PC Friars Rally to Beat 5th Ranked UMass-Lowell
PC news release…
LOWELL, Mass. – Trailing 2-0 just 8:48 into the game, the Providence College men’s hockey team rallied with four answered goals to defeat the 5th-ranked UMass Lowell River Hawks, 4-3, on Friday night at Tsongas Center.
Providence improves to 11-8-4 (3-6-2 HEA) and move up to eighth in the Hockey East standings. The River Hawks saw their seven-game winning streak snapped to fall to 15-6-3 (7-4-1 HEA).
Hayden Hawkey made 22 saves for the Friars including crucial stops in the third period for his 11th win of the season. Tyler Wall made 16 stops for UMass Lowell to fall to 14-5-1.
The River Hawks controlled the opening 10 minutes as they out-shot the Friars by an 8-1 margin and tallied the game’s first two goals. UML freshman Kenny Hausinger fired a shot past Hawkey just 3:13 in after a centering feed from behind the Providence net from Ryan Lohin. The River Hawks struck again 5:35 later after a turnover in the neutral sent Ryan Dmowski in on a clear breakaway and he beat Hawkey high above the blocker to put the hosts up 2-0.
With UML’s Nick Master in the box for tripping, the Friars cut the deficit in half on Scott Conway’s 8th marker of the season and 6th on the power play at 13:32. Erik Foley toe-dragged around a River Hawk defenseman and drove the net, with Conway following up to hammer the rebound past Wall to make it a 2-1 game. Conway nearly tied things up just minutes later, but his wrap-around bid was closed off by Wall.
The River Hawks held a 10-5 edge in shots after the opening 20 minutes.
Providence came out strong in the second period looking for the equalizer and finally tied things up at the 7:08 mark on the power play as Vimal Sukumaran put a rebound past Wall for his 5th goal of the season and 3rd goal in as many games.
The River Hawks looked to regain the lead just seconds later as Nick Master was sent on a breakaway, but Hawkey flashed the right pad to keep things even at 2-2. Providence came close to gaining its first lead of the night as defenseman Vincent Desharnais jumped up to join Josh Wilkins on a 2-on-1, but the sophomore couldn’t put his re-direct past Wall who sprawled across with his left pad.
UML held a 17-15 edge in shots after 40 minutes of play, but the Friars earned a 10-7 advantage in the second period.
Providence struck for two goals in a span of 2:00 minutes midway through the third period as Kasper Björkqvist notched his second goal of the season and first since Dec. 2 to put the Friars up 3-2. Desharnais gave the Friars a two-goal cushion just two minutes later as his point shot rebounded off the pad of Wall and deflected off a River Hawk defenseman over the goal line for his 2nd goal of the season at 9:58.
Dylan Zink cut the Providence lead to 4-3 with 6:08 to play on a screen shot from the point. Key face-off wins by Robbie Hennessey in the final seconds and shot blocks from the Friar defense kept UML from tying things up as time expired.
Up next, the Friars and River Hawks will conclude their series tomorrow night at Schneider Arena beginning at 7 p.m. Tomorrow night’s game can be seen by Cox Cable customers in Rhode Island on channels 4 and 1004 (HD).
HOW THEY SCORED
1-0 (UML) Kenny Hausinger (Lohin, Panico) – Centering feed from behind the Friar net out front to Hausinger for the one-timer.
2-0 (UML) Ryan Dmowski – Breakaway from the neutral zone off a turnover, snap shot over the blocker of Hawkey.
2-1 (PC) Scott Conway (Foley) (PPG) – A strong net drive by Foley led to a rebound right back to Conway in the slot and he finished into an open net.
2-2 (PC) Vimal Sukumaran (Wilkins, Duhaime) (PPG) – Rebound off a shot by Wilkins from the top of the circles.
3-2 (PC) Kasper Björkqvist (Pinho, Bryson) – Feed down low to Björkqvist and he deked to the forehand and beat Wall to the blocker side.
4-2 (PC) Vincent Desharnais (Pinho, Wilkins) – Shot from the point by Desharnais, who’s rebound deflected off a defenseman’s skate.
4-3 (UML) Dylan Zink (Forney, Edwardh) – Slap shot from the top of the point through a screen.
Notes: Power Plays – UMass Lowell (1/4), Providence (2/5) … final shots on goal: 25-20 in favor of the River Hawks … shot attempts: Providence 40, UMass Lowell 45 … Wilkins has seven points in his last five games … Sukumaran has scored three consecutive games and is the second freshman to score in three straight this season (Wilkins) … Conway leads the team with six power play goals …. two of Desharnais’ three career goals have come against UMass Lowell … Providence evened its record to 9-9-0 against UML under Nate Leaman … Friars are 11-2-1 when scoring at least three goals this season.
