Men’s Ice Hockey: Terriers Pull Out Decisive Point at Providence College in Tie
By: Jake Reiser
There was a lot of hype coming into tonight’s game, and boy, did it deliver. The first of a home-and-home series rematch of the National Championship game between the Boston University Terriers (5-3-1) and the Providence College Friars (6-0-2) occurred at Schneider Arena in Providence, the teams skating to a 1-1 tie.
The game came with a lot of physicality from both sides. Friar defenseman Kyle McKenzie laid a hit on Nikolas Olsson, tumbling Olsson to the ice. Olsson would get his left arm checked by team staff after skating to the bench.
Anthony Florentino would duck under an attemted Ahti Oksanen hit, flipping Oksanen over near the boards, drawing a clipping penalty.
BU would end up with 25 totals PIMS, 19 of which belonged to freshman Charlie McAvoy, who received a game misconduct and a five-minute contact to the head penalty at 5:34 of the third period. BU would be short-handed much of the third, including two minutes of a 5-on-3 after Grzelcyk and McAvoy both sat for boarding at 2:31 of the third.
Providence College got the scoring started, as Mark Jankowski would rip a shot high over the glove shoulder of BU starter Connor LaCouvee on the power play at 13:24 of the second period.
The power play came after a scrum in which two Terriers and one Friar went to the penalty box for roughing.
Jankowski’s snipe would be the only goal LaCouvee allowed, as the sophomore made 32 saves in the overtime tie.
LaCouvee headed to the bench with two minutes to go for the extra attacker. Thirty seconds later, the Friars couldn’t win a defensive zone faceoff cleanly, as Olsson finessed the puck behind him. Oksanen won the loose puck, and with two Providence defenders draped on the Finnish forward, he sent a screaming wrist shot over the shoulder of Ellis.
The game remained scoreless for the final 1:29 of regulation and overtime as the teams split valuable Hockey East points.
It was the second time all season that Providence did not win a game when leading after the second period.
The next game of the home-at-home series will be Saturday, November 14th, at 4 p.m. at Agganis Arena.