1956 Boston Bruins exhibition game in Newfoundland

In April 1956, the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League played a post-season exhibition tour of the Maritimes and the island of Newfoundland with stops in Corner Brook, Grand Falls, Bay Roberts, St. John's and Gander. The Bruins, as was then customary after failing to make the playoffs, would play an exhibition tour. On the night of April 9, 1956, the Bruins made hockey history when they played an outdoor game in Bay Roberts, Newfoundland at the Conception Bay Sports Arena which was an unfinished outdoor arena with an artificial ice surface that opened in February 1956. This game was only the second ice hockey match played outdoors that featured an NHL team. It also had significance as the first outdoor game in Canada featuring an NHL team and the first to be open to public spectators.

The games
These exhibition games were not held under normal rules. In Bay Roberts, where each of the four Conception Bay area teams played a period against the Bruins, the game wound up with a 'free-for-all' where all 23 members of the Conception Bay area teams played at once against the Bruins.