Bruins release their roster for the upcoming Prospects Challenge

Later this week, the Bruins, Pittsburgh Penguins, Buffalo Sabres, and New Jersey Devils will play in the round-robin Prospects Challenge.

The mini tournament will take place in Buffalo, with each team playing three games, one against each of the other participants.

The schedule is as follows:

• Friday, 3:30 PM vs. Pittsburgh
• Saturday, 7 PM vs. Buffalo
• Monday, 9:30 AM vs. New Jersey

That 9:30 AM game is going to be wild!

The Bruins announced their roster for the tournament as well, and it features a healthy mix of prospects and non-roster invitees. First, the Bruins prospects:

Forwards: Samuel Asselin, Anders Bjork, Scott Conway, Trent Frederic, Cameron Hughes, Joona Koppanen, Robert Lantosi, Jakob Lauko, Tom Marchin, Pavel Shen, Oskar Steen, Jack Studnicka

Most of those guys will be familiar to you, aside maybe from Conway, Lantosi, and Marchin; each of those guys recently signed minor league deals with Providence, so they’re technically in the Bruins’ system.

Defensemen: Axel Andersson, Wiley Sherman, Alexey Solovyev, Urho Vaakanainen, Cooper Zech

Goalies: Kyle Keyser, Dan Vladar

The B’s also invited a ton of guys to camp, giving the team a nice mix of guys trying to move up in the organization and guys trying to get signed to the organization in the first place.

Up front, those invitees are:

• Jacob Gaucher, an 18-year-old center who had 26 points in 75 games with the Val d’Or Foreurs of the QMJHL last season.
• Dante Hannoun, a 21-year-old center who had 91 points in 79 games with the Victoria Royals and Prince Albert Raiders of the WHL last season; he’s also the cousin of current Leafs forward Nic Petan.
• Alex-Olivier Voyer, a 20-year-old wing who had 69 points in 77 games for the Sherbrooke Phoenix of the QMJHL last season.

Hannoun is a pretty interesting player if you go by stats alone. He’s put up big numbers in the WHL for the past couple of years, and while he’s definitely older than most of his competition, he’s also only 5’ 6” and 161 lbs. When you consider the WHL is usually known as among the rougher of the major junior leagues, that’s pretty impressive.

On defense, the invitees are:

• Max Martin, a 20 year old who put up 49 points in 80 games with the Prince Albert Raiders of the WHL last season.
• Riley McCourt, a 19 year old who put up 32 points in 47 games with the Flint Firebirds of the OHL last season.
• Andrew Perrott, an 18 year old who put up 18 points in 58 games split between the London Knights and the Owen Sound Attack of the OHL last season.
• Jordan Sambrook, a 21 year old who put up 56 points in 78 games as an alternate captain for the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds of the OHL.

The B’s also invited one goalie: Taylor Gauthier, an 18 year old who spent last season with the Prince George Cougars of the WHL.

I haven’t seen anything concrete about online streams yet, but something may come up. If we find one, we’ll pass it along.

Anyone in particular that you’re excited to see?