By: Camryn Meece | Follow me on Twitter / X @MeeceCamryn
The Boston Bruins have one of the most recognizable logos in NHL history, and for the past eight decades, the famous Spoked-B has remained the team’s defining symbol.
Across professional sports, franchises often reinvent themselves. New ownership groups, generational shifts in players, updated uniforms, and redesigned logos are all part of an effort to attract new fans while keeping pace with a changing sports landscape. The Boston Bruins, however, have not taken that path. While their uniforms and logo have seen changes over the decades, the Spoked-B has remained the foundation of the franchise’s identity.
The Bruins debuted their first logo in 1924; it featured a brown bear walking with its mouth open. The bear was colored in a brown and yellowish-gold color scheme to match the then-owner Charles Adams’ national grocery store chain. While the bear helped establish the Bruins’ identity, the franchise eventually moved toward a simpler design that placed Boston itself at the center of the logo.
In 1932, the recognizable “B” appeared on the sweaters of the Boston Bruins. The shift served a couple of purposes. A simple lettermark was easier to reproduce on uniforms and merchandise, while the prominent “B” signaled a shift away from emphasizing the team’s nickname and toward embracing its hometown identity.
The lettermark laid the foundation for the Bruins’ future branding. In 1948, the franchise built upon that concept by introducing the Spoked-B, a design that has remained at the heart of the team’s identity ever since. The new design surrounded the existing “B” with a circular wheel featuring eight spokes. The spokes reflected Boston’s longtime nickname, “The Hub,” which originated from writer Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.’s 1858 description of the city as “The Hub of the Solar System.” The phrase reflected Boston’s reputation as a center of education, transportation, culture, and history.
The Spoked-B was no longer simply a new logo; it was about to become the backdrop for some of the most important moments in Bruins history. For the next eight decades, it would be there for the rise of hockey legends, Stanley Cup celebrations, and generations of Bruins fans.
Perhaps no player is more closely associated with the Spoked-B than Bobby Orr. After he arrived in 1966, Orr helped transform Boston into one of the NHL’s dominant teams, along with other Boston greats: Phil Esposito, Johnny Bucyk, and Gerry Cheevers. As Orr’s career skyrocketed, his performances helped draw new fans across the continent, while his appearance on the cover of Sports Illustrated brought the Spoked-B to a national audience.
The golden era for the Bruins was in full swing, culminating in two Stanley Cup championships in 1970 and 1972. Boston’s first championship came after a 29-year drought, with Orr famously scoring the Cup-clinching goal against the St. Louis Blues. Boston had returned to the top of the hockey world, and the Spoked-B was on the sweaters when it happened.
The Spoked-B continued its journey with the Bruins when they drafted Ray Bourque in 1979. Bourque quickly became the face of the franchise, wearing the same black-and-gold sweater that had become so familiar to Bruins fans. That history continued in 1987, when Bourque took off his No. 7 sweater during Phil Esposito’s jersey retirement ceremony, revealing his new No. 77 underneath. The moment became one of the most memorable images in Bruins history, with the Spoked-B front and center.
By the early 1990s, the Bruins were even looking back at their own history. For the NHL’s 75th anniversary in 1991–92, Boston brought back a vintage-style sweater that paid tribute to the team’s earlier years. While the sweater paid tribute to the Bruins’ past, the Spoked-B was hardly a relic of it. More than four decades after its introduction, it remained a central part of the team’s look.
In 2011, a new generation of Bruins fans got their own championship to remember. Boston ended a 39-year Stanley Cup drought by defeating the Vancouver Canucks in seven games, with the familiar black-and-gold sweater back on the ice as champions once again.
The Bruins stayed consistent in a league where team identities have changed countless times. Even among the Original Six, franchises have refreshed their logos and visual identities. Teams like the Vancouver Canucks, Buffalo Sabres, and the Los Angeles Kings have undergone multiple major redesigns. Boston’s Spoked-B, by comparison, remains closely tied to the look fans have known for generations, making it one of the NHL’s most recognizable symbols.
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