December 29, 2006 -  Chances are very good that the Great Salt Cup will be won by a new team this year. The New England Bruins won the cup last year with a victory over the Colorado Avalanche in a great game that had both teams playing at their best. The National Ability Center wants to increase the size of the Great Salt Cup tournament and has had to limit the number of discounted rooms available to any given team in their fabulous Bunkhouse to about half of what the Bruins would need to make the trip. With Park City being one of the top winter resort destinations in the country, regular, accessible hotel rooms are hard to come by and they are very expensive.

"I absolutely understand the National Ability Center's decision and strategy," said Bruin's Development VP, Craig Gray. "It makes sense and should attract more teams from the west, but for us the additional expense of the hotel rooms, combined with plane tickets and van rentals is too much. When we travel west to play we end up having to spend an extra night on the road since so many of the flights back east have left by the end of competition. We also need to be able to make our travel arrangements several months in advance to take advantage of discount air fares. One of the things we try to do for our players as a team is cover 50% to 70% of the expenses. It would not be possible for many of our players to participate otherwise. Unless there is a last minute change in things and we can put the trip together at a reasonable cost we'll be going elsewhere." The Bruins are considering trips to Edmonton, Alberta and Great Britain as alternatives.

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