How Did PC Men’s Hockey Turn Its Season Around?

How Did PC Men’s Hockey Turn Its Season Around?

The preseason polls had the Providence College hockey team ranked #9 in the country. But on January 3, 2026, after a shocking 5-1 loss to the lowly University of Alaska Nanooks at Schneider Arena no less, the outlook for the Providence College hockey team looked bleak.

The Friars were hovering around #20 in the national polls with a 9-7-2 record. Picked to finish #2 in Hockey East, the Friars had a disappointing 4-3-1 record in Hockey East play and were mired in the bottom half of the league.

The chances of being selected to be one of the 16 NCAA postseason teams seemed improbable.

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As the Friars returned to practice on January 5th, several items portended a lost season:

-- Michigan had embarrassed PC on their home ice

-- PC led the country in giving up six short-handed goals

-- PC had not been able to win one weekend series all season

-- Due to multiple sophomore transfers after the 2023-24 season, PC had no senior skaters on the team

-- The only senior, outstanding goalie Phil Svedeback, was injured midway through the Alaska game.  His return to action is still unknown.

-- Svedeback’s replacement in goal, freshman Jack Parsons, faced only 8 shots against the Alaska Nanooks and gave up 2 goals.

Here we are now in the second week of February, the Friars have not lost since the embarrassing game against Alaska, have won nine straight games to stand at 18-7-2, are ranked #7 in the latest national ranking, and are sitting all alone in first place in Hockey East.  And those nine wins include sweeps against the iron of Hockey East—Maine, Boston University, and Boston College.

What explains the turnaround?  Have one or two players become goal-scoring phenoms?  Did PC get an elite transfer in January from another hockey program that has been lighting the lamp every game?

There is not one singular person or explanation to explain the PC hockey team’s turnaround.  Here are the major reasons for PC’s recent success.

First, it has taken half a season for the eleven PC freshmen to mesh with the other PC team members and to learn that Division One college hockey is a tougher and faster game than what they were used to.

The PC coaches must have used a dozen different offensive line combinations in the first half of the season, looking for the best four offensive line combinations.  Similarly, it took two months to figure out the best blue line pairings.

Second, this has been one of Coach Leaman’s best coaching efforts.  With so many freshmen, he and his staff have had to preach team play and how to do the little things that win games.

Many of these players were the elite scorers or skaters on their junior hockey teams.  On a PC team, you also have to do the little things if the team is going to win—forechecking constantly, digging for every puck in the corner, making the extra pass, fearlessly blocking shots, and avoiding stupid penalties.  This is how PC hockey wins games.

Third, PC has received elite goal tending from freshman Jack Parsons while starter Phil Svedeback has been down with an injury. Parson’s overall season record of 10-1 with a 1.89 goals-against average, and .929 save percentage is the best in Hockey East and one of the best in the country.  A lot of credit goes to assistant coach Joe Palmer who works daily with Parsons and has helped Parson to become a more confident netminder.

The sudden loss of senior Phil Svedeback as goalie has also had a big psychological effect on the team and on Parson’s success, according to Coach Leaman. The team members realized that they all needed to up their team defensive game to help freshman Parsons succeed.  The whole team, not just Parsons, can take credit in reducing the goals allowed during the winning streak.

Finally, there is nothing like success.  Success breeds success, and success breeds confidence, especially on a young team where 70% of the players are freshmen and sophomores.  This PC team is winning in many ways—6-1 blowout wins, shutout wins, and come-from-behind wins.  They have accepted Coach Leaman’s style of play and are playing like every shift counts.

They are fun to watch.

Catch the excitement of this team this Friday at 7 PM and Saturday at 5:30 PM at Schneider when the Friars will be looking to leash the Northeastern Huskies and go for eleven wins in a row.