Friar Favorite Fayne Soon to Join New Jersey Devils

The Walter Brown Award is annually given out to the most outstanding American-born college hockey player in New England. It is the oldest nationally recognized honor awarded to the individual players in the sport of American college hockey.

The last time a Providence College hockey player was awarded the Walter Brown Award was 11 years ago when Mike Omicioli '99 won it in his senior year. This year, senior defenseman Mark Fayne '10 has been nominated.

If Fayne wins the Walter Brown, he will be in the same league as NHL All Star Ty Conklin, PC Alumnus and Men's Hockey Head Coach Tim Army, and Hobey Baker Award winner Chris Drury, which is given to the best American armature athlete in hockey.

It is sad for a school to lose its seniors and even harder when a hockey team loses one of its best defensemen. Fayne has been a huge asset to the Men's Hockey team in his four years at PC. He ended his senior season with a team-high 17 assists and a total of 22 points with 5 goals. In his freshman year at PC, he made the Hockey East All-Rookie Team, and he received the Rev. Herman Schneider Most Valuable Freshman Award and the Ron Wilson Best Defensive Player Award, along with other outstanding achievements.

Fayne started playing hockey because of his parents. "My father was from a hockey family," said Fayne. "He was playing when I was younger and I went to all his games and couldn't wait to play myself."

His favorite player for the Bruins, his favorite professional team, is Ray Bourque, but his favorite over all-player is Paul Kariya because of his appearance in the third Mighty Duck movie when he was captain on the Mighty Duck NHL pro team.

His influences throughout his life have been his parents and his older sister Amy who was a figure skater-turned hockey player.

Fayne is known for his pre-game superstitions, such as eating a cinnamon raisin bagel before every game and drinking two cups of water and two cups of yellow Powerade. Before each game he also gets dressed right to left, and after he tapes his sticks, he does not let them hit the ground until he gets on the ice.

After his junior year of high school at Noble and Greenough School in Sagamore Beach, Mass., Fayne was drafted by the New Jersey Devils in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft, fifth round, 155th selection. Fayne decided to wait on signing a contract so he could come to Providence for four years, "I just always wanted to play college hockey," said Fayne.

Fayne wears the number four because it was the age he started playing. He had to give it up in high school but was able to get it back when he started playing for the Friars.
His best moment at PC came when he played at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit where the team played at the Great Lakes Invitational in 2007, Fayne's sophomore year, when the Friars beat Michigan State.

While Fayne is arguably one of the best defensemen to graduate from Providence College, he remains humble. His favorite sport to watch other than hockey is football, and he is a fan of both Hootie and the BlowFish and Bruce Springsteen. His favorite color is blue, and his favorite movie is Love Actually. Yes, you read that right, and he has helped his roommates to realize the importance of a good chick flick.

A social science major, Fayne's favorite class is political science, and his favorite professor is Sr. Leslie Straub, O.P. When he is offcampus, he enjoys going to Thayer Street, but when he is on campus you will find him at the Slavin Food Court. On the ice, Fayne has been known to trash-talk with the best of them; he often calls an opponent a  "grocery stick," which means that he divides the forwards and the defenseman because he sits on the bench the whole time—a little insight into what they are really saying to each other on the ice.

There will be no more hockey games for the Friars this season, but keep your eyes peeled for Mark Fayne, who will be playing for the NHL's New Jersey Devils in the near future.