Greg Printz scored four goals and Jack Dugan added a goal and three assists on Saturday evening as the #7 Providence College Friars crushed the Maine Black Bears 7-0 in the season and Hockey East men’s hockey opener for both teams at Schneider Arena in Providence, Rhode Island.
Maine (0-1, 0-1 Hockey East) found themselves in a hole early with two penalties 1:20 into the opening period that gave Providence an immediate 5 on 3 advantage. Vimal Sukumaren buried a rebound past Black Bears goalie Jeremy Swayman at 2:23 that turned out to be the game winner. Dugan got his goal on a drop pass from Parker Ford at 4:35 to make it 2-0 Friars.
PC (1-0, 1-0) continued their onslaught in the second period. Printz scored at 6:05 and Tyce Thompson at 18:23 to extend to a 4-0 lead and the home team was on cruise control. Printz scored at 5:55 and 12:05 of the third period to complete the hat trick. He added another at 14:39 to end the scoring on the day.
Swayman would still end up with 52 saves despite giving up seven goals as PC outshot Maine 59-29. The Friars also attempted 82 shots to 51 for the Bears. Maine had 29 penalty minutes resulting in a 2-8 success for Providence on the powerplay. Michael Lackey stopped all 29 shots to earn the shutout win in net with very few good chances coming from Maine sticks.
Maine returns home to host defending Canadian College national champion New Brunswick in an exhibition at 4 p.m. Sunday. The Black Bears will open their home regular season next Friday and Saturday when they welcome in Alaska-Anchorage for 7 p.m. contests.
