| Hockey Heaven: Articles P-Bruins Notebook Chris Ferraro arrives via Islander deal |
11.20.99 When the P-Bruins took the ice last night for pregame warmups, Providence fans thought they were seeing double. There was number 17, Peter Ferraro, taking his warmups, but there was this stranger wearing number 71 who looked just like Peter. Indeed, the new guy is Peter's twin brother, Chris, who was acquired by Providence yesterday on loan from the New York Islanders. Chris Ferraro had been placed on waivers by the Islanders Wednesday, and when he cleared them, Providence and New York worked out a deal. ``We're a little short at the forward position right now, and with Chris we had the opportunity to acquire a proven, prolific scorer at the American Hockey League level,'' said Providence coach Peter Laviolette. ``As an organization, we felt we had to seize that opportunity.'' In 10 games for the Islanders, Chris Ferraro had one goal and three assists -- all in his first four games. Lately, Chris wasn't seeing much ice time with New York. A year ago, he was AHL Hamilton's leading scorer with 35 goals and 41 assists in 72 games. Chris has averaged 32 goals and 80 points in three full AHL seasons. Identical twins, the Ferraros are reunited for the first time since both played for the Pittsburgh Penguins for part of the 1997-98 season. Both were freshmen at the University of Maine when the Black Bears captured the NCAA title in 1993. Laviolette opened the game with the Ferraros playing on the same line, and the brothers combined for Providence's first goal, at 3:25 of the opening period. Chris fed Peter from behind the Louisville cage, and Peter snapped a short shot past Panthers goalie Rich Shulmistra. Back in stride Peter Ferraro entered last night's game playing some of his best hockey of the season. After a slow start, Ferraro has hit his stride, tallying eight of his nine goals in his last 11 games. ``I was getting my chances early, but things weren't going my way. I guess it took me seven games to get going,'' Ferraro said. ``It was a short summer, and maybe I wasn't into it mentally. I'm putting myself into better positions to score goals, where before I wasn't playing as intense.'' Other moves Providence yesterday sent forward Roger Maxwell to the Alexandria Warthogs of the Western Hockey League. Maxwell was coming off a three-game AHL suspension for an altercation with Fredik Oduya of the Saint John Flames two weeks ago. Maxwell had one goal, one assist and 85 penalty minutes in 14 games. In another move, the P-Bruins sent defenseman Vratislav Cech to Greenville, Boston's East Coast Hockey League affiliate. Cech, a native of the Czech Republic, played in three games for Providence and had one assist. Pronger's the captain Center Sean Pronger has been named captain of the P-Bruins. Pronger's captaincy was announced by Laviolette after yesterday morning's practice. Defenseman Brandon Smith will be a full-time alternate captain. Winger Jeremy Brown will serve as an alternate captain at home, while winger Joel Prpic will be an alternate captain on the road. Here and there Andre Savage was not with Providence for last night's game. Savage, promoted to Boston for Thursday night's 4-3 win over the Rangers, in which he picked up an assist, is expected to be in a Boston uniform again tonight against the Washington Capitals at the FleetCenter . . . Rookie wing Jeff Zehr, out because of a sore knee since training camp, made his first appearance of the season last night for Providence. Zehr played on a checking line with Aaron Downey and Brown . . . The P-Bruins are taking it easy with winger Eric Nickulas, who has post-concussion syndrome. Nickulas hasn't skated since being hammered from behind into the boards in the Hershey game a week ago. © 1999 The Providence Journal Company |