Feb. 1, 2008

Box Score

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. - Junior Matt Taormina (Washington Township, Mich.) scored the winning goal with 4:27 remaining in the third period to lift the 13th-ranked Providence College men's hockey team to a 3-2 win over ninth-ranked Boston College Friday night in a Hockey East battle at Kelley Rink. It marks PC's first win at Kelley Rink January 24, 2003. The Friars, who have won three consecutive games, improved to 12-9-2 overall and 9-5-2 in league play. BC fell to 12-6-7 and 8-4-6 in Hockey East action.

The winning goal came after the Friars had just killed off a BC penalty. Junior Pierce Norton (South Boston, Mass.) collected a loose puck in his own end and skated down the right wing before slipping a back-handed pass to classmate Nick Mazzolini (Anchorage, Alaska). Mazzolini then tapped the puck to Taormina who fired a wrist shot that glanced off the right post and into the net for his eighth goal of the season. The Eagles pulled freshman goaltender John Muse for an extra skater and had a 6-on-4 power play as PC was whistled for a tripping penalty with 48 seconds remaining, but the Friars thwarted BC's chances at evening the score.

The Friars scored two quick goals to take a 2-0 first period lead. Senior Jon Rheault (Deering, N.H.) opened the scoring at 5:44 when he collected a rebound right in front and potted his team leading 14th goal of the season. Freshman Eric Baier (North Kingstown, R.I.) and sophomore Greg Collins (Hingham, Mass.) assisted on the goal. Just 2:10 later, Collins took a feed from freshman Matt Germain (Rockland, Mass.) and Collins skated in alone before firing a wrist shot past Muse at 7:54. The Eagles bounced back in the second period, scoring twice to even the score. Kyle Kucharski tallied his first goal of the season at 3:35 to bring BC to within 2-1. At 16:38, Matt Greene scored the equalizer as he was set up in front by Nick Petrecki.

PC goalie Tyler Sims (Fort Wayne, Ind.) made 36 saves to lead the Friars to their fourth win in the last five games. Muse finished with 20 stops.

The Friars are back in action on Saturday, February 2 when they travel to North Andover, Mass. to take on Merrimack in a Hockey East game.