Providence Looking for First Hockey East Win

The Providence College Men's Hockey Team lost two straight games this weekend when they hosted the Black Bears of the University of Maine. In the first game of the series on Friday, Nov. 14, the Friars put up a tough battle but fell 3-2 to the tenacious Maine offense. On Saturday, Nov. 15, however, the Friars showed little of the previous night's luster and were shutout 3-0, bringing them to 2-7-1 overall and 0-6-1 in conference play.

"We gave it everything we had," said sophomore left winger Matt Germain. "Friday night was a tough game which both teams played well in, but the first goal of the second night really took the wind out of our sails. It was a tough weekend, but not for lack of effort. Right now we're just trying to get that energy back, have some fun with it and loosen up a little bit."

On Saturday the Friars were completely stonewalled by the Black Bears, giving up a 36-24 shot advantage. At the 7:37 mark of the second period Maine took a 1-0 lead when Tanner House scored a short-handed goal, his third goal of the season, gaining possession behind the PC net and scoring on a wrap-around. The Friars responded with a flurry of shots to close out the second, but were unable to score on any of them.

The third period was dominated by Gustav Nyquist of the Black Bears who scored two goals, including the second short-handed goal of the game. Maine goalie Scott Darling made 24 stops and recorded the victory, while PC goalie freshman Justin Gates made 33 stops but was strapped with his fifth loss of the season.

"Right now we are having a tough go of it; we're in tenth place and it's hard to go out there every night and give it your all and not have anything to show for it," said senior goalie Chris Mannix. "We have to focus on the right things to get back on track. You could focus on March, or the playoffs, or the standings, but that doesn't help right now. We need to play our best, take little steps and play our best hockey and put a few good games together, then the wins will come and we will be a team to be reckoned with."

The Friars played a much stronger game Saturday and refused to give up, but ultimately the Black Bears' offense was a little too much. Though Maine jumped out to a 1-0 lead about halfway through the first period, PC answered back in the second when sophomore Austin Mayer drilled a shot off a Maine defenseman and into the back off the net. With 3:40 left in the second period Maine was able to capitalize on a PC penalty and take back the lead, 2-1.

At the 6:29 mark of the third senior defenseman Matt Taormina scored the equalizer on a rebound off of freshman Matt Bergland's shot. Maine took the lead for good though with just under ten minutes to play. Despite a 37-17 shot advantage, the Friars could not score goals when they needed them and took the 3-2 loss.

"I really think we had the better game plan Friday, and deserved a better fate," said Friars Head Coach Tim Army. "But when you aren't winning hockey games it just seems like everything is going against you. We haven't had success yet and it's easy for the energy to just be sapped from us and now we've dug ourselves an awful hole and have a great deal of work ahead of us. We need to get back to the basics of what we were trying to do this season and start playing some good hockey. We can still climb back into the playoffs but it is going to be tough."

The Friars will still be searching for their first Hockey East victory of the season this weekend when they travel to UMass-Lowell on Friday, Nov. 21, and the University of New Hampshire on Saturday, Nov. 22, for a pair of in-conference games.