Providence Bruins

History

The Providence Bruins began operation for the start of the 1992–93 AHL season after Providence mayor Buddy Cianci negotiated a deal with the owners of the Maine Mariners franchise, Frank DuRoss and Ed Anderson, to relocate their club. The move saw AHL hockey return to Providence for the first time since the Providence Reds, a founding member of the AHL, left town in 1977.

The Bruins captured their first AHL Calder Cup in the 1999 playoffs, after a regular season in which they dominated the league with 56 regular season wins. Led by rookie head coach Peter Laviolette and paced by Les Cunningham Award winner Randy Robitaille, the Bruins went from only 19 victories the previous season, to dropping the Rochester Americans 4 games to 1 to skate away with the league championship.

In the 2001–02 season, the Providence Bruins contracted with then-13-year-old musician Ben Schwartz to work as the official organist at all home games. As a result, Schwartz, who provided music for seven years until the conclusion of the 2007–08 season, holds the distinction of being the youngest organist to ever work for a professional North American sports franchise in history.

In August 2006, DuRoss sold his majority interest in the club to Massachusetts businessman H. Larue Renfroe.

This market was previously served by

Providence Reds (1926–1977)

Season-by-season results

This is a partial list of the last five seasons completed by the Bruins. For the full season-by-season history, see List of Providence Bruins seasons

Current roster

Updated March 22, 2017.

Team captains

Sean Curry, 2005–2006

Nate Thompson, 2006–2008

Jeremy Reich, 2008–2009

Trent Whitfield, 2009–2010

Jeremy Reich, 2010–2011

Trent Whitfield, 2011–2013

Mike Moore, 2013–2014

Craig Cunningham, 2014–2015

Tommy Cross, 2015–

Notable alumni

List of Providence Bruins alumni who played more than 100 games in Providence and 100 or more games in the National Hockey League:

Single season

Goals: Tim Sweeney, 41, (1992–93)Assists: Randy Robitaille, 74, (1998–99)Points: Randy Robitaille, 102, (1998–99)Penalty minutes: Aaron Downey, 407, (1997–98)GAA: Tim Thomas, 1.84, (2003–04)SV%: Tim Thomas, .941, (2003–04)

Career

Career goals: Andy Hilbert, 101, (2001–05)Career assists: Andy Hilbert, 109, (2001–05)Career points: Andy Hilbert, 210, (2001–05)Career penalty minutes: Aaron Downey, 1059, (1997–00, 07)Career goaltending wins: John Grahame, 67, (1997–2001)Career shutouts: Tim Thomas, 10, (2002–06)Career games: Jay Henderson, 278, (1998–03, 2004-05)