PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A journey 30 years in the making will take the Providence Friars just an hour … traffic permitting.
Goals by Rhode Island native Noel Acciari and junior classmate Tom Parisi were all Providence and junior goalie Jon Gillies needed to advance the Friars to their first Frozen Four since 1985 with a 4-1 win over Denver on Sunday in the East Regional final.
[scg_html_e2015]Juniors Brandon Tanev and Kevin Rooney added insurance empty-netters to send the Friars on their way following a tense and tentative opening period and a half. Gillies made 23 saves for his 22nd win of the season.
“I knew Johnny had to be our best player tonight, and he was our best player,” said Providence coach Nate Leaman, his young son Ty on his lap. “I told [Gillies] that this morning — put a little pressure on him, which probably isn’t fair — but I just knew that if we were going to win this game, Johnny had to be our best player, and he got us through those times until we got our legs underneath us.”
Senior and Hobey Baker Award finalist Joey LaLeggia scored Denver’s only goal before making a premature exit. Freshman goalkeeper Tanner Jaillet saved 20 shots in defeat.
“We played the game we wanted to,” Pioneers coach Jim Montgomery said. “I thought we possessed the puck 65 percent of the time, and when you do that, you probably win 90 percent of your games. You’ve got to give Providence credit: They did a great job of blocking out, not letting us get there … and when we did get through, Gillies is there to make the save, and he wasn’t giving up rebounds today. That was the key.”
The game opened with only the second scoreless first period of this year’s NCAA tournament, and featured the second-fewest combined first-period shots as well — Denver outshot Providence 8-5.
Local star and second-line center Acciari scored the game’s first goal well past the game’s halfway point, slipping a deceptive power-play backhand through Jaillet’s pads. The goal was the 14th of the season for the Johnston, R.I., native, all scored in his last 26 games.
“It’s a great feeling,” Acciari said. “I didn’t do it myself; I have a great team around me. Coming from last year against Union, we knew the feeling of making it to that second game but not winning that game, and I think we responded well this year.
“Coming here when I was little, playing between periods and stuff … it’s a great feeling, getting these two wins and making it to the Garden.”
LaLeggia knotted the game midway through the third period with perhaps the least elegant goal of his career. Stepping up from the point on Denver’s fourth power play of the game, the star defenseman whistled a shot that missed high. The puck rebounded heavily off the glass, bounced off the taut netting behind Gillies’ crossbar and landed on the goaltender’s back before rolling into the net.
“I saw him coming down the slot,” recalled Gillies. “I watched it go over the net, I heard it hit the glass, and what I saw was a bunch of eyes in front of me looking up, so I fell back and I think I hit the puck in the net by accident. It was an unlucky bounce.”
“At this point in the season, those little bounces, they can go for you or go against you,” Leaman said.
[photoshelter-gallery g_id=”G0000vdK5jAlwStQ” g_name=”20150329-Providence-Denver-East-Eisenberg-Wade” f_show_caption=”t” f_show_slidenum=”t” img_title=”casc” pho_credit=”iptc” f_link=”t” f_bbar=”t” fsvis=”f” width=”500″ height=”375″ bgcolor=”#AAAAAA” bgtrans=”t” btype=”old” bcolor=”#CCCCCC” crop=”f” trans=”xfade” tbs=”4000″ f_ap=”t” linkdest=”c” f_fullscreen=”f” f_constrain=”f” twoup=”f” f_topbar=”f” f_bbarbig=”” f_htmllinks=”f” f_enable_embed_btn=”f” f_show_watermark=”f” f_send_to_friend_btn=”f” f_smooth=”f” f_mtrx=”f” f_up=”f” target=”_self” wmds=”llQ6QNgpeC.p1Ucz7U.f22AHmvJKkeO8KKaKynf9yREfm8YeLFBCuL09aO_wpOX0vdYjKA–” ]The Edmonton Oilers draft pick wasn’t able to enjoy his luck for long, however, as he was shown the gate for a heavy hit on Steven McParland with under 10 minutes remaining in regulation.
LaLeggia was assessed a major and game disqualification, making him ineligible for Denver’s next contest, and put the Pioneers in survival mode.
“I don’t know how to coach any different than our players always attacking. It cost us a five-minute major, but I don’t know, I guess you’re supposed to back off and let a guy come attack you,” Montgomery fumed. “Joey LaLeggia did everything I asked of him on that play, and unfortunately it was head contact.”
His teammates rallied for four and a half minutes of excellent penalty killing. Sophomore Evan Janssen hit the post on a short-handed two-on-one break with Grant Arnold with a minute left in the penalty, but Denver clawed no closer to the determined Friars.
Following a timeout four minutes into the ineffective power play, Parisi received the puck high in the Denver zone. The 21-year-old slid forward from the blue line, eyed the situation, and whipped a bullet past Jaillet low on the blocker side with 5:01 remaining.
The goal was the 10th of Parisi’s career and his first since a two-goal explosion against Colorado College on Jan. 4.
Tanev and Rooney buried pucks into the empty net 39 seconds apart to send the crowd of 6,326 into delirium.
“It was nice getting those two empty-net goals, considering we couldn’t do it last night,” Acciari joked, referencing the nail-biting win over Miami Saturday night.
Providence will play the winner of Sunday night’s Omaha-Rochester Institute of Technology contest at 5 p.m. EDT on Thursday, April 9 in the opening Frozen Four semifinal. Boston University draws North Dakota in the 8:30 time slot.
