PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WJAR) — As Providence Bruins equipment manager Anthony Pelleccione watched the tragedy unfold at the Dennis M. Lynch Arena two weeks ago, he was instantly thinking of ways to help.
“It’s shocking,” Pelleccione said. ” We practice there, I played there growing up. You never expect anything to happen. And then just seeing the kids running, it’s heartbreaking.”
After seeing a number of players from the high school hockey teams flee the arena on skates, he came up with an idea.
“I saw videos of the kids running on concrete with their skates, and that’s obviously a big issue with hockey skates,” Pelleccione explained.
Stepping on concrete surfaces while wearing skates results in dull blades. For high school teams who don’t have the necessary machinery, players would have to go to a hockey store to get their blades reconditioned.
So Pelleccione and the P-Bruins organization reached out to both the Coventry-Johnston and Blackstone Valley co-ops, and offered to do it for them.
“Take as much of that burden away and let them be together as a team, and kind of get through this together as a team and as a family,” he said.
“We coordinated with the teams to drop their skates off…Taking that burden away and sharpening them for them, and even little repairs that needed to get done too, we took care of,” Pelleccione said.
Reconditioning blades is a daily part of his job, but taking care of skates for high schoolers who just witnessed a horrific shooting was jarring.
“Seeing the condition of the blades, I wasn’t expecting it and knowing what they went through, it was tough,” said Pelleccione.
The P-Bruins didn’t stop there. The organization welcomed both teams to the Amica Mutual Pavilion last Sunday, bringing them out on the ice pregame to show support.
“When the seniors got their names called, I got chills for them,” he said. “One of the seniors, as he got his name called, he looked toward the bench and said, ‘that was so cool.'”
Pelleccione hopes the gesture serves the teams a reminder that amid tragedy, the Rhode Island hockey community is standing with them.