The Providence Reds were a hockey team that played in the Canadian-American Hockey League (CAHL) between 1926 and 1936 and the

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 season, every team in the lea ...

(AHL) from 1936 to 1977, the last season of which they played as the Rhode Island Reds. The team won the

Calder Cup The Calder Cup is the trophy awarded annually to the playoff champions of the American Hockey League. It was first presented in 1937 to the Syracuse Stars. The cup is made of sterling silver mounted on a base of Brazilian mahogany. In its curr ...

in 1938, 1940, 1949, and 1956. The Reds played at the

Rhode Island Auditorium Rhode Island Auditorium was an indoor arena in Providence, Rhode Island, at 1111 North Main Street. It hosted the NBA's Providence Steamrollers from 1946 until 1949, and the Providence Reds ice hockey team until the Providence Civic Center (n ...

, located on North Main Street in

Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts ...

, from 1926 through 1972, when the team affiliated with the

New York Rangers The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its ho ...

and moved into the newly built Providence Civic Center. The team name came from the breed of chicken known as the

Rhode Island Red The Rhode Island Red is an American breed of domestic chicken. It is the state bird of Rhode Island. It was developed there and in Massachusetts in the late nineteenth century, by cross-breeding birds of Oriental origin such as the Malay with ...

. When the North American Hockey League folded in 1977, the Broome Dusters acquired the Reds franchise and moved them to Binghamton, New York, where they were known as the

Binghamton Dusters The Binghamton Dusters were an ice hockey team in the American Hockey League. They played in Binghamton, New York, USA at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena. The team logo was designed by Johnny Hart, artist of the comic strip " B.C." a ...

Binghamton Whalers The Binghamton Whalers were an ice hockey team in the American Hockey League, playing in Binghamton, New York, USA, at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena. History The Whalers were generally a successful team, making the playoffs seven t ...

, and

Binghamton Rangers The Binghamton Rangers were an ice hockey team in the American Hockey League. They played in Binghamton, New York, USA at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena. History The market was previously served by: : Broome Dusters of the NAHL (19 ...

. In 1997 the franchise was sold to Madison Square Garden and then moved to become the Hartford Wolf Pack. On November 27, 2010, they were renamed the Connecticut Whale to honor the NHL's Hartford Whalers; but changed their name back to the Wolf Pack in 2013. It is the oldest continuously operating minor-league hockey franchise in North America, having fielded a team in one form or another since 1926 in the CAHL. It is also the only AHL franchise to have never missed a season. The AHL returned to Providence in 1992 in the form of the Providence Bruins. Formed in 2001, The Rhode Island Reds Heritage Society commemorates the existence of the franchise and keeps the memory alive. Their pinnacle event is an annual reunion that takes place during the first weekend in August.

Coaches

* Jimmy Gardner (1926–29) * Sprague Cleghorn (1929–31) * Billy Coutu (1933–34) * Albert "Battleship" Leduc (1936–37) * Frederick "Bun" Cook (1938–39, 1940–43) * Johnny Mitchell (1943–44) * Irwin Boyd (1944–46) * Terry Reardon (1947–53) * Pat Egan (1953–55) * Jack Crawford (1955–60) * Phil Watson (1960–61) * Fern Flaman (1961–65) * Ivan Irwin (1965–66) * Dave Creighton (1969–70) * Larry Wilson (1971–72) * Larry Popein (1972–73) * John Muckler (1973–76)

Season-by-season results

* Providence Reds 1926–1936 ( Canadian-American Hockey League) * Providence Reds 1936–1976 ( (International-)American Hockey League) * Rhode Island Reds 1976–1977 (American Hockey League)

Regular season

Playoffs

Affiliations

Per HockeyDB: *

Boston Bruins The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston. The Bruins compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team has been in existence since 1924, making ...

(1936–1938, 1958–1962, 1963–1969) * California Seals (1969–1971) *

Chicago Black Hawks (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

(1939–1941) * Colorado Rockies (1976–77) * New England Whalers (1976–77) *

(1955–1958, 1971–1976) * St. Louis Blues (1968–69, 1975–76) * Toronto Maple Leafs (1942–43)

References