Providence announces 2011-12 schedule

Providence coach Nate Leaman released his team's 2011-12 schedule today. The Friars start with a tough month as they welcome conference favorite Boston University to Schneider Arena on October 14th to open their schedule, followed by UMass the next night.

The next weekend, they face off with defending national champion Minnesota-Duluth at home, before heading to Maine for a two-game set the last weekend of the month.

Providence also faces perennial CCHA contender Miami on November 25th at the Denver Cup Classic.

The full schedule can be seen below.

2011-2012 SCHEDULE

Date	Opponent / Event	Location	Time / Result
10/14/11	vs. Boston University *	Providence, R.I.	7:00 p.m.
10/15/11	vs. Massachusetts *	Providence, R.I.	7:00 p.m.
10/21/11	vs. Minnesota Duluth	Providence, R.I.	7:00 p.m.
10/22/11	vs. Minnesota Duluth	Providence, R.I.	7:00 p.m.
10/28/11	at Maine *	Orono, Maine	7:00 p.m.
10/29/11	at Maine *	Orono, Maine	7:00 p.m.
11/04/11	vs. Vermont *	Providence, R.I.	7:00 p.m.
11/05/11	vs. Vermont *	Providence, R.I.	7:00 p.m.
11/11/11	vs. Alabama-Huntsville	Providence, R.I.	7:00 p.m.
11/12/11	vs. Alabama-Huntsville	Providence, R.I.	7:00 p.m.
Denver Cup Classic
11/25/11	vs. Miami (Oh)	Denver, Col.	TBA
11/26/11	vs. Princeton	Denver, Col.	TBA
12/02/11	vs. Merrimack *	Providence, R.I.	7:00 p.m.
12/03/11	at Merrimack *	North Andover, Mass.	7:00 p.m.
12/06/11	at Boston College *	Chestnut Hill, Mass.	7:00 p.m.
12/10/11	vs. New Hampshire *	Providence, R.I.	7:00 p.m.
12/29/11	vs. Russian National Team #	Providence, R.I.	7:00 p.m.
26th Annual Mayor's Cup
01/01/12	vs. Brown	Providence, R.I. (Schneider Arena)	4:00 p.m.
01/07/12	vs. Massachusetts *	Providence, R.I.	7:00 p.m.
01/15/12	at Vermont *	Burlington, Vt.	TBA
01/20/12	at Boston University *	Boston, Mass.	7:00 p.m.
01/21/12	vs. Boston University *	Providence, R.I.	7:00 p.m.
01/24/12	vs. UMass-Lowell *	Providence, R.I.	7:00 p.m.
01/29/12	at Merrimack *	North Andover, Mass.	TBA
02/03/12	at New Hampshire *	Durham, N.H.	7:00 p.m.
02/04/12	vs. New Hampshire *	Providence, R.I.	7:00 p.m.
02/10/12	vs. Maine *	Providence, R.I.	7:00 p.m.
02/11/12	at Massachusetts *	Amherst, Mass.	7:00 p.m.
02/17/12	at Northeastern *	Boston, Mass.	7:00 p.m.
02/18/12	at Northeastern *	Boston, Mass.	7:00 p.m.
02/24/12	vs. Boston College *	Providence, R.I.	7:00 p.m.
02/25/12	at Boston College *	Chestnut Hill, Mass.	7:00 p.m.
03/02/12	vs. UMass-Lowell *	Providence, R.I.	7:00 p.m.
03/03/12	at UMass-Lowell *	Lowell, Mass.	7:00 p.m.

Blaise MacDonald Fired as Coach of Lowell

According to a post from College Hockey News, UMass Lowell Men’s Hockey Coach Blaise MacDonald is soon to be fired.

MacDonald, who led a very young RiverHawks team to a 4-21-2 record in Hockey East play, struggled with the reins of a team which lost 15 members of its 2009-10 squad. He came to Lowell from Niagara after turning that program around and replaced current Maine coach Tim Whitehead following the 2001 season.

He was 150-178-42 at Lowell, and didn’t lead the team to any NCAA tournament berths in his ten years there.

