Sept. 20 Manchester NH On the first falling pucks of Autumn
MANCHESTER, N.H. -- Took in the BBruins/NJDevils pre-season tilt in Manchester, and judging by the sparse crowd, looks like only about 3,000 or so folks in this area (at least) are as anxious as I am for the pucks to drop.
And even as the Bs skated off with a 3-0 loss, the boos fillled the Verizon Wireless Arena, just as they do the Garden during the regualr season.
At least somebody is in mid-season form.
Only made it over to the Bruins' locker room post game --I'll save Jersey for their tilt with the Isles in Lowell next week -- but that's where I thought the more interesting stories were,anyway.
Chatted with old friend Pascal Pelletier, who has been skating for the Providence Bruins for the past coupla years. "Pelts" had a pretty good game against the Devils, although he lost his edges skating down left wing on NJ goalie Kevin Weekes and was deprived of a solid scoring chance.
And while he would be considered a long shot to stick with Boston, he's hoping to do enough good things during camp to at least register an impression. And it is those pre-season impressions that lead to mid-season call ups when the need arises (as they did last year for Jeremy Reich and Bobby Allen, both of whom seemed to be destined for AHL careerhood).
"I had a few good intra-squad games," said Pelletier, "so I guess I impressed a couple guys up here. Tonight didn't go as I wished. I know I can play at this level. I've just got to do simple things. I just tried to impress a little too much tonight, and tried to make plays that I usually don't do. But hopefully I'll get more games to show off what I can do."
Boston's lineup had plenty of youth, and the kids were by and large their better players.
Rookie goalie Tuukka Rask, who is ticketed to start the season in Providence, played the second 30 mins, following Manny Fernandez, and early on made an eye-popping stop on Jersey's Zach Parise.
Top Bruins draftee, center Zach Hamill, who will almost certainly be returned to his junior club in Everett, looked pretty oily out there. The best Bruin on the ice was Phil Kessel, who skated mostly between Glen Murray and Matt Hendricks, and seems to already have answered the question of where he will play (center or wing).
I asked new Bs coach Claude Julien if anyone caught his eye, and he singled out young defenseman Andrew Bodnarchuk, who will go back to his junior club in Halifax.
"You've got to give credit to Bodnarchuk in the back end," Julien said. "For a young junior player in his first game, against a team that had a lot of speed (something not formerly attributed to the clutch, grab, and trap Jerseyans) and a lot of experience, and I thought he handled himself extremely well. His mobility was good. He was moving the puck fairly well. I thought he had a solid game for a first game."
Dan Hickling
Post a Comment
View Printer Friendly Version
Email Article to Friend
Reader Comments