B's Development Camp Thoughts

Summer is supposed to be about baseball, right? Well, mostly.

While there are no actual NHL games happening in these rainy, hot Massachusetts summer months, the Bruins held their third annual prospect development camp at the team's training center in Wilmington, MA. Ristuccia arena was alive again with young guys aged 18-24 carving the ice and firing pucks on net. Boston.com's Chris Forsberg was kind enough to take some video of a scrimmage featuring my classmate, local guy and former BU Terrier Jason Lawrence, who was invited to the camp after the B's signed him last season. He sat on the bench in Providence during their Calder Cup run but projects to make the roster and find his name on the score sheet this season.

Check out video of J-Lo donning number 83 at camp here:

http://www.boston.com/sports/hockey/bruins/extras/bruins_blog/2009/07/video_scrimmage.html

Lawrence is the first Terrier in a while to get a legitimate look by the Bruins. I think the last Icedog to play for the B's was Carl Corazzini but since then, the Bruins have tapped BU's rival up Commonwealth Avenue for talent with names like Andrew Alberts, Brock Bradford, Chris Collins and Tommy Cross. Blueliner Kevin Schaefer is the most recent BU product to appear in the B's pipeline but he hasn't cracked the Boston lineup and isn't on the roster at development camp. I expect him to be at training camp looking to earn more minutes in Providence this season. Maybe we'll have a few throwback power play goals potted by J-Lo with helpers from Schaefer.


The Globe's Fluto Shinzawa reported that 2007 first-round pick Zach Hamill was leading the stretching and looked good on the ice. I expect him to have a breakout year down in Providence as long as he can stay healthy and play the whole season. Last year, a broken thumb sidelined him and definitely hindered his progress. I hope to catch some of B's 2008 first-rounder Joe Colborne on tv this year as he enters his sophomore season at Denver. One thing I'll look for is whether or not he battles in the corners for the puck which was another one of Fluto's points.

One last thing. I have no idea why the Bruins signed Steve Begin. I've heard some journalists analyze it as Begin coming in to replace Stephane Yelle, but I figured Vladimir Sobotka was a virtual lock to make the team this year. Perhaps it was just for depth since Krejci and Kessel won't be good for opening day, but I thought that they gritty tough guy role had been filled by Shawn Thornton with Byron Bitz possibly stepping up and having more of a fighting role this season as well. Here's my new opening day lineup prediction:

Sturm-Savard-Lucic
Ryder-Bergeron-Wheeler
Axelsson-Begin-Kobasew
Sobotka-Bitz-Thornton (Marchand)

Chara-Wideman
Ference-Hunwick
Stuart-Boychuk (Ward)

Thomas
Rask

The B's will sign Phil Kessel and bring back P.J. Axelsson. You heard it here first (well, about P.J. anyway).

I'm also anxiously awaiting Wednesday's official announcement of the Winter Classic to be played at Fenway against the hated Flyers and the college showcase game featuring the 2009 NCAA National Champions vs. the 2008 NCAA National Champions, or BU vs. BC.