CHN also tweeted that Providence Head Coach Tim Army is likely to be relieved of his duties as well.

Terriers Growling, Warriors Slipping: Hockey East Week 22 Power Rankings

UNH 17-4-4, 38 points

BC 18-6-1, 37 points

BU 14-5-6, 34 points

Merrimack 15-6-3, 33 points

Maine 12-8-4, 28 points

Northeastern 9-9-7, 25 points

Vermont 5-14-6, 16 points

UMass 5-15-5, 15 points

Providence 3-15-7, 13 points

Lowell 4-20-1, 9 points

1. BC - It’s a dead heat between UNH and the Eagles at this point, but Jerry York’s squad plays with more urgency than do the Wildcats, and it’s finally the time of year when that really matters.

2. UNH - Two consecutive three-point weekends for UNH have helped ease the pain of getting swept by Merrimack, but there’s still something about this Wildcat team that doesn’t quite scream “built for March.”

3. Maine - We’re back to having no idea what Maine is. For four months, they played no defense. In the last four games, they allowed one goal - and that goal only to the conference’s most prolific offense since the calendar turned. If Dan Sullivan’s as good as he’s been, the Black Bears could make some noise over the next five weeks.

4. Merrimack - There’s no doubt that Mark Dennehy’s squad is one of the better ones in the conference, but they proved this weekend why they’re not built to go far in the real tournament.

5. BU - The Terriers have quietly taken points in nine straight conference games. As a result, they’re now third in Hockey East and have clinched home ice. That’s good news. The bad news? They’re in line to face a very feisty Northeastern team.

6. Northeastern - Speaking of those pesky Huskies, they had a tough weekend against UNH, but if Chris Rawlings is due for a bad game the rest of the way, it’s better that he got it out of the way when he did.

7. Vermont - Rob Madore just isn’t good enough to stop offensively-talented opposition without help from his D, which he hasn’t been getting.

8. UMass - There’s little worse than backing into a playoff spot. The Minutemen have been doing that for four straight weeks now.

9. Lowell - You beat Providence by five, you get ranked ahead of them.

10. Providence - You lose to Lowell by five, you don’t deserve to be in the playoffs.

Where are they now? Playoff seedings and Hockey East's five most important remaining series

If the Hockey East season ended today, the playoffs would look like this:

Number 8 Vermont at Number 1 UNH*

Number 5 Maine at Number 4 Boston University

Number 6 Northeastern at Number 3 Merrimack

Number 7 UMass at Number 2 Boston College

*UNH gets the one on the strength of its 2-1 victory over BC at Conte Forum in November; each of the other teams is alone in its seeding currently.

But of course, the season doesn’t end today. And there are still quite a few matchups that could very seriously affect the above seedings, not the least of which is the season-ending series between UNH and BC.

The five most important series in the last three weeks of the Hockey East season:

UNH @ Vermont
When the Wildcats travel to Burlington next weekend, they’ll be doing so looking to shake off their first losing streak of the season and get their swagger back. The other Cats, meanwhile, will be looking to strengthen their grasp on a playoff spot - with only two points separating them and ninth-place Providence, it will be a desperate series for Vermont, whish hasn’t been able to string together two consistent games yet this season. But they’ll be facing an urgent and upset UNH team looking to take out their frustrations on anyone who gets in their way. Rob Madore, be warned.

Boston College vs., @ Northeastern
Over six days from Monday through Saturday, BC and Northeastern play three times. The first match will get more attention, no doubt, but it’s the Friday and Saturday matchups that are really the most important. It will be interesting to see how the teams play each other in Monday’s Beanpot championship, especially if the game gets out of hand early. In their only previous meeting this season, the Eagles and Huskies played even for 50-plus minutes before Steven Whitney beat Chris Rawlings at 12:51 of the third.
Boston College was number one then, and they’ll be number one again this time, but Northeastern is a much-improved team that’s playing defense at a very high level in front of a great goaltender in Rawlings. But to acknowledge Northeastern’s growth without noting how well BC has jelled and how strong John Muse has been in net wouldn’t be fair to Jerry York’s team, which is poised to contend for its third national title in four years. It’s very hard to believe that this series could be swept, but somebody should win it. Don’t be surprised if that somebody is whichever team loses on Monday night.

