Bruins rookie camp (Photo: Twitter @NHLBruins)

Readers of …On Being a Sports Girl are quite familiar with the reoccurring feature, “The Everyone’s Favorite Goalie Watch,” a series I began to follow the fledgling professional career of everyone’s favorite recent Boston University goaltender, John Curry.  While Curry will always be one of my favorite college hockey players, and I will never give up that feature, my other favorite has now turned pro, and will now get a series of his own.

Readers, welcome to my reoccurring look at the fledgling professional hockey career of former BU right wing Jason Lawrence, a series I have yet to find a good, non confusing name for. (I originally named it something else having to do with the wonderful and memorable restaurants of Lawrence’s hometown, which also happens to be the hometown of my fiance, thus I’m quite familiar with it. However, the name just didn’t work, and I am open to suggestions.)

Lawrence is currently taking part in Boston Bruins rookie camp in Kitchener, Ontario, one of eight invitees to the camp. The remainder of the camp roster is filled with drafted or acquired young players, such as Zach Hamill and Jamie Arniel. (On a side note, another rookie camp participant is 2006 sixth round draft pick Alain Goulet, which makes me picture Will Farrell impersonating Robert Goulet on hockey skates, crooning “Bob Goulet needs a second chance.”)

On Monday afternoon, the Bruins rookies took on the rookies of the Toronto Maple Leafs, the first of three games the rookies will participate in while in Kitchener. The game was live blogged on the Bruins website, and while doing work around the house, I would periodically walk by the computer and check out what was going on.

Everything seemed to be going fine for the Baby Bruins. Lawrence got an assist on a goal late in the first period. Then, I checked back a few minutes later, and saw the following live blog update:

15:48 – Lawrence to the locker room — under his own power — after a shot to the face. Wrister. The B’s training staff was right there and took care of him.

Great. The kid gets injured in his first game action as a semi-member of the Bruins organization. In his first almost-NHL action, he suffers a shot to the face. Remember, in college hockey, players have cages, while in professional hockey, they tend to not wear them. Although I can’t say for sure, because I wasn’t there, this may have been his first game action without the cage. Getting a shot to your face in your first game without a cage is irony at its finest.

Lawrence came back at the end of the second, leading to Bish, the Bruins live blogger, to write the following:

Lawrence is BACK! Thank goodness…

He then proceeded to start the third period with a penalty after he “held someone up.” How could he commit a penalty when he probably either couldn’t see clearly and/or probably couldn’t spell his own name at the moment?

The Bruins ended up winning a high scoring game in overtime, 6-5. No further word on the Lawrence injury was noted by the Bruins, but I imagine since he was playing through the third period, he’ll be fine to play during the rest of rookie camp. The rookie Bruins have practices Tuesday, then a game Wednesday against the rookies of the Ottawa Senators (aka, the future Binghamton Senators…my early condolences on having to play in the Broome County Arena. I don’t wish that arena on anyone.)

When rookie camp concludes later this week, some of the participants will continue on to full Bruins training camp, which starts this upcoming weekend. Those committed to playing major junior this season will go back to those teams. Others will be sent home by the Bruins, and still others will get to continue onto Providence Bruins training camp, starting September 21st. According to the Providence Journal, Lawrence will continue onto Providence camp after rookie camp concludes.

For more information on Bruins rookie camp as a whole, I encourage you to check out the Boston Bruins website. There are some great stories out of these campers, and the Bruins communications team is doing a great job with coverage (including an entertaining blog of the 12 hour bus trip from Boston to Kitchener.)

Phil Kessel's college style of play could hurt his chances of staying in Boston. (Photo: Flickr user egasbarino)

Two Sundays ago, Kevin Paul Dupont’s Boston Globe Hockey Notes column led off with a discussion was whether or not the Boston Bruins will resign restricted free agent forward Phil Kessel. Said Dupont:

“For all his flash, dash, and goal scoring, Kessel has some troubling holes in his game. It’s a contact sport, one full of one-on-one battles, and in most cases, Kessel prefers to motor around those battles. When he is forced to battle for a puck, he usually looks for a different option….

Remember, this is a team that puts great weight in what Cam Neely thinks of players, and No. 8′s standard read on a skilled-but-soft contributor has been, “That dog won’t hunt.”

