Defenseman Matt Hunwick and forward Steve Begin were absent from practice this morning at Belmont Hill School's Jordan Athletic Center.

Coach Claude Julien said both players were given "maintenance days."

"That's all they were, that's why they were missing," Julien said.

Those were the only absences in an otherwise unusual day at Bruins practice. Late last night, at the advice of general manager Peter Chiarelli, players were informed of the change in venue, from their normal spot at Wilmington's Ristuccia Arena to the prepartory school overlooking Route 2.

Much tighter quarters in the locker room, comparable to amenities at your average youth hockey rink (the team split into two rooms). But everything else was big this morning, from the multi-million dollar endowment to the Olympic-sized rink.

For Tim Thomas, these kinds of things conjure up memories of when he was a youngster, duckng out of classes (when he could) at the University of Vermont to go watch the New York Rangers practice nearby during training camp.

But those days of youth? Most of these guys had humble upbringings in North America and Europe, so they've never quite seen something like this.

"I'm from Michigan, and we don't have any prep schools, or at least none that I know of," Thomas said. "So it's interesting for me to see how the prep schools are set up. The thing about my childhood memories, we didn't have any sports at this kind of a place."

Meanwhile, students lined up around one side of the rink, some in the carpeted bleachers, others two-deep along the boards, faces pressed to the glass. Series of ooh's and aah's repeated throughout the morning as players took shots on Thomas and Tuukka Rask. Camerphones were out in full effect throughout the hour-long session, with some even posing out in the lobby in front of the black spoked-B patterned sheet that Julien stands in front of when speaking with the press.

Their thoughts probably were something along the lines of Oh yeah, definitely going up on Facebook.