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| Boston Braves | |
|---|---|
 | |
| City | Boston, Massachusetts |
| League | American Hockey League |
| Operated | 1971–1974 |
| Home arena | Boston Garden |
| Colors | Maroon, white and black |
| Owner(s) | Weston Adams;Storer Communications |
| Affiliate | Boston Bruins |
| Franchise history | |
| 1971–1974 | Boston Braves |
| 1987–1994 | Moncton Hawks |
| Championships | |
| Division titles | 1 (1971–72) |
TheBoston Braves were a professionalice hockey team inBoston, Massachusetts. They were a member of theAmerican Hockey League (AHL) from 1971 to 1974.
The early 1970s saw an unprecedented boom in the popularity of hockey in thegreater Boston area, fueled by the success of theBobby Orr andPhil Esposito-ledBoston Bruins. The Bruins had sold out all of their home games at theBoston Garden for years, and the team owners thought that placing their minor-league affiliate in the same arena made sense on several levels. Previously, the Bruins' top affiliates were theHershey Bears of the AHL and theOklahoma City Blazers of theCentral Hockey League.
The team was named after theeponymous National League baseball team that had played in Boston until 1953 — which had been owned byCharles F. Adams, founder of the Bruins, during the 1930s. The first season of the AHL Braves, under coachBep Guidolin, was wildly successful. Behind a powerful club led by future NHL starsDan Bouchard andRich Leduc, and with other veteran minor-leaguers and futureNHL players such asDoug Roberts,Terry O'Reilly,Ross Brooks,Nick Beverley,Garry Peters andDon Tannahill, the club tied for first place in its division with the powerfulNova Scotia Voyageurs with a 41-21-14 mark, while proving popular enough in Boston to set league records for single-game and single-season attendance that survived for decades.
In its second season, however, competition from theNew England Whalers of theWorld Hockey Association (WHA) served to saturate the market. Furthermore, NHL expansion cost the team its best player, Bouchard, who had been picked by theAtlanta Flames, while WHA defections caused the recall of Brooks to the parent club and the departure of Roberts and Peters to the rival league. While scoring declined only slightly, the defense was notably poorer. The team still finished second in the division with a 34-29-13 mark, but attendance had nearly halved.
In the Braves' third and final season, the defense collapsed to the point where the team finished out of the playoffs after a 23-40-13 record. With attendance dwindling further and the ebbing of the hockey boom itself in New England, Bruins' management decided to suspend the team; the next season saw the Bruins affiliating with theRochester Americans (whose coach and general manager,Don Cherry, had just become the Bruins' head coach.)
The Bruins maintained the franchise's existence for many years, paying a nominal fee to the league to keep it dormant, finally selling its rights to theWinnipeg Jets in 1987 so that the Jets could move it to the Maritimes to become theMoncton Hawks.
| Season | Games | Won | Lost | Tied | Points | Goals for | Goals against | Standing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1971–72 | 76 | 41 | 21 | 14 | 96 | 260 | 191 | 1st, East |
| 1972–73 | 76 | 34 | 20 | 13 | 81 | 248 | 256 | 2nd, East |
| 1973–74 | 76 | 23 | 30 | 13 | 59 | 239 | 297 | 5th, North |
| Season | 1st round | 2nd round | Finals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1971–72 | W, 4–1,Providence | L, 0–4,Nova Scotia | — |
| 1972–73 | W, 4–2,Rochester | L, 0–4,Nova Scotia | — |
| 1973–74 | Out of playoffs | ||
