BOSTON — The anticipation has become almost unbearable for the Bruins rookies.
They will finally get to play their first game Wednesday night at the Garden against the New York Islanders’ top prospects, and Wednesday morning they got to take their first spin on the Garden ice for the morning skate.
“It was sick,” said forward Jared Knight, a 2010 second-round pick. “The yellow seats kind of threw me off a little bit when I got out there, but it was a lot of fun. It was definitely different than any other place I’ve ever skated.”
Most of those empty black and yellow seats will be filled by game time. The Bruins announced that over 9,000 tickets had already been sold for Wednesday’s game, with more than 9,700 sold for Thursday’s rematch. Walk-up sales should push those totals even higher.
“I heard it’s supposed to be a good crowd,” said Knight. “I know I have a lot of family coming out, so they should take up some of those seats.”
Providence coach Rob Murray, who is overseeing the rookie camp this week and will be behind the bench for the two games against the Islanders, was happy with the morning workout despite the nerves the young players are obviously dealing with in their first taste of NHL life.
“I thought the guys skated well this morning,” said Murray. “We fired through a practice in about 20 minutes, just to get their legs underneath them. The ice was in pretty good shape, so it should be a good game.”
The Bruins rookies would have been forgiven if the Wednesday pre-game skate was less crisp than most workouts, as many of the players spent equal time staring up at the rafters as they did looking down at the pucks skidding along the ice.
“Oh yeah, I’m sure everyone was,” said 2008 first-round pick Joe Colborne when asked if he caught himself looking around when he first stepped onto the Garden ice. “But I want to be looking at crowds for a long time in this rink.”
Colborne has the ability to carve out a length NHL career in Boston, but it was still a thrill to finally get on the Garden ice for the first time.
“It was pretty nice to finally get out and skate on it,” said Colborne. “Tonight I’m going to have some butterflies going, but it will be a lot of fun.”
Colborne even has a plan to help him settle those nerves.
“I listen to music all day long, so usually [before a game] I’d be listening to some pump-up music,” said Colborne, “but today I’ll be listening to some calming, relaxing stuff to try to keep the nerves down.”
