PROVIDENCE, R.I. - The men's hockey team defeated Maine, 3-0, at Schneider Arena on Saturday night, led by freshman goaltender Jon Gillies' (South Portland, Maine) first career shutout in the Friar net. Gillies stopped all 26 shots he faced in the game as the Friars posted a weekend sweep of the Black Bears.
Providence (3-2-1, 2-1-0 Hockey East) built an early lead by scoring twice in the first period, which proved to be enough to hold off Maine (1-6-0, 0-2-0 Hockey East) for the win. Sophomore Ross Mauermann's (Janesville, Wis.) goal at 1:27 turned out to be the game winner for the Friars. Sophomore Shane Luke (Dauphin, Manitoba) also scored in the first period and junior Kevin Hart (Cumberland, Maine) added a second period power-play tally to round out the scoring.
After playing a strong opening period, the Friars found themselves up two goals. Mauermann registered the first goal of the game just 1:27. The play that led to the game winning goal started in the neutral zone when freshman Paul de Jersey (West Vancouver, B.C.) got the puck to junior Steven Shamanski (Carberry, Manitoba). Shamanski carried the puck into the offensive zone and dished the puck to Mauermann, who got the Friars on the board with a shot that went up high over the shoulder of Maine goaltender Dan Sullivan. While the teams were skating 4-on-4, Luke scored for Providence to extend the lead. Luke cut in towards the net from the face-off circle and fired a shot that beat Sullivan top shelf at 10:23. Freshman John Gilmour (Montreal, Que.) and senior Tim Schaller (Merrimack, N.H.) both notched assists on the goal.
Hart widened the Providence lead when he scored at 8:04 on the man advantage in the second period. Hart's first goal of the season was a snipe of a shot that rattled off the post and into the top corner of the net. Luke and De Jersey both tallied their second points of the game with helpers on the power-play goal.
Even though the third period saw no goal scoring from either team, the hard-hitting, fast-paced nature of the match continued. Gillies finished off the period strong to earn his first collegiate shutout, making 10 of his 26 saves in the third. Sullivan also played well for the Black Bears, stopping 39 shots. Providence outshot Maine, 42-26, in the game.
The Friars travel to Hockey East foe Vermont next weekend for a two-game series on Friday, Nov. 2 and Saturday, Nov. 3. Puck drop is scheduled at 7:05 for both games.
Notes With the back-to-back wins, Providence clinched a season series against Maine for the first time since the 2007-08 season ...Tonight's win marked the first time since December 5 and 6, 1997, that the Friars swept Maine in a weekend series at home ... Jon Gillies started his sixth consecutive game in goal ... Gillies stopped 53 of 55 Maine shots he faced over the weekend to help the Friars to the weekend sweep ... Freshman John Gilmour and senior Tim Schaller now have three-game point streaks ... Shane Luke tied a career high in points with 2 (2 points against Sacred Heart on 10/12/12) ... Freshman Paul de Jersey set a career high in assists with two as and tied a career high for points with two (2 points against Sacred Heart on 10/12/12).