Morning Skate: The Bruins go to Sesame Street

Friday! And it’s Halloween Eve. Good times.

As most of you know, the Bruins’ annual Halloween trip to Children’s Hospital in Boston is usually one of the off-ice highlights of the season.

The players are always great sports about dressing up, and the kids are always so excited to see those same players dressed up as Toy Story characters or whatever else the theme may be.

Of course, like most other things, this great tradition was spoiled by COVID-19, but the Bruins improvised: instead of visiting Children’s Hospital in person, players dressed up and visited kids via what else: Zoom, because everything is on Zoom in 2020.

However, unlike other Zoom things, this Zoom thing did not disappoint. The Bruins dressed up as Sesame Street characters, and led by Patrice Bergeron as Elmo, excellence ensued.

Let us analyze:

• Elmo is an excellent host, seamlessly transitioning between characters. A+.
• Tuukka Rask as Oscar the Grouch is excellent, especially when he breaks character at the end to say “hi guys.”
• Bergeron’s French Canadian-accented “Cookie Monstair” is fantastic, as is Cookie Monster himself, Brandon Carlo.
• Charlie Coyle, without prompting, breaks into a stirring rendition of “Rubber Ducky.” Inarguably the best singer Weymouth has ever produced.
• Sean Kuraly as Bert, seemingly working from Bert’s home office?
• John Moore has a scene-stealing performance as The Count. “Do you know why they call me The Count? Because I love to count...hahahahaha.” Wonderful. Plus, the way the camera lingered on Moore for a couple seconds too long was great.
• Jeremy Lauzon as Super Grover! Good to see Super Grover being responsible and wearing a mask.
• Anders Bjork, closing things out as Abby Cadabby, a role he specifically requested, per Patrice Bergeron.

Watch it, enjoy, then watch it again. It’s Friday.

Today’s highlight

It’s always nice to see Chris Pronger get diced up by Future Elmo.

Today’s discussion topic

Who stole the show on Sesame Street?