PC Hockey Sweeps the Maine Black Bears in Convincing Weekend at Schneider
Robert McMahon, Sports Columnist
PC Hockey Sweeps the Maine Black Bears in Convincing Weekend at Schneider
Friday’s matchup started with Schneider fans feeling a little uneasy. Regular goalie Phil Sevedbeck did not start. Backup goalie, freshman Jack Parsons, who replaced a struggling Sevedbeck halfway through the second game against Alaska last weekend, started for the Friars. The Maine team, sensing blood with a rookie goaltender, dominated the first ten minutes of play. Virtually all the action took place in Friar's defensive zone.
Maine had just throttled Denver last weekend in Denver with a win and a tie against the 6th-rated team in the nation. For the first half of the first period, it looked like Maine brought that energy and confidence from the Denver twin bill to take down the Friars.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTThe Friars struck first, however, when Logan Sawyer scored his 7th goal of the year on an odd man rush at 11:24. That goal energized the Friars and their fans. PC took advantage of a power play at 15:43 to take a surprising 2-0 lead with a goal from Hudson Malinoski, a lead PC took into the break despite being outshot by Maine 13-7.
PC came out flying in the second period and scored another power play goal from freshman Jonathan Fauchon at 4:37. Now trailing 3-0, Maine pulled normally reliable goalie Albin Boija and replaced him with backup Matthis Rousseau.
The psychological edge went to the Friars when Boija left. The Friars dominated the rest of the second period, outshooting Maine 12-4, scoring two more goals, and going into the third period with a 5-0 lead, a score that was unthinkable at the beginning of the game.
Maine got a goal back in the first minute of the third period, but freshman phenom Roger McQueen scored his second goal of the game at 12:51 to make the score 6-1. Maine had some good opportunities, but PC’s goalie Jack Parsons shut them out the rest of the way.
In Saturday’s matchup, Parsons got the start again in the nets for the Friars. This game was close for two periods. The only score was a short-handed goal by PC’s Tanner Adams midway through the first period. It was PC’s first short-handed goal of the season. The game went into the third period with PC holding a shaky 1-0 lead, with many of the fans thinking that once again the Friars would be unable to win back-to-back weekend games.
Despite only getting 6 shots on net in the final period, two of the Friars’ shots found the back of the net—a goal by Aleksi Kivioja off of a sloppy Maine pass at 7:56 and a power play goal by Andrew Centrella at 16:11, a goal that allowed the PC fans to breathe easily for the rest of the game, and which gave PC a 3-0 win over the Black Bears.
Additional Post Game Slap Shots:
--Freshman goalie Jack Parsons allowed just 1 goal in the two wins over Maine, stopping 46 of 47 shots for a ridiculous save percentage of 98%.
--The 3-0 win over Maine earned Parson his first NCAA shutout. It was also the first time PC shut out Maine since 2019
--Will Parsons start PC’s next game at traditional archrival Boston College this coming Friday, January 16th? So far, the Friars have been mum about regular starting goaltender Phil Sevedbeck’s status going forward.
--PC will play Boston College in an away/home doubleheader this coming weekend. Saturday’s game will be at Schneider. It will likely be the Friars’ first sellout this season.
--Roger McQueen’s 8th goal of the season in the Friday night win over Maine ties him with sophomore John Mustard for the team lead in goals. McQueen leads the Friars in points with 18.
--In the wide-open Hockey East this season, PC is now tied for third place with Boston University, behind first-place Connecticut and second-place Boston College.
--With the two wins against a strong Maine team, PC moved up to 13th place in the national rankings.