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May 14, 2007

P-Bruins lose 2-1, eliminated from playoffs

P-Bruins coach Scott Gordon said he didn’t want to talk about last night’s game after Providence lost to the Manchester Monarchs, 2-1, at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center. The loss ended the P-Bruins’ season as the Monarchs won the Atlantic Division Finals, 4-2, but Gordon didn’t want to reflect on his team’s final 60 minutes.

And for good reason.

Providence dealt with more adversity this season, unlike any other in Gordon’s seven-year tenure here. The P-Bruins had a team loaded with young, but inexperienced talent. There were continuous lineup changes during the season. Still, they made it to the second round of the Calder Cup Playoffs.

“We pushed them hard all year and they responded,” said Gordon. “By far they exceeded my expectations from Day 1 right down to the wire. . . the bottom line is our guys played their hearts out and that’s all I’m going to say about the game. I’m not going to pick the team apart.”

Sitting in the stands for the P-Bruins’ playoff run was Boston Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli. He was able to get an up-close-and-personal look at the young talent the organization has, and he was quite impressed by the job the coaching staff, training staff and players did all year.

After all, the job of the P-Bruins is to make the parent club better and Gordon and his boys were able to accomplish that. Numerous times this season Providence lost its top players to call-ups or to injuries or via trades made by Chiarelli and in the end the P-Bruins were able to prevail through all the adversity.

“I thought they had a very good year, considering the amount of players that came up to us and we ended up keeping,” said Chiarelli after last night’s game. “Scott and Rob (Murray) did a very good job. When ever I saw [Providence] play they always played very hard and it’s too bad some of our guys couldn’t have played in the last two series. But, the team played very well and that’s a testament to the coaches.”

Unlike in year’s past, the 2006-2007 version of the P-Bruins faced a ton of adversity. With that said, if Providence had the services of the players who began the season here, maybe the end result could have been different. But, the guys who finished the season deserve a lot of credit.

“I can’t say enough,” said P-Bruins captain Jay Leach. “With all the lineup changes we really stuck together. I don’t think we cheated one fan who came to see our games. Even in the last minute (last night) we didn’t quit and I’m very proud to be a part of this. I’m very proud of everyone in this room.”

“We left it all out on the ice,” added P-Bruins assistant captain Nate Thompson. “There’s not one guy who didn’t bring their all. We worked hard all year.”

Entering last night’s game, the P-Bruins has successfully killed off all seven penalties in Game 5 at Manchester, but couldn’t stifle the Monarchs attack on their first man-advantage last night. Just six seconds into the power play, Manchester’s Brian Boyle slipped the puck 5-hole on Hannu Toivonen for a 1-0 lead at 7:29 of the first period.

The P-Bruins knotted the game at 1-1 at 10:20 of the opening period as Jeff Hoggan received a nifty pass from David Krejci and beat Monarchs goaltender Jason LaBarbera to the 5-hole on a shot from the bottom of the left faceoff circle.

Manchester regained its lead, scoring at 6:09 of the second period when the Monarchs’ Marty Murray fed Tim Jackman, who chipped it past Toivonen from point-blank range for a 2-1 advantage.

The P-Bruins were awarded a power play with 1:49 remaining in regulation and Gordon pulled Toivonen for a second extra attacker. Providence kept the pressure on put could not convert. As a result, the Monarchs will face the Hershey Bears in the Eastern Conference Finals, beginning Saturday at Hershey.

As the Monarchs celebrated down the hall from the P-Bruins’ locker room, every Providence player – albeit disappointed – were happy with this season’s results.

“This is the closest team I’ve ever been a part of,” said P-Bruins forward Ben Walter. “To take it as far as we did, the second round, we might have exceeded everyone else’s expectations, we always known we were a good team.”

Boston Bruins training camp begins on Sept. 13 and with what Chiarelli has seen during the AHL’s postseason, the GM can’t wait for next season.

“There are some good young players here,” said Chiarelli. “I don’t have to mention any names because there are some guys who played very well. What I liked most was their work ethic and they all have their own types of skills that will benefit the Boston Bruins. These guys worked hard and maybe under different circumstances they could have won.”

It was a good season.

--JOE McDONALD

Posted by Corey Bourassa  at 9:29 PM to P-Bruins | Permalink

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