The Boston Bruins Development Camp, also referred to as “rookie camp,” begins Tuesday July 6, 2010 with fitness testing and team building exercises. The group will hit the ice on Wednesday July 7, 2010 at the Ristuccia Center in Wilmington, MA at 1:00pm. The boys will skate at 10:00am on both Thursday July 8, 2010 and Friday July 9, 2010. Saturday July 10, 2010 they will exhibit their skills at 11:00am.
Management and coaches use development camp to evaluate the young players’ skills and to get an idea of who will make an impression at training camp in September while other players will get their first taste of the professional game before returning to their college teams.
The roster consists of the following players:
Forwards: Tyler Brenner, Jordan Caron, Joe Colbourne, Craig Cunningham, Alexander Fallstrom, Justin Florek, Mark Goggin, Jared Knight, Tyler Randell, Max Sauve, Ben Sexton, Ryan Spooner, Nick Tremblay, Tyler Seguin.
Defensemen: Yuri Alexandrov, Matt Bartkowski, Ryan Button, Marc Cantin, Ryan Donald, Steve Kampfer, Zach Trotman, David Warsofsky, Tommy Cross.
Goaltenders: Adam Courchaine, Matt Dalton, Zane Gothberg, Mike Hutchinson
Twenty-seven players, as of this writing, will participate. Some, such as Boston University’s David Warsofsky and Boston College’s Tommy Cross, are known to hockey enthusiasts throughout New England. Other players are not as well known. Of course, crowds will attend to see one player and one player only…Tyler Seguin. Since the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, Seguin has gone from the number one prospect to savior of the Boston Bruins franchise. He led the Ontario Hockey League in goals and tied for the scoring championship with Taylor Hall. Seguin was named the Canadian Hockey League’s Player of the Year for 2009-2010. Fans expect big things and they will analyze and scrutinize his every move.
While Seguin is all but assured a roster spot coming out of training camp in the fall, all of the players in development camp hope to have a future in a B’s uniform. Five other players who should impress management and fans alike are:
Jordan Caron, the 6’ 2”, 202 lbs, right wing was drafted with the twenty-fifth pick in the first round of the 2009 entry draft by the Bruins from Rimouski of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. He represented Canada in the 2010 World Junior Championships and was an integral part on Canada’s silver medal winning team.
Joe Colbourne, 6’ 5”, is a big center, who was drafted at number sixteen in the first round of the 2008 entry draft and after spending two seasons at the University of Denver, Colbourne, may be ready to make the jump to the NHL.
Craig Cunningham is only 5’ 10” tall but he is an intriguing player. The Bruins selected the nineteen year old winger with the ninety-seventh overall selection (fourth round) in the 2010 draft. He plays for the Western Hockey League’s Vancouver Giants and was a teammate there of current B’s forward, Milan Lucic. It was Lucic who suggested to general manager, Peter Chiarelli, that he select Cunningham with the pick. Size, or lack of it, may be the reason for Cunningham’s being available in the fourth round as he scored 97 points in 72 games with the Giants in 2009-2010. In the WHL playoffs, he followed those numbers up with 24 points in 16 games.
Aside from Cross and Warsofsky, management will have its eyes on defenseman Matt Bartkowski. The Ohio State University product was acquired during the 2009-2010 season from the Florida Panthers in the Byron Bitz trade. Bartkowski has the reputation of being a strong, physical player, who uses his 6’ 1”, 200 lbs frame to deliver ferocious open ice hits.
Amongst the goaltenders, Mike Hutchinson is the highest rated prospect the Bruins have between the pipes. Boston made Hutchinson the seventy-seventh selection in the third round of the 2008 entry draft. He plied his trade, this season, with the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League. He led the Knights to 32 wins while losing just 12 and tying 2. Hutchinson finished the season with a 2.86 goals against average and a .913 save percentage.
Other players are sure to stand out and leave fans anticipating the day when they will be cheering for them inside TD Garden. In the meantime, this camp is a great way for fans to see what the future holds for their favorite team.