Traditional rivals in women\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s college hockey are hard to come by, but the enmity between Providence College and New Hampshire goes back as far as any of them.<\/p>\n
It predates the six-year existence of the Women\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Hockey East Association. And stretching, as it does, all the way back to 1977, it predates the births of any of those who played in its most recent — and one of its most bruising — chapters, Sunday\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s WHEA championship game, a 1-0 victory by New Hampshire.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s definitely a huge rivalry,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Providence College senior Sarah Feldman. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I think they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re pretty much everyone\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s rival. Everyone considers them their rival because they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re such a good team. You can tell by the score, 1-0, that it was a hard fought game.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
To recount all those Friar\/Wildcat clashes, 119 of them now (UNH boast a 68-40-11 advantage) is to glimpse the Alpha and Omega of women\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hockey.<\/p>\n
Olympians have faced off against each other on campus, then been joined together as Olympians in Nagano, Salt Lake City, and Torino.<\/p>\n
The longest college hockey game ever (mens or womens) was staged between the two schools, in the 1996 ECAC final (UNH 3-2 in five overtimes).<\/p>\n
So these games have always meant something.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the oldest rivalry in women\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ice hockey,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said PC coach Bob Deraney. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153There have been some tremendous battles over the years. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a privilege to be part of the UNH\/Providence rivalry. You just saw another classic today. No one\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to back down. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll go to the center of the ring and duke it out. And in the end, when the dust settles, hey, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve won our share, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve won their share.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
The recent past is anything but dull either.<\/p>\n
Two two schools own all six WHEA tournament titles, which with UNH\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s latest win, now stands squared at three apiece.<\/p>\n
It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s safe to say then, that this generation\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Kathy Bryants still bleed UNH blue, while today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Cammi Granatos sport Friar black. And never (except in the case of PC alum and former Wildcat coach Karen Kay) do the twain intertwine.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Oh, for sure,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said UNH junior Sam Faber. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153[Both] teams gives it their all and try to win. And there is pride [shared] between both schools.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Pride, of course, is one thing. Mutual esteem is yet another.New Hampshire coach Brian McCloskey said that there is still an abundance of both.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I think the Providence\/UNH is still very much alive,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a healthy respect for each other\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s programs. I just know it brings out the best in both teams. With UNH and Providence, [even] if your program\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not on top, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re still going to push each other to the max. They still bring out the best in each other. And that hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u02dct changed a bit. Whether we\u00e2\u20ac\u02dcre both NCAA caliber teams in that given year or not. It doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u02dct matter.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
New Hampshire, currently ranked No. 2 in the Nation, would have had a perfect run through its Hockey East schedule, except for the 1-1 stalemate it pulled out against the Friars.<\/p>\n
And like the first playoff meeting between the two back in 1984, this, and 10 other tilts like this one, had a championship on the line.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re told,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said departing Providence senior Danielle Tangredi, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153from the minute we step on campus in September that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s UNH\/Providence and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a tradition for us to make playoffs. We always meet up with one another. It always comes down to that, it seems, and they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re always close games. We weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t surprised to meet up with them, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m sure they weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t surprised to see us.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
No one was.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Traditional rivals in women\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s college hockey are hard to come by, but the enmity between Providence College and New Hampshire goes back as far as any of them. It predates the six-year existence of the Women\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Hockey East Association. And stretching, as it does, all the way back to 1977, it predates the births of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":140328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n