Opening statement
You may have (quite understandably) missed it in the five-odd months of floundering the P-Bruins did en route to yet another playoff no-go. But Jamie Arniel averted the sophomore slump and instead had a sophomore surge last season.
On the other side of an ankle injury that sidelined him for the homestretch of his rookie year, Arniel elevated his productivity rate from where it was in 2009-10. And there should be plenty of room and opportunity to take another step forward with the prospective cast of teammates for 2010-11.
2010-11 Highlights
· Led the team with 23 goals and 50 points while missing only two games, which was due to a brief promotion to Boston.
· Improved upon his rookie totals from 2009-10 by 11 goals and 22 points.
· Scored three overtime goals within the first 17 games of the season.
· Converted five out of nine shootout attempts and scored two shootout clinchers.
· Was held without a single shot on goal in only two out of 78 games-played.
· Had at least one point in nine out of 10 games in November, finishing the month with six goals and 12 points.
· Two three-point outings (goal, two assists): One at home versus Bridgeport Nov. 5 and the other in the Whale Bowl against Connecticut Feb. 19.
· Three two-goal games: Oct. 23 at Worcester, March 20 versus Portland and April 1 versus Connecticut.
· Had a two-point outing and plus-4 rating for the Eastern Conference at the AHL All-Star Game.
2010-11 Lowlights
· Ranked near the bottom of the team leaderboard in plus/minus with a minus-10 rating.
· Went 21 consecutive games without scoring a goal, beginning on Dec. 31 at Manchester and ending on Feb. 12 at Springfield.
· Finished a single night with a minus-2 rating on eight occasions.
2011-12 Outlook
As much as the summer spotlight may have focused on the re-signing of goaltender Anton Khudobin and seasoned captain Trent Whitfield, the P-Bruins will also need an offensive sparkplug.
And if Jordan Caron is going to become a full-time NHLer this year (no guarantee, but a distinct possibility), then it’s on Arniel to elevate his productivity yet again in his third professional season. As Arniel goes, so goes the Providence attack, which means the 30-goal and 70-point range are the ideal minimum for him.
All that will take is a little consistency, which was egregiously lacking during his January drought last season.
In a way, Arniel is to the Baby Bs what Patrice Bergeron was to the parent club a handful of seasons ago. While young and unripe in his own right, he will be a veteran compared to the likes of Carter Camper and Kyle MacKinnon. And he will have a largely unparalleled familiarity with the environment.
Accordingly, he is one of those who will have to lead by example as this rash of rookies finds its collective self at the professional level.
Monday, September 19, 2011
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Providence Bruins All-Time All-Star Team: Forwards
As part of the website’s year-long commemoration of the Providence Bruins’ 20th anniversary season, Daniel’s Den has selected 20 P-Bruins and assembled an all-time all-star squad.
To conclude this two-part release and round out this ultimate fantasy team, here are the top 12 forwards in P-Bruins history.
First-line Left Wing: Tim Sweeney
Only a select few players have averaged more than a point per game during a protracted Spoked-P stint. But only Sweeney has come close to averaging 1.5 points per night.
Over three separate stints with the team, he accumulated 71 goals and 101 helpers in 121 games-played for a nightly median of 1.42 points. And between two Calder Cup playoff runs, he partook in 16 contests, scoring 10 goals and 19 assists for an average of 1.81 points per night.
And in each of four individual regular seasons (1992-93, 1994-95, 1995-96, 1996-97) and two postseasons (1993 and 1995), Sweeney never once finished with fewer points than games-played.
First-line Center: Sergei Zholtok
The late Latvian producer set the P-Bruins scoring standard early and often. A member of the Bruins’ organization for each of the team’s first three years of fostering its prospects in Providence, Zholtok played in 196 regular-season games and posted 83 goals, 103 assists and 186 points.
When he left for the IHL’s Las Vegas Thunder in the summer of 1995, he led the P-Bruins franchise in all three of those categories. His records stood for nearly a decade until Andy Hilbert surpassed each of them.
But it took Hilbert an extra season to do that. And there have been 10 other Providence forwards who have played more games but scored substantially fewer points than Zholtok.
First-line Right Wing: Peter Ferraro
A point-per-game player in his three seasons with the P-Bruins, which perhaps not-so-coincidentally were the years that saw Providence put in three straight appearances in the Calder Cup semifinals.
