We've already addressed Aaron Ward's personal connection to this first-round series, but he's hardly alone. (See: Glen Wesley.)
These two franchises have a long but dormant rivalry dating back to the days when they played in the same city in the early '70s (the NHL's Bruins and the WHA's New England Whalers) and then the I-84 connection when the Bruins and Whalers were both in the NHL's Adams Division, right up until the Whalers headed south and became the Hurricanes.
In addition to Ward, here's who else is feeling the tug of old loyalties:
• Sergei Samsonov spent the first eight years of his career with the Bruins, as big a part of that franchise as Joe Thornton at the time.
• Boston's Mark Recchi, like Ward, won the Stanley Cup with Carolina in 2006.
• Boston rookie Blake Wheeler was once the official NHL prospect of the N&O sports department.
• Kay Whitmore, who will supervise the series for the NHL's hockey operations department, played goalie for both the Bruins (five games) and the Hurricanes (63 games for the Hartford Whalers) during his career.
• Hurricanes goalie coach Tom Barrasso was a prep star in suburban Boston at Acton-Boxboro High School and still has a home on Cape Cod.
• Hurricanes director of defenseman development Wesley played for both the Bruins and Hurricanes. The Bruins traded him to the Whalers for three first-round draft picks, one of which they used to take Samsonov.
• Hurricanes forward Patrick Eaves played college hockey at Boston College.
• Bruins forward P.J. Axelsson is the only player left on the Bruins who played in the 1999 first-round series against the Hurricanes. Samsonov played in that series — but for the Bruins.
Luke has worked for The N&O since 2000. He covered the Carolina Hurricanes and the NHL before becoming a sports columnist in August 2008. A native of Evanston, Ill., he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania. He can be reached at (919) 829-8947, @LukeDeCock on Twitter or 
