Bruins Fans Confront Old Ghosts With Coaching Hire News

Matt Cooke is back behind the bench, this time as head coach and general manager of the BCHL’s Vernon Vipers.

The former Pittsburgh Penguins winger was announced as the club’s new hire Friday, with the Vipers celebrating his Stanley Cup credentials in a photo featuring his 2009 championship ring.

Cooke last coached professionally with the ECHL’s now-defunct Newfoundland Growlers and now steps into a dual leadership role in British Columbia.

But even a decade removed from the NHL, Cooke’s name still triggers a visceral response in Boston. He remains one of the most reviled villains in Bruins history — not for the number of penalties he racked up but for the hit that altered the course of Marc Savard’s life.

On March 7, 2010, Cooke leveled Savard with a blindside shot to the head just after the Bruins center released a pass. The hit knocked Savard unconscious and led to a severe concussion.

Though Cooke was not penalized or suspended at the time, the incident helped spark the NHL’s adoption of Rule 48, which bans blindside hits targeting the head.
Savard, once a key playmaker in Boston, was never the same.

He missed most of the following season with post-concussion symptoms and played his final NHL game in early 2011 after another jarring hit. The fallout from Cooke’s hit left a lasting mark on the league, on Savard and on the Bruins fanbase.

Years later, Cooke reflected on the incident and said he wished he could take it back.

“I hate the fact that Marc was hurt,” he told Joshua Kloke of The Athletic last year.

Still, that regret has done little to soften his image in New England. For Bruins fans, Cooke’s name remains a scar and no coaching title will change that.