BRIGHTON, Mass. -- Robbie O’Gara has been largely flying under the radar during his first B’s training camp with fellow young D-men like Brandon Carlo and Jakub Zboril having garnered plenty of the attention paid toward young, hopeful defenseman prospects.
But don’t sleep on the former fifth round pick from the 2011 draft, who is still in NHL camp competing hard for a job after last weekend’s major cuts pared away more than 20 players to a much smaller group for the final 10 days of camp. Clearly it seems O’Gara is ticketed for Providence to start this season no matter how well things go for him over the final couple of games, but his presence is also a nod that the Bruins coaches like what they’ve seen out of the hard-working Yale Hockey alum.
The 6-foot-4, 210-pounder was understandably excited when he got the news last weekend that he’ll still be skating with an ever-shrinking group of hopeful NHL defensemen in main camp, and on the ready to keep showing off the fruits of his hard work from this summer.
“It’s a lot of work, and it’s nice to be able to keep showing what I can do. All I can do is keep working, keep going and just control what you can control. I’ve been talking to Carlo a lot because we’ve been roommates this whole time, so we just keep going,” said O’Gara, who is rooming with the 19-year-old Carlo while both big-bodied defensemen work to show their NHL readiness. “The experience in Providence [at the end of last year] helped a lot because that was a real step up from [college hockey]. Working out with pro guys this summer in Foxboro too really showed what the speed of play was, so I wasn’t like “Oh my god, this is crazy.’ It was more like ‘Okay I can hang with these guys, and I’ve put in the work.’
“It’s the same thing from when I was drafted: faster, bigger and stronger. I think if I can keep doing that then that’s how I’ll round out my game at this level. These little guys can fly, and if you can’t keep up with them and keep them in front of you, then you can’t play.”
The 23-year-old O’Gara has been strong, competitive and diligent throughout his first NHL training camp after a decorated four year career playing hockey at Yale University, and is opening eyes among the Bruins coaching staff. He projects to be a smart, tough and strong shutdown defenseman capable of winning all the battles in his own end, and O’Gara has shown plenty of evidence he’ll be effective in his first few preseason appearances.
In fact both Carlo and O’Gara look the part of the prototypical tall, strong shutdown defenseman during B’s training camp, and the Bruins won’t be shy about calling their number in the last couple of preseason games.
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“You have those guys that are big, and strong, and have good sticks, and they’re playing well too,” said Claude Julien. “It’s not a secret that [O’Gara and Carlo] have brought their level of game up to where we hoped they would. It’s just giving them a longer look. We’re still not 100 percent decided on our final roster, so you need those guys. I don’t think I want to keep the lineup for all three [of the final preseason] games, so it gives you a chance to give those guys more looks.”
The one area that may eventually get O’Gara sent to the AHL for some finishing work: the skating game. O’Gara has clearly pushed the bigger, stronger and faster challenge this summer, and every summer, with his workouts geared toward his first pro season, and B’s assistant coach Bruce Cassidy felt like there still may need to be gains made to make the big-bodied defenseman’s skating passable at the NHL level.
“Robbie is a really cerebral player, and like Carlo he’s a big man. But he doesn’t have Carlo’s athleticism yet, the foot speed part of it. I can’t predict the future of whether he’s going to get it or not, but if [the skating] comes around for him you’ve got yourself a hockey player,” said Cassidy. “He does a lot of good things. With the puck he thinks the game well, he’s long and he competes. The challenge is going to be whether his foot speed will allow him to play at the NHL level, or not.”
It may be that O’Gara needs a little seasoning at the AHL level before he gets a chance to show his stuff in Boston during the regular season, but the 23-year-old looks well on his way showing all the lessons he learned playing college hockey at Yale.