’s were your ideal American family, picture perfect. Roxanne had a healthy relationship with her father, thanks to their love for hockey. Her dad always dreamed of making the big leagues but never did but stemmed his knowledge to his two children, Roxanne and her older brother Benjamin. “He would always join to play hockey on weekends when he didn’t have work. Sometimes it would just be me and him, me, him, and my brother, or he would join us and all the neighborhood kids and our cousins. Sometimes even their fathers would join too. He was like a hockey guru.” McGregor laughs, eyes shining at the memories. “Everyone improved their skill thanks to him. I swear he could have become one of the best coaches in the NHL, I mean, thanks to him I’m now proudly wearing black and yellow.” Roxanne’s mother was good encouragement in this endeavor, making sure Roxy was always enrolled on hockey teams. Her brother was for a time, but he lost interest, it was really Roxanne who inherited her father’s love for this sport.

Good times came to a tragic end for the McGregors though. When Roxy was sixteen, her father was diagnosed with prostate cancer. It slammed the family with such shock but they all kept their hope up for a swift recovery and Roxy continued with her hockey games, playing more for her father than herself cause she didn’t want to let him down with everything he taught her. “He did so much for me. So much and even when he felt his worse, he still took me to the TD, well back then it was the Fleet Center, but we still continued to go and see the Bruins play. The last game we saw was in 2007 after the team I was with had won states. We were up near the glass and it was the break between second and third period and my dad put an arm around my shoulder and hug me too him with a smile and told me ‘The NHL. It’s a dream all hockey guys have. Even me, but I wasn’t good enough in their eyes. Hell Roxy, to have people begging you to be on their team is a high honor, I dreamed of the day that would happen to me but it didn’t. Maybe your brother will get it but I don’t see it. I know it’s a long shot, but I wish I could turn on the TV and see my daughter making history.’” Roxanne took a deep breath and let it out, wiping a small tear that formed on her face. “I remember that day like it was yesterday because it was not long after that he died. It was like he was telling me goodbye. It should have been the cue to push into the league, but I was just so devastated, I couldn’t play like I used to and the NHL dream died with my father.”

James McGregor died on June 14th, 2007, leaving behind a grieving family that slowly began to fall apart. Roxanne’s older brother was in Boston studying architecture, so it soon became just Roxy and her mother at home. “Losing my dad was like losing a huge chunk of myself. It became this total empty place. Me and my brother were always together and having him gone in a time like that only made it worse. My mother was now distant and slowly became an alcoholic; losing the warm, cheerful woman I grew up remembering. It scared me to the point where I didn’t want to go to college but she told me that my father left behind in his will a huge chunk of money for me to go college, the place being Virginia Tech. I didn’t want to leave my mother who was so vulnerable but my father made it possible for me to continue on, so I took that chance.” Roxanne shakes her head staring off into the distance. “The day my mom and brother dropped me off in Virginia with all my stuff in August of 2007 was the last time I saw my mom. She soon got into drugs and ran off with all the money meant for college, leaving me to have to leave, homeless and broke. I have no idea where she is or if she’s still alive.”

Virginia Tech for Roxanne wasn’t a fond memory and doesn’t feel like retelling about it, other than it was short lived and not worth remembering. When asked if she ever came across future superstar Erika Harper while in college she shakes her head no. “Not at all, I might have passed her in the halls but I don’t even remember hearing her name. I mean, I did skate around on the hockey rink there once in awhile to help me forget about everything and kind of give this comfort feeling, like I was with my dad again but not once did I come across Erika Harper or her friend Evelyn Haley.” When Roxanne left Virginia Tech, she had no place to go other than Boston with her brother who was attempting to find his own dream. “I still remember the day having to call up Ben and tell him that I needed to move in cause mom disappeared with all my money. Little did I know I was about to live my father’s dream by taking this step.”

Roxanne McGregor moved to Boston in September of 2008 and found a job at the TD Garden. Claude Julien, head coach for the Boston Bruins added in about what it was like to meet this woman for the first time.

“I had no idea what to expect with this girl who just showed up looking for a job. I gave her the last open spot we had hoping not to make a mistake. In all honesty, I wasn’t all for hiring her for I didn’t know if she would be a good worker for it said that she was a college drop out, but it turned out to be one of the best decisions. The team opened up to her and welcomed her in almost instantly, it was quite a sight though it did have a bit of a down side to that, for they were a big distraction and some days she would be mighty slow with her work.” Roxanne gives a smile and a oops expression, staring off at the ceiling with a guilty smile. “But no matter what, she did get her work down and it became one of the best decisions in my career, hiring her.”

