FRIAR WOMEN TAKE ON UCONN OUTDOORS

By Mark Harriman, Editor
PROVIDENCE- Sitting in his office over at Schneider Arena, PC Women’s Hockey coach Bob Deraney was talking about packing up his nationally ranked team and taking a 90 minute road trip this week just so his team could have a practice. Not that he was complaining, mind you.

But that’s what comes with the territory when your team is ranked 9th in the country in the women’s hockey polls (USA Today and USCHO.com) and you’re playing outdoors at UConn Day at the Whale Bowl Hockey Fest against Hockey East rival UConn tomorrow afternoon (4pm, Rentschler Field, East Hartford).

Women's Hockey at Rentschler Field tomorrow afternoon

Conceived by former Hartford Whalers owner Howard Baldwin, the Hockey Fest is a 10 day event aimed at celebrating the spirit of hockey in the Nutmeg State. The games will feature not only local high school and prep teams, but also men’s and women’s college teams playing host UConn and an AHL tilt between the Providence Bruins and the CT Whale. The Boston Bruins Alumni team will also take the ice in a charity game next weekend.

From his perspective, Deraney is humbled by the opportunity to showcase his talented team in tomorrow’s head-liner game.

“How can you not be excited?” Deraney asked while making preparations in his office. “We’re obviously very grateful to UConn. They could have chosen a bunch of teams to play, but they chose us. We feel very privileged.”

While Deraney was being humble, UConn chose wisely in selecting Providence as its opponent. The Friars have one of the most storied programs in women’s college hockey. Cammi Granato ‘93 was the first woman inducted into the  Hockey Hall of Fame and six more recently joined her in the US Hockey Hall of Fame as Gold Medal winners from the 1998 Nagano Olympics.

The Friars have also featured All Americans who are household names such as Sarah DeCosta and Karen Thatcher, while joining UNH as one of only two programs in the country to have reached the 600 win plateau.

It also helps to choose a team when the Huskies’ coach Heather Linstad is a 1989 PC alum.

The 2010-11 Friars team (17-11-1) is led by junior goalie and 2009 Hockey East Rookie of the Year Genevieve Lacasse (16-9-1), who sports an eye-popping 1.79 Goals Against Average and a .942 Save Percentage, ranking her third in the country for goalies with at least 25 games.

The Friars are anchored by captains Jean O’Neil and Alyse Ruff, both Senior forwards and Deraney likes the leadership on his team from top to bottom. “Everyone feels a responsibility to make a contribution, whether it be physical, verbal (or leading) by example. It’s a pretty cool group to be around.

“I’ve got terrific athletes. They’re like pros they way they go about their business. You can’t push them hard enough. They want to find out how much they’ve got.”

Earlier this season Deraney’s squad bested #9 ranked Northeastern in front of a sold out crowd of 950 at The Bog in Kingston, MA and he is not worried about his team playing in front of 40,000 more spectators tomorrow in East Hartford, despite forecasted snow just before the puck drop.

“The only way to become a national champion is to have the type of mentality (that says) ‘We’ll play any one any time. And we’ll show up and we’ll be there for your best.”

That best starts this afternoon at 2pm over on Huxley Avenue, as the Friars take on the Huskies in the front end of a very unique home-and-home series, culminating under the clouds tomorrow.

WOMEN’S HOCKEY EAST: PC DOWNS NU 2-1 AT THE BOG

By: Mark Harriman, Editor

KINGSTON, MA (January 23) Several months ago Providence College Women’s hockey coach Bob Deraney called his counterpart at Northeastern University, Dave Flint, with an idea to boost attendance: instead of having the fans come to Boston for the NU home game, bring the game to the fans.

Flint polled his players, asking them if they would rather play before the usual 125 fans at NU’s Matthews Arena, or several hundred fans 30 miles south at The Bog down in Kingston. The vote was unanimous and the result was a clash of number 9 ranked teams in the country (separate polls), with PC nipping the Huskies 2-1 in front of a sellout crowd of 950.

With the win, the Friars upped their record to 17-8-1, good for fourth place in the Hockey East (8-5-1). In contests with Boston College and NU this weekend, PC grabbed wins against two nationally ranked opponents (BC #7, NU #9) and should jump in the rankings this week. Northeastern fell to 13-8-4 (5-6-3), fifth overall in the conference.

In his post-game interview, Flint admitted that his team was nervous playing in front of such a large crowd. “Most of them growing up play in front of 25 people in the stands. So I think some of our girls were a little nervous at the beginning, because they’re not used to the seats being full.”

Unaccustomed as they may have been, the Huskies came out strong and took a 1-0 lead 69 seconds into the first period when Senior captain Julia Marty tipped one past Friar goalie Genevieve LaCasse.

“I just didn’t have a look in front of the net. Usually I get to the post and have a look in front,” said LaCasse, who was sporting a Hockey East leading 1.76 GAA going into the game, as well as a .944 save percentage. “I just didn’t look in front, so when they passed it I was slow getting out there. If I were to have looked I would have known.”

The Friars tied the game at 12:23 on the first of Freshman Corinne Buie’s two goals, a backhander under the cross-bar on a right feed from Ashley Cottrell.

While the game see-sawed back and forth for the remainder of the period, Providence came out and dominated the second, spending the vast majority of the period in the offensive zone. Though even with a power play and several excellent scoring chances, the Friars couldn’t find the back of the net.

But Buie provided the game winner just two minutes into the third period on an unassisted goal as she faded right and tossed a forehander past NU goalie Floren Schelling.

“I thought our kids look really poised and confident and comfortable playing with a one goal lead,” Deraney said after the game. “As you go on through the season, games are going to get tighter and tighter. And the margin of error is going to get smaller and smaller. We’ve been talking about that since day one.”

While Deraney’s words may have been ringing in their ears, PC’s recent on-ice experience also came into play in the closing 74 seconds of the game.

Flint pulled Schelling and PC was called for a holding call in the offensive zone despite an empty net. With a two man advantage, the Huskies peppered LaCasse with the puck, but much like in the Friars’ upset win over Boston College Friday night, the Providence defense did not cave to the disadvantage.

From her standpoint, LaCasse calmly took it all in stride. “Well we had a little bit of that two nights ago with Boston College. So it was kind of relaxing since I had just done it,” she said matter-of-factly outside the locker room still in her pads after the game. “I think we were pretty confident. When you’re confident, you believe in each other. We all knew we were going to do our job.”

While Deraney is confident in his defense, he’d to see a lot more room on the scoreboard between the Friars and their opponents.

“We’ve got to find a way to score. It’s great that you can win tight games because the farther and farther you go in the season, the games are going to be tighter and tighter. But it’d be sure nice to find our scoring touch to create some separation between us and our opponents. I think it would make it a little bit easier in the long haul.”

Playing in a neutral site in front of almost 1,000 fans, is a an experience that both coaches would like to repeat often.

“It was a fun experience. I think they all enjoyed it. I wouldn’t hesitate to do it again,” Flint remarked after the game, as his team prepared to join the Friars in a post-game skate with several dozen local fans. “Like I said, we’re trying to find a way to get fans into the games. This obviously worked and it can work again. And hopefully teams from our league will see this and give it a shot.”

Deraney, who hatched the idea, was satisfied with the results. “For doing it the first time, it’s definitely something I want to do again. I hope Hockey East will allow us to continue to do it.”

And his team will get another shot –on an even bigger stage- next month outdoors at a sold-out Rentschler Field in East Hartford when PC takes on UConn in the “Whaler’s Hockey Fest.”