Arriving on a demotion from the parent club in the middle of the historic 1998-99 season, Ferraro did nothing but stoke the already-stimulated Civic Center masses. He played in 16 regular-season games, scoring two hat tricks and a total of 15 goals. From there, he garnered playoff MVP accolades with a 9-12-21 scoring log in 19 contests.
By the end of his Black and Gold tenure, Ferraro had 142 points in 142 games with the P-Bruins. He coupled that with 18 goals and 42 points in 49 postseason ventures.
Second-line Left Wing: Brett Harkins
A peerlessly prolific playmaker in the history of the franchise, Harkins etched 100 assists over 108 games between two P-Bruins stints. Only seven players have logged more in their Providence career and they each played in at least 14 more games than Harkins.
Harkins’ most fruitful of two years with the P-Bruins was his first in 1994-95. Teaming up with the likes of Sandy Moger, Fred Knipscheer and Tim Tookey, he topped the Providence scoring chart with 92 points, 29 more than the runner-up Knipscheer. And his 69 assists tied him with Cape Breton’s Peter White for the league lead.
From there, Harkins tied two teammates with eight goals and led the P-Bruins with 22 points in 13 playoff games.
Second-line Center: Andy Hilbert
So far, Hilbert is the only person to hit the century mark in the way of both goals and assists while wearing the Spoked-P.
Boston’s second-round choice in the 2000 NHL Draft, Hilbert spent four years in the Bruins system, playing the better part of three in Providence. In each of those three years, he never scored any fewer than 25 goals or assists.
His grand Black-and-Gold finale was in the 2004-05 NHL lockout year, when he collaborated with Patrice Bergeron and Brad Boyes to steer an entertaining Baby Bs roster to the Eastern Conference finals. Along the way, he broke all of Zholtok’s franchise scoring records and piloted the offense through the playoffs with seven goals and 21 points in 17 games.
Second-line Right Wing: Eric Nickulas
Nickulas was not always the most radiant producer in his four seasons and two separate stints with the P-Bruins, although he did place first on the 1998-99 team with 31 regular-season goals.
What makes Nickulas particularly memorable, though, is his mastery of clutch situations. In his first three seasons with the P-Bruins (1998-2001), 13 out of his 57 goals were game-winners, a tie for the franchise record.
During his brief return to the team in 2005-06, he took that record all for himself when he scored in overtime to beat the Springfield Falcons on March 11, 2006.
Third-line Left Wing: Jozef Stumpel
Despite playing in only 56 out of 80 regular-season games, Stumpel was second only to Sweeney on the inaugural P-Bruins team with 92 points on the year. He tied Zholtok for third on the team with 31 goals and led all Spoked-Ps with 62 assists.
The following year, he averaged a point-per-game with five goals and 12 helpers in 17 AHL outings before he earned a permanent roster spot in Boston. With that, for more than a decade, he was the only P-Bruin to score more than 100 points in fewer than 100 appearances, logging 109 in a mere 73 games.
Third-line Center: Randy Robitaille
With an average of exactly on assist per game (74) and 28 goals, Robitaille became the first P-Bruin with a triple-digit point campaign en route to AHL MVP honors in 1999.
And by all accounts, he wasn’t so shabby the year prior, either. Appearing in only 48 games for a team that would finish as the league’s bottom-feeders, Robitaille placed fifth on the 1997-98 Providence scoring chart with 44 points.
His 29 helpers put him in a three-way tie for second on that year’s team leaderboard with Kirk Neilsen and Barry Richter, who appeared in 72 and 75 games, respectively.
Third-line Right Wing: Cameron Mann
In each of four seasons in the Bruins organization, Mann saw action in both Providence and Boston. He tallied 21 goals in back-to-back years with the P-Bruins in 1997-98 and 1998-99, but those identical numbers were not indicative of his improvement.
Rather, whereas Mann required 71 games to insert those 21 strikes as a rookie, he equated that output in only 43 AHL twirls in 1998-99. In addition, he personified the team’s turnaround by improving his plus/minus rating a whopping 42 points (from minus-27 to plus-15).
And over the course of two Calder Cup playoff runs, the first of which he joined late after first playing in the parent clubs’ postseason, Mann amassed a 13-14-27 scoring log in 22 games.
Fourth-line Left Wing: Eric Manlow
Despite playing in only 48 games, Manlow placed second on the 1999-2000 team with 17 regular-season goals and then led Providence with six goals and 14 points in the playoffs.
