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Providence Bruins training camp review
Written by: Janine Pilkington on 10/09/2006 
Two new faces from the QMJHL
The Bruins’ top two picks from the 2004 entry draft, David Krejci (63rd overall) and Martins Karsums (64th overall) begin their pro careers in Providence this season. Karsums, a native of Riga, Latvia, played three seasons in the Q with the Moncton Wildcats. After suffering an ankle injury during the 2004-05 season and undergoing surgery the following summer, he was finally able to return to the ice last season, and produced 65 points and 89 penalty minutes in 49 regular season games with Moncton.“I didn’t play for like nine months, so not to go on the ice, it was hard,” Karsums recalled, and then said of his team’s spectacular playoff run in the 2005-06 season, “It was great. We won the Quebec league, and then we went to the Memorial Cup finals. We lost, but it was a lot of fun, a great experience.”
Karsums signed a contract with Boston over the summer of 2006, and though he attended camp with them for the second time this fall, it was the first time he was able to actively participate.
“It was pretty good,” he said. “It’s kind of my first, because last year I couldn’t skate or do anything. I had ups and downs, started not really good, but then I got better.”
Krejci is also coming off a strong year in the QMJHL. Krejci played for the Gatineau Olympiques, and had an 81-point season in the 55 games he played. Krejci posted 32 points in Gatineau’s 17-game playoff run, which tied for third in the league with postseason point totals.
“Last year we had a lot of rookies,” he said of his team in Gatineau. “Our coach, he didn’t care if we win or lose, he just wanted us to work hard.”
Krejci makes up part of a very young team in Providence, but it’s also a team that’s loaded with potential. Despite the relative inexperience on this year’s squad, Krejci echoed the thoughts of many of his teammates when he expressed confidence in himself and the abilities of the team.
“Here in Providence, I felt really good. Every day I work hard to play now,” Krejci said about preseason and training camp. ” What I can do for this team? Create a lot of offense, just in size, I got to get stronger and [work on] my game defensively.”
Lashoff has an impressive camp
Matt Lashoff arrived at his second Bruins training camp far more confident and focused than he had shortly after he was drafted. He survived until one of the later rounds of cuts from Boston, and is beginning his pro career in the AHL. Lashoff played the 2005-06 season with the Kitchener Rangers before he joined Providence on a tryout contract. He was the Bruins top draft pick (1st round, 22nd overall) in the 2005 entry draft.HF: I keep hearing about how you showed up to camp this year fully prepared and ready to compete for a job in Boston, was there anything that you did differently over the summer?
ML: Oh yeah, definitely. I went into the mindset after finishing the season in Providence last year. I had a legitimate shot to make that team, and I really wanted to go in there and prove something, not like the year before where I was just trying to go in and feel it out and see what I was getting myself into. This year I felt a lot more comfortable. I knew some of the guys, and the coaching staff, I was excited just to go in there with something to prove.
HF: Tell me a little about being thrown into the lineup in Providence last year at the end of the season -- what was that like?
ML: It was a different experience. I just ended my season with a group of guys that I’d been with for three years. You play a full season and the playoffs and the next couple days you have to leave them and come down here. The good part of it was that I don’t think any of us on that team wanted to stop playing hockey that year. We had a really good team last year, and we were supposed to go pretty far, so I was lucky to be able to come down here and play with these guys. I had to learn a lot of new systems, with guys that have been doing it all year. You’re kind of thrown into the fire, but you’ve got to pick things up quickly. The coaching staff and the players were excellent with me, so it was a good experience
HF: Other guys have said that it’s kind of nice to get some of that out of the way you get to come down here, to meet some of the players and the staff-do you feel that’s true?
ML: Yeah, exactly, that’s one of the things I liked even more about coming into this year in camp. I knew a lot of the guys coming in, I knew what they were like, I wasn’t coming into a blind situation like before, and knowing even just one or two guys makes it a lot more comfortable.
HF: What do you most look forward to this season?
ML: Just working hard down here and obviously I need to work on some things. I’m just looking forward to resolving those things and getting up in the lineup in Boston whenever I can, and hopefully when I get up there, I stay.
HF: What do you think about all the changes you’ve seen happening with the Bruins?
ML: You’ve got to be happy with an organization that’s ready to move forward. They’re taking the right steps towards bettering the organization. I think that’s a great thing and a great thing to be a part of.
HF: How did you feel your first couple preseason games?
ML: I felt good, actually, I felt really confident out there. There [are] things I need to work on, but I’m taking what I learned in those games, and what went on in those games.
Wacey Rabbit gears up for a pro career
After four strong seasons with the Saskatoon Blades (WHL), 19-year-old center Wacey Rabbit is set to begin the season in Providence. Aside from his obvious skills as a hockey player, Rabbit has an impressive attitude and a fiercely competitive nature, all of which should serve him well as he embarks on the next level of his career. Perhaps most important, is that he appears to have a realistic view of the work necessary to compete at the pro level and a willingness to do whatever it takes to get there. Rabbit was drafted by the Bruins in the 5th round (154th overall) of the 2005 entry draft signed his first contract with the organization in September of 2006.HF: Following the end of last season, you weren’t really sure where you were headed yet, whether it was back as an overage player with the Blades or playing pro somewhere, then it was finally right before rookie camp when you signed a contract -- tell me a little bit about that.
