Led by a pair of goals from Peter Fregoe, Providence defeated second-ranked Maine, 5-1, on Friday at Alfond Arena.
The win marked the first Friar victory over Maine at Alfond since March 24, 1989, when PC earned an 8-6 victory in the NCAA tournament. It was the Friars’ first over Maine in the regular season since November 8, 1986.
The Friars quickly jumped ahead as junior Stephen Wood fired a slapshot from just inside the blue line that was saved by Maine goalie Jimmy Howard. However, freshman Jason Bloomingburg pounced on the rebound and tallied his third goal of the season at 1:46.
Just over two minutes later, Fregoe scored his 18th goal of the season on a perfectly-executed give-and-go with senior Devin Rask to give the Friars a 2-0 advantage.
The Friars increased their lead to 3-0 as Fregoe scored his second of the night off a rebound at 9:06.
The Black Bears cut the lead to 3-1 at 14:10 of the second period as senior Lucas Lawson scored on the power play right in front of the Friar goal.
The Friars regained their three-goal edge at 18:33 of the second period as Wood was again involved. Wood’s wrist shot from the blue line was tipped by junior Mike Robinson past Howard to make the score 4-1.
In the third period, senior Jon DiSalvatore scored his 14th goal of the season on the power play to seal the win. Providence senior Nolan Schaefer was strong in net to lead the Friars to their fourth consecutive victory. Howard stopped 23 shots in the loss.
The Friars and the Black Bears complete their regular-season series on Saturday at Alfond Arena.