The following year, he appeared in 60 regular-season games and finished as the P-Bruins top playmaker with 51 assists. And once again, he led the team in playoff scoring with six goals and 13 points as Providence put in its third straight appearance in the Eastern Conference finals.
By the end of his three-year stay, Manlow had logged 46 goals and 102 points in 176 games.
Fourth-line Center: David Krejci
To date, Krejci is the only player other than Stumpel to have finished his Providence career with more than 100 points within fewer than 100 games.
Krejci would last one full rookie year in the AHL, during which he led the team in both regular-season and playoff scoring, most notably assisting on 13 goals in as many playoff tilts in 2007. He would then play 25 more games in 2007-08 before earning a permanent spot in The Show circa New Year’s 2008.
By that point, he had played in 94 regular-season games for the P-Bruins, scoring 38 goals and 64 assists for 102 points.
Fourth-line Right Wing: Andre Savage
Savage joined the P-Bruins fresh out of Michigan Tech and finished third on the 1998-99 team leaderboard with 27 goals and second with 69 points.
Over the next two seasons, split almost evenly between the NHL and AHL, he saw action in 75 games for Providence, scoring 28 goals and 60 points in that span. In addition, he pitched in nine goals and 20 points in a cumulative 31 playoff games.
In 1999-2000, Savage was one of only two P-Bruins (along with late-season acquisition Jason Krog) to average more than a point per game, amassing 15 goals and 32 points in 30 twirls.
Taxi Squad: Keith Aucoin, Brad Boyes, Grigori Panteleev, Pascal Pelletier
To conclude this two-part release and round out this ultimate fantasy team, here are the top 12 forwards in P-Bruins history.
First-line Left Wing: Tim Sweeney
Only a select few players have averaged more than a point per game during a protracted Spoked-P stint. But only Sweeney has come close to averaging 1.5 points per night.
Over three separate stints with the team, he accumulated 71 goals and 101 helpers in 121 games-played for a nightly median of 1.42 points. And between two Calder Cup playoff runs, he partook in 16 contests, scoring 10 goals and 19 assists for an average of 1.81 points per night.
And in each of four individual regular seasons (1992-93, 1994-95, 1995-96, 1996-97) and two postseasons (1993 and 1995), Sweeney never once finished with fewer points than games-played.
First-line Center: Sergei Zholtok
The late Latvian producer set the P-Bruins scoring standard early and often. A member of the Bruins’ organization for each of the team’s first three years of fostering its prospects in Providence, Zholtok played in 196 regular-season games and posted 83 goals, 103 assists and 186 points.
When he left for the IHL’s Las Vegas Thunder in the summer of 1995, he led the P-Bruins franchise in all three of those categories. His records stood for nearly a decade until Andy Hilbert surpassed each of them.
But it took Hilbert an extra season to do that. And there have been 10 other Providence forwards who have played more games but scored substantially fewer points than Zholtok.
First-line Right Wing: Peter Ferraro
A point-per-game player in his three seasons with the P-Bruins, which perhaps not-so-coincidentally were the years that saw Providence put in three straight appearances in the Calder Cup semifinals.
Arriving on a demotion from the parent club in the middle of the historic 1998-99 season, Ferraro did nothing but stoke the already-stimulated Civic Center masses. He played in 16 regular-season games, scoring two hat tricks and a total of 15 goals. From there, he garnered playoff MVP accolades with a 9-12-21 scoring log in 19 contests.
By the end of his Black and Gold tenure, Ferraro had 142 points in 142 games with the P-Bruins. He coupled that with 18 goals and 42 points in 49 postseason ventures.
Second-line Left Wing: Brett Harkins
A peerlessly prolific playmaker in the history of the franchise, Harkins etched 100 assists over 108 games between two P-Bruins stints. Only seven players have logged more in their Providence career and they each played in at least 14 more games than Harkins.
Harkins’ most fruitful of two years with the P-Bruins was his first in 1994-95. Teaming up with the likes of Sandy Moger, Fred Knipscheer and Tim Tookey, he topped the Providence scoring chart with 92 points, 29 more than the runner-up Knipscheer. And his 69 assists tied him with Cape Breton’s Peter White for the league lead.
From there, Harkins tied two teammates with eight goals and led the P-Bruins with 22 points in 13 playoff games.