“I swear, I never, ever, ever thought I would one day come to know the Boston Bruins team but I did and looking back it still feels unreal.” Laughing, Roxanne lightens up tremendously from looking so upset in reliving the events after her father’s death. “The team is amazing even though they can get on your nerves. The top three being Patrice Bergeron, Johnny Boychuk, and Brad Marchand. They were the first three I met and I call them Team Canada cause…what else can you say about three Canadians that mess with you 24/7 and sing Roxanne by the Police whenever you walk by? I find it a bit funny too that now Boston has been picking up on that name too.” Shaking her head with a smile, Roxanne continues about her relationship with the team, mentioning members that came and went and the ones that have been there since day one.

“Besides Team Canada, Lucic has been there since day one along with Krejci. Those two are great because they are a bit more tone down than Team Canada when it comes to being jokesters. I mean, they do like to rile me up but they mostly are just there as really good friends. Tim Thomas is almost like a freaking Uncle to me, trying to be the good influence than the last five I mention.” Roxy started laughing, as if thinking back on some good memories. “After awhile, I started taking up to calling him Uncle Timmy and the name has stuck with the team, nearly everyone under the age of thirty call him and even that has been starting to spread around. Mark Recchi is another good guy, I mean, he hasn’t been there since day one but…hey, he reminds me of my dad. In looks and attitude and even now he gives me good pointers so I take up calling him Daddy Recchi or Dad and he totally plays the part. It’s pretty awesome. Then there’s Tuukka Rask, how could I forget him? He was the…fourth? Yeah, fourth one I met.”

Roxanne’s eyes soften when she thinks about her current boyfriend and fellow teammate. “I gave…quite a first impression. He happened to come around the corner right when I snapped at Boychuk, Bergeron, and Marchand when I first met them because they were like ‘you’re Roxanne, like the song by the Police!?’ and I hate that song so I was like SHUT UP! And he was like ‘…what?’” Laughing and shaking her head, Roxanne comments about how strange it feels to think that two years later she started dating him and not even a month later, became part of that dysfunctional family as she says. “Dysfunctional off the ice, but on the ice? It’s all down to business.” Roxanne says she’ll never forget the day she entered the Boston Bruins, the day that all coaches and owners confronted her and said she had the potential. Before Roxanne began to play for the Bruins, she was just an extra hand on practice, till one day when fellow teammate, Brad Marchand, dragged her out onto the ice and got her to scrimmage with all the guys. “It was legit the day that changed everything. Brad, you get on my nerves like a little brother but if it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t be here right now.”

Coach Julien said that what caught her eye was how well she utilized the players around her and the power she had. “She took out Zdeno Chara, sending him to the ice and ended up scoring on Tuukka Rask. It was that moment I knew I couldn’t let this go.” And even Jeremy Jacobs couldn’t either. Since that day in January, Roxanne has played six games and six enchanting games, really tearing up the ice with extreme power, racing to the top with goals and checks that gets the hockey world talking. “My power comes from the fans, they want me there and it really helps give that extra push to do what I do, I want to pay them back for they’re support.” Roxanne’s entrance into the league was widely unaccepted and still is, bring with it many enemies and rivalries. “Some days it feels like its just me against the world, but I don’t try to think about that. I have my team, fans, and my brother, they’re all I need. It takes a lot to get to the top and I’m slowly making it there, its going to be a long trek, but I know I can get the respect someday.”

When asked about her opinion of Erika Harper, Roxanne laughs and sighs, shaking her head as if she’s been asked this every day. “I really have been ever since that game. I used to admire her, taking that extra step and breaking into the NHL and taking it by storm. But in person she wasn’t the person I expected and we’re just on such bad blood right now. I feel like we’ve gotten off on the bad foot and it’ll probably take a long time to really come to equal terms but at the moment it gives me excitement on the ice, each one of us trying to out do the other. I like the challenge and the fact that over half the league wants me to fail gives me the reason to twice as hard to succeed.”

And succeeding Roxanne is doing, shuffling in enough votes to compete in Super Skills as a rookie and continuing to show the world what she is made of and make her father proud. “I wish he was here to see it in person, but I know he’s watching me and I know he’s proud…it may seem funny to say but I feel like he’s tweak everything down here from up there.” Smiling wistfully, Roxanne looks off in the distance. “Life’s good now though and I think I can’t ask for it to be any different. Can’t wait to see what the rest of the season is going to throw at me, with the team behind me and dating one of the best guys I’ve met so far and a wicked supportive brother…I think I pull in a trophy at the end of the year in Las Vegas.” With an outlook like that, its no wonder why Boston attracts themselves to the newest Bruin and the second woman of the NHL and after this interview, I look at this fascinating woman who came out of nowhere a bit differently.