Are you ready for some hockey?
The Boston Bruins begin their preseason game schedule Wednesday night against the Ottawa Senators at the ScotiaBank Place in Ottawa, Ontario. This is the Bruins' first preseason game against another team, though the team did hold an extremely well attended Black and White scrimmage in Providence, RI on Tuesday.
Not all of the Bruins' roster will take the ice against the Senators. Goaltender Tim Thomas, winger Milan Lucic and defenseman Zdeno Chara are just a few of the players held out of the game. Chara has had an emotional week, arriving at training camp Monday after attending the funeral of a close friend killed in the Yaroslavl Locomotiv plane crash a few weeks back. He then suffered a stinger on the leg on Tuesday. Chara will be held out of today's game to rest, but his injury is not serious. Preseason games are more for evaluation and less for pure competition, so fans should not get alarmed about anyone being held out.
The game will allow the Bruins' brass to take a look at some developmental talent and camp invitees, and gauge their readiness for NHL action. Forwards Jordan Caron, Jared Knight and Ryan Spooner, as well as defenseman Dougie Hamilton are youngsters that the Bruins will be looking closely at. Three recent college hockey standout defenseman - Boston University's Dave Warsofsky and Colby Cohen and Ohio State's Matt Bartkowski - will also be looking to make a statement on the blue line.
Fourth year pro Tuukka Rask will play most of the game in goal for the Bruins. Rask only played in 29 games in the Bruins' Stanley Cup season, thanks to the superhero-esque backstopping of Thomas. Rask will be looking to show calmness and control as he tries to make an argument for a more even goalie rotation this season.
The Senators have already played a preseason tilt against the Toronto Maple Leafs, losing 4-2 on Monday night. Their lineup for Wednesday night has a few players who won the AHL's Calder Cup last season with their farm club, the Binghamton (NY) Senators, including former University of New Hampshire star Bobby Butler.
Coverage: The game will be broadcast live on 98.5 the Sports Hub, and replayed at 12am on NHL Network.
Lineups (exact lines not available):
Boston Bruins
Forwards: Jamie Arniel, Patrice Bergeron, Jordan Caron, Chris Clark, Chris Kelly, Jared Knight, Lane MacDermid, Benoit Pouliot, Max Sauve, Tyler Seguin, Ryan Spooner, Jamie Tardif, Shawn Thornton.
Defensemen: Matt Bartkowski, Colby Cohen, Andrew Ference, Dougie Hamilton, Steven Kampfer, Adam McQuaid, David Warsofsky.
Goaltenders: Anton Khudobin, Tuukka Rask.
Ottawa Senators
Forwards: Milan Michalek, Shane Prince, Daniel Alfredsson, Peter Regin, Bobby Butler, Jason Spezza, Nikita Filatov, Erik Condra, Kaspars Daugavins, Stephane Da Costa, Mark Parrish, Corey Locke, Jim O’Brien, Nick Foligno, Mika Zibanejad.
Defensemen: Jared Cowen, Chris Phillips, Brian Lee, David Rundblad, Filip Kuba, Sergei Gonchar, Erik Karlsson, Mark Borowiecki
Goaltenders: Craig Anderson, Alex Auld
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