VANCOUVER – Be patient, Boston Bruins fans. Help is on the way.

Two of the players who the Lewiston Maineiacs faced in their game with Vancouver on Sunday are likely headed to Boston – or at least to Providence – in the near future.

Wacey Rabbit, acquired by the Vancouver Giants in January and drafted by Boston in 2005, and Milan Lucic, a 2006 Bruins choice, will both get a long look at pro camp in September.

“It’s exciting to be going to an Original 6 team like that,” Lucic said. “The draft was here in my hometown in Vancouver, so that was exciting for me, too.”

Rabbit, a native of Lethbridge, Alberta, is a shifty forward who brings a measure of grit to the table every time he steps on the ice. He played 13 games with Providence to begin this season.

Lucic, a Vancouver native, finished his best season of junior hockey with 30 goals and 38 assists for 68 points, a nearly 50-point increase over his production as a 17-year-old in 2005-06.

“I still obviously have a few things I need to work on,” Lucic said. “That’s the ultimate goal for me, to play for the Bruins.”

In the moment

As the team’s bus arrived at the Pacific Coliseum on Sunday, a television camera rushed toward them. The cameraman fidgeted with the machine, trying too quickly to turn on the camera and roll video.

He managed to get things working, and the team entered the building pro-style, being recorded.

“Where’s your goalie, where’s Bernier?” The cameraman shouted.

The team told him that he’d already missed him.

Behind the team came a few of the staffers, including team marketing director Rob Mainville.

Out of earshot of the cameras, Mainville started humming the theme from “Hockey Night in Canada.”

“It feels like we’re there,” Mainville said. “This is great.”

Meanwhile, forward Chris Tutalo toted his own personal video recorder, taking things in from his perspective.

“Making my own documentary,” Tutalo said as he passed by. “This is history.”

Juggling act

With Marc-Andre Cliche out of the lineup Sunday after suffering a shoulder injury in Saturday’s opener, Maineiacs’ coach Clem Jodoin had to figure out what to do with the line combinations.

“I had no choice,” Jodoin said with a wave of his arms.

Joining Pierre-Luc Faubert and David Perron on the top line was Simon Courcelles. The second line then became a trio of Stefano Giliati, Stefan Chaput and Chris Tutalo, while Jakub Bundil slid into a spot beside Eric Castonguay and Marc-Andre Daneau.

Danick Paquette made his tourney debut Sunday, and he, Triston Manson and David Taylor got a fair share of ice time compared to Saturday.

“We need rest now,” Jodoin said. “We needed to play everybody to have a chance, and now we need some rest.”


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