PROVIDENCE -- The sale of the Providence Bruins is imminent.

According to numerous high-level sources, H. Larue Renfroe, president of Assurance Technology Corporation and owner and operator of the New England Sports Center in Marlboro, Mass., will purchase the P-Bruins from current owner Frank DuRoss. Final details are being worked out, and the AHL Board of Governors is scheduled to vote on the transaction next week.

Although the sale figure has not been disclosed, recent sales of other AHL clubs have been between $2.5 million and $3.5 million.

Renfroe, who has a house in Newport, was reached yesterday at ATC's corporate headquarters in Carlisle, Mass., but said he could not comment on the situation. DuRoss did not return calls, and the AHL would not comment, either. Numerous sources, however, confirmed the pending sale.

The P-Bruins currently have a nine-year lease with the Dunkin' Donuts Center that will expire in 2015, but the sides are in the final stages of extending that by one year.

DuRoss has owned the Boston Bruins AHL affiliate for the last 16 years, 14 in Providence and 2 in Portland, Maine. He relocated the Maine Mariners to Providence in 1992. He bought out his partner's share of the P-Bruins in April 2002.

DuRoss' office is located in Utica, N.Y., so in January of 2004 he named CEO Jeff Fear and COO Matt Poore partners to bring local ownership to the team.

It's expected Fear and Poore will remain with the club in their current roles.

There has been speculation over the last few years that DuRoss would sell the team, and prior to the announcement of the $68-million renovation project at The Dunk, DuRoss had serious conversations with the City of Warwick to build a 6,000-seat arena near T.F. Green Airport. When talks fizzled and the state took over the Dunkin' Donuts Center, DuRoss was committed to keeping the team in Providence.

Renfroe, in addition to serving as president of Assurance Technology Corp., an engineering consulting firm, is heavily involved in hockey at the youth level.

His sprawling New England Sports Center has five ice rinks under one roof and hosts weekend hockey tournaments yearround that draw youth teams from all over the East Coast and Canada. Renfroe is also president of the Minuteman Flames youth hockey organization, a member of the Eastern Hockey Federation, New England's preeminent youth league. He coaches the Flames' 1996 team.

jmcdonal@projo.com / (401) 277-7340