For my money, there is not a team that works harder more consistently than the Providence Bruins do.
Providence forwards do not cheat for offence. They track back relentlessly. They grind down opponents, finishing checks wherever possible without running around out of position. They employ a very aggressive and disruptive penalty kill that is physically demanding and requires a strict adherence to defined roles to avoid being picked apart by a good power play.
An experienced group of defencemen consistently win down-low battles through effort but also has the puck-moving skills that today’s game demands.
Mix in speed and tenacity, and you have a very nice recipe, to say nothing of the excellent goaltending that Zane McIntyre provides nightly.
Some of the credit has to go to the culture that first-year head coach Kevin Dean and his staff have fostered. Affable, unassuming, and easygoing, Dean brings the structure and standards that he learned as a prospect in the New Jersey Devils’ remarkable talent pipeline of the 1990s. A strong collection of unsung veterans — captain Tommy Cross, Alex Grant, Jordan Szwarz, and so on — set the tone for the sort of honest brand of hockey that the P-Bruins play.
