If you were an athletically-minded young man in Warren in the 1970s with a vision for greatness, you likely had dreams of scoring the winning touchdown on the gridiron, or sparring on the wrestling mat in a bid a state championship, as many generations of local athletes had done before you.

Hockey, however, was something for the kids in Cranston, or Woonsocket. Warren, for all of its sports lore of ages come and gone, had no hockey program of its own at the time. Those who wanted to play the sport had to travel elsewhere for youth programs, and any aspirations of higher glory on the rink would certainly not be coming true unless you made a pilgrimage elsewhere.

Of course, there were always plenty of fans around these parts in those hard-hitting, no-nonsense days of hockey’s past, where kids idolized Bobby Orr, Phil Esposito, and Johnny Bucyk during the golden age of the Boston Bruins.

Jay Moniz was one of those kids. His father, Manuel (or Manny, as he was called), owned and operated a popular hockey shop at the top of Child Street for many years, known as one of the premiere hockey stores in the region. Since Warren High School had no hockey program, Moniz learned to skate at other youth leagues, on the frozen waters of the Kickemuit River, and on the backyard rink of the Jannitto family.

So when former Providence College standout, Gerry Menard — following a trip to the Soviet Union in the summer of 1974 with other coaches to learn about the Russian’s training and playing theory — became the general manager of a brand new Junior A hockey program based out of Smithfield, the first of its kind in Rhode Island to gather the top talent from all over the state, Moniz knew the significance of the moment.

“I know the guys I played with, we were dying to make that team,” Moniz, who still lives in Warren in the same house he grew up in, said. “If I never played another day in my life…when the guy said you made the cut, man those were great days.”

And there must have been something in the Warren drinking water those days, because Moniz, alongside fellow Warren High School graduates, Tom Marchand, Bill Palumbo, and Ed Sevigny, would all earn a spot on the roster, which was comprised of young men aged 16-20. The team would only play for two seasons, as the owner couldn’t maintain the financial cost to keep it afloat, but in just their second and final year they made it all the way to the national semifinals, where they lost to a team out of Michigan.

“Those were the good old days,” said Bill Palumbo, who locals might remember as the head hockey coach for Bristol High School for 14 seasons, and who took the team to the state finals one year. “We played pro rules. You could go out there and get into a fight and go to the penalty box…I lost many teeth. One time I got hit in the head with an elbow, and I felt something in my mouth, and then I spit a tooth out at the guy that hit me…They used to call us the Rowdy Rhody Ringers.”

Palumbo, who was 18 when he made the Ringers roster and earned the nickname “Bruno” for his aggressive, agitating play on the ice, would go to play semi-professional hockey for the Erie Blades in the North American Hockey League and then tried out for the Rhode Island Reds (the precursor to the Providence Bruins), unfortunately in 1977, the year that team also folded.

Although none of the Warren natives would go on to play professionally, three of their Ringers teammates went on to play Division 1 hockey at the collegiate level, including Jim Bennett, who was eventually drafted by the Atlanta Flames of the NHL.

“We felt like we were professionals…they had buses for us, supplied us with all the equipment, because we had to travel all over New England,” Moniz recalled. “But we weren’t under any impression that we were going into the pros, even though we were skating with guys who did.”

50 years later, a moment in the spotlight

So when the Providence Bruins got in touch with members of the Ringers to be recognized on the 50th anniversary of the team’s founding in 1974 during a game in January, it was an especially exciting proposition to take a skate down memory lane.

Rick Cavallaro — who played on the Ringers and now runs a shop in North Attleboro, Custom Crafted Sports, who makes the official jerseys for the Boston Bruins, including their highly sought after Winter Classic sweaters — examined photographs of the team’s old jerseys and had exact replicas made for the occasion, with each member getting a jersey with their corresponding number.

“When we got to the arena they handed them out to us. They brought us out to the ice and down to the bench,” Moniz recalled of the occasion. “We felt kids again.”

Moniz mentioned it was even more nostalgic for the players, now all in their late 60s, as they had played in the arena that the P-Bruins now call home back when it was just known as the Providence Civic Center.

Moniz said that he and his Warren teammates remain close friends to this day.

“It was a special day. We’re all like brothers,” said Palumbo.

And in the case of Palumbo and Moniz, the brother monicker is not far from the truth, as Jay wound up married to Bill’s cousin.

“It was nice to see the other players. We all obviously brought our families and kids and grandkids, because we’re all grandparents now, and here we are so many years later,” Moniz said. “My grandkids had no idea we played at that level. We were pretty good players to make it, especially because Warren didn’t have a high school hockey team at the time.”