Crowned: Islanders-Bruins postgame

Tre Kronor revisited… Swedish Meatballs redux… UPS… well, there’s no U in “Sebastian Collberg,” but… PCS? CPS? SPC? (That’s different.)

If it comes to it, we’ll figure something out.

The Swedes had a really solid first three shifts. Really solid. They controlled territory, controlled play.

And then on the fourth they were dominated. Ah well. It was that kind of night, overall, a 6-1 Bruins win in front of a crowd that mostly was happy about that.

But camp’s over. Jack Capuano said before the game that cuts will come shortly. They have until Tuesday to get to 23. Monday morning is the first Bridgeport practice of the year. The routine will begin again.

Year 14.

…..

Tough night. The B’s had some experience in there. The IsleTigers had some turnovers that led to goals. Ryan Spooner could’ve had about five. Not exactly what you’d like to see, but the Boston Bruins won’t be back in here next Saturday, either. Relatedly, doesn’t it seem as if Chris Kelly has been doing Chris Kelly things in this building since, like, 2002-03? Anyway.

Aaron Ness wearing an ‘A’; nice touch. “Donovan was solid. Ness played hard,” Brent Thompson said.

Had a good long chat with Sundstrom (missed half of Thompson, but worth it) about camp, summer, tonight and other stuff. He mentioned a couple of times that it was a little different this year from his past two camps. Was wondering about the competition, with a lot of new guys and spots up for grabs. “The pace has been picked up,” Sundstrom said. “A lot of battles, one-on-one. I think that’s Tommer’s thing. Pelly’s a great coach too; it’s just a different kind of coaching staff.”

An announced 8,600 packed the place — I’ve got to think this is the most to actually see a hockey game here, though April 1 is officially the record because of the schoolkid spillover from the fall — and were very heavily black and gold. But they packed the place. I didn’t wander the concourse, but the most obvious new thing inside is on the third floor. What used to be barstool seating is now Fancy-Dan “suites” (dividers between sets of four seats), renovated and prettied up. Tricky part: They’re not letting folks without passes walk through that way. So in essence, there’s no way fully around the building anywhere anymore for the average ticketholder. I can’t do the math to know if that choked the concourse more, but it wasn’t simple moving around out there.

Most nights aren’t going to have 8,600 people. But still.

My computer’s in midseason form, so: More tomorrow, most likely.

Michael Fornabaio