The Providence College men's hockey (2-0-0, 2-0-0 HEA) team earned its second consecutive win thanks to two-goal performance by sophomore Derek Army (North Kingstown, R.I.) and junior Myles Harvey (Orlando, Fla.) against the Massachusetts Minutemen (1-1-1, 0-1-1 HEA) with a final score of 6-4 Saturday night at Schneider Arena.
For the second night in a row, the Friars came out strong in the first period. Army scored a goal off the rush just 2:01 into the game. Senior Andy Balysky (Randolph, N.J.) and freshman Barrett Kaib (Pittsburgh, Pa.) both registered assists on the goal. Both teams had several chances on the power play the rest of the first period, but neither team could capitalize on its chances until Harvey fired a shot from the point off a pass from freshman Stefan Demopoulos (La Mesa, Calif.) giving the Friars a 2-0 lead with less than a minute remaining in the first period. This was the second power-play goal for Harvey this weekend.
The Minutemen began the second period with a quick goal by Danny Hobbs. The Friars then regained their two goal lead (3-1) with a short-handed goal scored by junior Tim Schaller (Merrimack, N.H.) with an assist from Balysky and goaltender Alex Beaudry (Cumberland, Ont.) at the 2:00 mark of the second period. More back and forth play between the two teams continued as UMass sophomore Adam Phillips scored on a shot from the blue line to cut the Friars' lead to one (3-2). At 13:08, Army scored his second goal of the game to extend the Friar lead to 4-2. Kaib registered his second assist of the night on Army's goal while freshman Drew Brown (Grass Lakes, Mich.) also registered an assist. Hobbs capitalized on a Minutemen power play at 14:42 for his second goal of the game to once again pull within one of the Friars (4-3). PC managed to regain its two-goal lead (5-3) at 15:52 as junior Billy Simon (Burnsville, Minn.) scored a goal over the shoulder of UMass goalie Kevin Boyle. It marked his first career goal.
The Minutemen used the power play to make the score 5-4 as Connor Sheary scored at 15:29 of the third period. Harvey sealed the win at 19:32 with his second goal of the night and his third goal of the weekend.
The Friars outshot the Minutemen, 27-26. Beaudry made 22 saves. Boyle had 13 saves while sophomore Jeff Teglia finished the game stopping eight shots.
Providence plays its next game on Friday, October 21against defending national champion and ninth-ranked Minnesota-Duluth at 7:00 in Schneider Arena. Massachusetts returns to the ice next Friday night to play No.1 Boston College at the Conte Forum.