PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Junior co-captain John Cavanagh (Warwick, R.I.) scored two goals, including the game winner in the third period, to lead the Providence College men's hockey team to a 4-2 victory over UMass Lowell Saturday night in a Hockey East battle at Schneider Arena. It marked PC's first Hockey East win this season as it improved to 4-12-1 overall and 1-8-1 in league play. The River Hawks fell to 8-11-0 and 5-7-0 in Hockey East action.
OTHER LINKS: Tim Army Audio (mp3) - Blaise MacDonald Audio (mp3)- John Cavanagh Audio (mp3)
With the game tied at 2-2 in the third period, John Cavanagh made a rush into the UML zone and fired a shot from the left circle that was saved by UML goaltender Carter Hutton. Freshman Matt Bergland (Faribault, Minn.) then fired a shot off the rebound that was block and the puck deflected towards Cavanagh who tapped in his second goal of the night at 14:46 to give PC a 3-2 lead.
John Cavanagh opened the scoring at 5:46 of the second period as he scored on the power play off assists from his cousin David Cavanagh (Warwick, R.I.) and sophomore Eric Baier (North Kingstown, R.I.). At 9:02, the River Hawks evened the score (1-1) as Paul Worthington slipped a pass to a wide open Maury Edwards who scored from the left circle on the power play. Just 2:26 later, senior Pierce Norton (South Boston, Mass.) also scored on the man advantage as he was the beneficiary of a two-on-one rush. Sophomore Kyle MacKinnon (Walnut, Calif.) and senior Matt Taormina (Washington Township, Mich.) assisted on the goal.
Mike Potacco scored 1:20 into the third period to tie the game at 2-2. John Cavanagh then broke the tie with his team-leading seventh goal of the season with 5:14 left and MacKinnon added an empty-net goal to seal PC's second consecutive win.
Freshman Alex Beaudry (Cumberland, Ontario), who was playing in his first collegiate game, stopped 19 of the 21 shots he faced to earn the win. Hutton stopped 23 shots for the River Hawks.
The Friars are back in action on Tuesday, January 13 when they play at Boston University beginning at 7:00 p.m.