Friars Fall In Frozen Four

Josh Wilkins (15) scored the Friars' only goal in the 4-1 loss to Minnesota
Duluth in the national semifinal on Thursday.

By Bob Phillips

BUFFALO—In the end, the inability to take advantage of a third-period 5-on-3 powerplay combined with a failure to win faceoffs ultimately doomed the Friars. Here’s the short story: Billy Exell broke a 1-1 tie midway through the third period, and the University of Minnesota Duluth tacked on two empty netters late in the game to lead the Bulldogs to a 4-1 victory over the Friars in one semifinal contest in the Frozen Four at KeyBank Center on Thursday. The game was also televised to a national audience on ESPN2.

The score, buoyed by the two late empty net goals, was not pretty. In fact, it could have been worse. Much worse.

UMD appeared to take the lead—twice—in the first period, but both goals were disallowed. The Bulldogs’ first chance came near the midpoint of the period but was waved off when it was ruled that the referee had already blown the play dead. Then, with 3:20 remaining in the opening period, UMD’s Cole Koepke's rebound shot was initially called a goal. However, after a seven-minute delay for the officials to review the play, it was ruled that Koepke had made contact with Friar netminder Hayden Hawkey prior to the original shot, preventing Hawkey from playing his position and was waved off for interference.

The Bulldogs broke the ice at the 6:39 mark of the middle frame when Peter Mackay fed the puck to Justin Richards in the UMD attack zone. Richards quickly snapped a wrister on goal through slipped under a screened-out Hawkey's blocker to stake the Bulldogs to a 1-0 lead.

The Friars, who scored five power-play goals in their two regional games, answered 11 seconds later when, after UMD’s Nick Wolff was sent to the box for cross-checking at 11:06, Jacob Bryson fired a slap shot, which was stopped by Minnesota Duluth goaltender Hunter Shepard. But Brandon Duhaime gathered the rebound and slid the rubber biscuit to Josh Wilkins who fired a wrister into the top corner to knot the score at one goal apiece. It was Wilkins’ 20th goal of the season—and the 11th time he found the back of the net in the last 10 games. In doing so, he became PC’s first 20-goal scorer since the 2002-03 season when Peter Fregoe tallied 23 markers. Duhaime (23) and Bryson (24) were credited with helpers.

Providence had a crazy chance to take over in the third period. But it just didn’t happen.

Minnesota Duluth’s Tanner Laderoute was sent off for tripping 3:44 into the final frame for tripping putting Providence on the powerplay. Then, less than a minute later, Billy Exell was called for tripping giving the Friars a 5-on-3 advantage for 1:18. And this is where UMD won the game. Shepard made four saves, and the Bulldogs won three of four faceoffs during the extended man-advantage. UMD then controlled the puck over the final nine minutes of the game to send the Bulldogs to their third championship game in the past four years.

While not calling it a “back-breaker,” Providence head coach Nate Leaman admitted his team’s inability to take control when up by two skaters hurt their chances considerably.

“It did [swing momentum],” he said. “We had a couple of good looks. The only thing I was down on the 5-on-3 was that we didn’t win the faceoffs. The faceoffs… that was [our] big weakness. We were chasing the puck too much.”

UMD controlled the faceoffs for the game (40-22), including a 10-3 advantage over the last nine minutes.

“We did a good job on faceoffs,” said UMD head coach Scott Sandelin. “They’re important anytime because they’re possession. But when you can do that on a power play or a penalty kill… On the power play you’re not chasing [the puck], and the penalty kill you can get possession and get it down the ice.”

The Friars were 1-for-3 on the powerplay, while the Bulldogs were 0-for-2 with a man advantage. The Bulldogs outshot the Friars 36-29.

While at PC, Leaman now has an 8-5 record in the NCAA Tournament. As a program, the Friars are 17-20 overall in the NCAA Tournament (15 appearances) and 2-3 in Frozen Four semifinals. Leaman previously built a powerful program at Union, which won the 2014 national championship before leaving for Providence in 2011 and directing the Friars to the national title in 2015.

After game, Leaman said he told team “how much I love them. And that I’m proud of them & thankful that I coached them. It’s a really good group. It stings that it’s over, but I just wanted them to walk out with their chest high because what they accomplished is pretty darn good.”

So now it’s on to the finals for University Minnesota Duluth where the Bulldogs will face the University of Massachusetts tomorrow night. The Minutemen, who will be hoping to capture their first-ever NCAA hockey championship, topped Denver, 4-3 in overtime, in the second semifinal contest. That game did not conclude until after midnight local time.

The championship game will be televised on ESPN2 beginning at 8 p.m.

—with staff reports