Friars Fall to UNH 3-1, Eliminated from Hockey East Tournament
Saturday, March 22, 2014
The Providence College men’s basketball team wasn’t the only set of Friars that lost a 2 point heartbreaker and was eliminated from a tournament Friday night.
A disastrous 2nd period put the Friars in a hole, and their 3rd period rally came up short as the University of New Hampshire prevailed in the Hockey East Semifinals at TD Garden in Boston.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTThe Wildcats scored all 3 of their goals in the 2nd period. Kevin Goumas lit the lamp about 7 minutes into the period (for a shorthanded goal), and Justin Agosta added what proved to be the winning goal 6 minutes later. Goumas then beat the buzzer to score again in the final second of the period, sending the Friars into the intermission with a 3 goal deficit and 2 minutes to erase it.
Kevin Rooney scored in the opening minutes of the final period for Providence, but that proved to be the only blemish for UNH Goaltender Casey DeSmith on Friday night. DeSmith finished with 25 saves in the victory.
Friars Goaltender Jon Gilles stopped 28 shots in the loss. This is the 3rd consecutive season that the Friars have advanced to the single-elimination Conference Semifinals only to lose.
UNH advances to the Hockey East Championship Game on Saturday. The Wildcats will face defending champion UMass Lowell. UML beat Notre Dame 4-0 on Friday in the other Semifinal game.
PC now will wait and see if they will be named to the 16-team NCAA Tournament field on Sunday’s selection show. The Friars are considered a likely selection for the Tournament.
