American Hockey League To Allow Players Under Contract To Attend 2018 Olympics

According to an AP report, the American Hockey League (AHL) will be letting their players attend the 2018 winter Olympics.

David Andrews, the CEO and President of the league confirmed on Wednesday that teams were informed they could loan players on AHL contracts to national teams.

The AHL league office sent a memo to its 30 clubs stating that they can loan players for the Olympics from February 5th to the 26th. This is big news with the NHL barring its players to go for the first time since 1994. One thing that has been held up is the concept of allowing players assigned to the AHL or ones on one or two-way NHL contracts. According to the AHL, nothing has been made of these players yet.

NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly denied a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reports that the league had told its 31 teams that AHL players could be loaned to play in the Olympics. It was an AHL memo sent at the direction of that league’s board of governors without any sort of NHL approval.

“I would guess we’re going to lose a fair number of players,” Andrews said in April. “Not just to Canada and the U.S., but we’re going to lose some players to other teams, as well. But we’re used to that. Every team in our league has usually got two or three guys who are on recalls to the NHL, so it’s not going to really change our competitive integrity or anything else.”

The U.S. and Canada are expected to rely on players in European leagues and college and junior hockey to fill out Olympic rosters. That being said, there are certain NHL players like Alexander Ovechkin who will ignore the NHL policy and play for his home country.

Providence Has Released The 2017-2018 Regular Season Schedule

Earlier this week the Providence Bruins announced their regular season schedule for the 2017-18 season.

Providence will kick off the season against Springfield in Providence on Saturday, October 7 at 7:05. Oddly enough their last game of the season is also at home against Springfield.

Here is their full season schedule and their home schedule.

Here are some notable nights on the schedule:

Saturday, September 30: Preseason Game & Fanfest

Saturday, October 7: Opening Night in Providence (vs. SPR)

Friday, October 13: Pink in the Rink (vs. SPR)

Friday, January 26: Military Appreciation Night (vs. HER)

Friday, March 23 & Saturday, March 24: Star Wars Weekend (vs. LV)

Sunday, April 15: Regular season finale and Fan Appreciation Day (vs. SPR)

Boston Bruins Rumor: Depth Defenseman Tommy Cross Resigned To Two-Way Contract

With the Stanley Cup now in the rearview mirror it is business as usual around the NHL and that includes the Boston Bruins.

On Wednesday morning it is being reported that the Boston Bruins have resigned Tommy Cross to a 1 year deal worth $650 thousand. The contract is a two-way deal that will provide young players in the AHL with a veteran role model.

Cross, 27-years-old, is a left shot defenseman who has been in the Bruins organization since being drafted in 2007 in the second round with the 35th overall pick when he was just 18-years-old. He played four years at Boston College and first played professionally in Providence in the 2011-2012 season and his first full season as a pro came a year later in 2012-13.

At Boston College Cross was part of two NCAA National Championship teams with one being in 2010 and the second coming in his senior where he was the Captain of Boston College in their National Title run. In his senior year at BC Cross set career highs in games played (44), assists (19) points (24) and penalty minutes (66) during the regular season.

Cross is entering his sixth year in the Bruins organization and at the NHL level he has played in 3 regular season games, all three came in the 2015-16 campaign where he recorded his first NHL career point with an assist. In the playoffs this past season Cross was called upon to play in one game where he provided a positive impact recording an assist and finished the game with a +1 in the overtime loss against Ottawa on 4/17.

The depth defenseman played in 74 games last season for the Providence Bruins recording 35 points and a +18 +/-. In the AHL playoffs Cross was very effective playing in 16 games recording 9 points.

The signing is the fifth time Boston has resigned Cross and he will likely serve as a veteran leader in Providence and be called upon as a depth defenseman in Boston if needed. It is worth noting that Cross will likely not be protected by Boston in the NHL expansion draft and could in theory be picked by Las Vegas.