Providence College continues its slide today, dropping a 4-2 decision to
Alabama-Huntsville.  UAH came into today's game 6-1-1 but are playing primarily
a Division II schedule.  The only Division I teams they will face this year are
Providence and Merrimack.
   The first period was fairly wide open.  Providence held an overwhelming 16-8
shots on goal advantage, but that wasn't at all indicative of the action.
Few of Providence's 16 shots put Charger goalie Derek Puppa to the test.
The UAH defense was fairly solid in the first period and (despite the shot
total) did a good job of keeping the Friar forwards out of harms way.
   The Chargers opened the second period with a goal by Brian Richard just
1:22 into the period.  Friar defenseman Ian Paskowski lost control of the
puck in front of his own net.  Lance West picked up the loose puck and fired
a shot off Bell.  Richard responded by shuffling the rebound into the left
corner for his 6th goal of the season.
   UAH picked up their second goal of the period with Defenseman Dave Blifka
in the box for Elbowing.  Friar forward Brady Kramer coughed up the puck to
Freshman winger Tony Guzzo.  Guzzo skated in a lone, put a nice fake on Bell
and stuffed the puck into an open net for a short-handed goal.  The goal is
his 7th of the season and 9th point.  Not a bad start for the freshman from
Michigan.
   Another Friar defensive lapse in the second period sent West and Richard
in on a 2 on 1 break with Balboni back.  West drew Balboni to the side and
fired a nice pass to Richard in alone.  Richard attempted to lift it over
Bell's shoulder and succeeded in putting it over everything.
   The period ended with the Chargers up 2-0. The Friars put another 11 shots
on Puppa to no avail whereas UAH tallied two goals on just 5 shots.  The
second period marked one of the worst defensive efforts this season for the
Friars.
   Providence got on the board at 6:36 of the third period.  Brady Kramer
dumped the puck in front of the UAH goal.  George Breen picked up the loose
puck and drove it home.  The goal was his 3rd of the season and 22nd of his
career.
   The Friars tied the game just 2 minutes later, capitalizing on a weak
clearing pass by Puppa.  The pass caromed off a UAH defensemen and floated
in front of the net where Joe Hulbig slapped it home.
   Mike Scanlon picked up the game winner for UAH at 17:18 off a 2 on 1
break with Garry Symons.  Symons fired the pass over to Scanlon who beat
Bell low to his left side.  Bell has been weak to his left all season and
showed it again tonight with 3 of the 4 Charger goals coming to that side.
   Lance West put the game on ice at 18:34 off a lead pass from Shane Bowler
that sent him in alone.  West split the Rowe/Paskowski defensive corps up the
middle and outskated them to the net.  The goal was his second of the season
and his second point of the game.  With this loss, the Friars drop to 3-7-0
overall.  It was the Friars' first loss ever to Alabama-Huntsville.
   One interesting note regarding the officiating...  The referee's schedule
listed today's game as a 7:00 PM start rather than the actual 2:00 PM faceoff.
To get the game underway, the Friars recruited RI schoolboy ref Bob Maguire
to wear the stripes.  The substitute linesmen starting the game were former
Friar Mark Devine and Carl Sundquist (the brother of PC Defenseman Eric
Sundquist.)  Hockey East official Chuck Wynters showed up after the first
period and took over for Mark Devine.  Regularly scheduled ref Ned Bunyon made
it for the third period but chose to watch the remainder of the game from the
stands.  (One Friar fan, noticing him in the stands, called out "Hey, Ned, is
this the first game you've ever really seen?"  Ned was not amused.)  The other
Hockey East official, John Jones, never made it.  Fortunately, this was a
non-league, non-Division I game.  It would have been interesting to see the
scramble for officials had the game really counted.
 
Box Score:
 
Scoring by Period
        1       2       3       Total
PC      0       0       2         2
UAH     0       2       2         4
 
Saves by Period
                                        1       2       3       Total
PC -- Bell (59 minutes) 8       3       3        14
UAH -- Puppa (60 minutes) 16    11      11       38
 
Summary:
 
FIRST PERIOD: No scoring
  Penalties:  Macera, UAH (holding) 2:02;  Kramer, PC (Tripping) 9:41
 
SECOND PERIOD:  UAH Richard (West) 1:22, UAH Guzzo (un) 5:03 (shorthanded)
  Penalties:  Blifka, UAH (Elbowing) 4:22;  Ridolfi, PC (roughing) 9:06;
              Wolitski, UAH (Interference)  16:59; Paskowski, PC (Hooking)
                   18:47
 
THIRD PERIOD:  PC Breen (Kramer, Quenneville) 6:36, PC Hulbig (Sousa) 8:46,
                    UAH Scanlon (Symons, Guzzo) 17:18, UAH West (Bowler) 18:34
  Penalties:  Dame, UAH (Roughing) 1:33; Burke, PC (Slashing) 1:33, Symons,
                   UAH (Roughing) 9:08, Paskowski, PC (Holding) 9:08; Dame, UAH
                   (Elbowing) 13:48; Wolitski, UAH (Slashing) 19:08
 
Total Penalties:
   PC  5/10
   UAH 7/12
 
Power Plays:
   PC  0/5
   UAH 0/3
 
Officials:
   Referee: Chuck Wynters
   Referee: Bob Maguire
   Linesman: Carl Sundquist
 
Friends of Friar Hockey Three Stars:
   1) Derek Puppa -- UAH
   2) Tony Guzzo -- UAH
   3) Lance West -- UAH
 
Attendance: 871