Tanner Adams scored the opening goal of the contest shorthanded in the second period that would end up as the game winner on Saturday night, as #18 Providence College finished off a men’s Hockey East sweep with a 3-0 victory over #12 Maine at Schneider Arena in Providence, Rhode Island.
The Friars really dominated large portions of both games on the weekend. Freshman Mathis Rousseau, who finished up in net on Friday night in relief of Albin Boija in a 6-1 loss, would get the starting nod for the Black Bears and made several Grade A saves on the night to keep his team in it. The winner by Adams came on a Maine turnover while they were on the powerplay. Josh Nadeau would turn it over at the offensive blue line leading to a breakaway by Adams who deeked left to right, and slid the puck into the net past Rousseau glove side shorthanded at 9:21 of the second period. Another mistake in the third period led to a second Providence tally. Freshman defenseman Lukas Peterson from behind his own net tried to make a pass to a teammate inside his own zone to possibly start a rush up ice. There wasn’t enough on the pass however, as it landed right onto the stick of Aleksi Kivioja who easily intercepted it and walked into the low slot before backhanding it into the cage at 7:56. Andrew Centrella scored at 16:11 on the powerplay finishing off a big weekend sweep for the Friars.
Alexander Bales, Donovan McCoy, Will Elger, and Jonathan Fauchon all had one assist each for Providence College. Freshman Jack Parsons, the second string goalie who has taken the place of an injured Philip Svedeback, made 20 saves and picked up his first career shutout in his sixth collegiate game. The Friars would go 1-4 on the powerplay and would improve their record to 11-7-2 and 6-3-1 in Hockey East. Sully Scholle had four shots on goal, while Nadeau and Peterson had three each in what was a really tough offensive weekend for Maine who couldn’t really sustain anything. Rousseau made 29 stops in a admirable performance really keeping them in it until the third period. They would go 0-2 on their powerplay opportunities. The Black Bears now drop to 12-9-2 overall and below .500 in the conference at 6-7-0. Maine will have a week off before returning to action on the road on Friday and Saturday January 23rd and 24th at UMass-Lowell.
Featured photo (top) is courtesy of UMaine Athletics. Photo at bottom of Mathis Rousseau in a game earlier this season is also courtesy of UMaine Athletics
