Friday, October 10, 2025

Robert McMahon

 

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IMAGE: PC

Local hockey fans are in for an early-season treat this weekend as the #7 Providence College Friars entertain the #9 University of Michigan Wolverines on Friday and Saturday nights at Schneider Arena.  The Friars last played Michigan two seasons ago in Ann Arbor, splitting an October two-game set.  Overall, the Friars are 1-4 against the Wolverines.  This is the first time that PC has played Michigan at Schneider Arena.

 

Michigan, one of the perennial blue blood powers in college hockey, just missed the NCAA playoffs last year with an 18-15-3 record.  Their head coach, Brandon Naurato, recruited with a vengeance in the offseason.  This year’s edition of the Wolverines includes 14 newcomers—an 11-member freshman class that features seven NHL draft picks and three transfers from the likes of Cornell and North Dakota.

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Michigan will lean heavily on veterans in the early games of the season.  They return their two leading scorers in T.J. Hughes, 36 points last year, and Michael Hage who had 34 points as a freshman last season.

 

Michigan warmed up for the season last weekend by facing off in Ann Arbor against Mercyhurst, a Division One team from the Atlantic Hockey America (AHA) league.  The AHA is the weakest of Division One college hockey leagues in the country.  It includes teams like Holy Cross, Niagara, and Bentley.  Mercyhurst was 4-27-4 last season and was rated the #64 team in the country at the end of the season.  Not surprisingly, Michigan romped without mercy over Mercyhurst last weekend, 11-1 and 7-0, to head into Providence with a 2-0 record.

 

The Friars were also busy last weekend, but with two exhibition games, they will be facing Michigan officially with a 0-0 record.  Last Friday, the Friars cruised past Simon-Fraser of British Columbia, 7-1.

 

Not sure why last Sunday’s matchup between #13 Quinnipiac and #9 PC was scheduled as an exhibition game.  The Friars escaped with a 2-1 win over the talented Bobcats, but the win does not count in the Friars’ record.  The national pollsters were impressed, however, and the USCHO poll moved PC up two notches to a #7 ranking.  The Bobcats came into Schneider with a dominating Friday night 4-3 win at #6 Boston College.

 

The Bobcats are a veteran team, and they played in mid-season form against PC in the first period of last Sunday’s game, while PC struggled early on, even though the score was 1-1 at the end of the first period.  The Friars found their legs in the second period and went up 2-1 on a goal by Logan Sawyer.  They outshot the Bobcats 17-11 in the second period but couldn’t convert two breakaway opportunities.

 

The 2-1 score held up in the final period despite Quinnipiac playing with a man advantage for more than twelve minutes in the final 20-minute period.  PC was hit with four penalties and the Bobcats pulled their goalie with 5:21 left in the game.  PC’s goalie Phil Svedeback was the star of the gam,e turning back 29 shots to enable the Friars to escape with the 2-1 win.

 

How will the #7 Friars match up with #9 Michigan this weekend?  PC might have an edge playing on home ice, with a big win over Quinnipiac under their belts, and with a veteran goalie in Phil Svedeback vs Michigan freshman goalie Jack Ivankovic.

 

Puck drop is 7 PM for both games, and tickets are still available for both Friday and Saturday games.

 

 

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GRAPHIC: NCAA

Bob McMahon is the former Director of Parks in the City of Providence and a lifelong Providence College Friar fan.


 

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