Second-line Center: Andy Hilbert
So far, Hilbert is the only person to hit the century mark in the way of both goals and assists while wearing the Spoked-P.
Boston’s second-round choice in the 2000 NHL Draft, Hilbert spent four years in the Bruins system, playing the better part of three in Providence. In each of those three years, he never scored any fewer than 25 goals or assists.
His grand Black-and-Gold finale was in the 2004-05 NHL lockout year, when he collaborated with Patrice Bergeron and Brad Boyes to steer an entertaining Baby Bs roster to the Eastern Conference finals. Along the way, he broke all of Zholtok’s franchise scoring records and piloted the offense through the playoffs with seven goals and 21 points in 17 games.
Second-line Right Wing: Eric Nickulas
Nickulas was not always the most radiant producer in his four seasons and two separate stints with the P-Bruins, although he did place first on the 1998-99 team with 31 regular-season goals.
What makes Nickulas particularly memorable, though, is his mastery of clutch situations. In his first three seasons with the P-Bruins (1998-2001), 13 out of his 57 goals were game-winners, a tie for the franchise record.
During his brief return to the team in 2005-06, he took that record all for himself when he scored in overtime to beat the Springfield Falcons on March 11, 2006.
Third-line Left Wing: Jozef Stumpel
Despite playing in only 56 out of 80 regular-season games, Stumpel was second only to Sweeney on the inaugural P-Bruins team with 92 points on the year. He tied Zholtok for third on the team with 31 goals and led all Spoked-Ps with 62 assists.
The following year, he averaged a point-per-game with five goals and 12 helpers in 17 AHL outings before he earned a permanent roster spot in Boston. With that, for more than a decade, he was the only P-Bruin to score more than 100 points in fewer than 100 appearances, logging 109 in a mere 73 games.
Third-line Center: Randy Robitaille
With an average of exactly on assist per game (74) and 28 goals, Robitaille became the first P-Bruin with a triple-digit point campaign en route to AHL MVP honors in 1999.
And by all accounts, he wasn’t so shabby the year prior, either. Appearing in only 48 games for a team that would finish as the league’s bottom-feeders, Robitaille placed fifth on the 1997-98 Providence scoring chart with 44 points.
His 29 helpers put him in a three-way tie for second on that year’s team leaderboard with Kirk Neilsen and Barry Richter, who appeared in 72 and 75 games, respectively.
Third-line Right Wing: Cameron Mann
In each of four seasons in the Bruins organization, Mann saw action in both Providence and Boston. He tallied 21 goals in back-to-back years with the P-Bruins in 1997-98 and 1998-99, but those identical numbers were not indicative of his improvement.
Rather, whereas Mann required 71 games to insert those 21 strikes as a rookie, he equated that output in only 43 AHL twirls in 1998-99. In addition, he personified the team’s turnaround by improving his plus/minus rating a whopping 42 points (from minus-27 to plus-15).
And over the course of two Calder Cup playoff runs, the first of which he joined late after first playing in the parent clubs’ postseason, Mann amassed a 13-14-27 scoring log in 22 games.
Fourth-line Left Wing: Eric Manlow
Despite playing in only 48 games, Manlow placed second on the 1999-2000 team with 17 regular-season goals and then led Providence with six goals and 14 points in the playoffs.
The following year, he appeared in 60 regular-season games and finished as the P-Bruins top playmaker with 51 assists. And once again, he led the team in playoff scoring with six goals and 13 points as Providence put in its third straight appearance in the Eastern Conference finals.
By the end of his three-year stay, Manlow had logged 46 goals and 102 points in 176 games.
Fourth-line Center: David Krejci
To date, Krejci is the only player other than Stumpel to have finished his Providence career with more than 100 points within fewer than 100 games.
Krejci would last one full rookie year in the AHL, during which he led the team in both regular-season and playoff scoring, most notably assisting on 13 goals in as many playoff tilts in 2007. He would then play 25 more games in 2007-08 before earning a permanent spot in The Show circa New Year’s 2008.
By that point, he had played in 94 regular-season games for the P-Bruins, scoring 38 goals and 64 assists for 102 points.
Fourth-line Right Wing: Andre Savage
Savage joined the P-Bruins fresh out of Michigan Tech and finished third on the 1998-99 team leaderboard with 27 goals and second with 69 points.
