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Ice , Ice Baby
Think you know hockey ? Test your skills with this primer on Rhode Island hockey — no pesky skates required . By Al Daniel
1 . The Boston Bruins are in their centennial season , and Providence has been their farm base for the plurality of that stretch . The old Providence ( and later Rhode Island ) Reds affiliated with Boston for seven nonconsecutive years , and now the Providence Bruins ( established in 1992 ) enjoy the longest uninterrupted AHL-NHL partnership . That ’ s all the more fitting considering Boston was America ’ s first NHL franchise .
2 . Central Falls native and Brown University alum Malcolm Greene Chace spearheaded the spread of organized hockey from its native Canada to the United States . In the early-to-mid-1890s , he assembled a group of Ivy League student-athletes who toured Ontario and Quebec , then dispersed to start intercollegiate programs on their respective campuses .
3 . The Reds and their descendants in Binghamton , New York , and Hartford , Connecticut , constitute hockey ’ s longesttenured minor league team , starting in 1926 in the old Canadian-American League . They were in Rhode Island for the first fifty-one of those ninety-eight seasons .
4 . In 1948 , Rhode Island became the second New England state ( after Massachusetts ) and the eighth overall to produce a USA Hockey national champion at any level .
5 . Women ’ s college hockey was born at Brown in 1965 , after first-year student Nancy Schieffelin disguised herself as a man to play a scrimmage game with the men ’ s team . The Bears initially scrimmaged club teams until other colleges started following their lead in the 1970s .
6 . Since the NHL entry draft started in 1963 , eight Americans have gone first overall . Mount St . Charles Academy grads Brian Lawton ( 1983 ) and Bryan Berard ( 1995 ) accounted for two of the first three .
ABOVE : The Providence Reds hockey team played in the American Hockey League from 1936 to 1977 at the Rhode Island Auditorium and later at the Providence Civic Center . They changed their name to the Rhode Island Reds during their last season . BELOW : The Providence Bruins .
7 . In 1985 , the Providence Civic Center hosted the inaugural men ’ s Hockey East championship , the first game in which goalies placed water bottles atop their nets .
8 . One regular-season NHL game has been played in the state . Amid the P-Bruins ’ inaugural season , the Boston Bruins took to the Civic Center ’ s ice for a 3-1 win over New Jersey on March 16 , 1993 .
9 . The Providence Friars took part in the longest U . S . women ’ s college hockey game at 145 minutes and thirty-five seconds of action . Archrival New Hampshire won the 1996 ECAC championship , 3-2 , in quintupleovertime .
10 . The West Warwick preteen who in 1992 gave the P-Bruins mascot its superb name , Samboni , went on to play hockey in Rhode Island at every possible level . Drew Omicioli spent four years at Providence College , followed by an end-of-season AHL tryout with Providence in 2002 .
16 RHODE ISLAND MONTHLY l JANUARY 2024