Here is some potential bad news for Mike Bales: The Maine Mariners (AHL farm team of the Boston Bruins) announced yesterday that they were "suspending operations" due to financial reasons. Seems their 5 year affiliation with the Boston Bruins has just run out, and they lost an average of $500,000 per year over that period. This leaves the Boston Bruins without a viable first level farm team (ie no place to put those promising college players who need a little more seasoning to make the parent club). It's not clear what the B's will do about this situation, though its hard to beleive that they won't make a deal with SOME farm team for their players.