BOSTON — For a team that had to hold its breath to even know if it would qualify for the NCAA tournament, Providence is just a single victory away from capturing the school’s first hockey national title.
Paced by a 25-save performance by goaltender Jon Gillies, a goal and two assists by Nick Saracino and goals by Noel Acciari, Mark Jankowski and Trevor Mingoia, the Friars skated past Omaha 4-1 in Thursday’s opening national semifinal at the TD Garden.
[scg_html_ff2015]The Friars were the last at-large team selected for the NCAA tournament and needed a Minnesota win in the Big Ten title game three weeks ago to have any hope of making the field. Now, they’ll face the winner of the Boston University-North Dakota game in Saturday’s national championship game.
“I was really pleased with our mental toughness,” said Providence coach Nate Leaman. “We could’ve gotten frustrated.”
That frustration was being caused by Omaha goaltender Ryan Massa. The senior netminder stopped everything he faced through the first half of the game as the Friars put shots on net in bunches.
It wasn’t until Acciari made the most of an uncharacteristic big rebound from Massa, finally poking a rebound into the left side of the net at 11:02 of the middle frame to put Providence on the board, that the senior netminder looked mortal.
Extending the lead on a Mark Jankowski goal at 14:58, Providence was seemingly in complete control, holding a lopsided 33-16 edge in shots through two periods.
But as Omaha has done so often this season, the Mavericks never quit and made a game of things midway through the third when Jake Guentzel fired a shot blocker side on Gillies.
That simply set up Mingoia to be the game’s hero, scoring in response just 36 seconds later.
A season ago, Mingoia, who transferred from Union to Providence when Friars coach Nate Leaman did the same, watched his former teammates win a national title. That provided plenty of motivation for the 5-foot-11 junior.
“It was a very motivating time for me,” Mingoia said of last year’s Union victory. “I couldn’t be happier for them. I have a lot of friends on that team still.
“But jealousy rolls in. I want it bad and I have the opportunity to do it with this team.”
Leaman said Mingoia’s goal was the game’s biggest turning point.
“It was probably the biggest play,” said Leaman. “It deflated their bench a little bit and it picks up your bench a little bit.”
[photoshelter-gallery g_id=”G0000UaL2nAyGDdU” g_name=”20150409-Providence-UNO” 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.f229pkQH2MJAX2FSMZDIKWC7inNorVWm6.mAX.53wK7_dmyfvOA–” ]From there, the Friars could ride Gillies, who stopped nine of the 10 shots he saw in the third period. Saracino finished the scoring with an empty-net goal at 19:29.
The loss certainly stung for Omaha, which reached the Frozen Four for the first time. But coach Dean Blais, who previously coached North Dakota to two national titles, has confidence that this team will get back to this stage and get another chance at a national title.
“Our first trip to the Frozen Four certainly didn’t turn out like we hoped,” said Blais. “I’m certainly disappointed that we lost but very proud of the team and what they accomplished this year.”
