Providence Bruins
Rink: Amica Mutual Pavilion
Capacity: 11,273
Built: 1972
League: AHL
City: Providence, Rhode Island
Home Of: Providence Bruins
Games Attended: 1
Only Game: November 17, 2024 vs Cleveland
Unique Arena: #101
AHL Arena: #13
The originally named Providence Civic Center was also once known as the Dunkin’ Donuts Center or “The Dunk”, which is hilarious and also somehow awesome. It’s located in downtown Providence next to the expressway, which makes it easy enough to get to by car, and is also surrounded by lots of pubs and restaurants which makes its location a big plus in my opinion. The building has gone through many renovations over the years, to the point it doesn’t look anywhere close to its half-century age. The main entrance is a very large, glassed-in atrium which leads into a very wide concourse. We had a crowd that was a little less than half capacity for our game, which made getting around the rink a breeze. I would assume even with a packed house getting around wouldn’t be too difficult. Also, I was impressed by the size of the team store and quality of products they have. In addition to the huge main store, they also had a couple other kiosks around the concourse.
My friend Kevin and I agreed that the bowl itself was insanely like a half sized, better kept up version of the old Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. While the Joe was a dump and the Dunk is kept up extremely well, the skeleton of the bowl seems almost identical. One odd quirk we did find though was it seems the main press box for the rink is off in the corner for some reason. Seats were all very comfortable and had decent views of the ice. I wouldn’t recommend sitting in the very top rows of the bigger end of seats though, as they go almost to the roof and some of the banners in the rafters might obstruct your view of the scoreboard.
Unlike the Joe, Providence does have new modern suites, though they are at the top of the large bowl, so they are set far back from the play. There is also a lounge built into the top of the bowl at one end which I’m sure used to have seats all the way to the roof. As for the game experience, the atmosphere was a bit on the dull side (though a Sunday afternoon with mostly families will do that). The rink itself is probably a tad too big for what the P-Bruins usually draw, however the NCAA basketball team which also plays here apparently do very well.
Providence has been in the heart of what has historically been AHL country, and the city has a long history of professional hockey which I was happy to see was on display in the concourse at the far end of the arena.
At the end of the day Providence falls into the category of rinks that I don’t feel the need to ever return to unless I happened to be in the area for some reason. Nothing about the experience was bad, but nothing was exceptional either. It’s one of those places where as a traveling fan who wants to see amazing and unique, it doesn’t really do it for you. But if you were a season ticket holder who came here week after week, year after year it would be a fine, comfortable home to watch your team play in.
