OXFORD, Ohio — A top 15 matchup served as season-opening fare Friday night, where No. 11 Miami hosted the defending national champions from Providence, who sat at No. 7 in the USCHO poll entering the weekend.
Despite jumping out to an early lead, Miami gave way to relentless Providence pressure, eventually falling 7-3.
Both teams traded chances in the early going, but it was the home squad who touched twine first on a power-play opportunity. Freshman forward Jack Roslovic was the culprit, scoring on his first collegiate shot on goal at 5:14 of the first period.
“That first goal was a bit of a punch in the face,” Friars forward Tervor Mingoia said. “We talked on the bench, saying that we needed to get things going here. We started off, getting that first goal and we just kind of rolled from there.”
The raucous RedHawk crowd was quickly silenced by a resurgent and refocused Friar attack, however. Providence fired three unanswered goals past senior goaltender Jay Williams, the second of which was a Mingoia penalty shot conversion that was arguably the turning point in the contest.
Though Miami answered 1:35 into the second frame, that was the last impact on the scoreboard until garbage time. Two more Friar tallies – a gift of a rebound to senior Brandon Tanev and Mingoia’s second of the night – put the game out of reach for the RedHawks before the second period was even over.
Providence added two more in the final frame from Brian Pinho and Mark Jankowski to ice the game.
Despite a top 10 preseason ranking, there were still some question marks heading into the 2015 season for the Friars, especially with the departure of goaltender Jon Gillies for the Calgary Flames organization. Starting the season off with a road win, then, goes a long way for junior Nick Ellis, who made 19 saves in just his 13th career start.
“It’s huge for us,” Mingoia said. “Especially for the confidence of our team, our freshmen, and our goalie Nick Ellis. That’s huge for him to get this win, especially against a team as good as Miami.”
The RedHawks were largely silent in the locker room after the game, and coach Enrico Blasi explained that the first showing from his team was not what he had in mind.
“We’ve got to do a lot of things better,” Blasi said. “Maybe the first 10 minutes of the game we had some jump. After that, they showed why they’re the national championship team from a year ago. I just thought they outplayed us in every aspect of the game and the result is what you see.”
Providence outshot Miami with a 26-22 edge, even though the Friars outshot the RedHawks 10-4 in the second period.
A preseason injury to freshman Erik Foley looked like it might hamper the Friars’ potent offensive potential, but the top forward line played admirably, earning all three “Star of the Game” honors in the lopsided tilt, and rightfully so. Jankowski totaled four points and playmaker honors for his three assists, while Mingoia and Tanev finished with four and two points, respectively.
“Foley had been playing on that line until his injury,” Friars coach Nate Leaman explained. “So we put [Tanev] up there, and I think he does a good job of setting the pace for that line. I liked the chemistry tonight, but I think we need Pinho’s line to come back with a better game tomorrow because we’re not going to be a team that relies on one line.”
