PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Providence College coach Nate Leaman wasn’t pleased with his team’s overall performance in Friday night’s victory over the University of Maine and his players got the message.
The Friars established their dominance from the opening faceoff, scoring just 1:27 into the game and never looking back en route to a comfortable 3-0 victory over the Black Bears.
Maine fell to 1-6 overall, which marks the worst start since the 1985-86 team went 1-11-1 to start the season.
Maine, which has been shut out three times and held to one goal on two other occasions, is 0-2 in Hockey East play.
“There’s not much to say,” Maine coach Tim Whitehead said. “The better team won. I was disappointed with the result. We had our chances and didn’t capitalize. They did. We’ll be skating hard on Monday. We have a lot of work and a lot of recruiting to do.”
He also said he was perturbed by Maine’s four second-period penalties that gave the Friars chances to extend the lead and Kevin Hart made them pay.
“We came out in the second period juiced up and we tried to knock their heads off instead of chipping away at the lead,” said Whitehead.
Sophomore center Ross Mauermann scored the game-opening goal and sophomore right wing Shane Luke extended the lead 9:56 later.
Cumberland’s Hart, a junior defenseman, made it 3-0 on the power play at the 8:04 mark of the second period and that was it..
South Portland’s Jon Gillies made 26 saves in posting the shutout while Maine junior Dan Sullivan tied his career-high by making 39 stops.
Sullivan was forced to make 20 Grade-A (high-percentage) saves while Gillies had to make just 10.
Providence attempted 65 shots to Maine’s 42 and had 31 Grade-A scoring attempts to Maine’s 16.
Providence is now 3-2-1 overall, 2-1 in Hockey East,
The Friars used a relentless forecheck and effective physical play to keep the Bears pinned in their defensive zone for the vast majority of the first two periods
“We played a complete game tonight,” said Mauermann. “We wanted to come out and jump all over them in the first five minutes.”
“The guys moved their feet tonight and had a lot more poise with the puck,” said Leaman. “They settled down and made plays instead of just throwing the puck around like they did [Friday] night.”
The Friars did a nice job protecting the lead in the third period, blocking several shots and limiting the desperate Bears’ second- and third-chance opportunities.
Providence had 10 Grade-A scoring attempts in the first period to Maine’s three in building a 2-0 lead..
Mauermann scored off a three-on-two as he took a short pass in full stride from Steven Shamanski and wristed a 20-footer over Sullivan’s glove into the far corner from the left circle.
“It was a nice pass by [Shamanski] and I just tried to get a quick shot off,” said Mauermann.
Luke took a John Gilmour pass in the neutral zone and moved down the left wing in a one-on-one with Maine defenseman Brice O’Connor.
Luke put on a burst after absorbing a bump from O’Connor and he busted around O’Connor before beating Sullivan blocker side by roofing a wrister into the near-side corner from 14 feet out.
Luke said gave a “look-off” to the far post as if he was going to pass it to try to catch Sullivan cheating over.
“I was off my angle,” said Sullivan.
O’Connor said he “misjudged” Luke’s speed and should have played the body on him more thoroughly to take him out of the play.
The Friars, who outshot Maine 14-8 in the first period, generated 17 second-period shots to Maine’s eight and Sullivan was the only reason the deficit wasn’t worse than 3-0.
Hart converted a cross-ice pass from Luke into his goal.
Hart found a lot of open real estate on the weak side, closed from the right point to the right faceoff dot and one-timed Luke’s pass under the crossbar into the short side corner past the helpless Sullivan.
PC went one-for-seven on the power play on the evening while Maine went 0-for-6 and is now 1-for-36 with the man advantage on the year.
“We needed to come out with a better effort tonight, myself included,” said Sullivan.
Leaman said he was thankful his Friars were able to score an early goal especially in light of Sullivan’s performance.
“It was nice to get a lead because he was so good tonight,” said Leaman.
Great job Timmay!!! I have faith you can break the school record for the worst start ever and it’s all because Purcell left early you are the king of excuses.
Don’t forget Mangene.
You’re leaving quite a legacy, Coach Whitehead. Really something to be proud of. A couple of years ago (maybe even last year) you could have left on your own and had a prayer of landing another D1 job someday. Not Hockey East, mind you, but maybe at a low-tier ECAC school or something. Now, you’ll be lucky to scrounge up a D3 job somewhere.
Well, on the bright side Diamond only had one penalty tonight.
0-6 on the PP, 42 shots given up.
Good grief can it get any worse.
Oh wait, Maine hasn’t played a quality opponent yet.
BC gets to beat on Timmay friday night.
Who recruited these players anyway? Don’t throw the players under the bus MaHomey, stand up for once and implicate your employer, “THE u” !
C’mon man!
