BRIGHT FUTURE LIES AHEAD IN 2008-09
More than Half of Roster Under Contract for Return

Providence, RI - The Providence Bruins, the 2007-08 regular season points champions of the American Hockey League, concluded the past season with the third-best record in the history of the league at 55 wins and 117 points under the tutelage of AHL Coach of the Year Scott Gordon and assistant coach Rob Murray. The bench staff, along with much of last year's team, is expected back in Providence next season.

Beginning in net, PlanetUSA All-Star goaltender Tuukka Rask enjoyed an exemplary rookie season in North America, posting a 27-13-2 record with a 2.33 goals-against-average. The first-year net-minder, who appeared in four National Hockey League games with the Boston Bruins, added another six wins and two shutouts in 10 postseason games before Providence fell to the Portland Pirates in the Atlantic Division Finals. Expected to return to Rhode Island to back up Rask is Kevin Regan, a South Boston, Massachusetts, native and rookie out of the University of New Hampshire. The 2003 Boston draft pick joined Providence late last season for his first professional experience, earning a 23-save shutout over the Manchester Monarchs in his only appearance on April 12.

Among the forwards under contract for next season are Byron Bitz, Matt Hendricks, Martins Karsums and Wacey Rabbit, youngsters Zach Hamill, Jeff LoVecchio and Levi Nelson, and Boston star Vladimir Sobotka.

Bitz, a Cornell University product, notched 27 points, including 13 goals, in 61 games as a rookie, making constant physical use of his 6'5" frame. Hendricks, an alternate captain, enjoyed a career-year in his fifth professional season. The center recorded personal AHL-highs across the board with 22 goals, 30 assists, 52 points and 121 penalty minutes in 67 games played and was a vocal, leadership presence in the locker room. Karsums, a second-year P-Bruin, led Providence with 43 assists in a team-high 79 contests after 35 total points in 54 games as a rookie. The hard-hitting left wing added 20 goals to finish second on the club in scoring with 63 points behind Pascal Pelletier's 75-point total. Karsums then led the P-Bruins with seven goals in 10 postseason games. Rabbit, meanwhile, produced 26 points as an official rookie in his second year. The center split the 2006-07 campaign between Providence and the Western Hockey League's Vancouver Giants en route to winning a Memorial Cup championship.

Joining Providence late in the year were Hamill, LoVecchio and Nelson. Hamill, the eighth overall pick in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft, turned pro after five WHL seasons with the Everett Silvertips and tallied eight points between the regular season and playoffs. The play-making center saw much of his time on the P-Bruins' top scoring line late in the regular season. The undrafted LoVecchio signed an entry-level contract with Boston following his junior season with the Western Michigan University Broncos, where he had 21 points in 36 games last year. The gritty left wing added five points in 14 P-Bruins games in addition to one assist in six playoff contests. Nelson, a sixth-round pick for Boston in 2006, joined Providence after a 25-goal, 61-point season for the Swift Current Broncos of the WHL. He did not appear in a game for the P-Bruins. Sobotka, a rookie out of the Czech Republic, saw considerable time in the NHL in 2007-08. He had 20 points in 18 Providence games and seven points in 48 contests for Boston. The physical center also appeared in 12 postseason games between the two leagues.

On defense, a young but experienced group could return to Providence, including Andrew Bodnarchuk, Matt Hunwick, Matt Lashoff, Adam McQuaid, Jeff Penner and Jonathan Sigalet.

Bodnarchuk, a fifth-round pick for Boston, joined the P-Bruins late in the year after captaining his Halifax Mooseheads club to the third round of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League playoffs. The 19-year-old did not dress for an AHL game. Hunwick and Lashoff each benefitted from lengthy NHL call-ups. The rookie Hunwick appeared in 13 games for Boston, notching one assist, to go along with 23 points in 55 Providence games. PlanetUSA All-Star Lashoff matched an AHL career-high with 36 points, including 27 assists, in his third season. The blue-liner added five points in 18 games for Boston.

McQuaid showed a consistent toughness in his 68 games as a rookie, recording nine points and 73 penalty minutes. Penner celebrated a two-game stint with Providence after signing an entry-level contract with Boston following his freshman season with the University of Alaska-Fairbanks Nanooks but the defenseman did not appear in a postseason contest. Sigalet, who missed much of 2006-07 due to injury, came back to play 74 games last year, totaling 23 points, including 20 assists as a third-year pro.

With all of the above pieces in the mix for spots at this time and other familiar names to potentially be added over the summer, it should be another entertaining year for hockey in Rhode Island in 2008-09.

for next season to start!!! Summer is my favorite season and I am ready for it be over and hockey to start again. lol

And, I definitely see a possibility of a few making Boston depending on who else Boston has and how camp goes. I know, for one, that Matt Lashoff will not be happy to be back, but I really wonder if he has it to be in Boston?! Jonathan Sigalet? I'm sure, again, spots will be so limited.

As for veterans, I hope Providence re-signs Mac -- and if Boston doesn't, I hope they will get Sean Curry.

I am sure a few will make it to Boston. Only time will tell who. And I think you have a valid point that Matt Lashoff will not be happy to be back in Providence. lol.

And I agree, if Boston doesn't get Mac, I'd like to see him back in Providence. Along of Curry.

I'd like to see us keep Mac as well. He wants to come back from what I hear and he was a good team guy as far as defending his teammates. Time will tell if he returns and I hope he does. I'd also like to see Curry come back as well.

It's funny how he first was so scary on defense and then he turned it around -- and really did a 180 and kept it that way to become our best defenseman. I'm so happy for him and for our team this past season plus. I hope we can get him back.

Ah, just like I've been saying... so many will be back.

Though, for me, I'm more then happy to enjoy some off time I love hockey, but I love other things, too

I am looking forward to concerts this summer and time outside in the pool or at the beach and campfires but this makes me for excited for next season. The team we had this year was wonderful!!!!

Oh, I hear you.. I wish I had all those good things to look forward to. Right now, I'm still concentrating on getting out of pain. ARRGH. I hope I can enjoy Summer -- the first one since 2005... it would be nice.

And I wasn't meaning to say you had no life other then hockey.. I was just talking about me glad to have some time off. LOL!