Bruins bear a lucky charm

LYNN – John Flaherty is not a new Bruins fan.He’s been watching the Bruins since he was 13, during the days of Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito. He has gone entire seasons without missing a single game.Flaherty hasn’t missed one game this season and Sunday his passion reached new heights when he purchased a 57-inch, 250-pound hand-carved Bruins bear for his front lawn.Flaherty is now sure that, with the Bruins bear outside his home, the Bruins will win the Stanley Cup Championship tonight.”You don’t get a chance like this that often,” said Flaherty.Artist Doug DeMars says the paint was still wet when Flaherty saw the bear in his front yard on Tucker Street.DeMars carves on the side as he works as a chef at a hospital.He said the bear’s life started after a pine tree was cut down in Salem about a year and a half ago. DeMars says the tree needs to sit for a year to “season” so it won’t crack when he hits it with the chainsaw.In March, DeMars began the carving as a black bear, and then decided to turn it into what Flaherty calls “the heaviest mascot ever” as the Bruins’ season began to pick up.Flaherty’s girlfriend, a real estate agent, was showing a house next door to DeMar’s hand carvings.”Immediately I said, ‘Oh boy! It’s yellow – it’s got to be (for the) Bruins!’ ” said Flaherty, who purchased the piece for $500.Flaherty later found out that he had coincidentally gone to high school with DeMar’s wife.The Bruins haven’t won the cup since 1972 when Orr and Espo skated, but Flaherty has never lost faith.”We’ve been confident,” he said. “We’re not worried until the game comes on. Montreal was tough, but this series hasn’t been so bad.”Like most big sports fans, Flaherty has his own traditions.He watches every game with his girlfriend’s son, and prior to each one, they watch a YouTube Bruins tribute to Wiz Khalifa’s “Black and Yellow.” Flaherty even records the games to re-watch the next day.Flaherty will keep the bear in his front yard until Friday so people can come and take pictures of it.Then the bear will go in the backyard by Flaherty’s pool. Flaherty may even add a few more hand-carved New England mascots to his collection.For now, the bear guards the front steps of the Huron Street home, armed with a goalie’s stick and a Bruins flag.Flaherty isn’t concerned about the bear being stolen or damaged because they’ve chained the bear by the leg to the front stoop.DeMars says the bear will survive even in the New England wind, rain and snow because of its oil-based paint, adding that it will merely need a touch of black paint once in awhile.Though Flaherty isn’t worried about the bear being vandalized, he takes in the flag at night, just in case.If the Bruins win Game 7 tonight, DeMars says he will be adding Stanley Cup accents to the bear. DeMars and Flaherty predict the outcome of Wednesday’s Game 7 to be a Bruins win with a score of 3-1.