Published June 3, 2011

Public Garden Bruins Fans
(Click an image to start a slideshow)

Hubbub reader Kelsey Borner alerted us that Boston’s No. 1 fans have officially joined the rest of the region and jumped on the Bruins’ Stanley Cup Finals bandwagon.

The duckling statues and the statue of George Washington in the Public Garden are decked out in Bruins jerseys as the B’s try to bring the cup back to Boston for the first time since 1972.

The team outfitted the statues and installed the jerseys, according to Mary Hines, spokeswoman for the Boston Parks Department.

The Bruins are down a game in the seven-game series with the Vancouver Canucks. Game 2 is tomorrow night in Vancouver.

If the ducklings are any indication, the Bruins will have quite the home-ice advantage when the series returns to Boston Monday.

Published June 2, 2011

This is June 10, 1953 Assumption College handout photo shows a wrecked car on the lawn of the tornado-ravaged college campus in Worcester, where three of the 94 people killed in the storm lost their lives. (AP)

Wednesday’s tornadoes, which left at least three people dead and caused catastrophic damage to parts of central and western Massachusetts, bring to memory the Bay State’s deadliest tornado.

The 1953 tornado exploded through Worcester and, as WBUR’s Bob Oakes described it, “consumed houses, and spat out their splinters.” Lasting a little more than an hour, the storm left 94 dead. The storm went down in history as one of Massachusetts’ worst, and has its own nickname: “the Worcester tornado.”

Oakes reflected on the carnage of the storm in 2003, marking the 50th anniversary of the storm:

This is June 10, 1953 Assumption College handout photo shows a wrecked car on the lawn of the tornado ravaged college campus in Worcester, where three of the 94 people killed in the storm lost their lives. (AP)

Related:

• Earlier: Deaths Reported After Tornadoes Hit Central, Western Mass.
• Raw AP Video: Tornado Touchdown In Springfield
• Eyewitness Accounts: ‘This Doesn’t Happen In Springfield’

Published June 2, 2011

People walk by tornado damage in Springfield Thursday. (AP)

Emergency crews have arrived in the western and central Massachusetts communities affected by Wednesday’s tornadoes. At least three people are reported dead. Officials — including Gov. Deval Patrick, Sen. Scott Brown and Sen. John Kerry — are assessing the damage.

Where to get help:

• Dial 211: This call service is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and provides residents with information on community services such as disaster relief, finding shelter and food assistance.
• Massachusetts Department of Veterans Services: If you are a veteran, contact your local VSO for assistance. You can find a listing of VSO offices here.
• Making disaster claims: The state Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation has an online guide that explains how to go about filing an insurance claim after a natural disaster.

How to help:

• Red Cross of Massachusetts Bay: Red Cross officials say donors can text REDCROSS to 90999 to donate $10, call 1-800-RED-CROSS or click on REDCROSS.org to make a donation of any size.

More:

• Leaders Tour Tornado Damage As Rescue Continues
• Earlier: Deaths Reported After Tornadoes Hit

Published June 2, 2011

Springfield residents were left to pick up the pieces after an apparent tornado roared through the city Wednesday. (AP)

After tornadoes and other forms of severe weather tore through parts of western and central Massachusetts yesterday, residents are putting their lives back together. We’re continuing to update our coverage of the severe weather that killed at least four at least three.

Update 5:44 p.m.: Alright, let’s close this live blog for the day. Be sure to check wbur.org for all of the latest updates. We’ll have more on both wbur.org and on Hubbub tomorrow.

Update 5:36 p.m.: WBUR’s Jesse Costa toured some of the hardest hit areas of the state today and took some amazing photos. We’ll be getting many of them onto the site today and tomorrow.

The tornado completely flattened a house on Hollow Road in Brimfield. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)

Update 5:25 p.m.: The governor says some 290 people remain in emergency shelters throughout the state. Certainly a large number, but only about half as many as those who sought shelter immediately after the storms.

WBUR’s Curt Nickisch checked in from Monson, Mass., where the storm damage was rough.

“Some houses are literally flipped over, others completely collapsed into the basement,” Nickisch said. “Roofs are off of houses. It’s devastating. Amazingly, nobody was hurt.”

Update 5:20 p.m.: Only four Mass. counties remain under a state of emergency, nearly 24 hours after three tornadoes swept the state.

Gov. Deval Patrick rolled back a statewide state of emergency to include only Hampshire, Hampden, Franklin and Worcester counties, as cleanup and recovery efforts intensified.

Also, the National Weather Service confirmed that at least three tornadoes — not just one — were responsible for heavily damaging the central and western parts of the state, according to Patrick.

Update 3:50 p.m.: More from Monson: An aerial view from State Police:

Update 3:15 p.m.: WBUR’s Curt Nickisch passes along these photos from Monson, one of the communities hit hardest by the storms. Here’s one:

Update 2:20 p.m.: WBUR’s David Boeri reported from Monson on Here & Now earlier this afternoon. Here’s his dispatch:

Update 12:35 p.m.: At a press conference this morning, the head of the state police and the mayor of Springfield said that they think one of the people who died last night died of cardiac arrest. That means it may not be a storm-related death. Until we know more, we’ll report that the storms last night killed three, possibly four, people.

