Union and Providence played to a 4-4 tie tonight in Schenectady.
Union put 48 shots on PC goalie Nolan Schaefer, who consistently
denied them with the glove.  PC had a 2-1 lead after 2, then the teams
combined for 5 third-period goals.  Union started the third with a
5-on-3 advantage for over a minute.  With the puck in the offensive
zone, first one then two of the three Providence defenders were
playing without sticks.  After being denied a few times by Schaefer,
Nathan Gilles scored before either player could collect his stick.
I've never seen what was essentially a 5-on-"1 and 2 halves" before.
The teams then traded goals to make it 3-3.  With Providence on the
power play, a PC player (I can't remember the name or number) was
assesed a 5-minute major and game disqualification for a late hit.  I
didn't see it happen, so I don't know if it was a situation where only
the retaliation was caught, but one of the assistant linesmen saw
enough to warrant the major penalty.  Jason Kean scored on a 4-on-4
shortly after that call to give Union a 4-3 lead.  Union had a lot of
good scoring chances during the major power play, but failed to score.
As soon as that penalty ended, Providence tied it when Jonathan
Goodwin beat Brandon Snee with a shot from the top of the right circle
that went right between his pads.  It's a shot that Snee normally
stops, but even so, I think he had a very strong game.  He finished
with 25 saves.  His best was late in the third, when (I think) Peter
Fregoe broke in alone and was stopped by Snee.

Union couldn't score on some very good opportunities, but came out and
played well after being outplayed pretty badly in the first period.
It was good to see them generating some consistent offensive pressure,
especially in the second half of the game.

Union remains at .500 overall, now at 3-3-2.  They host another Hockey
East team in an unusual weeknight game next Wednesday when Lowell
visits Achilles.

--
Jim Teresco - [log in to unmask] - http://www.cs.williams.edu/~terescoj
Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science
TCL 304, 47 Lab Campus Drive, Williams College, Williamstown, MA 01267