Hockey Night In Toronto talked to both Johnny Pierson and Harry Sinden about the plan in March 1981
Live from Salem, N.H., it's ... the Stanley Cup final? At...
It is an all but forgotten chapter in the history of Boston’s Original Six NHL franchise. And if it’s mentioned at all anymore, it’s usually in the form of a quip, or as some get-off-my-lawn guy’s let-me-tell-ya story directed at younger, disbelieving Bruins fans.
But with the 24-year-old TD Garden in the midst of a facelift and the neighborhood around North Station undergoing redevelopment to the point of becoming almost unrecognizable, this is a good time to remind you — or perhaps inform you — that there was a time, albeit briefly, when B’s fans worried they might soon be driving to New Hampshire to watch Ray Bourque, Rick Middleton, Terry O’Reilly and the rest of the Big, Bad Bruins do their thing.
Imagine NBC’s Doc Emrick welcoming America to the broadcast of Stanley Cup final Game 1 next week with the introductory shot of the building not from Causeway Street, but from a vast parking lot in the Granite State.
The fun began in January 1981, with media reports telling of an impending move to New Hampshire by the Bruins. The plan was that Delaware North, owners of the Bruins and the original Boston Garden, would purchase the old Rockingham horse racing track, which had been gutted by a fire one year earlier, and build an 18,000-seat arena. As part of the plan, a greyhound track would be included.
This wasn’t just gossip. The plan made the front page of the Boston Globe, which included a fan-reaction sidebar and an editorial titled “Big-league New Hampshire.”
But as quickly as the scheme began making the rounds, it disappeared. The owners of the Seabrook Greyhound Park, a little over 20 miles from Salem, weren’t keen on the idea of a rival dog track emerging at Rockingham, and the state wasn’t willing to provide the necessary tax breaks that might have made the deal work.
An Associated Press report dated June 25, 1981, brought the news that Delaware North “… has given up plans to move the Boston Bruins to New Hampshire. Donald Carmichael, head of Delaware North, a Buffalo-based sports conglomerate, said today that New Hampshire had made it impossible for the company to rebuild the burned-out Rockingham Park race track in Salem, its proposed new home for the Bruins.”
Live from Salem, N.H., it's ... the Stanley Cup final? At...
It is an all but forgotten chapter in the history of Boston’s Original Six NHL franchise. And if it’s mentioned at all anymore, it’s usually in the form of a quip, or as some get-off-my-lawn guy’s let-me-tell-ya story directed at younger, disbelieving Bruins fans.
But with the 24-year-old TD Garden in the midst of a facelift and the neighborhood around North Station undergoing redevelopment to the point of becoming almost unrecognizable, this is a good time to remind you — or perhaps inform you — that there was a time, albeit briefly, when B’s fans worried they might soon be driving to New Hampshire to watch Ray Bourque, Rick Middleton, Terry O’Reilly and the rest of the Big, Bad Bruins do their thing.
Imagine NBC’s Doc Emrick welcoming America to the broadcast of Stanley Cup final Game 1 next week with the introductory shot of the building not from Causeway Street, but from a vast parking lot in the Granite State.
The fun began in January 1981, with media reports telling of an impending move to New Hampshire by the Bruins. The plan was that Delaware North, owners of the Bruins and the original Boston Garden, would purchase the old Rockingham horse racing track, which had been gutted by a fire one year earlier, and build an 18,000-seat arena. As part of the plan, a greyhound track would be included.
This wasn’t just gossip. The plan made the front page of the Boston Globe, which included a fan-reaction sidebar and an editorial titled “Big-league New Hampshire.”
But as quickly as the scheme began making the rounds, it disappeared. The owners of the Seabrook Greyhound Park, a little over 20 miles from Salem, weren’t keen on the idea of a rival dog track emerging at Rockingham, and the state wasn’t willing to provide the necessary tax breaks that might have made the deal work.
An Associated Press report dated June 25, 1981, brought the news that Delaware North “… has given up plans to move the Boston Bruins to New Hampshire. Donald Carmichael, head of Delaware North, a Buffalo-based sports conglomerate, said today that New Hampshire had made it impossible for the company to rebuild the burned-out Rockingham Park race track in Salem, its proposed new home for the Bruins.”
