Friars Fall To Irish in Bridgeport Region Final

By Bob Phillips

The PC postseason run ended in the last minute of the Bridgeport Region
Final when Notre Dame, the NCAA Tournament's No. 2 overall seed
scored to stop the Friars, 2-1. The Irish now advance to their second
straight Final Four in St. Paul, Minn., this weekend.

BRIDGEPORT—The Providence College Friars’ Improbable Dream came to an end on Saturday

night when Notre Dame’s Dylan Malmquist broke a 1-1 tie with just 27 seconds remaining in regulation to lead the Fighting Irish over the Friars and into the Frozen Four before 5,505 fans at the Webster Bank Arena. This year will be the second straight trip to the Frozen Four for the Irish.

The game started much like Friday’s semifinal clash for Providence, in which the Friars scored early, then held on for a 1-0 victory over Clarkson, the tournament’s No. 9 seed. For the second straight night, sophomore guard Kasper Bjorkqvist broke the ice—this time, it was a rebound off a wrap-around by Tommy Davis that was stopped by Notre Dame goalie Cale Morris 2:02 into the contest.

However, unlike Friday’s semifinal, where it was the Friar D that took over the game, Notre Dame, the tournament’s No. 2 seed, stayed with the Friars and tied the game while on the power play late in the middle period. Andrew Oglevie intercepted an attempted clearing pass at the top of the left circle, then fired the puck through a screen that got past Providence netminder Hayden Hawkey to knot the score at one apiece with just under two minutes left in the second stanza.

The teams fought tooth-and-nail matching intensity throughout the third period until, with just 27 remaining in regulation, Dylan Malmquist took a pass from behind the net and fired a one-timer past Hawkey’s left shoulder to ice the game for the Irish.

“It was a good game,” said Providence coach Nate Leaman at the postgame press conference. “We played our best in the third period. One of their chances went in, and ours didn’t. I liked our effort. We battled tonight”

Irish coach Jeff Jackson focused to the competitiveness of the Bridgeport Region field. Michigan Tech was the fourth team that competed in the Bridgeport Region, losing to the Irish 4-3 in overtime in Friday’s other semifinal.

“Frankly every one of these regionals is scary good, in my opinion,” said Jackson. “I know the teams in each one of these regionals. They’re all good. Michigan Tech was on a roll. They played us hard as any team we played all season long. Gave us everything that we could handle. Providence, I thought going into this game, may have been the hottest team, or one of the better teams playing the game. I have a lot of respect for Nate [Leaman].”

When asked about the Friars’ lack of offense in the Regional, Leaman took exception with that observation. 

“I disagree about having trouble scoring,” said Leaman, who led the Friars to the national championship in 2015, his fourth year in Providence after eight years at Union. “If you think you are going to score four or five goals against the excellence the defensive teams you see in postsea­son like Clarkson and Notre Dame, you’re crazy. We had our chances but just didn’t finish,” added Leaman, who has led the Friars into the NCAA Tournament in each of his seven years at PC.

“We just needed to get to the net and sometimes that was a problem, but we had our chances but just didn’t bury them,” added senior forward Brian Pinho.

While disappointed in not making it to this weekend’s Frozen Four in St. Paul, Minn., the future is bright indeed for the PC hockey program, which graduates just five players from this year’s team, and sports a roster with six freshmen and seven sophomores.

“This stings,” said Leaman. “It’s no fun when you are this close. Yes we are young, but you can only get better if you learn from these experiences once the sting is gone.”

BLUELINE BANTER:

• The Friars made their eighth appearance all-time in NCAA Quarterfinal/Regional action. PC has posted a 5-7-0 mark all time in those games.
• In the Friars’ last NCAA Quarterfinal game, the Friars defeated Denver, 4-1, in Providence in 2015. The last time the Friars played in the NCAA Quarterfinals in Bridgeport, PC was defeated by Union, 3-1, in 2014.
• PC is now 15-19-0 all-time in 14 NCAA Tournament appearances.
• This was the Friars’ their fifth-consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance—the second-longest active streak in the nation. Overall, it wass the Friars’ 14th appearance in the national tournament.
• Nate Leaman has posted a 6-4 NCAA Tournament record while at Providence.
• Providence is 4-5-2 this season against NCAA Tournament teams. Three wins came against Hockey East schools, Boston University and Northeastern, and ECAC foe Clarkson.
• Hayden Hawkey is second among goaltenders in the NCAA Tournament field with 48 career wins. He’s also fourth in that group with 1,873 career saves.
• Providence is just one of three NCAA Division I programs all-time to send its basketball and hockey teams to the NCAA Tournament in the same season for five consecutive years (Michigan, and Michigan State).
• The Friars are the only school to accomplish the feat in each of the last five seasons.

