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Friars Hockey 23-24: Season-Long Thread of Pain

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Watched the game on the AZ State stream and to me it looked like PC had the better of play pretty much the entire game. Toward the end of the 3rd with the game tied, Yoder makes what looks like a nice bar down goal to take the lead. The goal was challenged, and the announcers assumed that the call would stand because the video replay showed that the puck went in. Then the ref comes out and waives off the goal, not because it didn't go in but because a PC player who was at the end of his shift had not cleared the zone at the other side of the rink when Yoder turned the puck back in so it was called offsides. I thought that there was a rule change this year against challenging offsides, but evidently not.
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I agree, PC looked better than ASU.
I understand coaches can challenge for an offsides, refs can't review it of their own accord.
 
Well, the Hockey Gods are back from vacation I guess. This time it was Providence that challenged an offsides after ASU scored a goal. Thankfully that challenge was upheld so the score stayed at 0-0 at that point. Some very nice plays by the two PC scorers, Engelbert forces a turnover and makes an excellent shot just under the crossbar and Duran takes a great feed from Gamache for a breakaway and hesitates for a split second in front of the ASU goalie then shots it between the 5 hole for the GWG. That is top flight composure. Listened to the game on the internet radio broadcast, once again the call by Mike Logan was 5 Star. While I missed not seeing the video, a great play by play allows you to visualize the action in a way that makes it worthwhile to just listen. Gaining a split vs ASU at their rink is not easy, I think that is only their second loss at home this year in twelve games.

On to BC after a week off, tough matchups continue. Noticed PC is #8 in the Pairwise and 5 of the top 8 are HEA schools.
 
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I was in Tempe this past weekend for my kids pee wee tournament and we stayed in the same hotel as the Providence players. They were outstanding young men that interacted with our kids a bunch and represent your program and school well. Stuff like that goes a long ways. Kudos....
 
One game weekend against the young pros from BC.....should be a packed arena in Chestnut Hill tomorrow afternoon. Friars coming off a weekend off.

Will find out a bit more about this team versus one of the best in country.

2 more with BC upon return to HE play in January.

Last game of first half of the season. Next game is Brown Dec. 30th.

4:30 pm game on NESN.

BC is a high scoring team, Friars need to stay out of the box as they are also a good PP team and their PK is best in the country.
 
What a game vs BC today. Friars battled through an early major penalty in the 1st and it was scoreless going into period 2. Then BC scores twice but PC gets one back so it was 2-1 heading into the 3rd. PC scores twice to move ahead but BC takes advantage of late penalties and regains the lead. Really good intensity on both sides and the Friars didn’t quit scoring either ending up with 4 goals against Fowler. Disappointed in the final 5-4 score, but encouraged by the team’s grit and determination. Can’t wait for the next 2 BC games in January. This Friar team is impressive and I expect a good second half of the season is coming up.
 
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Not an easy second half coming up, let’s see how they do. 2 games vs BC, 3 vs BU and 2 away at ME. Good to hear Cam MacDonald is back from injury, but a couple of others are still healing. No mid season additions to my knowledge. Hopefully the mayor’s cup vs Brown will return the trophy to PC to set a good tone for the resumption of play. Would be good to see more activity on this thread, kind of disappointed in the apparent lack of interest.
 
Exhibition game today vs Simon Fraser. This is their 3rd game in 3 days so that is odd scheduling for them. Not sure who will get some playing time for us, ordinarily this would be a game to put in a few new faces to see what little used guys can contribute.

Probably good to have a game before next weekend when the BC series resumes. Their players represented the US well in the World Juniors coming home with gold, first gold medal for the US since our own coach did that in 2021.

No way to outmatch BC’s individual player talent level, beating BC now will require outworking them and a total team effort. A little puck luck wouldn’t hurt either. Looks like ESPN+ will carry this game so I plan on tuning in.
 
NEW Friar said:
Exhibition game today vs Simon Fraser. This is their 3rd game in 3 days so that is odd scheduling for them. Not sure who will get some playing time for us, ordinarily this would be a game to put in a few new faces to see what little used guys can contribute.

Probably good to have a game before next weekend when the BC series resumes. Their players represented the US well in the World Juniors coming home with gold, first gold medal for the US since our own coach did that in 2021.

No way to outmatch BC’s individual player talent level, beating BC now will require outworking them and a total team effort. A little puck luck wouldn’t hurt either. Looks like ESPN+ will carry this game so I plan on tuning in.
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Getting outclassed by BC's talent is a reflection of the poor recruiting by Lehman and staff for the last five years. This team might be ranked ninth in the country in the polls but really should be in the mid teens.
 
