RI’s Great Hockey Families
The Wilson Family
When Larry Wilson came to Providence in 1970 to coach the R.I. Reds hockey team, he brought with him a long pro career in both the National and American Leagues, a family legacy in the [...]
The Gaffney Family
If you have spent any time in Rhode Island hockey rinks over the past 90 years, there is a really good chance that you’ve watched a member of the Gaffney family either playing or behind [...]
The Gaudreau Family
The Gaudreaus are unique among Rhode Island’s prominent hockey families. Theirs is the only family tree that includes a father who was an Olympian and a son who was an NHL player. The patriarch, Robert [...]
The Mellor Family
It was 1941 and Boston Olympics General Manager Walter Brown came to the dressing room to congratulate Don Mellor on scoring a goal in his first game with the team. Don deflected the praise. “The [...]
The Belisle Family
The story of the Belisle family and its accomplishments at Mount St. Charles is almost too incredible to be true. But it is, even if at times it reads like fiction. Normand B. “Bill” Belisle [...]
The Omicioli Family
There aren’t many families in Rhode Island or anywhere else that have produced three Division 1 hockey players. The Omiciolis – with brothers Kris, Mike and Drew – are members of that select group. Kris, [...]
The Eccleston Family
The Eccleston family, while producing several high impact players at the high school and collegiate levels, have had the most influence in the world of hockey from behind the bench, beginning with legendary patriarch Thomas [...]
The Menard Family
While history notes that Thomas Eccleston Jr. founded Burrillville High School hockey in 1938, the record book suggests that the Menard family deserves at least a sub-title billing on the cover of that story. [...]
The Guay Family
The French-Canadians influence on molding life and customs in northern Rhode Island cannot be overstated. That fact is even more profound when considered in the context of ice hockey. While some RI hockey greats [...]
The Kilmartin Family
Along the northernmost stretch of North Main Street in Providence, where it meets the Pawtucket city line, the numbered streets, named 1st through 11th, reach up along the slope to the city’s East Side. [...]
The Army Family
The story of the Army family’s love affair with hockey and what it has meant in Rhode Island and beyond starts not with skates and sticks, but with balls and bats. George Army, born [...]
The Bennett Family
There are many families worthy to be called "Rhode Island's First Family of Hockey". The Armys. The Ecclestons. The Gaffneys, The Warburtons, The Belisles, The Zifcaks, The Kilmartins, The Guays, and so many others [...]