An uneasy situation with the Rinks at Exeter has resulted in the Bruins having to change their practice schedule. All of the dates remain the same, but through the end of February, practices will not begin until 10:00P rather than the 9:10P time that had been planned. While the official start time is 10:00P, players should arrive at the rink prepared to be on the ice by 9:45 since the preceding ice time will be used for games that usually don't take their full time allocation. Practice sessions will still be 90 minutes. Please refer to the Schedule & Results page for a complete listing of the new times.

The Rinks at Exeter was selected as the Bruins home ice for 2005/2006 season practices due to its central location that would make it more convenient for a greater number of sled hockey players. In addition to this, the number of players who were consistently showing up in Dorchester had diminished quite significantly over the last four years and there was a very real possibility that the Mass DCR would reallocate the ice time to groups with larger numbers of participants. The Bruins officers felt that a move to the Rinks at Exeter would be beneficial to more players and due to their successful development programs were willing to pay the market rate for ice time in Exeter.

The Bruins worked with the Rinks at Exeter to set up a schedule in mid-October but it became apparent that there were going to be problems when the first practice, which had been scheduled for November 9, had to be cancelled. In the ensuing weeks the rink informed the Bruins that they were going to have to make additional schedule changes. The rink said they had not been aware when they scheduled with the Bruins, that Exeter High School, a six-year rink customer, was going to be forming a girls hockey team and would need some of the ice time that had been earmarked for the Bruins. Long-term, financially lucrative relationships being what they are, the Bruins were going to have to move to another rink to try to get the same ice time. This turned out to not be an option since all of the other rinks contacted had already sold their ice time. Another constraint for the Bruins was having a consistent day of the week. Coaches Middleton, Moulton, and many of the Bruins players had already set up their business schedules around twice-a-month, Wednesday night practices. 

So the only course of action for the Bruins other than litigation, which would have most probably would have been enforceable, but not practical, expensive, and would have irreparably damaged the relationship with a facility that was attractive to the Bruins, was to work with the rink to make the best out of a bad situation. The good news is that a much better financial deal has emerged for the Bruins that will keep some seed money available for a possible trip to the United Kingdom for a tournament this spring.  

The next Bruins practice is Wednesday, December 14 at 10:00P at the Rinks at Exeter.   

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