From BC Interuption 1/8/24
PC is a clear-cut member of Hockey East’s top tier alongside BC, BU, and Maine. They’re 9th nationally in the pairwise rankings, too. With a formidable coaching staff and a lot of experienced players, the Friars are going to be a huge test for this young BC team. They play a grit-and-grind style of hockey that is similar to what the playoffs feel like, and the atmosphere in both arenas is sure to be a loud one. This series of games is one of the few opportunities we’ll get to see a real preview of what this team could look like in the NCAA tournament.

Hockey East is very strong this year and the Friars face an especially tough test with 7 games against BC, BU and ME. According to Nate Leaman on last night's radio broadcast, Jaroslav Chmelar is still out due to a skate blade cut at UMass Amherst that severed a tendon in his arm. He had surgery and has progressed from a cast to a sling but it looks like several more weeks before he can return to the lineup. Tough break as he was having a good year and lead the team in scoring when this occurred.

PC play a hard and heavy game and are good at keeping opponent shots on goal to a minimum. All 5 losses reflected in the Friars record were by 1 goal while the average winning margin is over 2 goals. Optimistic that they will have a good showing, but I bet nobody is going to win out this year. What do other fans think?

BTW, a 2024 draft eligible US player showcase is being held this coming Monday - it is called the Chipotle All American Game. One participant is Trevor Connelly, a Friar commit who currently plays for the TriCity Storm in the USHL. He is a very talented player and put on great performances in both the Hlinka Gretzky cup last summer and the WJAC in December. He may be a first round draft pick this June. I hope he still becomes a Friar next season, will be an exciting player to watch at Schneider. The game is being broadcast on the NHL network live at 4PM.
 
NEW Friar said:
BTW, a 2024 draft eligible US player showcase is being held this coming Monday - it is called the Chipotle All American Game. One participant is Trevor Connelly, a Friar commit who currently plays for the TriCity Storm in the USHL. He is a very talented player and put on great performances in both the Hlinka Gretzky cup last summer and the WJAC in December. He may be a first round draft pick this June. I hope he still becomes a Friar next season, will be an exciting player to watch at Schneider. The game is being broadcast on the NHL network live at 4PM.
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Other Friar commits appearing in the game are Jack Parsons and John Mustard. Not sure if Alex Bales is as well or not, but sure of the previous two.
 
theprofromdover said:
What a richard.
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Name a skater that he has recruited and gotten better since 2019.....I will wait for your answer.

Maine in addition to BC and BU have flown right by Providence since 2019. It isn't even close anymore.

I expect Boston College to complete the season sweep this weekend of the Friars and then you can come back and make up some excuse for why PC lost.
 
The Zlax45 said:
Name a skater that he has recruited and gotten better since 2019.....I will wait for your answer.

Maine in addition to BC and BU have flown right by Providence since 2019. It isn't even close anymore.

I expect Boston College to complete the season sweep this weekend of the Friars and then you can come back and make up some excuse for why PC lost.
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If they lose both games this weekend it will be because my Alma Mater had the better team.
 
theprofromdover said:
If they lose both games this weekend it will be because my Alma Mater had the better team.
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Your team is loaded and are ranked #1 for a reason, but I am sure PC will give it a great effort. I am thinking back to October when PC beat Denver 4-3 on Friday October 20 and Denver beat BC 4-3 the next day at BC. I would be happy if PC can pull off another upset, but beating BC this year is an accomplishment made tougher now by the great experience a good group of your players brought back with them from the World Juniors. Hoping to witness another great college sports experience this weekend hope it will be memorable in a good way.

Thanks for your contributions to this thread. Had to look up "what a richard" meant the other day, certainly hit the nail on the head with that one!
 
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Great job all-around by the Friars tonight. Excellent job by Leaman especially to get the kids back on track after the previous night's disaster. While the on-paper talent is significantly different (as is the case with most every opponent of BC this year), Phil was excellent and didn't seem lost like last night. Yoder impresses me with every game this year. A kid like that who came in as a 4th liner primarily, working his way into a top 6 forward, excelling on faceoffs and being good defensively, delivering clutch goals. While he came from the NTDP program, he was not among the top-tier players but with excellent coaching and development over his time there, the growth in his on-ice play is evident. PK says well done Friars. Chmelar is a significant loss but he should be back soon, they played a solid team game tonight. Nobody should be unhappy with that.
 
One of the best team efforts I have witnessed at Schneider ever, (considering it was against the top rated team in the country). The great college sports experience I hoped for, especially with the win. Now my memory will include this 4-3 January 13th win vs BC. Not sure how coach Leaman got this turned around but it was impressive.

Agree with PK regarding Yoder, hope he comes back for year 5.
 
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