The season rolls on tonight as BC takes on Providence down I-95. The Eagles come into this game red-hot, having won seven of their last eight, while the Friars have lost their last four. Providence appears to be struggling, but they have been able to pull off some big upsets so far this season, knocking off both UMass schools and Notre Dame. Providence always seems to save their best for BC, so it will not be a cakewalk down at Schneider Arena this evening.
Providence is lead by returning top scorer Matt Bergland and goalie Alex Beaudry. Bergland is again the top goal scorer for PC, with a line of 7-6-13 this year, and he is joined by a pair of juniors (Kyle MacKinnon and Matt Germain) to make up the majority of the Friars' front end scoring. In their wins, Providence is averaging about 3.5 goals a game, so even when they are winning PC is not scoring a ton of goals. BC will most likely be going with veteran John Muse tonight, so odds are Providence will be having more scoring troubles tonight, but nothing surprises me when these two teams meet.
Beaudry has been hot and cold since he arrived in Providence midway through last year's campaign. He has been either very good or very bad. He stands at 6-6 on the year with no shutouts and a GAA of 2.86. Not too bad, but not great either. Does some of this come from a lack of defense in front of him? Possibly. PC has a lot of young defensemen which have allowed over 400 shots to hit their goalie, and its tough to stop everything.
Not a lot has been expected from PC this year, but the same could have been said last year when they ended up taking BC to OT twice. Granted, BC went 2-0-1 against them in an otherwise unsuccessful season, but I have seen Providence pull some crazy performances out of nowhere when the maroon and gold unis are across the ice. This is the last game for BC before Holiday Break, and they may just be looking forward to the little vacation and a trip to Denver in the new year. I still expect an easy win here, but it could be tight for a while....
Prediction: BC 4 PC 2
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