Bruins Practice January 6, 2010 – No one REALLY likes Wideman!

Iron Men On Ice!

Bruins practice was suppose to start at 11:30, but somewhere between last night’s win and this morning, practice became optional. I didn’t know this, and arrived at Ristuccia at 10:30, and saw Patrice Bergeron arrive, with laptop. (Maybe he had some e-mails to catch up on?) Bitz and Julian arrived shortly after. When my friend Colleen arrived, we headed into the Ice Box.

As we waited (And waited) for the Bruins to take the ice; Wheeler, Morris, Boychuk and Savard all came in together through a side door. I yelled out “HI Blake Wheeler!” and got nothing in return. Whatever, Wheels!  Denis Wideman arrived, alone, and quickly went into the locker room.

The waiting continued and Colleen and I debated whether or not the Bruins were going to hit the ice, or if they were doing off ice training. Finally we decided to brave the weather and stand outside to see the players arrive (leave?). Outside were about 7 – 10 autograph hounds, with their stuff to sell on E-Bay. These people amaze me! For the most part, none of them know one player from the next and constantly ask “Who’s that?” then scramble to find something for that player to sign.

We saw Thornton and Bitz leave, each with their own Winter Classic jersey. Neither said why they had them. Wheeler came out, no jersey in his hand, and walk right by me. Again, I said “Hi Wheels!” and NOTHING!! Now, I know I’m short, but he’s not deaf! Blake Wheeler, you are dead to me!

Wideman came out then and no one….NO ONE stopped him for an autograph. I actually felt bad. So bad, that when Wideman said hi to me, I said hi back. But I didn’t like doing it.

Now I could hear noise coming from inside the rink and went in to see who was there. Milan Lucic, Mark Stuart (yay!)  Adam McQuaid and Patrice Bergeron were on the ice, with Tuukka Rask in net. Bergeron was working with John Whitesides, on one side of the rink; while the others trained with Doug Houda. Bergy did mostly skating and shooting drills, while the others did a timed shooting drill that turned into a skating drill. After Looch and Stuey failed to score on Rask; each had to skate back and forth, on the short part of the rink, four times. However, when Looch did score on Rask, Tuukka had to do the same, resulting in an over excited Tuukka slamming into the boards and sliding into the net. Needless to say, everyone had a good laugh. I thought Stuart looked great out there and was keeping up easily with Lucic. It will be a race between him and Bergeron on who will return, to the line-up, first.

Chara made an appearance, inside the rink. He spoke with a few people and said hello to the four fans, myself included, sitting in the stands. (See Wheeler! Chara said HI to me!).

By now it was 2pm, and everyone was finishing up. I had to leave to pick up my little guy from school, plus my feet were so cold, they were starting to hurt.

– @ComicGirl8

You can find Kathi’s pictures from today’s practice here….

Bruins Practice Log 12/22/09

Even after last night’s 2-0 victory in Ottawa against the Senators, the Bruins were back in Boston this morning and ready for practice.  The team had a bit of a late start, allowing injured forward Milan Lucic to take the ice.  Lucic skated with assistant coach John Whitesides for about 15 minutes; doing fast laps and stick-handling/passing drills. He bounced a lot of shots off the glass, which were received by shrieks from the fangirl troupe huddled near the doors.  Note: hockey is loud, keep this in mind before coming to Ristuccia.  It is also cold, so stop whining loudly about how the heat’s not working.

Lucic left the ice, and in the lull before the regular practice, Tim Thomas strolled by me, decked out in tight Under Armor and gym shorts.  The Starbucks barista in me noticed that he was drinking generic coffee.  For shame, Timmy.  He made up for it by wishing me a Merry Christmas.

Also spotted was Vladimir Sobotka, rocking a taped up right lower-thigh and workout gear.  As you will recall, Sobotka took a Chara shot to the leg and left the ice for part of last night’s game.  Mark Stuart was also wandering around off ice, which pleased me greatly.  Not only because I like the defenseman, but because his shorts were very, umm, flattering in the crotchal region, and he seemed to know it, the way he was parading himself around the arena.  He and Sobotka appeared to be doing off-ice workouts, and contrary to other reports, they were both in attendance.

The rest of the team took to the ice about a half hour later than scheduled, wearing their Winter Classic pants and helmets.  The pants are dark brown with a gold stripe down the leg, and apparently Johnny Boychuk’s were too big, as he had to drop his gloves to tighten and readjust himself.

Practice consisted mostly of game situation drills.  They all looked pretty confusing to me, but one in particular even tripped up the players.  Luckily, they all found their confusion hilarious.  The offensive lines were pretty messed up, due to absences, but it worked out well in the end.

Other observations worth noting: Dennis Wideman did not fall.  Adam Wozniewski almost did.  The Bruins began practice by shooting on a child-size two-foot high goal with Tuukka Rask defending.  I’m not sure what purpose this served, but it was pretty comical to watch.  Sobotka, Stuart, Derek Morris, and Michael Ryder were missing from the on-ice festivities.  And the fangirl squad ended up leaving before the team even came out. *** By @SweetCaroline04

Milan Lucic takes to the ice

Later, dude….Oh Hi.

Another bites the dust on Causeway Street, after 11 years with the black & gold, PJ Axelsson has bit adieu to Boston. Axelsson signed a four year contract with the  Frölunda Hockey Club.

Axelsson, who played for Frölunda during the lock out, was quoted as saying, “I’ve always wanted to come back here.” Good luck, bro.  Thanks to The Hockey Blog Adventure for the scoop.

While one door closes, an one opens. Not too long after Aaron Ward was traded to the Carolina Hurricanes, rumors started to pop up about free agent, Derek Morris, signing with the Bruins and low and behold it happened.

Morris, who finished the season in New York after being traded by the Coyotes, has played 793 games, scored 76 goals and has 264 assists.  Morris started off his career in Calgary, where he spent five years there and during that time period, played with Chuck Kobasew, Andrew Ference, Marc Savard & Steve Begin.