Update 12:28 p.m.: Do you need help recovering from tornado damage? Do you want to donate to help the recovery? Check out this resource page we set up.

Update 12:23 p.m.: After surveying damage by helicopter, Gov. Deval Patrick, Sen. John Kerry and Sen. Scott Brown spoke to the media.

Here’s some of what they said:

• Patrick: “The very first thing that is underway now, and was since the time the storm ended, is to complete the search and rescue. It’s about people first and foremost.”
• Patrick: “[Recovery will] take some time, there’s no doubt about it. But we are resilient people in the commonwealth and we’ve got a great team responding to this and it will all work out in the end.”
• Kerry: “There’s an enormous amount of work to be done, but we’re up to the task, we’re going to get it done. And if anything, the people that we have seen today and the stories that we have heard are unbelievably inspiring.”

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Published June 1, 2011

An apartment building in Springfield destroyed by a tornado (@TheFalconsAHL/Twitter)

A tornado? In Massachusetts?

That’s what Stephen Hanjack was thinking this afternoon.

“We heard the warnings and everything,” Hanjack said. “You really don’t even think about it until it happens.”

Hanjack and his co-workers with the Springfield Falcons, the city’s minor league hockey team, were at work on the bottom floor of the MassMutual Center when the tornado hit downtown Springfield.

“We got a few texts from people — we all live in the area — that’s when we started to realize it was getting serious,” Hanjack said. “It started getting pretty dark out. People at the windows said debris was just flying by, it just looks like a dust cloud. It was swirling and the wind was going crazy, so we just backed away from the windows.”

The tornado didn’t last long.

“We just hung tight inside and once it passed it was silent,” Hanjack said. “And then you hear all the fire and police sirens going nuts.”

Emergency crews scrambled because the tornado had hit the city hard. Hanjack and his colleagues wandered out of the arena to survey the damage.

“The first thing we did was walk down to the courthouse,” Hanjack said. “There are hundred-year-old trees, huge trees, just ripped out from their roots.”

Trees down. Cars destroyed. Buildings crumbled. The pictures Hanjack posted to the Falcons’ Twitter account look like they were taken in a war zone.

For the most part, Hanjack and the city of Springfield are still stunned.

“You look at how powerful Mother Nature can be,” Hanjack said. “I’m at a loss for words.”

Published June 1, 2011

It was a long time ago, but it still resonates in my memory.

It was Mothers Day, 1970, and I had not watched any of the Stanley Cup playoffs. But for some reason, the TV was on Channel 4 in my house — yes it was the NBC affiliate back then — and the late, great Dan Kelly announced what’s still known as the “Greatest Goal.” One Robert Gordon Orr flew through the air as he scored 30 seconds into overtime to give the Boston Bruins their first Stanley Cup in 29 years.

Mesmerized by the celebration on TV, it was my introduction to the National Hockey League and the Boston Bruins. Two years later I would enjoy it a lot better as the Big, Bad Bruins waltzed through the playoffs and beat the New York Rangers in the finals at Madison Square Garden and once again, Boston had its City Hall celebration.

I thought it was the greatest thing ever. At that point, I was not a Celtics follower and they hadn’t won since 1969. As a kid, baseball was boring to me and the Patriots were, well, just awful. But here were these swashbuckling Bruins who scored at will, owned the city and captured everyone’s imagination. I was a neophyte, but I was hooked. The Bruins were my team.

Thus began the disappointments. It started in 1974 against the expansion Philadelphia Flyers. The Broad Street Bullies muscled their way to the finals and beat Boston in six games. I remember it was the first season my childhood idol, Gilles Gilbert, was in the Bruins’ goal and former Bruins goalie Bernie Parent won the Conn Smythe trohpy as MVP of the playoffs.

After two seasons of early eliminations, Boston went back to the finals in 1977 and ’78. Both times they faced their hated rivals, the Montreal Canadiens, whom they hadn’t beaten in any playoff year since 1945. That trend continued with a 4-0 sweep and a six-game loss, respectively.

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Published May 31, 2011

Bruins goalie Tim Thomas shut out the Lightning Friday to propel his team to the Stanley Cup Finals. (AP)

It’s been a weekend and I’m still exhausted from the tension of a classic 1-0 Game 7 of playoff hockey.

Standing on the ninth floor Friday and looking down at the ice with three minutes left in the game and remembering that feeling back in 1990 when the Bruins beat the Hartford Whalers, Montreal Canadiens and the Washington Capitals to advance to the NHL Finals for the second time in three years. Although I was a media member, I was also a fan and it was a great time to be a Bruins fan.

Little did I know that I would not get a chance to have that emotion for another 21 seasons. But Friday night at TD Garden, it was a really good feeling. With 1:13 left in the game, the crowd felt it, and the guttural screams of all those years were released — it was indeed the loudest noise I had ever heard in that building since its birth.
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