David Blackburn writes:
>Alright, who can tell me what's up with the PC Friars?
>
>This is a team that finished 6th in Hockey East with a pretty bad record
>(7-11-6 in HE, 12-16-6 overall) but continues to win pull off upset
>after upset the entire year.
...
>So, my point is, can anyone explain why this team is so inconsistant?
>On any one night that beat anyone but are just as likely to get
>trounced.
 
I wouldn't agree with that statement, at least not with the way PC has
been playing the last month or so (consistently well, actually).
 
From the beginning of the season until February, PC only had 2 wins
I would consider impressive - Northeastern (10-3 on 12/09/94) and
Brown (6-3 on 01/17/95).  Those wins might have been an indicator of
what PC was capable of, but until February, they seemed more to be
rare occasions when things went well.
 
It is really only since a February 5th tie with Merrimack that PC has
put it all together and played as well as anyone, night in and out.
Here are their results including and since then:
 
 H 02/05/95   T   2  Merrimack            2      so (PC wins SO, 2-0)
 A 02/10/95   T   4  Northeastern         4      so (NU wins SO, 1-0)
 H 02/17/95 W     8  Boston University    1
 A 02/18/95  L    3  Boston University    6
 A 02/24/95   T   6  New Hampshire        6      so Manchester, NH
                                                    (PC wins SO, 1-0)
 H 02/26/95 W     5  Boston College       2
 A 03/03/95 W     7  Mass Lowell          0
 A 03/09/95 W     3  New Hampshire        2  nc  ot HE Quarterfinal (@ BC)
 
4-1-3 - not bad!  In a span of a few weeks, they have had more
impressive performances than in the first few months combined.  And
they've had only one loss, to BU.
 
Providence is not suddenly a powerhouse, but they are playing a
consistently tough defensive style right now that makes them VERY
difficult to beat.
 
Quenneville was one of the pre-season All-HE selections, but it is
only over the last month or so that he has really been dominating.  He
and Kramer are a formidable duo.
 
Goalie Bob Bell was injured much of the first half of the year and was
a little slow to get up to par.  But I recall seeing him stone
Merrimack in the game that started everything off and thinking that
this was not the same guy I had seen before, and that things were
going to get quite interesting if he kept it up.  Combine that with
the fact that the Friars seem to have settled into feeling comfortable
with Paul Pooley's defensive-oriented system, and you have a good
explanation of why they've enjoyed success lately.
 
I would be interested to hear from any of the PC followers...is this
how you see it?  I've only seen something like 4 of the games in their
4-1-3 streak.
---                                                                   ---
Mike Machnik                                            [log in to unmask]
Cabletron Systems, Inc.                                    *HMM* 11/13/93