Drop the puck

WILMINGTON -- Humid out there today, eh?

Not inside Ristuccia Arena, where goaltending coach Bob Essensa held his goalie camp and where some of the Bruins spent their morning.

As GM Peter Chiarelli and Providence coach Rob Murray watched from the stands, Essensa and assistant coach Doug Houda led Tim Thomas, Manny Fernandez, Tuukka Rask, and Kevin Regan through the paces. Video analyst Brant Berglund set up a camera at the blue lines and trained it on the goalies as they completed their drills.

(By the way, congratulations to Brant and wife Elizabeth on the birth of Elsa, their first child, in July.)

Assisting the goalies were Milan Lucic, Brad Marchand, Andrew Alberts, Andrew Bodnarchuk, Matt Lashoff, and Mark Stuart.

After the netminders completed their work, the skaters hit the ice. The group included Rask, Regan, Lucic, Marchand, Bodnarchuk, Lashoff, Stuart, Phil Kessel, David Krejci, Jeremy Reich, Nate Thompson, Shawn Thornton, Zdeno Chara, Shane Hnidy, Aaron Ward, and Dennis Wideman. After some drills, they broke out into a four-on-four game.

* Chara, still rehabbing from offseason shoulder surgery, was in good spirits and appeared to be moving without limitations. Obviously, there was little checking during the skate and no big-time slappers, but Chara made it through the session just fine.

* No dropoff in Kessel's speed. The third-year pro flashed his usual moves and slipped into high gear several times. Kessel didn't appreciate, however, a good-natured Chara hook that broke up a scoring chance.

* Some jumbling of practice jersey numbers: Ward wearing No. 73, Wideman wearing No. 37.

* Thornton ended the game by tipping a shot past Regan.

* Off the ice, Ward was raving about the Red Wings, Thornton was lamenting the Duke lacrosse team's championship loss (his cousin starred for the Blue Devils), and Lashoff was hoping he'd face his younger brother Brian during the preseason. Brian Lashoff, who's played two years of juniors for Barrie (OHL), was invited to Detroit's camp. The Bruins play the Wings on back-to-back nights -- first in Halifax, then in Detroit at Joe Louis Arena.

* Not skating but already in town are Marco Sturm, P.J. Axelsson, Peter Schaefer, Stephane Yelle, and Marc Savard.

* Patrice Bergeron, Michael Ryder, Andrew Ference, and Chuck Kobasew are expected to arrive in Boston next week. Vladimir Sobotka and Petteri Nokelainen are scheduled to arrive later in the month.