—With Bill Pinto & Staff Reports

UConn Tops Quinnipiac in a 25-Point ‘Squeeker’

By Bob Phillips

UConn All American Katie Lou Samuelson was held to 20 points, but it
didn't really matter. Napheesa Collier drained in 23 to lead the Huskies
over in-state rival Quinnipiac in NCAA second-round action.

STORRS—Only at UConn would a 25-point thrashing of an opponent be considered “close.” But listening to head coach Geno Auriemma after his team clobbered Quinnipiac, you might have thought his team had just emerged from the Battle of the Bulge. Quinnipiac, based in Hamden,  represents the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC), a mid-major conference in which the Bobcats had an unblemished 18-0 record this season.

"You can’t dictate how you want the other team to play, and I thought Quinnipiac did a great job controlling their part of the tempo and not letting us get too many run outs,” was Auriemma's spin. 

Now, here’s what really happened: Napheesa Collier led the all scorers with 23 points, while Azura Stevens added 14 points and Kia Nurse chipped in with 13 to lead Connecticut to a 71-46 victory over Quinnipiac before 8,957 fans at Gampel Pavilion on Monday night in second-round NCAA Tournament play. Jen Fay led the ninth-seeded Bobcats with 12 points. Connecticut improves to 34-0 and advances to its 25^th consecutive Sweet 16. Let that one rattle around your brain for a minute when you consider all-time great college athletic programs. The Bobcats, who entered the game riding a school-record 23-game winning streak, end their season with a 28-6 record.

But don’t let the records fool you. This contest was… well… no contest. After Collier broke a 2-2 tie with a layup 49 seconds in, the Huskies never trailed, opening the game with a 9-2 run and never looking back. The Huskies led by 10, 19-9, at the first turn. After the Bobcats cut the margin to five in the second quarter, the Huskies kicked it in and led 33-18 at halftime. Now, a 15-point lead at intermission would be considered a healthy margin for most teams, but for the Huskies, 15 points at halftime represents the narrowest of margins—certainly against an unranked team, playing on their home court.

"[In] the first half we were taking shots with under 10 seconds left on the shot clock, so they were a little bit more rushed, I guess, and maybe that led us to not hitting as many threes as we're used to,” said Quinnipiac senior guard Carly Fabbri, who was playing for her mother, Bobcats’ head coach Tricia Fabbri, for the last time. Carly Fabbri finishes her college career with a 113-26 record including three trips to The Dance in four years.

The Bobcats were able to keep things respectable well into the second half. Of course, “respectable” is a relative term in a David vs. Goliath scenario such as this one. Still, the Huskies did not open a 20-point lead—something they normally do within the first five minutes—until well into the third period. To Quinnipiac’s credit, keep in mind that Connecticut ran roughshod over its first-round opponent, St. Francis of Pa., by the score of 140-52.

Perhaps Quinnipiac’s ultimate undoing was the fact that the Bobcats shot just 4-for-24 from beyond the arc, including 1-for-12 in the first half. And, as expect, the Huskies outrebounded the Bobcats 33-21, and outscored them 28-14 in the paint. Realistically, throwing up treys and hoping for the best was really the only strategy Quinnipiac could employ. Hit 75 percent from downtown, and you’ve got a chance, right? Miss 83 percent of them, and you’ve got a snowball’s chance in hell.

“Obviously we’re not thrilled with the result, but our execution and effort was fantastic,” said Tricia Fabbri, who has led the Bobcats to three NCAA Tournament wins in the past two seasons. “Coming out in the second half, still within striking distance… Heck of an effort; heck of a team.”

The Bobcats were successful in dictating the tempo of the game, creating a half-court environment which kept the Huskies from turning the game into Camptown Races. Doo-dah, doo-dah.

“I think it's good of us to have one of each [style] this weekend, so we can prepare as much as we can for now the next round that we're going to,” Collier said.

The Huskies now advance to the Sweet 16 where they will take on archrival Duke, the No. 5 seed in the Albany region, on Saturday. Tip-off is slated for 1:30 p.m. at the Times Union Center, and the game will be televised live on ESPN2 and streamed on ESPN3/WatchESPN. Adam Amin, Kara Lawson/Rebecca Lobo, Holly Rowe call the action. The winner of the UConn-Duke game will take on the winner of the Albany Regional’s other semifinal—South Carolina vs. Buffalo—in the Regional Final for the right to advance to the Final Four in Columbus, OH, on Easter weekend.

—with staff reports