VANCOUVER -- Milan Lucic has returned to where it all began.
The Boston Bruins winger was feted by his former Vancouver Giants junior team Wednesday at an informal news conference. The Giants, who won a WHL and Memorial Cup title during his two seasons with them in 2005-06 and 2006-07, will hold a special night for Lucic when they host Chilliwack on Friday.
Lucic, a 22-year-old Vancouver native, will be placed on the Giants' Ring of Honour and the first 500 fans in the doors will receive his bobblehead doll.
"The nose needs a little work," he said, assessing the bobblehead doll. "Definitely, you can tell from the side profile that it doesn't really have the bump that I'm kind of famous for, the Serbian nose that I get from my family. But it's pretty cool."
Lucic is enjoying rare extra time on the road with friends and family while the Bruins are in Vancouver early for Saturday's game against the Canucks. An added bonus: Due to a schedule conflict at Rogers Arena, he got to practise with the Bruins at Pacific Coliseum, the Giants home, where he carried the Memorial Cup in what turned out to be his final junior game in May 2007.
"It was especially nice today, being able to practise here in the Coliseum," he said. "Growing up down the street, that's where I always wanted to play, because when I was a kid the Canucks were always playing here.
"When I started playing, it was right next door at the Agrodome. Obviously, the two years that I had here with the Giants, winning championships both years, it was somewhere where I was able to develop my game. It got me to where I am now."
Lucic has come home on a high note. He scored two goals as the Bruins beat the Flames in Calgary on Tuesday night, and he is enjoying a solid year with 26 goals.
He is now at the career-high 42 points he managed two seasons ago after his 2009-10 campaign was hampered by injuries and he produced a modest 20 points in just 50 games.
"It was definitely a learning curve last year," said Lucic. "You take being healthy for granted until you go through injuries like I did last year. It was tough. It seemed like everything that could go wrong last year went wrong.
"That's what gave me that extra motivation to regain my reputation going into this year. It made me work extra hard."
Bruins coach Claude Julien said Lucic is getting his confidence, providing the physical element that is essential to his success and, as a result, playing the way he knows he can.
But, as Wednesday's event recalled, there was a time that neither Lucic nor many observers knew what he could do. He was bypassed in the WHL's draft of bantam-age players and played junior B -- not exactly a haven for prospects -- as a 17-year-old. In his first season with the Giants, he mustered just nine goals and few expected him to shine offensively in the NHL.
But he also gained notice with 25 fights, winning most, and the Bruins gambled by taking him fairly high, in the second round (50th overall), in the 2006 NHL entry draft, which happened to be held in Vancouver that year. The gamble paid off because Lucic has emerged as one of the league's top power forwards and Boston (34-19-2) ranks among the Eastern Conference's elite clubs.
"Looking at the situations, Boston was kind of in the redeveloping stage and they needed some jam in their lineup," said Lucic. "It was perfect for me. That's why I couldn't be happier that I ended up with the Boston Bruins. Ever since I got with them in the 07-08 season, everything's just kind gone up and forward from there."
Lucic credits Giants coach Don Hay, who served as a head coach with Calgary and Phoenix in the NHL briefly and is one of only three WHL bench bosses with 500 career wins, and the junior club's management and staff for most of his success. In the off-season, Lucic still trains with Giants strength and conditioning coach Ian Gallagher, whom he praised for off-ice workouts that have helped develop skating skills that he lacked.
"They helped me take that step up ... They were willing to work with me, especially Don (Hay)," said Lucic. "He always finds a way to get the best out of his players, and he's a guy that keeps saying that work ethic can take you a long way.
"He's got the saying: Will over skill. If you have that will and you're willing to put the time in and the work in, it will get you to where you want to go.
"I always took that to heart."
Notes: Former Bruin Shane Hnidy, 35, is back with Boston on a tryout and took part in his first practice Wednesday. He suffered a rotator cuff injury while trying out for Phoenix during the preseason and has been recuperating since then in Winnipeg. "It was definitely an easy transition to come into this room," said Hnidy. He played for Minnesota last season after playing a season and a half with the Bruins from 2007 to 2009.
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