WILMINGTON, Mass. � Listed as a rail-thin 185 pounds when the Boston Bruins drafted him after his junior year at Milton Academy in 2011, Robbie O�Gara knew that he needed to get bigger and stronger if he is going to someday play in the National Hocke

WILMINGTON, Mass. � Listed as a rail-thin 185 pounds when the Boston Bruins drafted him after his junior year at Milton Academy in 2011, Robbie O�Gara knew that he needed to get bigger and stronger if he is going to someday play in the National Hockey League.

But by the time his sophomore season at Yale University ended in March, O�Gara decided that he might have added a few too many pounds.

�School food,�� the 6-foot-4 defenseman said with a smile.

�I actually played most of last year between 215 and 220. I don�t think I put [weight] on the right way. When I got home [to Nesconset, N.Y.] I started to diet, started to cut body fat.��

And when O�Gara reported to his fourth Bruins development camp on Wednesday, he weighed in at 211 and felt better.

�I think that helped a lot. I feel great right now. Even though I�ve lost some weight so far this summer, I�ll be able to put it on for the rest of the summer and do it the right way,�� he said.

While O�Gara�s body has been growing over the past three years, so has his game.

�If you�ve watched him play over the course of his two seasons at Yale and realize how much he plays and the situations he plays in � and part of the national championship team as a freshman � I think you quickly understand that he has a lot of good tools, a lot of things that we are very, very excited about as a National Hockey League defenseman,�� said Bruins assistant general manager Don Sweeney, himself an NHL defenseman for 16 seasons.

Providence Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy, who runs the on-ice sessions at camp, also has taken note of O�Gara�s progress.

�I think the best part of his game that has gotten better is his ability to move the puck. When I first saw him, big guy, you�re assuming stay-at-home defensive defenseman,�� said Cassidy, who has helped defensemen such as Johnny Boychuk, Adam McQuaid, Matt Bartkowski, Kevan Miller and Torey Krug grow into NHL regulars.

�He has a good stick, always had good lateral feet from day one, and now you see a guy that can make plays with the puck, as well, below the goal line, breaking it out to the neutral zone. He�s more of a complete package than maybe you thought at first,�� he said.

O�Gara, who scored four goals and 11 points in 33 games for Yale last season, said he looks forward to development camp each summer.

�The first year, I was extremely nervous. You�d see guys like Tommy Cross, and I think it was his sixth camp, just going about his business like it was any other week and I�m looking up to these guys. Even though I�m a pretty tall kid, I�m still looking up to them. I sort of felt like a deer in the headlights. Now I feel I can take a leadership role. I�m more confident, I�m more prepared. Now it�s more excitement for the week instead of nervousness,� he said.

�It�s such a long road and I�ve been talking about it since the first camp, getting bigger, stronger and faster. �Not losing foot speed, getting stronger, and putting mass on, but doing it the right way.

�I feel like every camp is a benchmark. It�s a week where you can say, �This is where I am, this is where I have to be.� That�s why it�s so helpful,� he said.

When Long Islander O�Gara was a teenager watching games on television a few years back, his dad, Brian, often pointed to a New York Ranger who has developed into one of the top defensemen in the NHL.

�It was always Marc Staal when I was growing up � a guy who can play an offensive game but is always solid, at home, in his position. It�s kind of what I want to be. I want to be that guy that�s going to be solid and can play against the top line, but can add a little bit offensively, too.

�My dad always said, this is the guy you�ve got to watch. This is who you can be,�� said O�Gara, who turned 21 on July 6.

The Bruins, obviously, hope he is right.

�He�ll have to continue to work on some stuff, he plays both of the sides of the ice as a lefty and a righty, as an off-shoot/off-side player � that is important. His offensive confidence has continued to emerge so he�s continuing to round out his game,�� said Sweeney.

�This isn�t a sprint. The finished product is still well down the road, but he�s made a lot of good strides and we feel really good about where he is and, more importantly, where he�s going to go to.��