While waiting for Joe Colborne and Max Sauve to walk through that door, a few odds and ends from today's Providence Bruins practice:

Adam McQuaid is back on skates after being off the ice for five weeks.

The 23-year-old defenseman was sucking some serious wind late this morning after he and Lane MacDermid were put through a tough skate by skills coach Victor Teleguine.

MacDermid, in fact, lost a bit of his breakfast on the bench midway through the workout.

When asked about his injury, McQuaid smiled and dutifully stuck to the company line: It's an upper-body problem.

McQuaid last played on Feb. 13 in Miami while on recall to Boston. In that game, he was involved in a slugfest with Victor Oreskovich in which McQuaid landed most of the punches.

A few days after that game, McQuaid was told not to engage in any physical activity until the symptoms of his injury subsided.

"I definitely hope to get back in before the year's over,'' he said.


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In a surprising move, John Lammers was released on Tuesday.

But while the 24-year-old left wing is gone for now, don't be shocked if he is back this fall.

Coach Rob Murray said that releasing Lammers from his PTO now gives him an opportunity to join the Abbotsford Heat for the playoffs. Abbotsford is not far from Lammers' hometown of Langley, B.C.

In Providence, Lammers had 8-9-17 scoring totals and was plus 6 in 31 games since he arrived on Jan. 13.

"He did a great job for us. The biggest thing I saw out of John Lammers was that he was hungry to be here, he wasn't going to be denied. Night after night, from the time he came here, he consistently was one of our better players,'' Murray said.

"He's a guy we would definitely have interest in (for next season). He's a guy we'd like to come back and play with us again.''


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Because of the weather, Steve Kampfer's flight from Baltimore to Green Airport was canceled Tuesday night, so the defenseman flew into Boston at midnight and drove to Providence. He was on the ice for practice on Wednesday morning.

"I was a little nervous at the beginning, like anybody would be . . . but I thought it went pretty well,'' Kampfer said.

"I try to model my game after Duncan Keith. He's a quick defenseman, moves the puck well, jumps up in the play. I try to add a little offense and play solid defensively,'' he said.

"(Boston management wants) me to play a few games, get the feel of the pro life, make an easy transition for next year.''

The 21-year-old just finished his senior season at the University of Michigan in his hometown of Ann Arbor, and is completing his classes via email and fax. He expects to receive a sociology degree in May.

"My teachers have been great in helping me along,'' he said.


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Wednesday's lines:
Yellow: Hamill, LoVecchio, Lehtonen
White: Larman, Lefebvre, MacDonald
Gray: Timberlake, Nelson, Knackstedt


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Lane MacDermid broke his right thumb in a fight a couple of weeks back, not his left thumb, as I reported last week.


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Joe Colborne and Max Sauve are expected at practice on Thursday.