Merrimack at Maine
While Northeastern and UNH will play a pivotal series the weekend after next, this is the big one - assuming that Maine is still ranked, it’s only one of two series pitting ranked teams against each other in the last three weeks of the year. Maine’s game - speed and finesse - and Merrimack’s - physical, heavy on the forecheck, questionable on the backcheck - couldn’t be more opposite each other’s, and it’s going to make for what’s either a very fun series to watch or a very fun series to coach and nothing in-between. It’s not likely that the series will give Maine a chance to leapfrog the Warriors in the standings - they’re currently seven points apart and Merrimack (UMass) and Maine (Lowell) each play teams fairly likely to cede four points next weekend - it could be a preview of the quarterfinals, and things are likely to get very heated at Alfond.

Providence/Merrimack
Yes, at face value this may seem like a wash of a series, but Providence has already beaten Merrimack once this year still within spitting distance of a playoff spot, they’re going to make things very, very difficult for the Warriors - and if they’re not, expect them to flat-out make the last weekend of the season hell for Merrimack.

UNH @, vs. BC
Through 21 games, they’re even in first with 32 points. Over the next two weeks, they each have Northeastern and a road set with Vermont (UNH) and Massachusetts (BC), two teams fighting for those seventh and eighth playoff seeds. The number one seed in Hockey East will likely be awarded to whichever team wins this series. Tough to imagine a series could have more on the line than that.

Time for the home stretch: Hockey East Saturday Recap

Providence 3 at UMass 3 (OT)
AMHERST, MA - Chase Langeraap scored with just 38 seconds remaining to tie the game and UMass escaped with a point against a Providence team that hasn’t won since December 11th and hasn’t won a conference game since beating Merrimack 2-0 on November 5th, a span of 15 games.
After getting out to an early 2-0 lead on goals by Michael Marcou and Joel Hanley, UMass allowed Providence to score the next three goals in a five-minute span during the middle of the second frame. Eric Baier, Derek Army and Kyle MacKinnon each lit the lamp for the Friars, who figured to gain two points for the first time in 98 days, but couldn’t contain Langeraap when it counted most. Alex Beaudry stopped 42 shots for Providence, which only managed to get 22 shots on Paul Dainton in 65 minutes.

at Maine 4, Vermont 2
ORONO, ME - Gustav Nyquist began and ended the scoring, getting the empty netter he couldn’t last weekend at UNH to ice away the Cats and earn a weekend split for the Black Bears. Joey Diamond scored the game winner for Maine, which moved back into fifth place over idle Northeastern.
After Nyquist opened the scoring just six seconds into the game, Sebastian Stalberg and Jack Downing scored in the first period for Vermont to give the Cats the lead, but the Black Bears’ relentless offensive attack finally got some defensive support and Maine walked away with two points for the first time in seven conference games. Shawn Sirman stopped 17 shots for Maine and Rob Madore turned away 35 shots for Vermont. Vermont’s loss coupled with the UMass tie drops them into 8th place by themselves.

at Merrimack 3, UNH 2 (OT)
ANDOVER, MA - Jordan Heywood scored 1:42 into overtime to finish off a weekend sweep of the Wildcats for Merrimack, which has won six in a row and eight of its last nine Hockey East games. The Warriors didn’t trail at any point during the weekend series, and move into third place alone in the conference, leapfrogging idle BU.
With leading scorer Stephane Da Costa sidelined with an injured knee, Merrimack scored the game’s first two goals before a late-second period scrum put UNH on an extended man advantage, which the Wildcats scored twice on to tie the game. Paul Thompson scored his conference-leading 24th goal and assisted on Dalton Speelman’s tying goal just 71 seconds later.
With the win, Joe Cannata moves into first in the conference alone with 19 wins. He stopped 38 UNH shots to secure the win.