Sports

Men’s Hockey: UM, PC riding high heading into weekend matchup

Posted on Dec. 03, 2009, at 1:10 a.m.

What a difference a year makes.

On Dec. 4 of last year, the Providence College men’s hockey team was in the midst of an 11-game winless streak, including 10 losses, after winning two of their first four games. The Friars won just seven games during the entire season and finished last in the 10-team Hockey East Conference. It was their worst showing in 23 years.

The Friars (7-5-1, 2-3-1 Hockey East) have already matched their win total from a year ago, highlighted by a 4-2 triumph on Nov. 24 over third-ranked University of Massachusetts-Lowell. Providence will visit the University of Maine’s Alfond Arena this weekend for a Friday-Saturday pair of 7 p.m. games.

UMaine is in a three-way tie for the fourth spot in Hockey East, while Providence is ranked ninth. The Black Bears were 2-0-1 in the season series against Providence last year.

“I think you’ve got two teams that are hungry to bounce back from tough seasons, and both teams are making progress,” UMaine coach Tim Whitehead said.

The Friars will look to recover this week after playing five games in 11 days. The stretch culminated with a 4-2 loss Friday to Dartmouth College.

The Black Bears (6-7-1, 4-4-1 Hockey East) have begun to turn things around after a second consecutive 13-win season and are unbeaten in their last three games. After tying Boston College on Nov. 21 at the Alfond, UMaine defeated UMass-Lowell 3-1 last Friday on the road and St. Lawrence University 10-1 on Saturday in Portland. Seventeen Black Bears contributed to the scoring on the weekend.

“One of the best parts of the weekend was on both nights we had everyone contributing,” Whitehead said. “We felt we had a real strong team effort.”

A big reason for Providence’s improvement is sophomore goaltender Alex Beaudry, who coach Tim Army brought on campus during the holiday break last year in a move of desperation. Beaudry won his first three games with the Friars in January, including a 4-2 win against then second-ranked Boston University. He is currently tied with UMass-Lowell’s Carter Hutton for the league’s best goals-against average (2.29).

“He’s pretty aggressive in the net,” Whitehead said. “We haven’t seen a lot of him, but what I have seen I’ve been impressed with.”

Beaudry is protected by Hockey East’s second stingiest defense (2.54 goals allowed per-game), led by senior Mark Fayne (3 goals, 8 assists), sophomore Daniel New (3-6) and freshman Alex Velischek (1-6). The Friars have killed 82.3 percent of their penalties and rank fifth in the conference. Fayne has registered a point in four of Providence’s last five games.

“They’ve been keeping the puck out of the net as a team,” Whitehead said. “That’s the biggest challenge playing Providence, is you can expect a low scoring game.”

Providence’s weakness is scoring production, as their offense ranks ninth in Hockey East, averaging 2.69 goals per-game. Sophomore forward Matt Bergland leads the Friars with 12 points on seven goals and five assists. Fayne follows him and juniors Matt Germain and Kyle MacKinnon join New to round out the top five.

After finishing with the league’s second fewest goals scored per game (2.21) last year, UMaine has steadily progressed to having the ninth-ranked scoring offense in the nation (3.64 goals per-game). Their top scoring line of junior center and captain Tanner House, and sophomore wings Gustav Nyquist and Brian Flynn has reunited for the past three games since House returned from a leg injury. House was named the Hockey East co-Player of The Week after a four-goal weekend, and Flynn had a career- high five-point game against St. Lawrence.

“We’re starting to shoot the puck on the rushes a bit more, which has helped us generate rebound chances and offensive zone faceoffs,” Whitehead said.

Sophomore forward Theo Andersson scored his first career goal Saturday to cap the UMaine rout.

“Obviously it wasn’t an important goal, but for me it was very important,” Andersson said. “Hopefully I can get another one soon.”

Redshirt freshman defenseman Mark Nemec recently returned to the lineup after healing a broken thumb and notched his first collegiate point Friday. He assisted on the first of House’s two goals against UMass-Lowell.

“My mindset last weekend was just keeping my game simple,” Nemec said. “Fortunately I got a good bounce.”

Five of UMaine’s 10 goals against St. Lawrence came on the power play, giving the Black Bears a 6-for-11 weekend. Their power play scoring percentage ranks fifth in the nation (26.7-percent).

“We’re really pleased with how we’re moving the puck,” Whitehead said. “And we’re getting to the net front to create screens and deflections and rebounds.”

UMaine’s young corps of defensemen took some time to learn their responsibilities but have improved considerably despite a lack of depth with junior Mike Banwell, out with a leg injury, and freshman Nick Pryor, out with a concussion.

“Our 5-on-5 defense has improved immensely,” Whitehead said. “We’re doing a much better job transitioning back to defense when we lose possession of the puck, and we’re doing a much better job of defending in our defensive zone.”

Whitehead hopes for senior forward/defenseman Brett Carriere to return this weekend from a back injury, along with freshman forward Matt Mangene, sophomore forward Kyle Solomon and Pryor.

The Black Bears have received consistent goaltending from sophomore Scott Darling, who is 6-3-1 in 12 games played with a 2.90 goals-against average and .901 save percentage. Darling joined House in Hockey East’s weekly honors as the Defensive Player of the Week.

“He’s worked very hard on and off the ice to gain confidence and consistency,” Whitehead said. “I’m confident that he will continue to play well.”

UMaine will have one more home weekend before the mid-season break when they host Northeastern University for a single game on Dec. 12.

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 3rd, 2009, 1:10 am. You can follow any responses to this article through the RSS feed.