by Flagg Taylor ’27 on October 1, 2026
Men's Ice Hockey
Nate Leaman enters his 16th season as the Friars’ head coach off the back of one of his most successful seasons during the 2025–26 season. The team finished with an overall record of 23–11–2, winning the Hockey East regular season title. This season, the Friars were picked ninth nationally in the USCHO national preseason poll. Providence was also voted to top Hockey East again this season in the coach’s poll with eight votes. UMass Amherst was picked second with one vote for first, Boston University was picked third with two votes for first, and Boston College and the University of Connecticut round out the preseason top five.
For the 2026–27 season, Providence returns eight of its top ten point leaders from last season. The team only lost Roger McQueen ’29 to the Anaheim Ducks and Hudson Malinoski ’27 to the University of North Dakota. Aside from these two players, all other main scorers return to the Friars. John Mustard ’28 (No. 21), led the team in points last year with 17 goals and 12 assists. Returning with him is Logan Sawyer ’28 (No. 34), who was right behind Mustard with 14 goals and 14 assists in the 2025–26 season.
Other notable returners include Tanner Adams ’27 (No. 19), Will Elger ’28 (No. 15), Julius Sumpf ’29 (No. 26), Aleksi Kivioja ’28 (No. 14), and Graham Gamache ’27 (No. 11). Providence should have a high-scoring, electric offense this season.
Also returning is last year’s freshman phenom goalkeeper, Jack Parsons ’29 (No. 30). The sophomore will be the Friars’ main goalie after making the All-Hockey East Freshman team in the 2025–26 season. Last season, Parsons had a 13–5 record while recording 438 saves with a 92.2 save percentage. Parsons will be a brick wall in the net this season.
Parsons was selected 133rd overall in the fifth round of the NHL draft to the Winnipeg Jets this summer. Freshman forward Ryder Cali ’30 (No. 13), was selected 48th overall in the second round of the draft to the Florida Panthers. Two other freshman forwards, Blake Zielinski ’30 (No. 12) and Thomas Vandenberg ’30 (No. 37), were selected 80th and 103rd, respectively, by the Los Angeles Kings.
These four combine with six other returning Friars to make 10 total NHL draft selections on the 2026–27 roster. The other six include the likes of Mustard (Chicago Blackhawks, 67th pick in 2024), Sawyer (Montreal Canadians, 78th pick in 2024), and Sumpf (Chicago Blackhawks, 98th pick in 2025).
Providence’s first showing will come on Friday, Oct. 2, in an exhibition game against Stonehill at Schneider Arena. The official season kicks off a week later at Schneider against St. Lawrence on Friday Oct. 9. The Friars will play rivals UMass away on Thursday, Nov. 19, then home Saturday, Nov. 21. Providence will play its Boston rivals, BU and BC, in back to back weekends in January.
Providence students and everyone else in the Providence community should be very excited for the upcoming season. There are high expectations for Coach Leaman and his boys, but the team undoubtedly has the talent to win the Hockey East regular season again and make even deeper runs in the Hockey East and NCAA tournaments.