Rob Gronkowski enjoys chance to don Winter Classic hockey gear

Perhaps the truest words spoken at Gillette Stadium on the eve of the NHL Winter Classic were those uttered by Patrice Bergeron.

Bill Belichick took to the Gillette Stadium ice for a morning skate with Bruins coach Claude Julien on Thursday, then took his team to south Florida for what has become an important football game on Sunday.

Gunnarsson, of DaveArt Studios, captured all four in black and white on the back of the Winter Classic mask, which Condon wore for the first time in practice earlier this week and will use against the Boston Bruins on New Year’s Day (1 p.m. ET; NBC, TVA Sports, SN).

According to NHL.com, Julien asked Belichick about skating with him on Wednesday as he attended the Patriots practice.

“Oh, yeah. I mean we didn’t have a lot of ice in Maryland, but skated at Andover, skated (at) Wesleyan”, Belichick said.

“From what I saw from him, to be honest, was the second he put his skates on to how he finished, he improved quite a bit”, Julien said. “Obviously, we gave him a stiff pair of skates today that was different than he was probably used to, so it took him a little time to get more comfortable in it”.

Gronk informed the media he was a left winger when he played, as opposed to a defenseman because “I need the action”.

That run of success is not lost on the Bruins, despite the fact that only two players on their current roster (wingers Frank Vatrano and Jimmy Hayes) were raised in New England.