Category — providence bruins

Dalton

PROVIDENCE — When he was fully equipped, Providence Bruins goaltender Matt Dalton was nearly impenetrable tonight at Dunkin’ Donuts Center.

But without his stick, the rookie was no match for Jamie McGinn’s wrist shot, which found the back of the net 1:58 into overtime to end Worcester’s 3-2 win over the P-Bruins in AHL action. [Read more →]

The American Hockey League today released its complete regular season schedule. The Providence Bruins, the primary farm club of the Boston Bruins, will open their season Sunday, Oct. 4 at home against Springfield. The P-Bruins do not have a road trip longer than four games and the only one with major travel is a four-game jaunt, Feb. 26 to March 3, when they head to Binghamton and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton for one game each and then to Abbotsford for two contests.

Here is a look at the complete 2009-10 schedule for Providence: [Read more →]

The Providence Bruins, the Boston Bruins’ AHL affiliate, today released their preseason schedule for this fall. Here it is:

Date, Opponent, Location, Time

Wed., Sept. 23, Springfield Falcons, N.E. Sports Center (Marlboro, Mass.), 7:05 p.m.

Thurs.., Sept. 24, Lowell Devils, Iorio Arena (Walpole, Mass.), 6:05 p.m.

Sat., Sept. 26. Springfield Falcons. MassMutual Center (Springfield, Mass.), 7:00 p.m.

Whitfield

More than a decade after the Boston Bruins drafted Trent Whitfield in the fourth round (100 overall in 1996), the club has signed the center to a two-way contract that will provide the Providence Bruins (AHL) with some much-needed veteran leadership and give the Boston team an insurance policy up the middle.

The 32-year-old signed for two years after playing for Peoria, the AHL affiliate of the St. Louis Blues for four years. With the Rivermen, he scored 96 goals and added 140 assists in 269 games. In 177 NHL games, including three last season with St. Louis, he has posted 11-17-28 totals with 97 PIM.

The Providence Bruins, the Boston Bruins’ American Hockey League farm club, will have a new division rival when the 2009-10 season opens.

The AHL today announced the divisional alignment for next season, and the Bridgeport Sound Tigers (the New York Islanders’ affiliate) have been shifted from the East Division to the Atlantic to join the P-Bruins, Worcester, Springfield, Portland, Manchester, Lowell and Hartford.

The AHL regular season is scheduled to open Oct. 2.

St. Pierre

PROVIDENCE — A successful run to the Eastern Conference finals — which ended today with a 5-2 loss to Hershey in Game 5 at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center — provided many of the Providence Bruins’ veteran players an opportunity to pad their resumés heading into this summer.

Center Martin St. Pierre,  winger Jeremy Reich and defenseman Johnny Boychuk are headed for unrestricted free agency. And winger Peter Schaefer, he of the $2.2 million cap hit, could be a candidate for a buyout. [Read more →]

PROVIDENCE — It didn’t take long after his Providence Bruins lost Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals 5-2 to Hershey and dropped the series four games to one for head coach Rob Murray to have a realistic view of the 2008-09 season.

“I think that in the long run we probably overachieved this season, considering the things that we went through just as far as our lineup all year long, we were very, very young, and I was very appreciative of the veteran leadership we had on this team,” said Murray in the aftermath of his team’s defeat today at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center. [Read more →]

And so we close the book on the Providence Bruins’ 2008-09 season. Despite the disappointing end, it was a productive year for the P-Bruins, who won the Atlantic Division playoff title and reached the Eastern Conference finals. If AHL success is judged on development and aid to the parent club, then Providence gets an A for providing Boston with the likes of Sobotka, St. Pierre, Matt Hunwick and Byron Bitz throughout the season. The next time we’ll see some of these guys will be development camp in early July. [Read more →]

Reich

PROVIDENCE — The Providence Bruins have less than 18 hours to wrap their heads around their Game 4 loss and figure out a way to earn a victory in Game 5 to stay alive in their Eastern Conference finals series with the Hershey Bears.

Graham Mink’s goal with 4:50 remaining in overtime capped a second straight Bears comeback win in tonight’s Game 4 at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center. Hershey, a 3-2 winner in the game, now leads the series 3-1 with Game 5 scheduled for 4:05 p.m. Monday. [Read more →]

And so the Providence Bruins are now up against the wall, down three games to one to Hershey with Game 5 scheduled for tomorrow. Twice in a row Providence squandered two-goal leads here at Dunkin’ Donuts Center, and this time the P-Bruins lost in overtime, 3-2. So the P-Bruins are going to have to dig deep to keep this series alive. I’ll be live blogging the action again 4:05 tomorrow for Game 5. So be sure to log on to TheBruinsBlog.net. [Read more →]

Arniel

In a perfect world, the Providence Bruins will have center Wacey Rabbit back in their lineup to play between Kirk MacDonald and Jeremy Reich during Sunday’s Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals with Hershey.

That trio is the P-Bruins’ best chance at slowing down the Bears’ super-productive top line with Alexandre Giroux and Graham Mink flanking center Keith Aucoin. But should Rabbit, who has been out since the second period of Game 1 of this series, not be able to go, the task of centering Providence’s checking line might again fall to rookie Jamie Arniel. [Read more →]

Penner

PROVIDENCE — Two power-play goals by defenseman Jeff Penner and a solid first 20 minutes by the Providence Bruins both went to waste tonight, as the Hershey Bears rallied from 3-0 and 4-2 down to take Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals, 6-4, at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center.

Hershey now leads the series 2-1, with Game 4 scheduled for Sunday back here at “The Dunk.”

“It’s disheartening getting up 3-0 and then 4-2,” said Penner after the loss. “We can’t sit back once we get leads like that. And we just sit back and stop skating and they came at us hard. They’ve got a skilled team and that’s what’s going to happen if we sit back.” [Read more →]

Final score: Hershey 6, Providence 4.

So now the Providence Bruins have to figure out what they did right in tonight’s first period and come up with a way to do it for a full 60 minutes, as they squander leads of 3-0 and 4-2 en route to falling behind two games to one in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference finals series with Hershey. Game 4 is Sunday night back here at “The Dunk” and I’ll be live blogging the action again.

I’ll have complete postgame reaction/analysis in a bit. [Read more →]

The Providence Bruins and Hershey Bears will play Game 3 of their Eastern Conference finals series tonight at Dunkin’ Donuts Center. The series is tied, 1-1.

TheBruinsBlog.net will be your source for complete coverage of the game, as well as Game 4 (Sunday) and Game 5 (Monday), including a live blog during the game, and postgame analysis and reaction after the contests.

So be sure to log on to TheBruinsBlog.net for your dose of Providence Bruins coverage this weekend.

Bitz

The Providence Journal today reported that forward Byron Bitz, a key contributor for the Boston Bruins in their run to the Game 7 of the second round of the 2009 Stanley Cup playoffs, will not be joining the Providence (AHL) farm team for its Eastern Conference finals series with Hershey.

The ProJo quotes P-Bruins head coach Rob Murray as saying that a rib injury Bitz suffered against Carolina in the Eastern Conference semifinals turned out to be more serious that first thought and that Boston decided it would be best for Bitz to not play.

Bitz skated in 35 regular-season games and tallied two points (one goal) in five playoff games for Boston. The P-Bruins are tied 1-1 in their best-of-seven series with the Bears and get back into action with Game 3 Friday night.