By Bonnie Adams, Managing Editor
Northborough – In sports-obsessed New England, every fan has an opinion about their favorite team. Andrew Roberts is one of them – he loves sports so much, he started his own blog, Boston SportsMania. But what separates Andrew from the other “armchair” pundits is that he is only 11.
After his site caught the attention of the Boston Bruins organization, the young blogger was invited to not only watch the team play the Arizona Coyotes Feb. 28 at TD Garden, but also get a private tour of the media areas and then participate in the press conference after the game.
Andrew, who is a fifth-grade student at the Marguerite E. Peaslee School, has always been “obsessed” with sports, his parents, Ken and Debra said. After borrowing a library book on how to start a blog, he launched his site in March 2014. His first entry was “ESPN’s Baseball Tonight says Mike Trout is baseball’s #1 player, but I don’t think so.” And with that, the young sports fan was off, offering his thoughts several times a week on everything from pre-season predictions, trades, games and the infamous New England Patriots “Deflategate.”
The night of Feb. 28, Andrew, accompanied by his father, first met with Bruins Communications Specialist Erika Wentzell who gave them a tour of the media areas. He was then introduced to a number of well-known media personalities covering the game including NESN’s Jack Edwards, Bruins radio announcers Dave Goucher and Bob Beers, Joe Haggerty of Comcast SportsNet and Joe McDonald of ESPN. Andrew and his dad then watched the game from the press area; Andrew was considered an official member of the press.
“[MacDonald] tweeted my blog out which was very nice of him and I promised to do the same (https://twitter.com/ESPNJoeyMac/status/571802160792387584) ,” Andrew wrote on his blog after the game. “[The members of the media] all told me to keep reading and writing and I plan to.”
After watching the Bruins defeat the Coyotes, 4-1, Andrew was invited to attend the official press conference with Bruins head coach Claude Julien and ask the first question.
In his blog, Andrew recounted his exchange with the coach.
“There, I asked Claude Julien, ‘Who do you think had a great performance in this game?’”
“He answered, saying everyone did well, especially the young guys that were new additions to the lineup, like Ryan Spooner. He said that Milan Lucic was like a father figure to those players like Spooner, who scored his first career goal to win the Bruins the game in overtime on Friday night.”
Two sportswriters complimented him “on how well I asked the first question,” Andrew noted, “and then gave me high-fives.”
There was still one more exciting moment in store for the aspiring young journalist when he was invited to ask a question of Bruins forward Brad Marchand.
“I asked him, ‘Thinking about how well you’ve done over the last four games, what you think your playoff chances are right now?’”
“He answered, ‘If we keep playing the way we played tonight, I think we have a pretty good chance,’” Andrew wrote.
After posing for a photo with Marchand, his exciting night came to an end and it was time to return home to Northborough.
To read Andrew’s full posting on what he called “the greatest sports experience of my life,” visit his blog, Boston SportsMania at https://andrewr1008.wordpress.com/2015/03/02/bruins-treat-me-to-greatest-sports-experience-of-my-life/ The Bruins also featured his blog on their website: http://bruins.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=756328
Photos/Ken Roberts