Providence College 2025-26 Official Season-Long Thread

[PaulKorea]

From my naked eye, Parsons has played better in this stretch than Phillip. Agree/disagree?

Tough decision for Nate.

100% agree. Parsons got thrown into the fire and has saved their season. In short time he already has two more shutouts in half the games played by Phil. Whether Parsons or the Alaska defeat being a wake-up call they're a completely different, and more dangerous, team now. Need to keep their foot on the gas now. The guys look motivated and even playing pissed off hockey, refusing to let their season slip away.

 

[PaulKorea]

On a sidenote, major penalties... thought there were some questionable calls over the season, but I see Malinoski has only been assessed two penalties over the entire season. One a minor at CC and the other the ejection vs. BC. For the college game that's remarkable discipline to be able to stay out of the box for all but two times all season so far. Elger and Gamache with 0 PIMs to date.

 

[NEW Friar]

I think they made lemonade out of the lemons they were dealt when Svedeback was badly injured during the 2nd Alaska game. The 2nd game seemed to illustrate what happens when you play with a lack of focus but might have kickstarted a new team wide mindset that was evident on the bench in the Maine series. That attitude shift has been sustained through three sweeps in a row. Now they are implementing the fundamentals they have been taught and see the benefits. I think they have the talent to sustain this, and great coaching, so let’s see how long this wave can last.

Was thinking about how this could translate to PC men’s BB. The hockey coaches teach their fastest players to not try to single handedly rush through a gaggle of dmen at center ice so they generally don’t try to do that anymore and use their speed to go around which opens up new opportunities to score. The PC BB team haven’t learned the equivalent of that so under pressure they do just that and have almost zero chance of scoring so repeatedly lose close games at the end.

 

[PaulKorea]

This year is definitely much more of a team approach. As skilled and as fun as they are to watch, Connelly and Berard needed the puck to make things happen. Exciting, yes, but also frustrating when they couldn't deliver on all that puck possession. Now you have a team playing a team game and utilizing the entire gameday lineup spreading the puck around. It took a loss to Alaska to get them wound up and looking sharper than they have in years. I haven't looked at the power play numbers but it seems they are often cashing in on those opportunities this past month.

 

[Gino]

This year is definitely much more of a team approach. As skilled and as fun as they are to watch, Connelly and Berard needed the puck to make things happen. Exciting, yes, but also frustrating when they couldn't deliver on all that puck possession. Now you have a team playing a team game and utilizing the entire gameday lineup spreading the puck around. It took a loss to Alaska to get them wound up and looking sharper than they have in years. I haven't looked at the power play numbers but it seems they are often cashing in on those opportunities this past month.

Great observation..

 

[73PCFriar]

Leaman on his radio show said Philip is at least 2-3 weeks away from any possible game action. He just got back on the ice with the goalie coach, skating mostly.

What about Simpson, when do we see him play. I don't imagine he signed just to sit for the rest of the season. Leaman did say he was coming in just off an injury (hadn't played since sometime in December).

They need to cut out these 5 minute majors and some of the other penalties they take. One can question a few of these recent majors but they can be avoided by being smarter on the check so officials don't have to make the call or review the play.

Saturday will be big. Most of these guys haven't played in an atmosphere like Maine's. Would be great to come out with another win in maybe the toughest place to play in HE.

After that there are 3 with UNH (2 in Durham), 3 with Vermont (2 in Burlington), 2 with NU both at home and one with UCONN at home. So 5 home, 4 on the road.

 

[PaulKorea]

I can't imagine them winning all the remaining games, but momentum is definitely on their side. If they're going to lose at all, Maine and UConn are the two that would hurt them in the NPI the least. Out of all their wins(excluding Quinnipiac exh.) their lowest goal total was 2, which only occurred twice. 4 seems to be their magic number, as there are six games they won with scoring 4. (including the four most recent wins).

Mustard can be a little aggressive at time and take stupid penalties, and when he's on his game, his speed is what gets him noticed. He just needs to control that to stay out of the box. Being their most dangerous goal scorer, while taking stupid penalties, does nothing to help the team.

If they're getting Phil back, the only automatic start I'd give him is senior night vs. UConn. Of course, if they're contending to get the #1 seed and don't have it locked up they need to stick with Parsons. If it's wrapped up, let him play one final time at Schneider.

 

[NEW Friar]

What a magical win, talk about pulling a rabbit out of a hat. No quitting here and the wave continues, who would have thought!

 

[PaulKorea]

I shut it off at the 2 minute mark of P3, woke up to find I missed all the good stuff. There's definitely some magic with this group they got. Don't know if anyone else read from Mark Divver's notes a few days ago but he mentioned the connection of Palmer and Parsons. If that's what it takes, it's obviously working.

 

[NEW Friar]

I think something special has occurred since the new year, with the entire team pulling in a coordinated fashion. Considering all the changes going on in college sports, and at PC sports in particular, this current streak feels reminiscent of the old school spirit of amateur athletics. Would love for this to be reflected in better fan attendance and involvement at Schneider Arena. Accessible live action with high end talent, speed and determination makes D1 college hockey superior to the NHL as a great spectator sport in my opinion. Go Friars!

 

[PaulKorea]

ProJo coverage of PC's rise in hockey is completely non-existent. A shame that they hang onto the basketball program so tightly. While their hockey coverage has always been subpar, when Divver left it seems like it's just gotten worse. Can't say they're shorthanded, pumping out articles on everything but PC hockey on a daily basis. Not only the in-print stuff but online lacks that coverage as well. This lack of promoting it does a disservice to the team - don't often fill the arena and they're a top 10 team. Even a little support from local coverage would be better than what they get now.

