Greetings from the Ristuccia Arena in Wilmington, MA where the Bruins are practicing for Friday's big divisional tilt with the division-leading Sabres at Buffalo.
General manager Peter Chiarelli, assistant GM Jim Benning and vice president Cam Neely are watching carefully from the stands. As practice began, Chiarelli was asked by the media if firing Claude Julien was an option. His reply: "Absolutely not."
Marco Sturm is still out with a leg injury but skated alone before practice. Mark Recchi was excused from practice to go back to his native Kamloops, British Columbia to carry the Olympic torch through town. Recchi will light the Olympic cauldron outside the city’s Hillside Stadium, near the Tournament Capital Centre. Recchi played for Canada at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan.
Steve Begin and Byron Bitz are back on the ice for a second straight day and Marc Savard is taking part in his second full practice this week. He skated with Bitz and Begin Tuesday while the rest of the team did off-ice workouts.
