Ice hockey in Rhode Island

Brown's first hockey team

First Brown University hockey team in 1897–98. From left: Robert Steere, Harris Bucklin, Jesse Pevear, Irving Hunt, Albert Barrows, Charles Cooke, Horace Day.

Plaque in Meehan Auditorium honors the first game

When ice hockey began to be introduced to the United States in the 1890s, there were no artificial ice rinks in the state. When nearby colleges Yale, Penn and Columbia began fielding teams of their own, their traditional rival Brown followed in short order. Brown played its first game on January 19, 1898, and defeated Harvard 6–0.^[2] The team, led by Irving O. Hunt, would go on to win the intercollegiate championship that season, the first time a collegiate ice hockey championship was ever awarded. Despite its early success, Brown was hamstrung by the lack of a local rink and the team was forced to construct a temporary surface atop the school's baseball diamond, Aldrich Field. This situation was untenable for the Bears and caused the team to plummet in the college hockey rankings. By 1906 the school knew that there was no impending remedy for the team and the program was shuttered.

Very little happened in the sport over the next 20 years but that was changed in February 1926 when the Rhode Island Auditorium opened its doors.^[3] The arena was located in downtown Providence and was the first indoor ice rink in the state. Almost immediately after opening, it served as the home venue for a host of teams. First a foremost was the Providence Reds, one of the founding members of the Canadian–American Hockey League, a precursor to the American Hockey League, both minor professional leagues that send many players into the National Hockey League. Other tenants that first season also included two college teams. Brown returned after a 20-year absence and used the building as its home until 1962 while Providence also inaugurated its ice hockey program. Financial difficulties would force the Friars to cease after that one season but the team would eventually return after World War II.^[4]

While Brown saw little success after their return, the Reds became one of the top minor teams in the country. Providence won three league titles in both the 1930s and 40s to establish the bonafides of ice hockey in Rhode Island. During this time the grassroots of hockey were beginning to take hold and several home-grown players would go on to achieve notoriety. George Pulliam, Bob Monahan and Ed Zifcak grew up during this period and each would eventually become an All-American.^[5] Ralph Warburton became the first home-grown player to play for the US national team at the Olympics and was one of the top performers with 21 points in just 8 games.^[6]

In 1972 the Reds moved out of the old Auditorium and into the Providence Civic Center but the change of venue did not help their ailing finances. The team had been mired in mediocrity for most of the previous decade and attendance numbers had fallen. A resurgence in their new venue was unable to get enough interest back into the team and in 1977, the team moved to Binghamton, New York. The state was left without a professional team for 15 years until the Boston Bruins relocated their AHL affiliate from Maine. The Providence Bruins played their first season in 1992–93 and shot out of the gate by winning a division title in their first year. The team would remain as one of the better teams in the league and went on to win the Calder Cup in 1999, the first league championship for a Rhode Island team since Brown's win more than a century before.^[7]

In the meantime, Rhode Island was one of the early adopters of women's ice hockey. Brown was the first school to field a varsity women's team, playing its first games in 1967. Providence was not far behind when it started its women's program in 1974.^[8] Brown's women's team reached the national championship game in 2002, losing to Minnesota Duluth.

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