2018 Bruins Prospect Challenge Day 1: Vs. Pittsburgh

Just the Facts:

The Time: 3:30pm EST

The Place: Harborcenter, Buffalo, NY

Place to Watch: Usually the Bruins or the Sabres homepages. Double check their social media a half hour or two before the game for links.

Place to Listen: See above.

The Rosters:

Update for 2pm: Both teams have posted their expected lineup for this game:

Players to Watch:

• Interviews and the narrative going into this challenge and preseason is that the 3rd C spot is currently up for grabs between three rookies if they want it: 2-way checker Trent Frederic, Smooth skating and passing Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson, and Highly touted scorer Jack Studnicka. Those three you should keep a close eye on, but remember to keep bias to a minimum: they probably won’t be playing with the guys they’ll be playing with today, and you’ll have to adjust your expectations accordingly.
• Urho Vaakanainen and Jakub Lauko will be playing, and they should be watched. This is your best chance to see a whole 60 minutes of these guys before they disappear behind AHL.tv’s (much better priced) paywall and also junior/europe.
• Dan Vladar will be playing meaningful minutes in net for the B’s in what will hopefully be a preview of his work in Providence.
• Players on invite like John Ludvig, Carson Focht, Dawson Weatherill, and Justin Bergeron could do something cool. You never know!
• On the other side, guys like Jordy Bellerive and Justin Alemeda have Pens fans very excited and they seem to be pretty dang good at the Junior level, so let’s see what the youth of the Bruins D can do to deal with these hot young talents.

The Gamethread:

Right here. as there’s little to discuss until the games begin and we have actual, fresh hockey to talk about.

This is it folks, the prospects you’ve been thinking about all offseason finally take the ice and we’re headed for actual, factual hockey. Thank goodness.