The Providence College men's hockey (1-0, 1-0 Hockey East) team used five different goal scorers, including four freshmen en route to a 5-3 season-opening win over No. 7 Boston University (1-1, 1-1 Hockey East) Friday night in front of a crowd of 2,884 at Schneider Arena.
The Friars came out fast from the start and took the lead at 2:48 when freshman Drew Brown (Grass Lake, Mich.) fired wrist from the right circle and over the shoulder of Boston University goaltender senior Kieran Millan. Senior Andy Balysky (Randolph, N.J.) assisted on the goal. Less than a minute later, the Friars extended their lead to 2-0 when freshman Matt Montesano (West Bridgewater, Mass.) scored from in close. It also marked Montesano's first career goal as junior Tim Schaller (Merrimack, N.H.) and senior Matt Bergland (Faribault, Minn.) assisted on the goal. The quick 2-0 lead by the Friars forced the Terriers to take an early timeout. Before the end of the first period, the Friars managed to tally another goal for a three-goal edge. Freshman Stefan Demopoulos (La Mesa, Calif.) scored after being setup in the slot by from sophomore Damian Cross (Nepean, Ont.).
The Terriers quickly cut the lead to 3-2 early in the second period. Matt Nieto raced down the right wing, cut into the slot before rifling a high wrist shot into the net at 1:31. Just 1:08 later, Corey Trivino scored on the power play to trim PC's lead to one. Early in the third period, Garrett Noonan evened the score (3-3) with his first goal of the season at 3:13. However, the Friars regained the lead at 5:42 on the power play. Cross setup junior Myles Harvey (Orlando, Fla.) who ripped a one timer from the point and into the net. It marked Harvey's first collegiate goal as sophomore Derek Army (North Kingstown, R.I.) assisted on the goal.
Later in the third period freshman Ross Mauermann (Janesville, Wis.) gave the Friars a 5-3 lead. Demopoulos skated into the BU zone and made a toe-drag move around a defender before firing a shot that Millan saved. However, Mauermann collected the rebound and calmly lifted a wrist shot into the net at 8:56.
The Friars outshot the Terriers 30-26. Providence senior goalie Alex Beaudry (Cumberland, Ont.) finished the game with 23 saves while Millan stopped 25 shots. In his first game as Head Coach of the Friars, Nate Leaman picked up his first victory.
Providence returns to the ice tomorrow night against Massachusetts at Schneider Arena for a 7:00 puck drop. BU will play a non-conference game against No. 3 Denver at Agganis Arena.