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Providence Bruins season preview
Written by: Kevin Forbes on 10/17/2004 
Providence is looking to improve on a 2003-04 season that saw them place fourth in the Atlantic Division and bow out in two games in a best-of-three qualifying series against the Portland Pirates. The team will continue to have strong goaltending, a mobile blueline and a speedy forward corps, but it won't always be coming from familiar faces.
Only 12 players are returning from last season, which means there are ten new faces in the lineup. With such changes, the team has put importance on leadership and veteran additions. None of these new players are fresh faced rookies. They all have experience at the AHL and ECHL level, except for Patrice Bergeron, who spent all of last season in the NHL. This will allow the team to come together quicker at the beginning of the season, and it will also help them dealing with any losses of players when the NHL season begins.
Goaltending
Providence will once again feature some of the best goaltending in the AHL. Last season's duo of veteran Tim Thomas and Bruins top prospect Hannu Toivonen both placed within the league's top 20 netminders in both goals against average and save percentage. Thomas has now departed to join SM-Liiga's Jokerit and Toivonen will assume starting duties with fellow prospect Peter Hamerlik backing him up.Toivonen continues to impress after forming a strong tandem with Thomas last season as well as leading Team Finland to a bronze medal at the 2004 World Junior Championships. A big, quick goaltender, Toivonen plays a butterfly style and still covers a lot of the net when he is down. With the Bruins unable to come to terms on a contract deal with 2004 Calder Trophy winner Andrew Raycroft before the lockout began, Toivonen could find himself shuttled into the starting role in Boston when the NHL season begins. Even if a deal is agreed upon between the two parties, barring the signing of a veteran free agent, Toivonen is slated to be Raycroft's backup in Beantown.
Peter Hamerlik spent most of last season moving between three different ECHL teams and Providence. The twice-drafted netminder posted strong numbers in 3 games with the P-Bruins, but he needs to get consistent playing time somewhere.
Key Additions: Peter Hamerlik
Key Departures: Tim Thomas
Defense
Kevin Dallman and Milan Jurcina are the only returning blueliners to Providence as their defensive corps underwent a dramatic change. Jurcina will benefit from the additional seasoning at the AHL level. Tabbed to be Boston's seventh defenseman when the NHL season starts up, the towering Slovak enters his second year with Providence. He provides plenty of size to the lineup as well as smooth-skating two-way play. Dallman enters his third year with the P-Bruins. A slightly undersized offensive defenseman, Dallman will help run the power play. He led Providence defensemen in scoring last season with 29 points.Pat Aufiero and Brent Thompson headline some of the new additions to the blue line. Aufiero is formerly a New York Rangers prospect, who can take care of business at both ends of the ice. During his two seasons in the Rangers farm system, he split time between the AHL and the ECHL and is now looking to stick with Providence. Thompson is an AHL veteran who is entering his 14th professional season. Last year, he was an assistant coach/player with the Colorado Eagles of the Central Hockey League. A former Yanick Dupre Memorial Award winner as the AHL's Man of the Year, Thompson brings a physical presence and plenty of leadership and experience to the lineup.
Chris Dyment is a former Montreal Canadiens draft pick who has spent the last two years in the AHL with the Houston Aeros and the Springfield Falcons. He possesses great size and plays a punishing defensive style, but doesn't have a lot of upside. Jayme Filipowicz joins the team after spending last season with the Hartford Wolfpack. An AHL and IHL veteran (over 300 regular season games between the two leagues), the former college star has no fear dropping his gloves. Steve Munn rounds out the defensive corps. The defensive blueliner spent most of his last two seasons with Atlantic City of the ECHL.
Key Additions: Pat Aufiero, Brent Thompson, Chris Dyment, Jayme
Filipowicz, Steve Munn
Key Departures: Rich Brennan, Zdenek Kutlak, Peter Metcalf,
Brian
White, Ed Campbell, Martin Wilde
Forwards
Scoring goals was a problem for Providence last season. Their top scorer, Brad Boyes was sixth in the AHL in points, but he tallied most of his points with Cleveland, before he was acquired by Boston from San Jose. The second (Andre Savage) and third (Matt Herr) leading scorers from last year have departed and their fourth leading scorer (Ivan Huml) did not agree upon a contract with Boston before the lockout, but if anything, the present Providence roster has more firepower then last year.Boyes will be called on to lead the attack during his first full season with Providence. He's never had a problem putting up points at the AHL level (136 points in 158 games before this season) but he has only seen one game of NHL play. He's already been part of three different organizations and soon needs to make his mark at the NHL level.
