BOSTON – After a day away from the rink on Saturday, the Bruins hit the ice again for two on-ice sessions on Sunday morning at Warrior Ice Arena. Here are some notes from the pair of practices:
- Coach Jim Montgomery confirmed that Alex Chiasson, who did not participate in either camp session, had been released from his professional tryout agreement. “I don’t know if he came up short,” said Montgomery. “A lot of guys are having really good camps. It’s just coming down to numbers and we felt that this would give him the best opportunity to catch on somewhere else.”
- Bruins general manager Don Sweeney also announced that goalie Michael DiPietro has been placed on waivers for purpose of assignment, while defenseman Frederic Brunet and forward Brett Harrison will report to Providence Bruins Training Camp.
- Jakub Lauko, who was banged up in Friday night’s preseason contest against Philadelphia, did not practice on Sunday but is expected to “be fine [on Monday],” according to Montgomery.
- Montgomery said that part of the reason the groups were broken up into a more veteran/youngster split on Sunday was to see how players might respond or read into the way the practices sessions were divided. “For us, there’s two things,” Montgomery explained. “You want to see how the first group [of veterans] responds and even more importantly, the second group [of young players] - who keeps pushing? Are they reading it like [the media] and do they think that their plate is already set, that maybe they’ll be going to Providence? We want to see who digs in there. Some players did dig in, some looked like they were thinking about other things than competing.”
- Boston’s bench boss said it’s likely the Bruins will be down to something close to the Opening Night roster by the final preseason game on Thursday in New York. “Essentially, that will be our team,” said Montgomery. “Not exactly because we’re gonna have some guys maybe play back-to-back games the way we’re setting it up. But we’re also looking at power-play units, having one power-play unit play each game so they get the minutes the next two games and then we go to the two power-play units playing the same game in Madison Square Garden.”
- Montgomery said that he does not see a scenario in which Matt Poitras makes the team as a winger. “I don’t see him as a wing,” said Montgomery. “I think they did that experiment down at the Rookie Camp and everyone came back and said, ‘this guy’s a center.’ Centers are what we need, looking at not only right now but more importantly the future.”
- Johnny Beecher on his approach to the final week of training camp after strong performances in his two exhibition outings. “Depending on if I get one or two more games, playing physical, playing hard,” said Beecher. “Just sticking to the things I’ve been doing. I think game one and game two, I played pretty solid, couple little detail things to switch. But just knowing that I can make that lineup and carry that confidence in me through these last few games and see what happens.”
