From home of an innovative canal to home of the NHL champs

Out covering fan reaction, I spent Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals around TD Garden, watching mostly at North Station, where Bruins fans shut out of the bars nearby found a TV above an ice cream stand on the concourse, their cheers drowning out the boarding announcements. Afterward, I fanned out along the heavily barricaded Causeway and Canal streets, taking notes amid the elbow-to-elbow jubilation, squeezed between riot police and fans chanting “USA! USA!’’ and “Tim-my! Thomas!’’ until they were hoarse.

Surely few in the crowd were contemplating the origins of the names Canal and Causeway — if transportation came up at all, it was about how to get home as the celebration roared up against the witching hour for the T — but the street names hint at the rich transportation history of the area, once the terminus for the nation’s first great canal.

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