Bruins Training Camp Notebook: Back on the Ice; First Line Combinations

BRIGHTON – The Boston Bruins are back on the ice.

Thursday marked the second day of training camp, but more importantly, the first day the Bruins took to the ice as a group. Group A opened the on-ice session at 10:00 AM, while Group B followed at 11:30 AM.

The Bruins announced their 49-man roster on Wednesday with only 13 days until the regular season starts. The Bruins will play four preseason games throughout training camp, and players with more than 100 games of NHL experience are limited to just two exhibitions.

“In general, it was a great day,” Marco Sturm said after the second session. “Guys had a really good jump.

Less explaining, like I said, because the guys know already. So that, for us, is a plus.”

Sturm and his coaching staff did not have any tricks up their sleeve Thursday. David Pastrnak lined up with Elias Lindholm and Morgan Geekie, and JJ Peterka slotted alongside Pavel Zacha and Casey Mittelstadt.

Sturm kept the kids’ line together, consisting of James Hagens, Fraser Minten, and Marat Khusnutdinov. It’s only the first day, so lines will change as the second-year head coach navigates training camp.

However, he said that he does not mind putting younger players together “because I feel like they have a lot of– they sure bring a lot of energy. They’re smart enough.”

The Bruins aren’t committing to anything yet, though: “We’re definitely maybe going to try [the kids’ line], maybe not. But why not?”

On the blue line, Frederic Brunet and Charlie McAvoy were paired up. Brunet said he found out 30 minutes before taking the ice, and Marco Sturm credited McAvoy for taking the 23-year-old under his wing.

Newcomers Will Borgen and Connor Clifton were paired with Hampus Lindholm and Nikita Zadorov, respectively, while Mason Lohrei skated with Jonathan Aspirot.

The defensemen also had some jump to their game, according to Marco Sturm.

“It was a big, big difference just to see them out there already. The pace was better.

I also mentioned I want them to be more active too,” Sturm said. “Clifton and Borgen already made a huge, huge impact on day one.

So that was nice to see. And we still have some other guys, so it’s going to be great.

It’s going to be great to have a lot of guys. Will be a tough decision for me, but I have a lot of guys to push each other.”

The Bruins return to Warrior Ice Arena on Friday morning. Group B opens at 10:00 AM, while Group A follows at 11:45 AM.

All practices at Warrior Ice Arena are free and open to the public.

Wyatt Bongiovanni – Brendan Gaunce – Brian Halonen

James Hagens – Fraser Minten – Marat Khusnutdinov

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