Having listened to Neely’s reads for more than two decades, and knowing both Kessel’s strengths and shortcomings, I think the words of the prophets are written on the subway walls for Kessel.”

Despite his breakout season, the Bruins appear not to hold signing Kessel a priority. Front office supporters may argue that the proposed amounts of $4.5 – 5 million are quite high for a 22 year old who has quite awful luck when it comes to injury and illness, who needed benching to shake up his game during the 2008 playoffs, and who has only “proven” himself for one year.

But what concerns me about the Bruins’ discussion of Kessel is the parts of his game they are picking on – very much the college aspects of his play.

Kessel played one year at Minnesota, and prior to that, played with the US Under 18 team when it was stacked with name players in 2004-05. Although he played less college hockey than a lot of players out there, it still influenced his play. College players are passionate, skilled players – but they have to play a different style of hockey than their major junior counterparts. Fights are avoided.  Players aren’t going to put themselves in circumstances where a fight could develop because they know they’ll get tossed if one does. It affects the game – maybe a college player doesn’t engage in that “one-on-one” battle for a puck as much.

That style of hockey might take longer to get out of one’s system than others, or some, particularly those with a combination of injuries like Kessel’s, is never going to be a style that they engage in. What the Bruins have to decide is if this difference in playing style is something they can live with.

I believe that the way the Kessel matter is resolved will set the tone for the Bruins’ dealings with other college-raised players in the future, such as Blake Wheeler. Wheeler also plays a college style of hockey, and has been treated similarly to Kessel – being benched during the playoffs for “poor performance.”

NHL teams seem to be heading in two directions right now – those, like Pittsburgh, who embrace college-raised players, and those like Detriot, who do not. There is not nesscarily a right or a wrong to this. Some teams have more luck with college players than others, and some would rather pluck talent out of major junior and develop them at a younger age.

If the Bruins get rid of Kessel, then is that a statement that their system doesn’t value the college style of play, and that any college player in their system needs to lose that style of play quickly? Further, does this then set the developmental mindset with their AHL affiliate in Providence and future player acquisitions towards one of a major junior path rather than taking a chance on college players?

The decision on Kessel could end up having little to do with his college style of play, and be a more straight numbers decision. Or it could have everything to do with his style of play, as Dupont seems to warn in his column. But in an era where we have reached a hay-day in college hockey and it continues to grow as a popular option for some of the most talented youth hockey players, is the eschewing of the college style of play a message the Bruins want to send? And if they do, will it screw them out of college talent moving forward because they don’t value the style of play those players accustomed to?

My favorite college hockey player makes a pro roster.

The AHL’s Providence Bruins are currently battling the evil Hershey Bears (the Bears dismissed John Curry’s Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins from the playoffs in the last round…but more about Curry later this weekend), and need reinforcements due to a few injuries here and there.  The Baby Bruins looked no further than Boston University, and signed Jason Lawrence to an Amateur Tryout Contract (ATO) today. Lawrence brings a nice dose of American-ness to an otherwise Canadian and European exclusive forward roster (see the list above – ON, ON, ON, AB, Serbia…Saugus, MA. It sticks out like a sore thumb.)

What does this mean? Well, an Amateur Tryout Contract allows a pro team to essentially engage a player who had never played within the NHL/AHL/ECHL system in an extended tryout that may include game play. The Providence Bruins, and in some regard the Boston Bruins, needed to strengthen their forward ranks for the rest of the playoffs, and wanted to take a look at Lawrence for the future, thus they signed him to a short-term contract with no obligations past the end of this season.

Now, don’t you all feel more knowledgeable?

This does not mean my favorite college hockey player will actually see game time – he might not even dress. This does not mean I can purchase a “Lawrence 18″ Providence Bruins jersey just yet…I mean, not that I would. That was hypothetical, of course…

It’s always good to see an athlete find success for his hometown team, and that’s why Lawrence’s chance with the Bruins is such a good story. He played with the Boston Jr. Bruins as a kid, so to play for the AHL Bruins has to be a dream come true.  I always say you should live your life making 12 year old you proud – that’s one of the reasons why I write this blog – and that’s definitely what “The Saugus” did today with his Bruins ATO.