Bonino in a simpler time.



It was a bit of a homecoming for Ducks center Nick Bonino today in Boston, when the Ducks held a practice at his old stomping grounds: Agganis Arena on the campus of Boston University.Bonino was a star for the Terriers for three seasons (2007 through 2010), where he somewhat famously scored a gargantuan game-tying goal late in regulation in the 2009 Frozen Four final against Miami (OH) to help BU capture the national championship. It's the first time he's been back in Boston with the Ducks since December of 2010, a 3-0 Anaheim victory at TD Garden.

Today, the Ducks decided to honor Bonino's trip back to his alma mater in a number of ways, and he talked about the experience.



Tell us what happened when you got to practice today at the rink

There was a huge sign welcoming me when I walked in, but nobody will take credit for it. It had to be Sluggo [Ducks equipment manager Doug Shearer] or one of his partners. Last time we practice there, they shaving-creamed my gloves, so today I hid my skates and my gloves so they couldn’t mess with them. But they ended up finding my skates and my gloves, cut my laces, cut my sticks, hid my sticks … just played some pranks on me. But it was fun. We got to use the facility and I played some ping pong there against Getzy. It was great being back there.







We saw that you practiced in a red BU jersey. What was that all about?

Bruce did that. The guys in the red [practice jerseys] are usually Getzy’s line, but today they had me in the red BU jersey and Cogs [Andrew Cogliano] and Palms [Kyle Palmieri] and our line was the first line. We started every drill and everything. It was pretty funny, all in good fun.







And what happened after practice?

They took my laundry bag with all my clothes in it and put tape all around it, so when I got off the ice, I found it there. It was a pain.







Beyond that, how meaningful is it for you to be back in Boston?

Obviously you finish your college career there and you know you’ll never play there again. But it was pretty cool being able to go back there with the Ducks and skate on the ice and use the facility and see all the familiar faces.



It’s fun to walk the streets and everything is so familiar there. It’s like you haven’t been gone. And it’s pretty cool to be in Agganis and see the championship banner and stuff like that. Guys make fun of you for being back, because I had a smile on my face the whole day. But it was really cool to be back there and catch up with everyone, to see the rink again and see all the guys. It was really fun.



What’s the plan for the rest of the day in the city?

I’m going to the Red Sox game tonight. I got tickets through my agent and I’m going with Cam [Fowler]. Getzy got some tickets and he’s going with Perry, Penner and [Strength & Conditioning coach] Sean Skahan. I’m a big Sox fan. It’s gonna be a lot of fun.



Will you have a lot of friends and family watching you play tomorrow against the Bruins?

Oh yeah. I’ll have a bunch of people there. I put some tickets aside for people. I’ll probably know about 20 to 30 people there. It should be fun.