By: Mark Allred | Follow me on Twitter / X @BlackAndGold277
Longtime New England hockey writer Mark Divver made the trip out to the 2025 Prospects Challenge in Buffalo, New York, this weekend for the annual tournament held at the LECOM Harborcenter. Divver mentioned in a Twitter/X post that he saw former National Hockey League Stanley Cup champion Ben Smith out on the ice for the morning session and that the 37-year-old North Carolina native will be joining the team in a player development role.
Smith comes to the American Hockey League’s Providence Bruins with an impressive player resume, including an NCAA National Championship in 2008 and 2010 with Boston College, a Stanley Cup with the Chicago Blackhawks in 2013, an AHL Calder Cup in 2018 with the Toronto Marlies, and finishing his pro career overseas in Germany with a DEL championship in 2019 and 2013. Smith appeared in 165 NCAA games with the Eagles, contributing 57-65-122 numbers. In the AHL, he appeared in 247 games, posting 100-84-184 points, and in the NHL, he had a career total of 237 games with 29-25-54 points.
Smith is no stranger to the New England area, having played for the Junior/Little Bruins and attended Westminster Prep School in Connecticut before attending Boston College. This addition to the Providence staff could be beneficial moving forward. The top minor-pro affiliate of the NHL Bruins will see a lot of new faces in the upcoming years, with the B’s adding more youth to the developing depth and Smith being around for guidance and on-ice training.
Tomorrow’s game against the New Jersey Devils will be livestreamed on the Boston Bruins’ official website, BostonBruins.com, at 12 p.m. EDT. It was great to see the Bruins organization send out 98.5 The Sports Hub’s Ryan Johnston to Buffalo to call these Prospects Challenge games. This is the first time in the tournament’s long history that the B’s have had play-by-play coverage of Bruins prospects at the LECOM Harborcenter.
Leave a Reply