Carter Camper will return to the line up on Friday against the Springfield Falcons after missing a month with injury. He is 3rd on Providence in points and coming off a 9-game scoring streak before he was injured.
The Providence Bruins are preparing for a big weekend. Tomorrow and Saturday, the P-Bruins will have a home-and-home with the Springfield Falcons, who are 1 point ahead of Providence in the overall Eastern Conference standings. Springfield sits in 2nd place with 76 points in 58 games, and Providence is 3rd overall in the East with 75 points in 59 games. On Sunday, Providence will host divisional rival Manchester Monarchs, who are fighting desperately for a playoff spot. Manchester currently sits in 11th in the East with 63 points, but is only 1 point out of 8th place.
Yesterday, Providence announced that they had called up goaltender Adam Morrison form Utah Grizzlies of the ECHL. Mark Divver of the Providence Journal reported that Morrison was called up because back-up goaltender Michael Hutchinson has a hip injury and is “questionable” to play this weekend. Last weekend, Hutchinson posted his first shutout of the season on Friday before giving up 3 goals in a 4-2 loss to the Connecticut Whale.
Hutchinson is 7-12-3 this season with a 2.44 GAA and a save percentage of .908. The P-Bruins will need a reliable back-up goaltender down the stretch so rookie starting goaltender Niklas Svedberg can ideally get as much rest as possible heading into the playoffs. It’s unclear when Hutchinson’s injury was sustained because he finished the game on Sunday and practiced on Tuesday before Morrison was called up Wednesday.
Christian Hanson, who has been a solid presence for Providence throughout the season and has seen success on the score sheet lately, sustained a hand injury and won’t play this weekend. In 57 games this season, he has 9 goals and 17 assists for 26 points and a +9 rating. He has been on a 6-game scoring streak, recording 2 goals and 5 assists for 7 points since the start of March.
Jared Knight, who has missed almost the entire season with a recurring hamstring injury, is not expected to return to the lineup until April at the earliest.
In good injury news, Carter Camper is expected to return to the lineup tomorrow. He has missed almost a full calendar month, last playing February 16th. Before his point streak ended that night against Bridgeport, Camper had enjoyed a 9-game point streak that saw him score 2 goals and 13 assists for 15 points. Before being injured again, he was on a ferocious pace: he had a great January with 11 points (2 goals, 11 assists) and in mid-February was already at 10 points (1 goal, 11 assists).
Camper had a sensational rookie season, but his sophomore year got off to a tough start with injuries. Although he has missed a total of 18 games, he is 3rd in scoring on the team with 6 goals and 29 assists for 35 points.
A Cup A Bruin 