A surprise to some Bruins fans was the addition of Patrice Bergeron to Providence. Despite playing all of last season in Boston, Bergeron is only 19 and would normally not be eligible to be in the AHL. However with nothing left to prove in the QMJHL, an agreement was reached between the Canadian Hockey League and the National Hockey League to allow Bergeron as well as Florida's Nathan Horton and Minnesota's Brent Burns to be assigned to their respective clubs’ farm teams in the AHL. The only condition is that those three players must be made available for Canada's World Junior Championships entry this winter. A definite call up when NHL play resumes, Bergeron will benefit from the playing time in Providence.
Andy Hilbert and Martin Samuelsson are two players who saw time with both Boston and Providence over the last few seasons. Hilbert has a new one-year deal with Boston and to some, this is a make or break season for the former Hobey Baker finalist. He needs to use this time in the AHL to put it all together in order to get a roster spot when NHL play starts up again. A two-way player, he'll be counted on to put up some points. Samuelsson also excels at both ends of the ice, and also needs to make an impression. His calling card is his blazing speed, but he has had trouble delivering offensively.
Patrick Leahy and Carl Corazzini return to Providence to provide secondary scoring. They both have plenty of experience in the AHL and will help provide a veteran influence to the forward corps. Leahy plays a power forward type game, with offensive skills matched up with gritty play. Corazzini is a hard working Boston University grad, who's held back because of his lack of size and offensive skills. Able to play in all situations, he puts points on the board through sheer determination.
Kris Vernarsky, Brendan Walsh and Colton Orr are also returning to duty with the P-Bruins. Vernarsky was acquired from Toronto a few seasons back and has played well as a checking center for Providence who is also able to help out a little bit offensively. Walsh is a fan favorite with his willingness to drop the globes and play a physical game. He led the team last season in penalty minutes with 281 and was the co-recipient of the Bruin's Hendricks Memorial Fan Appreciation Award. Orr is another heavyweight with Providence. He was second in penalty minutes on the team with 257 and even saw time in the NHL last season. A former WHL bruiser, Orr could see himself win a spot in Boston as their enforcer when play resumes.
Jay Henderson returns to Providence after a triumph few seasons away from the organization, highlighted by winning two Calder Cups in the previous two seasons. Originally drafted by Boston back in 1997, Henderson hopes that he'll go three cups in three years with Providence. He was a member of the Providence team that won back in 1998-99.
Yorick Treille, Ben Guite and David Gove are the new faces among the Bruins forward unit. A native of France, Treille is a former Chicago prospect who plays a hard working physical style and has good playmaking skills as well. Guite is an AHL veteran who played last season with Bridgeport and was originally drafted by Montreal. A speedy winger who plays hard each game, Guite plays a strong two-way game. Gove is a former top scoring center from Western Michigan University who was a Hobey Baker candidate in his senior year. Only 5'9, his lack of size has held him back, but he can provide timely offense on the AHL level, as he proved last season with the Utah Grizzlies (14 goals and 36 points in 75 games).
Key Additions: Patrick Bergeron, Jay Henderson, Yorick Treille,
Ben Guite, David Gove
Key Departures: Andre Savage, Matt Herr, Ivan Huml, Darren
VanOene,
Brett Nowak
Outlook
Compared to last season's lineup, this year's Providence Bruins are a completely different team. Despite losing many players over the course of the offseason, the team has replaced their deletions with veteran experienced AHL players.It remains to be seen whether the team possesses enough offensive flair and defensive conscious to achieve, however the players on this team know what it takes to win and there are pieces in place to be successful. But nothing is guaranteed, of course.
With players like Bergeron, Horton and Burns as well as Pittsburgh's Marc-Andre Fleury and Ottawa's Jason Spezza along with countless others in the AHL for at least the beginning of the year, the league wide talent is at an all time high.
It will be interesting to see how the team comes together at the beginning of the season and how they cope with losing a lot of their top talent when the NHL season begins.
Providence opened their season at home on October 15th, 2004. They lost 4-3 to the Springfield Falcons. Andy Hilbert had 2 assists while Martin Samuelsson, Brad Boyes and Pat Aufiero provided the goals.
Copyright 2004 Hockey's Future. Do not duplicate without permission of the editorial staff.
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