By: Josh Brown
BOSTON- Five unanswered goals, including two a piece by linemates Trevor Mingoia and Ross Mauermann led the Providence College Friars to a 5-1 win over Northeastern at Matthews Arena Wednesday night.
The Huskies (3-10-1, 2-6-1 in Hockey East) scored the first goal of the game with less than two minutes to go in the first period, but from there it was all Friars (8-5-1, 6-3-0 in Hockey East) who relied on their aggressive offense and excellent goaltending to secure the win.
“In the second and third period it was just an old fashion whooping that Providence gave us,” said Huskies coach Jim Madigan. “We didn’t skate, we didn’t play smart, we took too many penalties, we were soft.”
“Boy were we soft on pucks,” Madigan added.
The Friars came out flying, dominating the tempo out of the shoot, before the Huskies were eventually able to settle the pace down in what ended up being a back-and-forth opening frame.
The Huskies were able to find the back of the net first when Colton Saucerman collected a rebound off a Matt Benning shot that went wide, and shot it off a Friar defender and eventually past Providence goalie Jon Gillies.
“After the first five minutes of the first period I thought we played really well,” Madigan said.
The tides would turn quickly though, as Providence would take their play to another level in the second period.
Trevor Mingoia got it going early in the period for the Friars, scoring a power play goal after taking a pass from Jake Walman and burying it past Huskies net-minder Clay Witt.
At the 5:49 mark in the second period Ross Mauermann received a pass from Nick Saracino in a tight window that Mauermann was able to get a read on, and shot it high into the net past Witt.
The Friars would continue to pour it on in the second period when Mauermann found a streaking Noel Acciari who wrapped one just inside the post for his first goal of the year, to make it 3-1 Providence.
“I thought we showed some good mental toughness coming out o the first period down 1-0, and continuing to get better throughout the game,” said Providence coach Nate Leaman.
“I thought they [Northeastern] had a very good game plan going into the game,” added Leaman. “We had to make some adjustments. We just kept getting better throughout the game.”
Providence would do just that in the third period, and continue to tack on to their lead while smothering the Northeastern offense any time they entered their offensive zone.
Mauermann added insult to injury at the 8:26 mark of the third period, scoring shorthanded with a Huskies defender playing tight defense on him and drawing a penalty in the process, as he put it in the back of the net.
The penalty was one of seven that the Huskies took throughout the course of the game.
Mingoia would score his second of the game with just 3:56 remaining, ripping a one-timer from Nick Saracino over the blocker of Witt to make it 5-1 Friars.
The #16 ranked Friars dominated the face-off dot all night long winning 37 of 59 on the night, including many in key situations on the power play and shorthanded.
Despite a slower start then they wanted out of the gate this season, Leaman see’s improvement in his team every game.
“We’re pretty fortunate to be where we’re at,” Leaman said. “Fortunately our goaltendings been great. Our defense has been pretty good. We got to just keep working, and take it one game at a time.”
On the other side Madigan could not understand why his team came out “soft” after coming off a win against #3 Minnesota, and having won three of their last four games.
“We didn’t compete enough. We didn’t battle enough,” Madigan said. “They plain and simple wanted it more.”
The two teams will have a couple days off before meeting back up Saturday afternoon down in Providence, and Madigan noted that no one has a guaranteed slot in the lineup.
“When you have a lack of a effort like that, I don’t think anyone’s job is safe in the lineup,” Madigan said.
“I don’t know what the outcome’s gonna be on Saturday,” Madigan said. “But they’ll be a different effort, that’s for sure on our behalf.