NORTH ANDOVER, MASS. --  Senior defenseman Matt Libby tallied two goals and
two assists as the eighth-ranked Providence College Friars defeated the
Merrimack Warriors, 7-3, in HOCKEY EAST action, on Saturday, December 2 at
the Volpe Complex in North Andover, Mass.  Libby was one of five Friars to
record mutilple-points in the victory.
        The Friars took a 1-0 lead at 4:02 of the first period,  when Jon
DiSalvatore's shot slipped through the pads of Merrimack goaltender Joe
Exter.  Marc Suderman carried the puck into the Warrior zone and dropped it
to DiSalvatore.  DiSalvatore then took an off balance shot that found its
way past Exter for the game's first goal.   At the 6:27 mark, freshman
Jonathan Goodwin tallied his first collegiate goal,  assisted by Devin Rask
and John Luszcz.  Rask tried to beat Exter to the post on a wrap-around, the
puck deflected of the netminder's pads to Goodwin.  Goodwin wristed the puck
off the crossbar and past Exter, giving the Friars a 2-0 lead.
        At 13:33, PC's freshman Regan Kelly notched his first collegiate goal, a
power-play tally, assisted by Peter Fregoe and Rask.  Rask took control of
the puck in the neutral zone and made a nifty behind-the-back pass to Fregoe
in the Friars' zone, Fregoe sent a centering pass to Kelly who one-timed the
puck past Exter.
        Merrimack tallied their first goal of the night at 17:03 of the first.
Anthony Aquino carried the puck over the blue line and fired a pass to a
streaking Nick Parillo in front of the goal. Parillo then wristed a shot
over Friar goaltender Boyd Ballard's glove, Marco Rosa added an assist on
the play.
        The Friars regrouped as Adam Lee notched his third goal of the season at
19:24 of the first period.  Matt Libby fired a perfect pass between two
Merrimack defenders to Lee waiting in the slot as the Friars increased their
lead to 4-1.
        PC's offense struck again at 3:27 of the second period.  Rask controlled
the puck in the corner and sent a high pass to the front of the net.  Libby
knocked down the pass and fired it past Exter, for the Friars' fifth goal of
the night.  Libby's goal ended Exter's night as he was replaced by Jason
Wolfe at 4:41 of the second period.
        At 15:34 of the second period, Lee notched a power-play goal, his second
tally of the night assisted by Jay Leach and Libby.  Two minutes later,
Libby netted his second goal of the night, increasing the Friars' lead to,
7-1.
        Merrimack's Ron Mongeau and Ryan Kiley each added a third period goal for
the Warriors.
        Ballard finished the night with 29 saves in the victory, while Exter and
Wolfe combined to stop 19 shots in the loss.
        With the win,   Providence improved to 8-3-3 overall and 5-2-1 in HOCKEY
EAST action, while Merrimack fell  to 7-8-1 overall, 3-6-0 in league play.
        The Friars will return to action on Friday, December 8, versus
UMass-Amherst, at Schneider Arena at 7:00 p.m.

Providence College      4       3       0       -- 7
Merrimack       1       0       2       -- 3

First period - PC, DiSalvatore 5 (Suderman, Lee) 4:02; PC Goodwin 1 (Rask,
Luszcz) 6:27; PC, Kelly 1 (Fregoe, Rask) 13:33; MC, Parillo 8 (Anquino,
Rosa) 17:03; PC, Lee 3 (Libby, Kelly) 19:34.  Penalties - PC, 3-6; MC, 1-2.

Second period - PC, Libby 3 (Rask, DiSalvatore) 3:2; Lee 4(DiSalvatore,
Rask) 3:57; PC, Libby 4(DiSalvatore, Rask) 17:46. Penalties - PC, 5-10; MC, 5-10

Third period - MC, Mongeau 1 (Sikatchev, Clevenger) 00:07; Kiley 9 (Mongeau,
Gray) 2:43. Penalties - PC, 6-12; MC, 5-10



Saves - Ballard, PC, 7-16-6 -- 29 (59:21); Curran, PC, X-X-0 --0 (00:39)
Exter, MC, 7-0-X -- 7 (24:41); Wolfe, MC, X- 3- 9 -- 12 (35:19).

Records - Providence College, 8-3-3;Merrimack, 7-8-1.

Attendance: 779 (Volpe Complex)