Don’t call Bolland ‘The Rat’ at The Blue Goose Tavern

TORONTO — Darlene Brewer will gently correct you, and then warn you, and then tell you a story, all during the first intermission.

First, only TV people call him Dave. Everyone inside The Blue Goose Tavern, an ancient pub tucked into the southwestern corner of Toronto, calls him David. His parents still live in the neighbourhood, and they call him David, so that is the name you should use.

And never, under any circumstance, should you mention the nickname someone gave him when he was playing with the Chicago Blackhawks, carving out a reputation as a forward who could needle and annoy his opponents. Calling him by that name, The Rat, would be to put your safety in peril inside The Blue Goose Tavern.

“I think if you called him The Rat here, you’d definitely get punched in the head,” Brewer said. “Everybody here loves David Bolland.”

On Saturday night, Bolland will face the Blackhawks for the first time, in a city where he celebrated two Stanley Cup championships. They traded him to the Toronto Maple Leafs six days after he scored the Cup-winning goal last spring, giving this trip back to Chicago a certain sense of homecoming.

Except, for everyone inside The Blue Goose Tavern — known locally as The Goose — there has never been any question about where Bolland belongs. He grew up in the area, known as Mimico, and The Goose is perhaps the area’s unofficial town hall.

Brewer works at The Goose, and was off-duty as she enjoyed a pint while watching Bolland and the Leafs play the Carolina Hurricanes on a projection screen near the bar. Everyone on staff was wearing a Leafs T-shirt with Bolland’s name on the back. The bar raffles off one of his jerseys every month.

After the correction and the warning, the story: Bolland returned to the bar in July to help raise money for a local resident who was battling cancer. He had donated a jersey signed by every member of the Blackhawks for a charity auction — The Goose had the highest bid, in the end — and the place was packed.

“When he came in, I was behind the bar,” Brewer said. “I was knee-deep in so many people. All of the sudden, I put up my head, and it’s David. I was like, ‘Hey, how you doing? What are you having?’

“And he pointed to the two guys beside him and said, ‘They were here first.’” She paused. “That’s a nice boy,” Brewer said.

Bolland has returned during summer breaks, helping to raise money, but also to enjoy a quiet moment by himself, or with friends.