Over the next two seasons, split almost evenly between the NHL and AHL, he saw action in 75 games for Providence, scoring 28 goals and 60 points in that span. In addition, he pitched in nine goals and 20 points in a cumulative 31 playoff games.
In 1999-2000, Savage was one of only two P-Bruins (along with late-season acquisition Jason Krog) to average more than a point per game, amassing 15 goals and 32 points in 30 twirls.
Taxi Squad: Keith Aucoin, Brad Boyes, Grigori Panteleev, Pascal Pelletier
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Providence Bruins All-Time All-Star Team: Goalies and Defensemen
As part of the website’s year-long commemoration of the Providence Bruins’ 20th anniversary season, Daniel’s Den has selected 20 former P-Bruins and assembled an all-time all-star squad.
To qualify, a player must have been on the P-Bruins roster for the full length of one season or otherwise seen action in at least 80 games (a full season’s worth) in a Providence jersey. Accordingly, the likes of Dave Capuano, Todd Elik, Matt Hunwick, Steven Kampfer and Glen Murray―to name only a few memorable players―were not considered.
In addition, players make the final cut based specifically on their contributions to the P-Bruins and not necessarily on the success they went on to in the NHL. Therefore, you won’t see any mention Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand, Mark Stuart or Brent Thompson.
Even with those criteria, the selection process was still patently painstaking, hence the populous taxi squads listed at the bottom of the column.
But on this opening weekend of training camp, the final cuts are ready for release. And so, here is Part I of the P-Bruins All-Time All-Star roster with top two goaltenders and top six blueliners.
Starting Goalie: John Grahame
During the glory years that saw them make three straight appearances in the Eastern Conference finals, the P-Bruins had their answer to Patrick Roy. Like Roy, Grahame occasionally let his passion boil over the top, most notably in an unsavory stick-throwing incident during a March 2001 game against Syracuse.
But the rest of the time, Grahame let his proficiency and determination translate onto the stats sheets and scoresheets. He not only earned credit for 54 of the 1999 championship team’s cumulative 71 victories, but also backstopped eight playoff series wins in a span of three years. No other P-Bruins goalie has even won half as many rounds.
And Grahame’s reliability was there in clutch situations of each kind. During the dominant 1998-99 season, the most tantalizing he did to an opponent was letting Fredericton reduce a 3-0 difference to 3-2 before curtaining the conference finals in Game 6.
On the flipside, in 2001, Grahame backstopped a scrappier squad to six straight wins in elimination games. His last great highlight with the Spoked-Ps was a 1-0 shutout of the Worcester IceCats in Game 6 of the division finals, which stole the momentum and led to Providence upsetting the regular-season champions.
Backup goalie: Tuukka Rask
Like Grahame, Rask had a behavioral episode late in his final year before earning a permanent spot on Boston. After some disputed goals gave Albany a shootout win at his expense, he smashed his stick, stormed down the tunnel, then re-emerged to heave a milk crate onto the ice.
But there are more memorable common threads as well. Rask was the consensus starter for the 2007-08 season, when the P-Bruins won their second regular-season title and came within three points of tying the AHL record set by their ancestors from 1999.
In addition, Rask has fared better in the postseason than any Providence goalie not named Grahame. Between his two AHL campaigns, he won three playoff rounds and participated in five.
Starting defenseman: Brandon Smith
There’s a reason why Smith was named the team’s top blueliner in consecutive years. It should not be considered a 100 percent coincidence that each of his three years in Providence saw the P-Bruins go to the conference finals of the AHL playoffs. In those three years, he saw action in all 50 of the team’s playoff games, scoring 25 assists.
In both the regular season and postseason, Smith averaged more than half a point per game with the P-Bruins. And his 104 regular-season assists surpassed those of all Spoked-P forwards until Andy Hilbert claimed the crown as the P-Bruins all-time prolific playmaker.
Starting defenseman: Jeff Serowik
The Providence College alum put the “wonder” in “one-year wonder” during the 1994-95 campaign, his only year in the Bruins’ organization. Playing all but two regular-season games, he pitched in 28 goals (then a tie for an AHL record) and 62 points while also serving 102 minutes worth of penalty time.
By season’s end, he was the first P-Bruins player to lay hands on an AHL trophy, accepting the Eddie Shore Award as the circuit’s top blueliner.
