Having accepted an offer from the Rhode Island Reds Heritage Society, SIHR members recently returned to the eastern United States for the annual fall meeting for the second year in a row.

Members new and old travelled from Minnesota, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Illinois, the Maritimes, Massachusetts, New York, Quebec and Ontario to Providence Rhode Island for a weekend filled with hockey both on and off the ice.

The business portion of the meeting lead Saturday's agenda, at which members voted to formally endorse the Canadiens Trivia Project spearheaded by Executive VP Jean-Patrice Martel.

Other motions which were approved will see the addition to the web site of reference materials collected during the Origins committee's research on the Windsor claim as well as "SIHR Scrapbooks" created by past-president Len Kotylo. Len was also presented with a gift certificate for the LCBO in appreciation of his hard work during the four years he served as president.

After lunch, attendees were treated to a "Player Panel" featuring former NHL and Rhode Island Reds players Ross Brooks, Fern Flaman and Don McKenney.

Following a brief introduction from each of the speakers, they fielded questions from the group and offered many interesting and insightful responses.

Indiana based member John Soares delivered the first research paper titled "A Chiquita Banana Sticker on Lenin’s Tomb: What International Ice Hockey Teaches Us about the Cold War" followed by a video presentation by RIRHS President Buster Clegg outlining the upcoming 30 minute video documentary which will air on local television in 2009.

Ernie Fitzsimmons delivered a presentation on the emergence of professional hockey in Pittsburgh in the early 1900s, which he has concluded was the first inter-city professional hockey league and had the first documented trade between teams.

Executive VP Jean-Patrice Martel delivered a presentation on early hockey film footage.

John Soares

Following the meeting, members attended a Wocester Sharks hockey game who were playing host to the Providence Bruins. Special thanks goes out to the all RIRHS members who had a hand in making it a great weekend.