| 13 September 2011
On October 8, 2010, the Providence Bruins took the ice against the Springfield Falcons in their home - and season - opener. With high hopes after missing the playoffs the year previous, the P-Bruins fielded a defense corps that, on paper, looked pretty solid. A KHL standout, Yury Alexandrov; the token veteran leadership, Nathan McIver; the stalwarts from the year before, in Jeff Penner and Andrew Bodnarchuk; and the new kid, soon-to-be-NHLer Steven Kampfer. ECHL floater Alain Goulet rounded out the six, and donning their throwback Providence Reds jerseys, they took the friday night ice at the Dunkin Donuts Center, ready to go.
The P-Bruins were walloped 5-1 at home by the Springfield Falcons.
Ryan Button skates at the Dunkin Donuts Center, April 2011.
It was a loss that characterized the team as a whole for the entire season, a team that struggled to keep above .500, only managing to pull its head above water after the late-season addition of new blood to the lineup. In the last ten games of the season, games in which this year's defensemen Colby Cohen, Ryan Button, and David Warsofsky saw ice time, the P-Bruins went 7-3-0. By that point, Steven Kampfer was primarily with the NHL club (aside from a brief stint the last weekend of the season), Alain Goulet was in Reading, Jeff Penner had been traded, and the defensemen of the moment provided an interesting preview of what ws to come this year. The wild cards, Marc Cantin and Zack McKelvie, had interesting years of their own last year as well.
The new-look defense is bigger, tougher, and more experienced, despite still being young - their ages range from 20 to 26 - four of them have a combined 50 games of NHL experience, where last year only one had seen any NHL time to start the season.
The Old Guard
Newly re-signed Andrew Bodnarchuk has the odd distinction of being the only remaining defenseman from the P-Bruins' last playoff run, in the 2008-2009 season when they lost in the Conference Finals. Points-wise, last year was his best season, as he put up 1-15=16 totals in 75 games. Despite his smaller stature, he managed to secure a few fighting majors, finishing with 95 PIMs total.
Nathan McIver is the second-longest tenured P-Bruins defenseman, as well as the oldest at 26 years of age. He lead the team in PIMs, with 176. He's not the biggest guy out there, at 6'2 and only 195 lbs, but his complete lack of fear of his opponents works to his advantage. McIver cracked the 20-fights-in-a-season for the first time in his career last season, topping out at 26.
McIver's a good defensive defenseman who stands to gain a lot from improved goaltending and a better forward scoring touch; he was on the ice for 16 more goals against than goals for last year, but to be honest that wasn't a difficult feat to achieve, as Providence was tops in the league for goals allowed with 252, and bottom of the league (second worst) in goals scored, with 209. This season, the P-Bruins will simply look to McIver to improve on what he did last year: provide leadership and stronger defense, while continuing to protect his forwards.
Matt Bartkowski started the season with Providence, was called up to Boston for six games, three of which were against his hometown Pittsburgh Penguins. The former Ohio State standout played 69 games for the P-Bruins, and managed five goals and 18 assists in that time. For his first professional season, Bartkowski didn't look bad by a long shot; he was an occasional defensive liability, but again - that was a team-wide problem. His 23 points were team-best among defensemen, and he certainly settled in as the season progressed. In the upcoming season, improved play could earn Bartkowski an NHL spot, but for starters, he'll likely be back in the AHL.
Overall, the three defensemen who played the majority of the season with Providence last year stand to improve a great deal in their own end; Bartkowski and McIver had the worst +/- on the entire team, and Bodnarchuk wasn't far behind. To be fair, their numbers improved as the season went on and the goaltending improved. Still, Providence fans should feel justified in expecting a lot out of the three most veteran P-Bruins this season.
A Brief Glimpse
Early in his career, before he'd even gone pro, Colby Cohen had gained notoriety and fame by being the player to score the game winning goal against Miami of Ohio to win the NCAA championship. In his first pro season last year, he fared pretty well; with 1 goal, 12 assists, and the highest +/- among defensement to end the season (+5), Cohen's 46 game stint with Providence after being acquired in exchange for Matt Hunwick was as close to a success as a player on a sub-par team could get. At 6'3, 215lb, Cohen is the most imposing Providence defenseman, and he's no slouch, either - he's not afraid to drop the gloves if need be. It was shortly after the acquisition of Cohen that Jeff Penner was traded to the Houston Aeros; this series of trades brought an uptick in the size of the defense, swapping small, offensively talented D for more imposing stability on the back end. Cohen simply needs to maintain his level of play from last year; he too is a candidate for callup to the Boston squad if his numbers improve. He is another young defenseman with NHL games under his belt; Cohen appeared in three games for Colorado before being traded last year. Cohen has a good shot from the point; look for him to utilize it quite effectively next year.
Ryan Button and David Warsofsky appeared in even fewer games last season, both at the tail end of their pre-professional careers. Warsofsky turned pro after his junior year at Boston University; Button flew east after his Seattle Thunderbirds finished their season. Warsofsky is an incredibly gifted, offensive defenseman, with a little more grit, a little more scoring touch than Jeff Penner had. He looked extremely good on the powerplay in his ten games with Providence. Button can contribute offensively in his own right, as well, though he usually shows up in the assists column; last year in the WHL, he scored five goals and had 30 assists, and in his seven games with Providence he notched one assist. Warsofsky, similarly, had three assists in 10 games. Both will be players to watch in their first full pro seasons next year; Warsofsky, particularly, will have to learn to handle the much heavier load of games, 80 as opposed to the 34 he appeared in last year. Button looked comfortable as soon as he came in, last season; as corny as it sounds, he has a great attitude about his opportunities and has even acted the leader in development and rookie training camp this summer.
Unknown Territory
If Providence starts out the season with the six aforementioned defensemen, they should be in great shape. However, there are two wild cards in play: Memorial Cup runner-up Marc Cantin, and former military officer Zach McKelvie, who suited up for Army for four seasons, the last of which was 2008-2009. The Bruins have seen fit to retain McKelvie's rights for the past few years of his military service, resigning him to contracts every summer; the fact that they've been unwilling to give up on him could be a subtle nod to the potential he could have. Either way, McKelvie will likely bring some rust with him into the season, as he hasn't skated in a professional game since 2009; however, paired with Warsofsky in Monday night's rookie game, he seemed solid, allowing Warsofsky to join the rush on a few plays.
Cantin played the longest season of any of these eight last year with his Mississauga-St. Mike's Majors; the Memorial Cup hosts lost in the finals to St. John, and Cantin finished the season having played 81 games. He put up very decen numbers - 10 goals and 37 assists. Cantin has winning playoff experience, as well; he played on Taylor Hall's 2010 Windsor Spitfires team, who did win the Memorial Cup. Cantin can fight though he doesn't seem to do it often; he played on the first powerplay unit in Mississauga and is very positionally sound. His play last year earned him a spot on the second OHL all-star team.
Overall, the P-Bruins seem to have stocked their blueline with proven talent this year; the extra two defensemen provide necessary depth and excellent competition for ice time. Instead of taking wild chances on players with no AHL experience like Alexandrov and Goulet, they're going with what works - or worked, at the end of the season. All six primary defensemen have at least played a few games with each other, and that's a foundation they can build on going into the coming season.
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