Second-unit defenseman: Kevin Dallman
Like Smith, Dallman was a two-time recipient of the team’s best blueliner prize in 2003-04 and 2004-05. And like Smith, Dallman showed some valuable offensive flair during a lengthy postseason run in the latter year.
Playing in all 17 games as the Cinderella P-Bruins ventured into the Eastern Conference finals, Dallman pitched in four goals and six assists, an output identical to forward Pat Leahy’s.
Prior to his award-winning seasons, Dallman made an impression as a rookie out of the Ontario League in 2002-03, leading the team with a plus-15 rating. Overall, in three full seasons with Providence, he saw action in 208 games, charging up 16 goals and 68 assists and elevating his numbers in each successive year.
Second-unit defenseman: Johnny Boychuk
In one full year with Providence in 2008-09, Boychuk placed second on the team in both points (65) and plus/minus (+19). His two-way proficiency made him the team’s first Eddie Shore Award winner since Serowik.
And just like Serowik, Boychuk could only hang around the Divine City for one year. His imposing presence on the home front and tireless puckslinging from his point in the attacking zone earned him a one-way ticket to Boston for the 2009-10 season.
He would return for a two-game conditioning stint that December, scoring a power-play goal on 14 shots in those two outings, but that only reiterated that he was ready to play at another level.
Third-unit defenseman: Adam McQuaid
The rugged stay-at-home defender endeared himself to the Dunk masses as the team’s penalty-minute leader in 2008-09. The year prior, he was one of Tuukka Rask’s most reliable praetorian guards in garnering the P-Bruins’ second AHL regular-season championship.
McQuaid’s presumptive third full year ultimately turned into a half-year. Five days after his 22nd fight in 175 games with Providence, he made his NHL debut and only played three more AHL games before becoming a permanent Boston constituent.
Yet in only 32 outings, he garnered enough penalty time to place fourth on the P-Bruins 2009-10 leaderboard and also posted a plus-10 rating, second only to Brad Marchand.
Third-unit defenseman: Jonathan Sigalet
In two out of three seasons spent largely in Providence, Sigalet placed second or in a tie for first among Bruins blueliners in the plus/minus column. And over a cumulative 1999 regular-season games, he pitched in 21 goals and 60 assists.
If not for season-ending surgery in 2006-07, Sigalet doubtlessly would have cracked double-digits in the goal column for the first (and so far only) time in his professional career. Additionally, he might have made a difference in the P-Bruins playoff run, which ended in a six-game, second-round defeat at the hands of the Manchester Monarchs.
Taxi squad: Bill Armstrong, Nick Boynton, Jeff Penner, Tim Thomas
To qualify, a player must have been on the P-Bruins roster for the full length of one season or otherwise seen action in at least 80 games (a full season’s worth) in a Providence jersey. Accordingly, the likes of Dave Capuano, Todd Elik, Matt Hunwick, Steven Kampfer and Glen Murray―to name only a few memorable players―were not considered.
In addition, players make the final cut based specifically on their contributions to the P-Bruins and not necessarily on the success they went on to in the NHL. Therefore, you won’t see any mention Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand, Mark Stuart or Brent Thompson.
Even with those criteria, the selection process was still patently painstaking, hence the populous taxi squads listed at the bottom of the column.
But on this opening weekend of training camp, the final cuts are ready for release. And so, here is Part I of the P-Bruins All-Time All-Star roster with top two goaltenders and top six blueliners.
Starting Goalie: John Grahame
During the glory years that saw them make three straight appearances in the Eastern Conference finals, the P-Bruins had their answer to Patrick Roy. Like Roy, Grahame occasionally let his passion boil over the top, most notably in an unsavory stick-throwing incident during a March 2001 game against Syracuse.
But the rest of the time, Grahame let his proficiency and determination translate onto the stats sheets and scoresheets. He not only earned credit for 54 of the 1999 championship team’s cumulative 71 victories, but also backstopped eight playoff series wins in a span of three years. No other P-Bruins goalie has even won half as many rounds.
And Grahame’s reliability was there in clutch situations of each kind. During the dominant 1998-99 season, the most tantalizing he did to an opponent was letting Fredericton reduce a 3-0 difference to 3-2 before curtaining the conference finals in Game 6.
On the flipside, in 2001, Grahame backstopped a scrappier squad to six straight wins in elimination games. His last great highlight with the Spoked-Ps was a 1-0 shutout of the Worcester IceCats in Game 6 of the division finals, which stole the momentum and led to Providence upsetting the regular-season champions.