There was a day when Maine had size, speed, enthusiasm on all 4 lines; 2 talented goalies and a bench full of hungry talented red shirt freshman. The program has been in decline from this model for some time. Please figure it out; i am tired of thinking this is good entertainment. Bring the family to Orono, out to eat, and then the game. At least the food was good.
at least you’re getting more brutal in your articles, Mahoney… it’s a CRYING SHAME that you were forced to do a write up on Providence’s skills!
“Hart found a lot of open real estate on the weak side, closed from the right point to the right faceoff dot and one-timed Luke’s pass under the crossbar into the short side corner past the helpless Sullivan.” = Maine’s defense was once again NOT THERE for him!
“We played a complete game tonight,” said Mauermann. “We wanted to come out and jump all over them in the first five minutes.” = they figured out pretty quickly that Maine acts and plays completely defeated & desperate if scored against early on.
then all of the mentioning of who had more shots on goal = Maine’s offense is even worse than their defense… PATHETIC. I can’t believe this is MAINE.
Quote on Quote…”We have alot of work and alot of recruiting to do”……oh come on……this should have been done the work part before and during the season……and recruiting..? Think about that last statement….alot of recruiting….too late NOW….you build every year…replace players/get players for certain roles/depth wise/talent improvement….if and when the season ends,he has to be relieved of his Coaching Duties…plain and simple…he’s run his course and its OVER.
Apparently even Tim sees the writing on the wall. The d has gone downhill since Campbell Blair left. The goaltending has gotten worse since Grant was shown the door. As long as Shawns recruits were around life was good. Now it’s all on Tim and it ain’t lookin’ good
because steve abbott is allowing this joke to go on year after year,its to late now..it will take years to rebuild what Whitehead has destroyed…A REAL SHAME
At least with a “NEW” Coach,there would be hope/confidence in Rebuilding the Program,I’ll take a “NEW” Coach and a Rebuilding plan any day of the week compared to another year of Whitehead Hockey. This will be a long/painful season,hopefully the ending reads in the BDNews come mid March/1st part of April: Maine Hockey Fires Whitehead
“There’s not much to say,” Maine coach Tim Whitehead said. “The better team won. I was disappointed with the result. We had our chances and didn’t capitalize. They did. We’ll be skating hard on Monday. We have a lot of work and a lot of recruiting to do.”
Yes because so many recruits are going to line up to play for a failure.
Dubuque improved to 8-0-0 last night. They have outscored their opponents 27-11, and have not given up more than 2 goals in any one game, to go along with 3 one-gaol games and 1 shut out. Boy that Jim Montgomery and Grant Standbrook can really coach. Why aren’t they in Orono?
i am a passive hockey fan and haven’t ever stated they should let whitehead go however this is getting embarrasing. i know he probably wont be canned during the season but if it doesnt after this once proud program will never be what it was without some new energy. i have met tim and he’s very nice, but passive. passive just doesnt cut it in my books, we need some ethusisiam and we need it now!!!
What will Lake Superior St, Bowling Green, & UMO soon have in common?
They have all won the National Title & been to multiple Frozen Fours. Oh, and they have all fallen off the College Hockey Map !!!!!!
“UMO” never won a national title, let alone make an NCAA appearance, when they had hockey from 1977-86.
and here comes the resident “UMO” dingbat right on cue ;)
I think what bothers Hamden High’s, dunbar is that the “O” in UMO reminds him of how many dates he’s ever had :) :):)
I guess I’m tied with you… ;)
Oh and BTW, it’s Hampden Academy. But it’s OK, you wouldn’t graduate from HA anyways…
I initially wanted to give TW a pass after all of the recruiting issues a few years ago with Sill, Morone, Czuba, Belmore, Randall, etc. I figured, post Grant and Guy, he deserved a chance to build his own team, run his own systems, and develop his own talent. Well, he’s had his chance. The team is a mess. The D is as bad as I can remember going back to the early 8os. The team’s junior goalie looks about as confident in his game as a beaten puppy. And, the forwards, playing TW’s system, look completely lost. All of this makes me realize the inconsistency and blown opportunities, even during the FF appearances, had everything to do with Tim. There’s an excuse every year, and now he’s pointing to the recruits. At the end of the day, he owns the recruiting.
Mr. Abbott — the situation couldn’t be any clearer. I don’t think anyone expects Maine its late 80s/early 90s powerhouse status. It’s a different era in college hockey. BUT, Maine should be able to compete within it’s own conference and have a “shot” at the NCAAs every year. Outside of last year’s run, the team has been a mess for 4 years. With ND and CT coming into the conference, Maine is going to be a Hockey East doormat unless some kind of change is made.
We haven’t seen anything yet.
Let him know what you think!
Steven Abbott
Director of Athletics
215 Memorial Gym
Orono, ME 04469