PC Hockey: Trevor Connelly Returns, Friars Extend Unbeaten Streak Against Northeastern - McMahon

PC Hockey: Trevor Connelly Returns, Friars Extend Unbeaten Streak Against Northeastern - McMahon

This Week’s Trivia Question:  Which NHL team has had the most PC hockey players play on their team?  Answer at the end of the column.

The Providence College hockey team has not tasted defeat since October 12th, when the North Dakota Fighting Hawks defeated the Friars 5-2 at Grand Forks, ND.  After this weekend’s games with Northeastern, the PC unbeaten streak is now up to 8 games.  There have been, however, some close calls, including the twin bill this past weekend against the Northeastern Huskies with both games going to overtime.

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Key Takeaways from the Northeastern Series

Friday Night at Schneider Arena:  2-2 overtime tie (Northeastern wins shootout 1-0)

Like most PC fans, I was stunned at how flat the Friar skaters were in the first period of the game on Friday night.  No energy, sloppy passing, no checking, no control of the neutral zone, and an inability to maintain any possession in the offensive zone. The Friar performance took the energy out of Schneider Arena.

About 5 minutes into the game, I realized that three of the four PC offensive lines had different players than the week before.  Why?  Good news and bad news.  The Good News:  Freshman phenom Trevor Connelly, injured against Arizona State, returned to the lineup after missing several games.  The Bad News:  His return resulted in three of PC’s line being re-configured with different players who struggled to stay in synch with each other.  Northeastern led 1-0 after one period.

So, it took, almost 2 periods for the PC’s lines to crisply choreograph their passing and shooting, and the Friars were fortunate to end the 2nd period tied 2-2 with Northeastern.

The Friars dominated the 3rd period and appeared to have scored the go-ahead goal at about the 7:30 mark.  But the Northeastern coach, Jerry Keefe, a former PC hockey star (PC, 2000), argued that a Friar was parked in the Husky goal crease and the goal should be disallowed.  After video review, the refs agreed and the goal was disallowed, and no other goals were scored in the 3rd period.

Northeastern won the OT shootout 1-0, so PC only got 1 point from the tie

PC Goalie Phil Svedeback was outstanding, stopping 40 of 42 shots for a .952 save percentage.

Logan Will and Graham Gamache scored the PC goals, with Logan Will’ s goal coming on a power play, PC’s only 2nd power play goal of the year.

 

Saturday Night at Matthews Arena, Boston:  PC 6-5 wins in overtime

This game had everything.  Some of it not all good for the Friars.  Normally, the Friars dominate on faceoffs, but Northeastern took them to the cleaners, winning 60% of the faceoffs.  This helped the Huskies go out to a dominating 3-1 lead at 3:58 of the second period.  Also contributing to the Husky dominance was an unusually puzzling performance by Friar netminder Zach Borgiel.  The week before, Borgiel blanked UNH 4-0, stopping 43 saves, and was named Hockey East Goaltender of the Week.  Coach Leaman pulled Borgiel in the Northeastern game at 3:58 of the second period after Borgiel surrendered 3 goals on just 12 shots.

But the game featured lots of positives for the Friars.  Svedeback, PC’s Friday night goalie, came in relief of Borgiel and stopped 22 of 24 shots.  Trevor Connelly scored his first goal in a PC uniform at 3:37 of the third period to knot the score at 4-4.  And PC veteran grad student Chase Yoder scored his first goal of the season also in the third period.

Coach Leaman may have finally found his power play unit.  He inserted surprise freshman goal scorer Will Elger on to the power play this weekend (suggested in this column last week).  Not only was PC’s power play1 for 3 in Friday’s game, but it went ballistic in the Saturday game, going 5 for 8, including a power play goal from Connelly in OT to win the game for PC 6-5.

Connelly’s numbers for the night:  2 goals, 3 assists, total of 5 points. This was a game that will enable Friar Fans to understand why Trevor Connelly, with his explosive skating and sniper shooting, was the 19th overall pick in the first round of the 2024 NHL draft.  Not surprisingly, Connelly was named Hockey East’s Rookie of the Week for his performance this past weekend. At last, someone not from Boston College or Boston University.

 

Next Up:  The UMass Minutemen

The Friars will take on UMass this Thursday night in Amherst, MA in the first game of this week’s Hockey East twin bill.  The Minuteman will return Saturday night to play at Schneider.  Puck drop for Saturday’s game is 6:00 PM, an hour earlier than normal.

This is an important series for the Friars.  If UMass is only 4-4-2 (0-2-2 in Hockey East), why should this be the case?  The rationale is easy to understand.  The Hockey Gods have given the Friars a relatively easy Hockey East schedule here at the beginning of the 2024-25 season, by front-ending relatively easy Hockey East opponents into the schedule.  UMass is one of them.  PC needs to grab both games to stack up Hockey East points before the schedule gets a lot tougher.  And the Hockey East opponents get tougher starting next Tuesday, November 19th when the BC Eagles play the Friars at Schneider.

What can we expect from UMass?  They can score goals, averaging 3.3 goals/game (the Friars after last weekend are now averaging 3.55 goals/game), and they have decent goal tending in Michael Hrabel, who gives up modest 2.88 goals/game with a .901 save percentage.

Their 4 wins, however, are all against teams from the Atlantic Hockey Conference (AHC)—American International College, Bentley, Air Force and Sacred Heart.  I don’t think I will offend anyone by saying all those teams are a couple of notches below Hockey East teams.

In any case, Coach Leaman has to motivate the Friars to be skating on all cylinders against the Minutemen.  All he needs to do is to remind the Friars that UMass swept PC last year, winning 3-2 and 2-1 in the regular season, and that the Minuteman ended PC’s season in the opening game of the Hockey East tournament, winning 3-1.  The winning goaltender for all 3 games for UMass was Michael Hrabel.

Trivia Question Answer

The NHL team that has skated the most Providence College hockey players is New Jersey.  I bet many of you were going with the Boston Bruins.  The Bruins have had 12 former Friars in their lineups over the years.

New Jersey has had 16 former Friars don their uniform.  Why the Devils?   Former PC coach Lou Lamoriello, and Johnston native, was the GM of New Jersey GM, President, and CEO from 1987 to 2013.  He won 3 Stanley Cups for New Jersey.  He liked to have Friars playing for him.