Backup goalie: Tuukka Rask
Like Grahame, Rask had a behavioral episode late in his final year before earning a permanent spot on Boston. After some disputed goals gave Albany a shootout win at his expense, he smashed his stick, stormed down the tunnel, then re-emerged to heave a milk crate onto the ice.
But there are more memorable common threads as well. Rask was the consensus starter for the 2007-08 season, when the P-Bruins won their second regular-season title and came within three points of tying the AHL record set by their ancestors from 1999.
In addition, Rask has fared better in the postseason than any Providence goalie not named Grahame. Between his two AHL campaigns, he won three playoff rounds and participated in five.
Starting defenseman: Brandon Smith
There’s a reason why Smith was named the team’s top blueliner in consecutive years. It should not be considered a 100 percent coincidence that each of his three years in Providence saw the P-Bruins go to the conference finals of the AHL playoffs. In those three years, he saw action in all 50 of the team’s playoff games, scoring 25 assists.
In both the regular season and postseason, Smith averaged more than half a point per game with the P-Bruins. And his 104 regular-season assists surpassed those of all Spoked-P forwards until Andy Hilbert claimed the crown as the P-Bruins all-time prolific playmaker.
Starting defenseman: Jeff Serowik
The Providence College alum put the “wonder” in “one-year wonder” during the 1994-95 campaign, his only year in the Bruins’ organization. Playing all but two regular-season games, he pitched in 28 goals (then a tie for an AHL record) and 62 points while also serving 102 minutes worth of penalty time.
By season’s end, he was the first P-Bruins player to lay hands on an AHL trophy, accepting the Eddie Shore Award as the circuit’s top blueliner.
Second-unit defenseman: Kevin Dallman
Like Smith, Dallman was a two-time recipient of the team’s best blueliner prize in 2003-04 and 2004-05. And like Smith, Dallman showed some valuable offensive flair during a lengthy postseason run in the latter year.
Playing in all 17 games as the Cinderella P-Bruins ventured into the Eastern Conference finals, Dallman pitched in four goals and six assists, an output identical to forward Pat Leahy’s.
Prior to his award-winning seasons, Dallman made an impression as a rookie out of the Ontario League in 2002-03, leading the team with a plus-15 rating. Overall, in three full seasons with Providence, he saw action in 208 games, charging up 16 goals and 68 assists and elevating his numbers in each successive year.
Second-unit defenseman: Johnny Boychuk
In one full year with Providence in 2008-09, Boychuk placed second on the team in both points (65) and plus/minus (+19). His two-way proficiency made him the team’s first Eddie Shore Award winner since Serowik.
And just like Serowik, Boychuk could only hang around the Divine City for one year. His imposing presence on the home front and tireless puckslinging from his point in the attacking zone earned him a one-way ticket to Boston for the 2009-10 season.
He would return for a two-game conditioning stint that December, scoring a power-play goal on 14 shots in those two outings, but that only reiterated that he was ready to play at another level.
Third-unit defenseman: Adam McQuaid
The rugged stay-at-home defender endeared himself to the Dunk masses as the team’s penalty-minute leader in 2008-09. The year prior, he was one of Tuukka Rask’s most reliable praetorian guards in garnering the P-Bruins’ second AHL regular-season championship.
McQuaid’s presumptive third full year ultimately turned into a half-year. Five days after his 22nd fight in 175 games with Providence, he made his NHL debut and only played three more AHL games before becoming a permanent Boston constituent.
Yet in only 32 outings, he garnered enough penalty time to place fourth on the P-Bruins 2009-10 leaderboard and also posted a plus-10 rating, second only to Brad Marchand.
Third-unit defenseman: Jonathan Sigalet
In two out of three seasons spent largely in Providence, Sigalet placed second or in a tie for first among Bruins blueliners in the plus/minus column. And over a cumulative 1999 regular-season games, he pitched in 21 goals and 60 assists.
If not for season-ending surgery in 2006-07, Sigalet doubtlessly would have cracked double-digits in the goal column for the first (and so far only) time in his professional career. Additionally, he might have made a difference in the P-Bruins playoff run, which ended in a six-game, second-round defeat at the hands of the Manchester Monarchs.
Taxi squad: Bill Armstrong, Nick Boynton, Jeff Penner, Tim Thomas
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