PROVIDENCE, R.I. — With their ailing teammate paying them a visit, Providence put on a show on Saturday night, scoring early and often in a 10-1 victory over Connecticut.
On “Drew Brown Night,” the Friars were led by Nick Saracino’s hat trick and Jon Gillies’ two shutout periods before an extremely pleased crowd of 3,003.
Brown, going through cancer treatments, was at his first Providence game since Oct. 31.
Gillies, who played the first two periods, and Nick Ellis and Brandon Leahy, who split the last period, combined to make 24 saves on 25 shots, while Rob Nichols and Tom Communale combined to make 33 saves on 43 shots for UConn.
The Huskies, who had played in three consecutive overtime games prior to Saturday night’s tilt, looked a step behind from the beginning and looked outmatched in every aspect of the game.
Coach Mike Cavanaugh, however, refused to use that as an excuse.
“One team came ready to play and one team didn’t,” he remarked. “We had three days to recover. I wouldn’t say fatigue was an issue.”
The Friars outmatched the Huskies at the start of the game, so much so that it took until the game’s sixth minute for UConn to get a shot on Gillies. Providence controlled the game’s tempo early, firing shot after shot at Nichols, who was up to the task early on.
However, the onslaught got to be too heavy and the Friars broke through on Ross Mauermann’s wraparound goal at 5:03. It was Mauermann’s 100th career point as a member of the Friars.
PC coach Nate Leaman raved about Mauermann’s late-season turnaround, adding that he thought Mauermann had his best practice of the season Friday.
The end of the first period saw extended 5-on-4 action as the teams picked up a combined three penalties in a six-minute stretch. Just when it looked like the Huskies could salvage something from a disastrous first 15 minutes, the Friars killed off Josh Monk’s penalty with relative ease, and went on the offensive during Jake Walman’s two minutes in the box. With just over a minute remaining in the period, Steven McParland won a faceoff in the UConn zone, shifted his way past the Huskies defense, and slotted the puck behind Nichols for a 2-0 advantage.
Just 37 seconds later, Acciari won the puck in the Providence zone, sprinted up the ice, and slotted the puck past Nichols on a breakaway to blow the roof off of an already raucous arena.
The first intermission did nothing to quell the Friars’ momentum. In fact, they only came out firing with more force in the second period. Just over a minute in, Saracino slipped a shot through Nichols’ legs on a wraparound, and the rout was on.
After Saracino scored again on the power play just over 90 seconds later, Cavanaugh pulled Nichols in favor of Communale, who was just as overmatched.
Communale, like Nichols, made a few good stops initially, but the Friars broke through at 7:55 on Mark Adams slap shot to make it 6-0. Later on, Kevin Rooney and Brian Pinho scored just minutes apart to push the lead to 8-0. The Huskies let their frustrations show towards the end of the period, as Ryan Tyson and Evan Richardson picked up penalties just 12 seconds apart, giving Providence 1:48 of 5-on-3 time at the end of the second and the beginning of the third period.
The second intermission included a special moment for the home crowd after Brown came out to center ice to a standing ovation. After saying a few words, Brown was presented with a check and a tribute video from the school’s fellow student-athletes. It was his first trip to Schneider Arena in more than three months.
“The guys love having him around,” Leaman said. “I think it definitely helped [having him here].”
The third period saw Gillies head to the bench in favor of Ellis, but neither team took their foot off of the gas. Saracino completed his hat trick just 1:07 into the frame, earning the first hat trick for Providence since Derek Army in 2012.
The Huskies finally broke through at 5:59 on a goal by Richardson, but Tanev responded 40 seconds later to put the Friars into double digits for the first time since last season’s 10-4 victory over American International.
