From Minor to Major

The Providence Bruins are playing the best hockey around

BY HELEN LURYI

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Illustration by Julia Goldmacher
hockey player

IT WOULD NEVER HAVE been mistaken for an NHL game. When the Albany River Rats came to Providence to play the hometown Bruins on March 13, the teams shared a whopping 40 penalties, including 14 fighting majors, six game misconducts, and a rare goalie fight.

The Albany match-up wasn't even the most bellicose of the season. In a November game against the Hershey Bears, two players who were ejected for fighting spotted each other in the hallway and continued their altercation there. Hearing the ruckus, both teams left their benches to come to their teammates' aid, leaving the ice deserted except for the goalies, who skated to center ice, removed their gloves, blockers, and helmets, and proceeded to pound each other for the screaming fans.

While these numbers are excessive for a hockey game at any level, they are not an uncommon sight in the American Hockey League, which functions as, among other things, a sort of proving ground. For sure, it's not the National Hockey League. But what's a New England hockey fan to do? There's a lockout on, and with the official cancellation of the 2004-2005 season on February 15, the future of the league is officially uncertain. Now huge arenas from Montreal to Phoenix sit empty while the NHL Board of Governors argues with the Players' Association, the union that represents the league's players, about salary caps and free agency. Fans wail about the death of hockey, consoling themselves with videotapes of past championships and the occasional international tournament courtesy of ESPN2. But at the Dunkin' Donuts Center in downtown Providence, professional hockey is very much alive and well.

Fans of all ages crowded the concourse at the Sunday afternoon game against Albany. There were geezers older than most NHL franchises, little kids whacking their Thunderstix against anything that wouldn't break or hit them back, and twenty-something Rhode Islanders who have played hockey since they could walk. The more hardcore fans were clad in Providence regalia, but about half of the jerseys displayed big yellow Bs instead of Ps-for the NHL's Boston Bruins.

Let The Big Boys Stay In Sweden

That the fan-bases coincide is not surprising-Boston is the P-Bruins' NHL affiliate. While the two teams conduct their business operations separately, on the hockey front the NHL partner controls both clubs. Players in the Bruins organization sign a two-way contract, which means they will play wherever Boston General Manager Mike O'Connell places them. When Boston drafts or signs a promising prospect, the club will usually send him to Providence for a few years to get used to the professional game. All of the players aspire to make it to the FleetCenter (recently renamed the TD Banknorth Garden) in Boston, and while the best ones do, most play out their careers in the AHL or lower leagues. O'Connell decides who to call up and when-and his decisions are based solely on the needs of his NHL team. The goal of the Bruins organization is to win Boston the Stanley Cup. Whether Providence wins or loses is secondary.

This relationship hasn't changed because of the lockout, but its effect on the P-Bruins has. "From a development standpoint, everything is going as it should. The only difference is, there's no NHL," explained Providence Journal sportswriter Joe McDonald during an interview. In other words, the Bruins' young prospects are still playing in Providence. But they are no longer being called up to Boston at a moment's notice, which has lead to a dramatic increase in roster stability.

"In the organization as a whole, there have been a lot of changes [caused by the lockout]," McDonald, who has covered both teams for four seasons, continued. Unlike in previous years, "the coaches know that of the team that they have at the start of the year, 90 percent is going to finish the year. They can organize their system's play better, and they know that they don't have to look towards players in [lower leagues] for roster spots when these guys get called up [to Boston]. They're here for the entire year."

Roster stability makes for better quality hockey, but even more significant is the type of player who is spending this season in the minors. Many big NHL stars have gone overseas to where the money is, often back to their home countries-Peter Forsberg and Markus Naslund, for example, have taken their scoring prowess to Ornskoldsviks, Sweden. But many younger players, such as the Bruins' 19-year-old Patrice Bergeron, have just jumped down to their team's AHL affiliate. "That's happening league-wide," said McDonald. "A lot of the younger prospects, not just in the Bruins organization but on the other teams as well, are playing at this level. This is probably the best talent pool the American Hockey League has ever had."

Bergeron is one of the two strictly NHL players on the P-Bruins' roster, but others like Andy Hilbert and goalie Hannu Toivonen, who otherwise would have spent the season shuttling between the clubs, are spending it entirely in Providence. According to McDonald, this allows them to compete against similarly skilled players, and allows the club to monitor their progress-and of course, Hilbert's team-leading 37 goals are an added benefit. "If they're overseas, the Bruins don't know what they are doing, but if they're here, they're still in the organization. Boston's GM and coaches can come to games, come to practices, and keep an eye on what's going on in the organization." So while big-name NHLers, especially ones who are heavily involved in the Players' Association, are boycotting any contact with the league, many younger players are still tied to their clubs via their minor league affiliates.

The Commuter Rail Runs Empty

This year, the AHL is the best league in North America, and AHL hockey is the best it's ever been. So why aren't fans flocking to the Dunkin' Donuts Center? The number of spectators at Bruins games has not increased since last year, according to several fans at the River Rats game.

Keith, a tobacco-chewing local hockey player, was among those who had expected an influx of Bostonians this year. "That's what I figured, that all the Boston fans who aren't being satisfied would come down here, but no. Look at all the empty seats." He pointed to a stretch of cheap seats opposite ours, where there was not a single fan. On the Bruins' best days, only about half of the Dunk's 11,909 seats are filled.

"Attendance is probably about the same. These are the same types of crowds they always have," said Greg, a young fan who used to work for the organization. Jim, who was proving his devotion by manning the Providence Bruins Booster Club table on the concourse, agreed: "Boston fans are a different breed. They don't come down here."

But although the turnout at Providence games has remained the same, that doesn't mean that New Englanders aren't getting their professional hockey fix with Boston out of the picture, said McDonald. "They haven't been [coming to Providence] because there are so many AHL teams around New England, and a lot of Bruins fans are actually located north of Boston." So while Providence has the prospects, other teams have better locations. In northern New England alone, hockey lovers from Massachusetts can choose between the Worcester IceCats, the Lowell Lock Monsters, and the Springfield Falcons; fans from Maine can drop in on a Portland Pirates game. Those geographically in between can check out the first-place Manchester Monarchs, who have sold out almost every game this season. Providence fans, however, still tend to be from Providence.

Until their last regular season game on April 17, the Bruins will be fighting for a playoff berth. Whether they make it depends on, among other things, whether Toivonen comes back strong from a knee injury, Hilbert keeps up the scoring, and enforcer Colton Orr keeps pounding the faces of the opposition. But for the first time in years, it won't depend on call-ups, send-downs, or trades made to benefit Boston. While the NHL lockout has eliminated the highest level of hockey from the North American panorama, it has freed the American Hockey League from some of its cumbrances. We all miss the NHL, but professional hockey isn't dead in Providence. It's just racking up a lot of penalty minutes.

_________________

Helen Luryi B'05 is sitting two minutes for having too many men on the ice.

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