Bruins Prospect Joe Colborne Feeling Older, Wiser After Third Development Camp

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Jul 19, 2010

Bruins Prospect Joe Colborne Feeling Older, Wiser After Third Development Camp When the Bruins' 2008 first-round draft pick, Joe Colborne, was last discussed in this space, it was April 9, 2010. The jumbo-sized center had just turned pro with Providence after two seasons at the University of Denver, and he capped his first three-games-in-three-nights experience with two wins and a pair of assists.

To Colborne's dismay, the P-Bruins had only three games remaining in the season before falling short of the playoffs, leaving the eager pivot with a mind full of disinterest. He was disinterested in sitting around, disinterested in waiting and disinterested in summer. All Colborne wanted to focus on was training, improving and ensuring that in an organization littered with depth down the middle, he would give himself the best possible chance to find a home in Boston come fall.

As the talented forward's first pro stint wound down in mid-April, he graciously let us all into his world, from his decision to leave college, to an athletically gifted sister and, of course, to his first taste of the pro game. Now, with Boston's annual development Camp in the rear-view mirror, Colborne has again stepped forward. Praised by many during camp — Bruins brass, media and the like — for his leadership and initiative, each day gave those on the outside reason after reason as to why the young 20-year-old may one day be captain material.

Of course, that's the outside. On the inside, only one person can properly explain the thoughts and emotions of Joe Colborne: the man himself. The following is a day-by-day look at development camp from the eyes of a true camp veteran.

Day 1 — Nerves

We got up bright and early to head downtown and get our medicals done. It was a very quiet bus ride due to the combination of anxiety for the upcoming physical testing later in the morning, and the fact that guys were still half asleep. Once again, the doctors took great care of us and we got through the medicals without much trouble. However, we all knew what was coming up after the medical testing.

After the quick ride out to Wilmington, Mass., we wasted little time getting warmed up and into height, weight and reach tests. This being my third development camp, I was right at the front of the line and was actually excited to show the improvement I had made since camp last year. Vertical jump, bench press, and pull-ups all went well — my pull-ups having drastically increased from the meager four I got when I was first drafted. However, these exercises weren't the source of all of the nervousness surrounding the camp. The shuttle run was up next, and it would be in the 30 degrees Celsius (I believe the translation is warmer than 90 degrees Fahrenheit) heat. It was at this time that I had to thank my trainer, Sean Hope-Ross, back in Calgary for helping push me through the test numerous times in preparation for the run, and I was able to finish the run feeling much better than before. Overall, I thought all of the guys did very well and we were done with the hardest part of camp! Or so we thought …

Lunch came and went, and we headed off to do some team building with "The Program." In short, The Program was a leadership and team-building class, which was run by some ex-Marines and soldiers of varying backgrounds. Within a very short time, they managed to dispel a few notions that we had wrongfully believed:

We thought we were in great shape. We weren't.

We thought we were good teammates. We could've been better.

We thought we wouldn't survive the workout they were putting us through. Thankfully, somehow, we did.

One and all, we went back to the hotel, had dinner and I would be surprised if anyone was still awake at 9 p.m.

Each day this week, NESN.com will run Joe Colborne's recap of each day in development camp. On Tuesday, Colborne will detail his experience with water training.

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