PC Hockey Team Bounced from the NCAA’s by Quinnipiac, 5-2
Friar Coach Nate Leaman PHOTO: PC
For the second year in a row, the Providence College hockey team lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament. The Friars were outplayed by their Connecticut neighbors, the Quinnipiac Bobcats. The Bobcats scored three unanswered goals in the second period. The Friars managed to cut the score to 3-2 with goals by Logan Sawyer and Jack Mustard in the third period, with six minutes to go in regulation.
The Friars couldn’t get the equalizer and Coach Nate Leaman pulled goalie Jack Parsons with about two minutes to go for a 6th attacker. The Bobcats scored two empty-netters in the last 1:14 minutes of play to make the final score 5-2.
The first period had premonitions of a tough night for the Friars, even though the period ended scoreless with the Bobcats holding a slight 9-7 edge in shots on goal. The Friars had trouble getting the puck out of their own end and through the neutral zone. Quinnipiac won most of the puck battles along the boards. And shockingly, the Bobcats dominated the Friars in face-offs. In the regular season, PC won 53% of face-offs. In the first period of this crucial game, PC won only two out of nineteen face-offs for a win percentage of 10.5%. The Friars were skating backwards most of the first period because of the face-off problem.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE — SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST
The Friars skated a little more confidently in the second period and put 11 shots on the Bobcats’ goalie Dylan Silverstein. And the Friars had back-to-back power play opportunities in the first 5 minutes of play. But Silverstein blanked the Friars on their power plays for the entire period. The Bobcats finally took advantage of their face-off dominance and scored three goals in the second period.
PC played with desperation in the third period but was hampered by a ten-minute misconduct penalty called on defenseman Quinn Mantei. This is the second game in a row where the Friars shot themselves in the foot, because of an ill-advised misconduct penalty. The Friars did manage two goals late in the period, but could never get the equalizer.
Besides losing 5-2, none of the other metrics for the Friars looked good. They were outshot 38-25, won only 37% of the face-offs, incurred 21 minutes of penalties, and went 0-4 on the power play.
The Friars also missed junior defenseman Andy Centralla, who was injured in the Connecticut game and missed this game and the Merrimack game. The Friars played four freshmen defensemen in their first-ever NCAA game.
Power play goals disappeared for PC in the last 5 weeks of the season. Their last power play goal was on February 21 in the first period in a 5-1 win against Vermont. Since then, the Friars went 0-17 on its power play in a crucial part of the season, including the losses in the Hockey East tournament and the NCAA tournament. The Friars went 2-3 in their last five games during their power play drought.
Final Slap Shots
It’s tough to lose the last two games of an otherwise outstanding season. Overall, the Friars finish 23-11-2 for the year and as the Hockey East regular season champions. Coach Leaman was named the Hockey East Coach of the Year. Most importantly, the Friars managed to integrate 12 freshmen into the lineup and make the team successful. The Friars are due to have every player return, except for graduating senior Phil Svedeback and grad student defenseman Kale McCallum.
Coach Leaman’s next challenge is to keep this squad intact as we go into the portal transfer season from April 7-21. That might be Leaman’s biggest challenge of the season.
Robert McMahon, Sports Columnist
Bob McMahon is the former Director of Parks in the City of Providence and a lifelong Providence College Friar fan.
Related Articles
Enjoy this post? Share it with others.