PC Hockey Looking for 20th Win of the Season Against Merrimack

PC Hockey Looking for 20th Win of the Season Against Merrimack

The Providence College men’s hockey team played one of its best overall outings of the season and won an exciting 4-2 contest over UMass Lowell last Saturday night at Schneider Arena.  Now skating with an 18-8-5 overall record and ranked # 7 nationally, the Friars are hoping to duplicate their excellent play against UMass Lowell when they face Merrimack in a Friday/Saturday home-and-home series this weekend.  A sweep would lift the Friars to a 20-8-5 record and likely into the #4 spot in the Hockey East standings.

As you look at the Hockey East standings this week, it is clear that BC, BU, and Maine have locked up the top 3 spots in the league.  There are five teams, including Providence, that are in a log jam for the 4th through 8th spots with UConn at 31 points in 4th and UMass and Merrimack at the bottom of the log jam with 28 points.  A win is worth 3 pts and the Friars would leap to 36 points and likely the #4 spot with a sweep over Merrimack, with two regular season Hockey East games remaining after Merrimack.

 

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Why are Hockey East (HE) standings at the end of the regular season important?  The top five teams get a first round bye in the Hockey East Tournament and automatically move to the quarterfinals.

Ironically, even though Merrimack has a losing HE record, and a losing overall record compared to PC, the Warriors are only 2 pts behind PC in the HE standings. 

So, the Friars can’t take them lightly. If you glance at the respective goals for and goals against, the Friars should have an edge this weekend against Merrimack. Overall, the Warriors have scored the 2nd lowest number of goals at 75 in HE and are tied with Vermont for giving up the most overall goals at 96.  As seen in the chart, overall PC has scored 91 goals and allowed just 75 goals.

The Warriors have played four different goalies so far this season in an attempt to stop the tide of goals scored against them. They are likely to play a freshman, Ryan Keyes, who has only appeared in four games but who has only allowed 2.02 goals/game with a save percentage of .920.

The Friday matchup with Merrimack has a puck drop at 7 PM at Schneider; the Saturday game moves to Merrimack’s home ice at the Lawler Arena in North Andover. The Friday game is PC’s last regular season home game.

PC’s Upcoming Schedule 
February 28th Providence vs Merrimack
March 1st Providence at Merrimack
March 6th Providence at Boston University
March 8th Providence at Northeastern
March 12th 1st Round of HE Playoffs (Teams 1 to 5 have byes)

Potential Games
March 15th Quarterfinal Round of HE playoffs
March 20-21 Semifinal and Final Rounds of HE playoffs
March 23rd NCAA Tournament Selection Show
March 27-30 NCAA Regional games
April 10-12 NCAA Frozen Four