The world famous Boston Bruins will play an exhibition game at the Odyssey Arena in Belfast, Northern Ireland on October 2^nd at 7 p.m. local time as part of the 2010 Compuware NHL Premiere™ Challenge.  The Bruins will play the Belfast Giants Selects, a unified team comprised of an All-Star selection of the best of the UK Elite League players from each team.  Ticket sales and broadcast information for this game will be released at a later date.  

Giants General Manager Todd Kelman was in Boston on Monday to make the announcement. 

“This is a big day for the Giants and a big day for the entire league,” said Kelman, “we are really looking forward to welcoming the Bruins over to Belfast to see our great city and to let our fans see one of the best teams in the world.”

The Bruins President is former superstar forward and NHL Hall of Famer Cam Neely who stated that he would be making the trip to Belfast with his team.  Neely believes that this trip to Europe to start their season will be an excellent bonding experience for the Bruins players.

Bruins forward Shawn Thornton, who recently signed with the Bruins for another two years, said that the game in Northern Ireland was another reason he wanted to re-sign with the Bruins. "It'll be awesome ... It'll be unbelievable," he told the Boston Herald. "My mom is from Belfast. I'm excited about this. I've been talking about it since we first heard about it. I've never been over there. ... I know the (Bruins' Czech players) are really excited about Prague, but I'm more excited about Belfast."

The Boston Bruins are one of the most storied hockey teams in the NHL.  They are one of the “Original Six” Teams, officially forming back in 1924. They have won five Stanley Cups in their team history, and last season, the Bruins made it all the way to the semi-finals of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, eventually bowing out to the Philadelphia Flyers in the final match of their seven game series.

The Boston Bruins will officially open their 2010-11 NHL^® regular season one week after facing off against the Belfast Giants Selects by playing the Phoenix Coyotes in two games at Prague’s O₂ Arena on Saturday, October 9 and Sunday, October 10.