PC Hockey Upset by Merrimack, 3-2, in OT; Eliminated from Hockey East Tournament

PC Hockey Upset by Merrimack, 3-2, in OT; Eliminated from Hockey East Tournament

The Providence College hockey team, the # 1 seed in the Hockey East Tournament, lost a heartbreaker to Merrimack 3-2 in overtime at Schneider Arena.  With this quarterfinal loss in the tournament, PC is eliminated from further Hockey East tournament play.

The semi-finals of the tournament to be held next weekend at TD Garden will feature  UMass against Merrimack and Boston College against UConn.

PC is still a lock to be an at-large qualifier for the NCAA tournament, which begins play on March 26th. 

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The Friars are presently ranked #5 in the country.

Merrimack, which won one of the two regular-season games against the Friars, was not intimidated by the #1 seed and regular-season champion Friars.  Merrimack, like the Friars has a solid group of freshman and sophomore skaters and a stellar netminder in Max Lundgren.

PC scored the first goal at 13:49 of the first period by Graham Gamache popped into the back of the net after a beautiful feed from John Mustard.  PC outshot the Warriors 16-9 in the first period and had a ton of opportunities on two power plays but couldn’t convert either of them.  Merrimack converted a power play seven seconds into their first power play and forced the Friars to settle for a 1-1 tie after one period.

Merrimack controlled the play in the second period but wasn’t able to score.  PC defenseman Kale McCallum took a 5-minute misconduct penalty at the 17:17 mark of the second period, but PC goalie Jack Parsons stopped all of Merrimack’s shots.  The score remained 1-1 after 2 periods.

The five-minute misconduct carried over into the third period, and Merrimack scored their second power-play goal at 0:49. The Warriors played keep-away for most of the remainder of the third period.  The Friars got some luck with only 3:16 remaining in regulation when a slap shot by Roger McQueen in the upper slot found the stick of John Mustard, who had his back to the net. The shot lazily flew into the net to tie the game at 2-2 and send the game to overtime.

The Friars dominated early play in OT, but the Warriors, with only their second rush up the ice in OT, scored on a wrist shot by Trevor Hoskins at 3:50 that stunned the Friar players and the crowd.  Merrimack goalie Lundgren was the difference in the game, stopping 34 of 36 shots.

This was the last home season game of the year for the Friars.  They await their fate, opponent, and NCAA tournament location to be announced on Sunday, March 22, at 3 PM.