Providence Bruins 2013-2014 Schedule Released

The American Hockey League released their 2013-2014 schedule today, and it appears the Providence Bruins will open the season on the road - all the way up in Newfoundland, against the St. John's IceCaps.

The home opener is slated for October 11, against Manchester; the team will play 76 games total in the 2013-2014 season. Of those games, zero are against Western Conference teams. 12 are against Worcester, 12 against Manchester, 8 against Portland, 8 against St. John. That equals 40 games against in-division teams.

From the Northeast Division, the most frequent opponents will be Springfield, against whom the Bruins will play 10 games. They'll play eight against the re-rebranded Hartford Wolfpack, four against the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, and two apiece against Albany and Adirondack.

In the East Division, the P-Bruins will only face four of five teams; they will not play Binghamton at all. They'll face the baby Penguins, who defeated them in the 2013 playoffs, four times; they'll play the defeated Hershey Bears two times, as well as four games against Norfolk and two against the Syracuse Crunch.

All in all, not a very interesting schedule for the P-Bruins. One upside is that they don't play a 3-in-3 until the weekend of November 8-10, when they play at home against Hartford, then travel to Worcester and Hartford on Saturday-Sunday. From there, it's just 14 more until the end of the season - down a few from a few years ago, when they had 18 through the course of the season. January and March look to be their busiest months, with 13 games apiece; April and October their lightest, with eight apiece.

They're not in any outdoor games, they're not playing in any NHL buildings, there's no frills on this season outside the new uniforms. They've probably got the lightest travel schedule in the league outside of neighboring Worcester. There's nowhere to go but up.