Friars claim national title

Matt Metcalf, Sports Editor
Posted 4/14/15

For one night, the Providence College men’s hockey team brought all of Rhode Island together – die-hard and casual hockey fans alike.

A collegiate sport that is drowned out year-round by the …

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Friars claim national title

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For one night, the Providence College men’s hockey team brought all of Rhode Island together – die-hard and casual hockey fans alike.

A collegiate sport that is drowned out year-round by the monsters that are NCAA football and basketball was brought to the forefront of the sports’ world – and the Friars rewarded all that watched.

In one of the most entertaining college hockey games that I’ve seen – and I’ve seen quite a few – Providence captured its first national title in program history with a comeback, 4-3, win over Boston University in what was essentially a road game for the Friars at the TD Garden.

Providence was the quintessential underdog team, representing a school that has never won anything of that magnitude, but always dreamed that it would one day do so.

However, it didn’t come easy. It was a long time coming.

Growing up, my father had season tickets to the games, so I sat through a number of mediocre to slightly above average seasons with Tim Army and Paul Pooley behind the bench.

But after an 8-18-8 season in 2011, Providence parted ways with Army and hired Nate Leaman to take over as head coach, someone who had a successful track record in his previous head coaching position at Union College.

That ended up being the best decision that the program ever made.

After some struggles in Leaman’s first season, Providence began to trend in the right direction in the 2012-13 season.

And, just one year later, the Friars made their first NCAA tournament appearance in 13 years, making it to the East Region final before losing to the eventual national champion and Leaman’s former team, Union.

That was followed by a second consecutive berth in the NCAA tournament this year, marking the first time that the program made the tournament in back-to-back seasons.

The Friars got a favorable draw in this year’s tournament, playing their games in the East Region at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center, as the NCAA made good for sending the men’s basketball team to play Dayton on the road.

But even though Providence would be playing in front of a home crowd, it was still the 15th overall seed in the tournament out of just 16 teams, and it still had to go through powerhouses Miami of Ohio and Denver.

To the surprise of just about everyone except the large contingent of Friar fans at the Dunk and watching at home, Providence defeated both.  

Just like that, the Friars made the Frozen Four for the first time in 30 years, and the rest is history.

Providence dominated Nebraska-Omaha, before knocking off the heavily-favored Terriers in the title game.

It took one of the oddest goals you’ll ever see to help the Friars to the win, but every championship team has a bit of luck go their way in a title run.

Except the Friars weren’t only lucky, they were good – out-playing BU severely in the third period in a last-ditch effort to erase a one-goal deficit.

They did that and were able to net the game-winner on a snipe from Brandon Tanev.

Having a big hand in the run to the national championship was former Hendricken All-Stater and Johnston native, Noel Acciari. The Friars’ captain earned the East Region’s Most Outstanding Player, before scoring a goal against Omaha in the Frozen Four and registering an assist against BU.

I played with Acciari growing up and in high school, and I can’t imagine that there was a better choice for captain on this team, as Acciari may be a better person than he is a player – and he’s proven that he’s a great hockey player. He was always the best player on every team that he played on, but never acted like it, always exemplifying his captaincy through his play.

Add that kind of leadership to that of Leaman and fellow captain, Ross Mauermann, as well as the play of an NHL-caliber goaltender like Jon Gillies, and you have a team with a national championship persona. Mauermann was a kid who had a chip on his shoulder throughout his career because he wasn’t heavily recruited and had to fight just to play Division I hockey.

It felt to me that the team took on the attitude of a player like Mauermann, a bit overlooked and underrated.

Players like Mauermann, Acciari and Gilles aid in a program’s quick turnaround – and those kids were rewarded on Saturday night.

Enjoy this one, because who knows when a Rhode Island school will win a national title again.

For one night, all eyes were on Providence and the state of Rhode Island.

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