PROVIDENCE, R.I. - The Providence College men's hockey (6-6-5) team and Brown University (3-4-4) skated to a 4-4 overtime tie Tuesday night in the 25th Annual Mayor's Cup at Meehan Auditorium. With the tie, the Friars moved to 14-8-3 in the Mayor's Cup.
Junior Alex Beaudry (Cumberland, Ont.) made several key saves in the first period to keep the Bears scoreless. Beaudry stopped Harry Zolnierczyk at 13:49 on a short-handed breakaway. Shortly after PC's power play ended, the Friars took a 1-0 lead on a goal by senior Jordan Kremyr (Cloverdale, B.C.). Sophomore Tim Schaller (Merrimack, N.H.) fired a shot from the top of the right circle that was re-directed by Kremyr for his fourth goal of the season. Freshman Mark Adams (Boxford, Mass.) also assisted on the goal for his first career point.
The Bears tied the game at 14:29 when Dennis Robertson's shot from the top of the left circle glanced off the right post and into the net. Matt Wahl and Jack MacLellan assisted on the play. The Friars then scored two goals in a span of 57 seconds to take a 3-1 lead into the second period intermission. Schaller skated down the right wing and flipped a one-handed shot towards the net that was saved by Mike Clemente. Sophomore Chris Rooney (Canton, Mass.) then followed up with another shot that was also saved. However, junior Andy Balysky (Randolph, N.J.) would not be denied as he put home his first goal of the season at 18:30 to give PC a 2-1 edge. The Friars went on the power play and freshman Derek Army (North Kingstown, R.I.) capitalized on the man-advantage as he scored his third goal of the season. Army skated around the Brown net before wrapping the puck into the short side.
Brown began the third period on the power play and cut the lead to 3-2 at 1:52 when Zolnierczyk tapped the puck into the empty net from in close after a pass from Matt Wahl. However, senior Ian O'Connor (Londonderry, N.H.) increased PC's lead to 4-2 when he scored a short-handed goal at 5:02. O'Connor stole the puck at the PC blue line, skated on a breakaway, before sliding the puck between Clemente's pads and into the net. It marked O'Connor's fourth goal of the season.
The Bears again cut the lead to one goal as MacLellan rifled a wrist shot from the left circle that beat Beaudry with 4:53 remaining. The Bears pulled Clemente for an extra skater MacLellan struck again with 1:08 left to even the score at 4-4.
Providence finished with a 39-35 edge in shots. Clemente made 35 stops, while Beaudry had 31 saves.
The Friars are back in action on Saturday, December 11 at 2:00 p.m. when they host Quinnipiac at Schneider Arena. Brown will not play until January 1 when it faces Boston University in the Shillelagh Tournament in Hoffman Estates, Ill.