Women's Hockey 4, Brampton Thunder 1: Friars Victorious In Fog-Filled Scrimmage

On top of the usual telling dynamics –from the dasher boards still stripped of solicitations (bound to change in the coming weeks), to the rusty PA introductions, to Schneider Arena’s lone annual playing of “O, Canada”- the phrase preseason spoke at its utmost decibel through the Friars’ exhibition yesterday. Summer air, still lingering in the area, stalked the ice house to cloud the Plexiglas and, in collaboration with the cyclonic skating activity, emit a fog a la the Boston Garden circa May 1988, or Boston College’s Conte Forum about this time last year.

 

By the 8:30 mark of the middle frame, the officiating quad team spontaneously summoned all skaters out for few soft laps in an effort to neutralize the mist. Two like delays were ordered at 7:36 and 14:50.

 

The Friars may need the practice in the event of such stoppages when they delve into their regular season slate this weekend. Extended Weather Channel forecasts have relentlessly called for unseasonable 60s down the 10-day road.

 

Luckily, though, there would be no historic blackout or ref-ordered cancellation before the length of yesterday’s scrimmage panned out. Instead, PC swished effectively through both their adversaries –the Brampton Junior Thunder and the elements- en route to a 4-1 triumph.

 

“We’re trying to build team of speed, and it’s tough (as it is) to try to play through snow and slush,” head coach Bob Deraney acknowledged. “But our execution today wasn’t that bad, considering the conditions.”

 

In the younger stages of Sunday’s whirl, the Friar stick rack’s precision was satisfactory enough. They penetrated the steam well enough to land a hefty bushel of 13 first period shots –on top of any unrecorded wide attempts. Just as strikingly, though, Thunder stopper Andrea Weckman tracked and pushed away thirteen of those stabs.

 

The one she missed fell inauspiciously at the 3:44 mark, a mere 19 seconds after Brampton had gone on its first power play. Friar flare Mari Pehkonen pounced when the puck when it overran the twig of Thunder backliner Blaire MacDonald along the boards in neutral ice, strolled with it into the high slot, and whooshed a low flyer home over Weckman’s blocker.

 

The Thunder, who spilled a total of six power plays on the day, were at least visually productive in their more sparse visits to the PC zone in the first period. But a series of face-to-face confrontations with goaltender Danielle Ciarletta only amounted to two saves in her lone period of duty and a handful of wide attempts.

 

Providence evenly distributed the scarcely arduous crease-watching workload between Ciarletta, Jennifer Smith –who yielded the loan Brampton goal, a low rider through a screen courtesy Olivia Crossley at 12:29 of the second period- and freshman Genevieve Lacasse, who logged a light three saves on as many shots faced in the third.

 

Conversely, Weckman absorbed another 32 shots over the latter forty minutes and authorized a costly three goals.

 

On the heels of killing their second penalty, the Friars inserted the eventual clincher with 12:36 to spare in the middle frame. Rookie forward Abby Gauthier absorbed Brittany Simpson’s neutral zone feed at the blue line, pierced unchallenged down the middle alley to seduce Weckman into a sprawling pose, and left a rebound for Jackie Duncan to spoon upstairs.

 

Duncan, yearning for a delayed breakthrough in her junior campaign after participating off and on, particularly last season, struck again at 11:47of the third, swooping in from the left alley to rake home a one-timer off Arianna Rigano’s headman feed.

 

A visually similar play fastened the 4-1 final and invited two PC rookies to their first scoresheet with a mere 4:28 to spare. Defender Jennifer Friedman hauled the puck through the near alley of the neutral zone, then thrust it at Weckman’s porch for an incoming Laura Verahanta to bury.

 

This article originally appeared in the Friartown Free Press

Women's Hockey Log: Friars Not Through Shuffling

The Friars indulgently exercised their loose scrimmage options and rotated all eight of their defensive players Sunday, which meant icing a brimming 20 skaters plus three of the program’s four goaltenders.

 

Officially, rookies Breanna Schwarz and Christie Jensen constituted the taxi tandem amongst the blueliners. On solid ice, that would mean reserving two bleacher seats for them come Friday’s hosting to Ohio State.

 

Similarly, one line combination fit for a human interest story included the likes of Kate Bacon and Ashley Cottrell, once temporary USA teammates at the U18 World Championships shortly after they signed their NLIs last season. Partnering with senior Katy Beach, the second line productively unloaded ten shots on net.

 

Again, if head coach Bob Deraney was itching to cement his positional plan, that group would be set to work again this weekend. But that’s the thing. The ice on that issue was no more solid than what the Friars and Brampton Junior Thunder struggled through in PC’s foggy 4-1 exhibition victory.

 

Jean O’Neill, out indefinitely with a lower body injury, stood out as the solitary scratch amongst the skaters Sunday (she watched the action from the upper bowl with goaltender Christina England).

 

And yet, for all that she produced in last year’s stretch drive on a powerhouse line with Mari Pehkonen and Alyse Ruff, even she will not be immune to rotation once she returns, Deraney said.

 

Expecting to cultivate “more versatility” out of his entire depth chart this season, Deraney hinted that, once she suits up again, O’Neill will likely be assigned to a different line so as to let a pair of still-burgeoning scorers feed off of her.

