Art Lesieur is a Providence Reds and Rhode Island hockey legend. With his skillful, imposing blueline play and his rights owned by the Montreal Canadiens, local fans and opposing players, alike, assumed he was Canadian. To the contrary, he was born and raised just 20 miles away in nearby Fall River, MA on September 13, [...]
If you're a hockey fan, odds are overwhelming that you’ve heard the story about David Ayres and #EBUG: https://www.nhl.com/news/hurricanes-emergency-backup-goalie-against-maple-leafs/c-315410618 And a great story it is. However, it's one we've heard in these parts before. You'd have to have seen a few faceoffs to remember this one. 20-year-old George Dermksian, who played goal for Central High School -- which hasn't [...]
If you're a fan of hockey in Rhode Island, you no doubt know a lot about the Bennetts. Here's something you probably don't know: In 1980, two of them -- Curt and Harvey Jr., their NHL careers completed -- went to the Far East and played two seasons of professional hockey in Japan. See? Told you. [...]
It isn't often that a stick to the face alters the course of history. The course of a game, maybe. The course of someone's dental profile, possibly. But history? Well, according to Sean Braswell of the website ozy.com, there's a good chance the story of modern aviation began "with an unfortunate incident during a game [...]
No, that's not a Photoshopped image. That really is Johnny Pesky in a Bruins uniform next to Milt Schmidt. We all associate Pesky, of course, with baseball in general and the Red Sox in particular: Player in the '40s and '50s, manager in the '60s, TV/radio announcer in the early '70s, coach from the mid [...]
That was the opening sentence of a Providence Evening Bulletin story in February 1973, and for a couple of glorious weeks that aptly described North Providence High School’s Ron Bruno. And the Rhode Island high school hockey world basked in his radiated glory. Bruno, a senior left wing for the Cougars in '73, scored two [...]
From youth leagues to the pros, the goaltender’s facemask is standard and required equipment. Younger generations might be surprised to know that it hasn’t always been that way. Prior to the 1950’s, no self-respecting goalie, let alone hockey player, would be caught hiding behind a mask. While, from time to time, there was the occasional [...]
As the 1937-38 RI amateur hockey season began, a 28-year-old defenseman, Tom Eccleston, Jr., was playing in the state's best amateur circuit, the Intercity League. His Greenville Townies played before paying customers at the legendary RI Auditorium. Tom needed an edge because the league had just announced that an Intercity League All-Star Team would be [...]
Back in the summer of 1977, Harvey Bennett, Jr. was coming off, perhaps, his most eventful professional season. He started the 1976-77 campaign with the Washington Capitals but was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers in November. During the season he was chosen to play alongside his brother, Curt, with the US National Team. The brothers [...]
George “Butch” Keeling and Ed Yagnesak may not be household names in RI Reds’ history, but for about a week in October of 1957 they were the talk of all local hockey. That’s when the “Asian Flu” reached North American shores and effectively decimated the Providence Reds roster as it was about to start the [...]