WR: My agent and the Bruins had been talking over the summer, and what we were going to do, so I had an idea more towards the middle of August what I was going to do. I was just focused on trying to make the team out of camp, have a good camp, and see what happens after that. If I had to go back to juniors, no problem, Saskatoon was a great team, but I’m more than happy to be here, so it worked out good.
HF: Now that you have the opportunity to prove yourself at the pro level, what do you think would be the most help to you in the coming weeks? What will you need to work on?
WR: I think obviously it’s a lot more technical here. There [are] bigger guys, there [are] faster guys. In practices I have to focus on my positioning, and where I have to be with and without the puck. So I think I’ve got to, in the next couple weeks, push myself by just trying to get out of my comfort zone, as far as the physical play and the speed of the game
HF: How do you think camp went for you this year?
WR: It was good. It was really different from last year, with the new coaching staff. All in all, anytime as a young guy you want to try to turn it into a learning experience. I mean guys like Chara, you see their work ethic, it’s a measuring stick for yourself and what you have to do in the next couple years to get up there.
HF: What do you look forward to this season?
WR: I think just the whole atmosphere of playing pro hockey, obviously you work your whole life to get to this point, so you want to take advantage of it. Just being here, and trying to get better every single game, and working hard to make the team.
Jordan Sigalet ready for round 2
With the acquisition of Tuukka Rask on draft day, much has been made of Sigalet’s future in the Bruins organization. He received mixed reviews on his performance during his rookie season with the Providence Bruins, and will look to improve upon that in his second year as a pro. Regardless of where he may or may not be in the future, however, Bruins fans should expect to see a far more confident netminder than the rookie of a year ago. His debut will be delayed due to an upper-body injury, but Sigalet showed up to camp enthusiastic for the new season and ready to compete.HF: How was your summer?
JS: It was good. It was nice to get back to Vancouver. I lived with my brother all summer, just outside of Vancouver. We trained together and worked hard so I could come back in the best shape that I could, and I think it really helped with training camp this year
HF: How did camp go this year?
JS: I felt a lot more comfortable this time. Last year, when you got here for the first time, you’re kind of in awe of everything. You’re not used to seeing guys like Brian Leetch and Joe Thornton -- I wasn’t used to stuff like that. It was kind of nice to get that out of the way last year, and this year you know some of the guys, I just felt so much more comfortable. I had already been accustomed to that level of play with a couple call-ups last year, and then playing in the American league the whole year, it’s definitely a lot of fun this year
HF: What do you think you’d like to work on to build upon last year, and maybe improve this year?
JS: There’s probably a lot of things -- I’ve got individual goals and the team goals. As a team, I know we want to get by the first round of playoffs, after last year losing in the first round to Portland. Individually, I just want to work on all the little things in my game. Last year, adjusting, I had to change a lot of the way I played early on in the year. It was tough mentally at times just to think of the things I had to work on -- the things that Coach Gordon had told me, Bob Essensa up in Boston told me to work on. Now that I have all those tools, I can put them to use this year and apply those to my game.
HF: It seems like there’s an awful lot of competition in the net- do you think that helps motivate you?
JS: Yeah, I think so. I think when you’re competing against other really good goalies like Brian Finley ,Toivonen, Thomas -- they’re all different ages, they’re all different styles, but it’s nice to have someone there to push you, someone you try to beat out every day, it makes it fun. It’s fun competition.
HF: How do you keep yourself from getting discouraged- if maybe the team’s not doing well, or maybe something’s not going right, what can you tell yourself to keep it going and that it’ll get better?
JS: It’s something you had to learn pretty fast last year. From college you played forty games, last year we played I think over 70, like 70-80 with playoffs, so you’ve got to forget about it right away and focus on your game. If something’s wrong, you’re usually playing Friday, Saturday, Sunday, you’ve just got to wipe a clean slate and prove yourself the next game. There [are] a lot of games and you’re going to have your ups and downs, you’ve just got to learn how to deal with that mentally.
HF: What do you think of all the changes you’ve seen going on with the Bruins organization? As a player that has to be exciting.
JS: Yeah it is, I mean it’s almost like it’s my first camp, knowing that everyone’s on a clean page, and everyone is out there just trying to prove themselves all over again. I think it’s pretty exciting the way they’re playing in the preseason, going 4 and 1, a lot of the young guys from Providence last year are getting a chance in the exhibition games, and I think that’s good to see. All those guys are the ones contributing up there and scoring, so I think that’s good, and I think a lot of the younger guys will be seeing some time up there this year.
Notes
Providence finished their preseason with two wins and a loss, during which Bruins prospect David Krejci scored two goals and an assist and Wacey Rabbit had a goal and an assist. Chris Collins, Karsums, Nate Thompson and Kris Versteeg each recorded assists, and goaltender Mike Brown stopped all 17 shots in a 3-0 shutout of the Springfield Falcons. Petr Kalus and Pascal Pelletier each scored a goal in Providence’s regular season debut, which resulted in a 7-2 loss to the Portland Pirates. Versteeg assisted on both goals, while Lashoff and Krejci had an assist each. Providence plays their home opener on Friday Oct. 13 against the Worcester Sharks.Copyright 2006 Hockey’s Future. Do not reprint or otherwise duplicate without permission of the editorial staff.
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