BOSTON — You can take the player out of Harvard University’s hockey program — especially if that player thinks he’s ready to leave — but that doesn’t mean the player is leaving Harvard.
Scituate, Mass., native Ryan Donato, who made his NHL debut as a Bruin on Monday night approximately 72 hours after completing his third and ultimately final season with the Crimson, will still try to complete his junior academic year on time.
"I’m [...]
BOSTON — You can take the player out of Harvard University’s hockey program — especially if that player thinks he’s ready to leave — but that doesn’t mean the player is leaving Harvard.
Scituate, Mass., native Ryan Donato, who made his NHL debut as a Bruin on Monday night approximately 72 hours after completing his third and ultimately final season with the Crimson, will still try to complete his junior academic year on time.
“I’m planning on finishing the semester academically,” Donato said Monday morning at Warrior Arena, after participating in his first skate as an NHLer. “I want to finish the semester academically. Obviously, it’s going to be difficult, but for me, that’s something to attain.”
Donato, who signed a two-year contract with the B’s on Sunday night, knows he won’t be able to graduate with the Class of 2019, as first planned. But completing the current semester means less school work to repeat, and a shorter path to his degree.
“Obviously, I’m putting (graduation) off a little bit,” said Donato, who is majoring in sociology. “But I need to finish this semester to have that opportunity, and not put it off another extra couple of years.”
Donato won’t necessarily be taking a semester abroad, but he will be doing plenty of school work on the road. He leaves with the Bruins on Tuesday for a four-game road trip (St. Louis, Dallas, Minnesota, Winnipeg), and there’s a three-game trip (Philadelphia, Tampa Bay, Florida) in the first week of April.
Asked if he’s packing textbooks in his travel bags, Donato said “pretty much, yeah.”
Making progress
Center Patrice Bergeron, whose foot was fractured on Feb. 24 at Toronto, took part in virtually all of Monday’s morning skate, after skills and skating coach Kim Brandvold put him through a series of drills before the rest of the team took the ice.
“It felt good,” said Bergeron, who missed his 11th game to the injury on Monday. “It was nice to be back on the ice. It’s been a long three weeks. It was nice to finally move forward and be on the ice, and it was nice to stay and be with the guys.”
Bergeron actually got onto the ice with Brandvold on Sunday — three weeks after he played on Feb. 25 at Buffalo, not knowing he had suffered a fracture the night before — but the rest of the B’s had Sunday off after completing a four-game road trip on Saturday at Tampa Bay.
“There’s still a little bit of (discomfort), but it’s a lot better,” Bergeron said, “and it was expected that it wasn’t going to be perfect right away. It’s still where we want it to be, I guess.”
Bergeron isn’t certain when he’ll be ready to play.
“Obviously, I’m seeing light at the end of the tunnel,” he said. “It’s good to be on the ice.
“We’re trying to not set a timeline right now. We’re trying to just make sure I feel good, have my bearings on the ice. So far, I’m happy where I’m at.”
Injury report
The Bruins were to depart on Tuesday morning and practice in St. Louis, where their trip begins on Wednesday night. Bergeron seemed on track to travel, but head coach Bruce Cassidy was uncertain which other injured players would start the trip.
“(Bergeron) is skating, so that obviously helps,” Cassidy said. “We’ll see where the other guys are, when they’re able to skate. Sometimes that’s part of the decision.”
Besides Bergeron, Monday morning’s injury list included captain Zdeno Chara (upper body, day-to-day), Chara’s defense partner Charlie McAvoy (strained MCL), veteran winger David Backes (leg laceration) and rookie winger Jake DeBrusk (upper body).
The list grew by one later in the day, when winger Rick Nash (who skated in the morning) was pulled from the lineup with an upper-body injury. Anton Blidh, recalled in the afternoon from AHL Providence, was the last-minute replacement.