Bruins 2005/2006 High Level Season Plans Announced
 

May 9, 2005 - Scarborough, ME: New England Bruins VP of Development, Craig Gray, today announced that initial development plans for the 2005/2006 season have been formulated and discussed by the Bruins Board of Directors. "Next season will be an exciting one from the Bruins development perspective," he said. "This year we established a great base to build on and it appears that we have a good chance of retaining two of our three corporate financial sponsors, and the only reason we may lose one is because of significant budget cutbacks. Our corporate partners have told me that they are all very happy with the cause marketing opportunities we offer them." The Bruins have modified their 2005/2006 Sponsor Value Exchange Program to create additional levels of sponsorship. They have tested it with a couple of new prospective sponsors and received very good feedback.

The Bruins hope to continue to be able to offset a lion's share or the travel costs to send teams to tournaments as they did this past season. The Bruins are planning to attend four tournaments next year. Several Bruins players have indicated a preference to play in their first tournament in December and their last in March to accommodate family needs. If things go as expected, the Bruins first tournament would be in Dallas in December followed by a New Years Weekend tournament in Colorado. Another tournament yet to be determined will be scheduled for February or March, and the New England Invitational will be the fourth tournament. Amelia Park has indicated the tournament could be moved as far ahead as to the first weekend in April if desired. Tournament Director and Bruins VP of Hockey Operations, Dale Wise is considering this possibility.

What remains unclear is the impact that the absence of the US Team Players in regional level tournaments will have on the tournament schedule next season. While most parties seem to agree that it would be good for the development of the sport to force club teams to grow their programs with additional outreach activities, there may be some teams that decide they will not hold their tournaments or attend other's tournaments if they are not able to put competitive teams on the ice. Bruins President and Head Coach Rick Middleton believes this will be good for the Bruins. "We have two, perhaps three players that will skate on the US Team this year. With our current depth and with the outreach activities we have planned, I think we'll be in pretty good shape," he said. "What would really be helpful is for tournament directors and team leaders to announce their 2005/2006 season plans as soon as possible. We all need to lock in as soon as possible to help contain costs."

Coach Middleton is also looking into scheduling two Bruins practices a month in a more central location for players, perhaps Newburyport, MA. "I'd really like to make it easier for a larger number of people to get to practices," he said. "With the formation of the Northeast Sled Hockey League for the local teams such as Maine and New Hampshire, I'm not as concerned about the guys not getting enough ice time as I have been in the past. But I do want to make sure that we get good attendance at our Bruins practices where we'll be covering the game strategy and tactics that we need to learn to compete with the best teams out there."

In an interesting side development, Bruin Jeff Labbe has been holding initial discussions with a counterpart in Great Britain to discuss the possibility of bringing the Bruins to England for a tournament with three of their local club teams. "Now that's a road trip!" he quipped.

As in this past season, the Bruins will be playing in several exhibition games and will be putting on more outreach clinics. "We'll be taking this to another level," said Gray. "Most of our players did a great job supporting our marketing activities. I was pleased that our guys were enthusiastic about accepting their responsibilities in this area in exchange for support with travel expenses. It will be the same next year, except that I hope to have a better plan and schedule in place earlier so we determine who has to be where, when."

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