 

[73PCFriar]

So due to the winds and cold on Saturday, no food trucks and no Pavilion, just get to the rink. It is also student acceptance weekend so there could be more folks on campus, may impact parking. For those of us with bball tix as well as hockey, Friar men play at the AMP at 4pm. Not an ideal situation (and yes despite the current woes of the bball team I still go to the games, chance for 2 in a row ).

So Vermont is at BC on Friday while the Friars are at UNH. Catamounts will get a bit more rest than the Friars who will be coming back on the bus from Durham into Providence probably after 2am.

I think Simpson will get the game on Saturday, Parsons in net at UNH.

Hopefully no let downs this weekend, 6 points should the goal, keep the streak going.

 

[NEW Friar]

I

So due to the winds and cold on Saturday, no food trucks and no Pavilion, just get to the rink. It is also student acceptance weekend so there could be more folks on campus, may impact parking. For those of us with bball tix as well as hockey, Friar men play at the AMP at 4pm. Not an ideal situation (and yes despite the current woes of the bball team I still go to the games, chance for 2 in a row ).

So Vermont is at BC on Friday while the Friars are at UNH. Catamounts will get a bit more rest than the Friars who will be coming back on the bus from Durham into Providence probably after 2am.

I think Spencer will get the game on Saturday, Parsons in net at UNH.

Hopefully no let downs this weekend, 6 points should the goal, keep the streak going.

Nate mentioned the Saturday scheduling disadvantage during a CHN podcast earlier this week. Would like to see more midweek games and fewer back to back Friday/Saturday games which he said the NHL seldom schedules. He mentioned that NCAA hockey is also missing the chance to better market the sport with so many Friday - Saturday games mostly starting at the same time. The travel disadvantages the home team this week, but no doubt the goal is another sweep. Could be a fitting time to give Michael Simpson a start, hope he does well if he gets the opportunity.

 

[Gino]

ProJo coverage of PC's rise in hockey is completely non-existent. A shame that they hang onto the basketball program so tightly. While their hockey coverage has always been subpar, when Divver left it seems like it's just gotten worse. Can't say they're shorthanded, pumping out articles on everything but PC hockey on a daily basis. Not only the in-print stuff but online lacks that coverage as well. This lack of promoting it does a disservice to the team - don't often fill the arena and they're a top 10 team. Even a little support from local coverage would be better than what they get now.

Spot on!

 

[PaulKorea]

Spot on!

I went through their online paper today to search for PC hockey. Nothing. PC and Brown basketball, men and women's, high school sports, Super Bowl (as it should be covered). They've probably put up some Red Sox offseason articles front of the sports too. But can't find space for a blurb on PC's most recent win. I kind of like the "anonymity" and lack of coverage in a secret club type of way while PC basketball struggles yet gets all the headlines. No wonder Rhode Islanders are miserable. They don't even get to know a successful college hockey program exists.

 

[NEW Friar]

What a nice comeback last night. Malinoski ties it in the second after tremendous pressure by PC that seemed to finally overwhelm the UNH goalie. The intermission interview with him was revealing when he said that if we can put that kind of pressure on them in the 3rd they won’t be able to tolerate that and he was right.

A key element of the 3rd period onslaught was challenging the good goal call after a UNH player tapped the puck with his glove off Parsons back into the net. That challenge was risky because if the call was sustained, PC would have been penalized along with being down 2-1 because they had evidently already used up their 1 challenge. The replay clearly showed the puck being tapped by the player’s glove off Parsons back, but the announcers implied that if it didn’t go over the goal line before it hit Parsons it would be a good goal. One replay angle showed it did hit Parsons first, and the other showed it crossed the line and then hit Parsons back. So after review the call was reversed but the ref’s explanation was just that it was put in off the player’s glove so it didn’t seem to matter whether it was already in when it hit Parsons or not. Was a gusty challenge in any case but I think the PC bench knew the rule better than the announcers. Then Kivioja scores off the ensuing face off so that opened the floodgates to the eventual 6-1 final score. Might not have changed the overall outcome, but that challenge was a key turning point and changed the momentum completely around at that point.

Does anyone know the rule, did it matter whether it went in off Parsons first or not, or was it just that the player hit the puck with his glove and not his stick?

 

[pc88]

The rule is simple, and I can't believe it was confusing to the announcers. Generally, you can only direct the puck into the net with your stick. It can deflect off your body into the net, but you can't kick it in.

That play with his hand would have been a high stick if he used his stick; it would have been a hand pass if it went to a teammate, and the announcers expected it to be a goal because he threw/batted it off of Jack's back.

 

[NEW Friar]

The rule is simple, and I can't believe it was confusing to the announcers. Generally, you can only direct the puck into the net with your stick. It can deflect off your body into the net, but you can't kick it in.

That play with his hand would have been a high stick if he used his stick; it would have been a hand pass if it went to a teammate, and the announcers expected it to be a goal because he threw/batted it off of Jack's back.

Thanks for this great response. I appreciate the succinct explanation and the alternative what ifs, says something about the value of a good liberal arts education too!

 

[PaulKorea]

Anybody else baffled about the NPI formula? I ask in reference to BC losing at home last night and it looks like they actually moved up. Maybe I'm being ignorant of other results, but how does a home loss actually benefit them, unless it's one of those throwaway games that doesn't count?

 

[NEW Friar]

Sounds like an unanticipated consequence to me. Perhaps a software update is in the works?