 

“Today was just an opportunity for everyone to show what they can do,” the skipper added. “I’ll go to the tape on it this week and we’ll make more concrete changes.”

 

Shootout preview showcased
The women’s sect of the Hockey East conference has –albeit unannounced- opted to give the shootout a try this season, as evidenced by a purely expository one-on-one showdowns that followed Sunday’s game.

 

All 2008-09 games, Deraney said, will end in a shootout regardless of the result. For deadlocked conference games, though, they will take on some statistical gravity. As has been practiced in the NHL, all regulation ties will warrant a point in the Hockey East standings for the participating club. Whoever prevails in the bonus round will wrest away an additional point.

 

Sunday’s shootout results read as follows:

Tanya Lamon of Brampton: scored by poking the puck through goaltender Genevieve Lacasse’s pads.

 

Mari Pehkonen of PC: lobbed it wide over the net.

 

Samantha Revell of Brampton: denied on a sprawling snuff by Lacasse

 

Ashley Cottrell of PC: scored on a tap through goaltender Andrea’s Weckman’s vacant five-hole

 

Tenecia Hiller of Brampton: denied on a kick save by Lacasse

 

Laura Veharanta of PC: denied on a stick save by Weckman

 

Alexis Ardell of Brampton: scored by lacing it in around Lacasse’s right side

 

Erin Normore of PC: denied on a glove save by Weckman

 

Quick Feeds: Freshman Laura Verahanta, filling O’Neill’s familiar post on the top line with Pehkonen and Ruff, discharged a team-leading 8 shots on net. She was followed immediately by classmate Arianna Rigano, who compiled six attempts...Sixteen of twenty Friars etched at least one shot on net Sunday…Jen Smith, by virtue of the deciding goal coming in the second period, was credited with the win.

 

Al Daniel can be reached at hockeyscribe@hotmail.com

 

This article originally appeared in the Friartown Free Press

Louisville 1, Men's Soccer 0: Cardinals Tag Friars With First Loss

Only after their loyal stopper, Timothy Murray, had leapt to his right to make a double-palm block on Gerardo Chavez, who had smoothly circumvented defenders Justin Kahle and Michael Narciso, did the Friars long-barren strike force perk up.

 

At that point, the 29^th minute of the opening half, Chavez had made the Louisville Cardinals a decent two-for-three in terms of SOG precision, their other stab finding the back of the cage courtesy of John Jonke at 7:15. Afterward, Providence finally hatched the egg on its shot clock and ran up an 8-2 discrepancy in terms of mere attempts for the rest of the half.

 

By the final horn of the day, the Friars were up, 16-13, in the way of shots, and up in terms of corner kicks taken (10-7). But with no change in their trend of futility, they let the 1-0 deficit turn to stone.

 

Every sign building up to the end result was favorable enough. Feisty senior middie Ryan Maduro –who by his output in the first six games this season may as well have been in Portugal, as rumors held all last winter- blasted off for five of his team’s registered stabs. Sophomore Alex Redding, granted just his second start of the year after the promise he had sculpted late last season seemingly disintegrated, resurged for three boots of his own.

 

From that angle, the Friars everyone got to know in the brighter days of 2007 could unmistakably have been back yesterday, if not for Louisville’s instinctive coverage of Maduro and Redding and rookie goalkeeper Andre Boudreaux’s dignified responsiveness on PC’s infinitesimal three shots on net.

 

And so, Providence is officially scoreless in its last three full games and 386:44 of overall playing time, dating back to Timothy Ritter’s conversion at Holy Cross 17 days ago.

 

The disparately bright facet was, of course, that Murray had consumed a similar run of shutout action all for himself, effectively keeping his club –four goals for and all- from making its first dip into the L column. But yesterday, his impeccability expired at 336:37 when the Cardinals –who have been good for a substantial 12 strikes in their first seven games- pounced on their second free kick of the day in just the eighth minute.

 

Senior midfielder Aaron Clapham –whose later shot in the 75^th minute effectively knocked defender Kevin Neumen out of the game when Neumen sacrificed his mug to divert it- let a nimble bender skip through a dense collage of bodies. Jonke got a piece of it and whipped it home to the left of Murray.

 

After the Friars cleared their zone within moments of Chavez’s near-miss, they proceeded to run up the shooting gallery, 14-5, between the 20^th and 71^st minutes of action. And the Cardinals all but invited their hosts to put their brittle lead on the edge in the way of three unanswered yellow cards.

 

But Boudreaux was only required to touch three Providence shots, all of them in the first half, before his guards filtered all six of the Friars’ purposeful boots in the latter 45 minutes.

 

In the 67^th minute, Murray lashed out to snuff Chase Kreger’s long-ranged bid that ended a 49 minute, 41 second fast from SOGs for the Cards. Once thawed out on that front, Louisville cracked down, authorizing three more far-flung bids from the Friars and absolute zilch after the 69^th minute elapsed.

 

In that climactic stretch, Louisville discharged five unanswered shots, earned five corner kicks, and induced PC to pick up two yellow cards of its own.

 

Maduro was flagged for the first of those cards in the 77^th minute when he characteristically impugned a whistle that had beat Chris Stoker’s net-bound scorcher, zapping the would-be equalizer.

Seeing how that particular play unfolded, the passion is not to be questioned, but the productivity is still conspicuous by its absence.

 

This article originally appeared in the Friartown Free Press