Hopefuls stretch their legs

WILMINGTON -- Hockey finally began to get its legs back yesterday, the first sure sign of winter showing up, just before 10:30 a.m., when a bunch of unknowns, wearing familiar black-and-gold sweaters, took to the Ristuccia Center ice for the start of Bruins rookie camp.

Some 51 weeks after the start of the NHL lockout (you can bet ex-union boss Bob Goodenow will want to celebrate that anniversary next week), the remaining loyalists in Bruins Country turned out in dribs and drabs. Over the course of a pair of 30-minute running-time scrimmage periods, maybe 100 spectators dropped by for a look.

OK, enthusiasm wasn't such that the black-and-gold faithful created gridlock in the parking lot. But rookie camp is rookie camp, a place for wannabes to do their thing and only the extreme hockeyites duck work or play hooky to spend a few hours in a chilly barn, peering into their team's future. A better gauge of enthusiasm will come Monday when the varsity reports to the Garden for the first of four straight practice days (all sessions open to the public) on Causeway Street, where on Oct. 5 the Bruins will face the Canadiens on Opening Night.

Overall, Day 1 back at work was more symbolic than sensational. In truth, there aren't many spots to be won on the main roster. Head coach Mike Sullivan -- en route yesterday from a US Olympic hockey camp in Colorado Springs -- has a job open at forward, preferably right wing, and one, maybe two, openings on defense. There is still the matter of getting veteran back liner Nick Boynton signed to a deal, and Boynton remains the hip bone that is very much connected to the rest of the body of work on Boston's defense. In some ways, he is as critical a piece back there as Joe Thornton is up front -- in that Boynton is the best blend of youth and talent at the position. Even with Boynton in the equation, defense could be Boston's glaring weakness. Without him, it stands as the club's Achilles' heel.

There is also the severe need (read: mandate) to get No. 1 netminder Andrew Raycroft, the league's returning rookie of the year, under contract. Without him, the Bruins would be faced with starting the season with a goaltending tandem (fill in the two blanks with names) sporting all of zero minutes of NHL experience. As much as they like top prospect Hannu Toivonen, they would sign a veteran backstop (Felix Potvin Redux?) before sticking their chins out that far.

The salary cap undoubtedly will prove to be the game's great equalizer, bringing NFL-like parity to the Original 30, but choosing to start a season with two raw rookies to fill the net would be stretching parity to insanity.

Rookie camp ultimately will deliver a handful of candidates to Causeway, and that will include the likes of prized picks Mark Stuart and Andrew Alberts on defense. They were both very active in the 30-minute scrimmages, and they'll both get serious looks over the next couple of weeks, along with fellow auditioning back liners Kevin Dallman, Milan Jurcina, and Jay Leach.

The scrimmages, directed by Providence coach Scott Gordon, were tame, courteous affairs. The only dust-up of the day came with about seven minutes left in the latter session, when a couple of forwards, Ashton Rome and Cody McLeod, finally had enough of first-day rookie brotherly love and mashed away at each other with a few roundhouse rights.

All of that -- surprise, surprise -- was much to the delight of the few folks scattered in the stands. The fight game is all but dead in the NHL, and there is little chance it will ever be revived, but it once was one of the elements that had fans packing arenas throughout North America. Truth be told, many fans and more than a few media members lament its absence, but they don't dare voice their opinion for fear of PCers turning them into Social Services as sporting deviants. Fighting, in 2005, exists virtually only in word, and the word is usually far worse than the act.

Newcomer Wacey Rabbit certainly is not a fighter, but his speed packs some real punch.

''He's small," noted Scott Bradley, the club's director of amateur scouting, ''but can he skate. He's just a dynamic, two-way player."

Rabbit -- hold on, we will get to that first name in a moment -- is only 5 feet 10 inches and just under 170 pounds. To succeed in today's NHL, he'll have to be dynamic, in speed and moves and finish around the net. For the most part, small guys need not apply in today's game, its playing ranks filled, it seems, with 6-2, 210-pounders pretty much as the minimum standard.

''My aim is to try to look good here, go with everything I've got, and then try to have a good year in Saskatoon," said Rabbit, noting the inevitability of being assigned to his junior club in the Western Hockey League for 2005-06. ''My whole life I've been the smallest guy on every team I've played on, but I've usually been the fastest skater. I just want to make a good impression while I'm here."

Selected in the fifth round, 154th overall, of this summer's draft, Rabbit was born on the Blood Reserve in Southern Alberta, not far from Calgary. According to Rabbit, the Blood Reserve is the largest home (population upward of 15,000) to native North Americans in Canada. On the day of the draft, he was attending a powwow at the nearby Tsuu Tina Reserve, taking a day off from tending to chores at his grandfather's nearby farm.

Actually, his full name is Wacey Coleman Rabbit.

''I was supposed to be a bull rider, I guess, and Wacey Cathy was one of the best," said Rabbit, who began riding steer at age 8, ultimately giving it up at 14 to pursue hockey as a potential career. ''Coleman comes from Gary Coleman, one of the best saddle bronc riders. My parents just liked the names."

Now he's here, a little kid with a dream grown bigger, hoping to follow in the steps of Stan Jonathan, Chris Simon, Gino Odjick, Jonathan Cheechoo, and Jordan Tootoo, other players of native North American heritage to make it to the NHL.

''A lot of this has been so fast, from the day of the draft to coming here," said Rabbit. ''It didn't hit me until I was on the plane the other day, flying here, and I'm thinking, 'Hey, I'm going to Boston. How many kids get to do that?' "

Wide-eyed and hopeful, thus is the face of rookie camp's first day.

No matter how the game may struggle to survive, and now it must attempt to overcome the lunacy and legacy of last year's lockout, thankfully some things never change.