BRIGHTON – The Boston Bruins knew that going to China for a couple of preseason games this month was going to present a unique set of challenges given the travel and time zone change involved.
But what happened with the B’s on Thursday on their first day in a nearly two-week trip to China was ridiculous.
The Bruins had to cancel their first on-ice training camp session for 23 players because all of their equipment was held up by Chinese customs after the team’s arrival. Apparently, the Calgary Flames had to do the same thing.
Bruins assistant coach Joe Sacco didn’t have much in the way of information when asked about it on Tuesday after the Bruins back in Boston went through their fitness testing at Warrior Ice Arena, but the details are pretty self-evident.
“I don’t much about it, but I believe it was an issue with some equipment that wasn’t there on time. That’s as far as I know, but they had to cancel practice because of it. Hopefully their gear is cleared and they can get ready for tomorrow,” said Sacco. “There are always obstacles, especially when you’re going overseas there are going to be some hurdles along the way. You just have to adapt. Now that gives them one less practice before getting ready for the game, but they’ve got enough guys over there that they’ll be ready to go regardless of the situation.”
Clearly, everybody over in China is going to be a pro about it, and the Bruins will be ready for their Sept. 15 exhibition tilt against the Calgary Flames regardless of one banged out practice. But the bottom line for the Bruins is that Thursday’s canceled practice is pretty significant when one also adds in the three days at the end of the China trip that those players also won’t be on the ice: One travel day back from China and then a pair of off days negotiated in the CBA so that the traveling players can get their legs back under them in Boston.
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For veterans like Brad Marchand and David Backes it probably amounts to one more day of sight-seeing on the trip to China, but for young guys like Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson, Trent Frederic and Jack Studnicka it amounts to one less chance to be evaluated by the B’s coaching staff.
So now there’s a significant chunk of practice time that some very key Bruins players won’t be getting that they normally do get in training camp. If that doesn’t put the Black and Gold at something of a disadvantage after going on this hockey trip to China, then I’m not sure that anything ever would.
These are exactly the kind of logistical problems that the NHL should be troubleshooting and heading off at the pass before it ever becomes a competitive issue for one of the NHL teams participating in the China Games. Given the distance, the vast differences in culture and many other things on the periphery for hockey players used to their routines, putting on a couple of NHL exhibition games in China was obviously going to be a challenge regardless of the circumstances.
But it never should have come down to the Bruins scrapping a training camp session due to custom’s issues, or anything else for that matter. Both the B’s and the NHL have an understandable interest in growing their brands in the massive Chinese market, and that’s entirely good for both businesses.
But the NHL really needs to make sure they’ve got a complete handle on the exotic locales where they’re sending their teams on goodwill tours, and somebody dropped the ball when the Bruins didn’t have their equipment on time for a pivotal practice.
The Bruins coaches, players and management will soldier on because that’s what hockey people do, but it never really should have got to this point.