Providence Captures Hockey East Crown

If anyone had a reason to feel snubbed when, in the summer of 2008, the Women’s Hockey East Association enacted a new policy that would award home ice for the playoffs to the regular season champion, it was Providence College.

Before the format was amended, each member school was randomly chosen to host the final two rounds of the pennant race, and 2009 would have been the Friars’ turn. Instead, almighty New Hampshire made good of its treacherous Olympic-sized pond to bring the tournament to its turf, then used the unique surface again to claim its fourth straight playoff title.

But times have changed in a hurry. None other than PC bit into the Wildcats’ once-seamless home record this season, claiming the first two road wins for a Hockey East team in Whittemore Center history. And now, the traction the Friars gained from that has amounted to a 2010 regular season title, which they cemented last Saturday with a 5-2 lashing of Vermont.

"I look at it as kind of vindication for us to finally get the opportunity to put on the first-class show that I know we’re capable of putting on," said Head Coach Bob Deraney, whose players can sit back this weekend and wait for the wild card round to determine their semifinal adversary.

With byes awarded to the Friars and Wildcats—the only two programs to have raised the playoff trophy since the WHEA’s inception in 2002—Northeastern shall host Connecticut this Saturday before Boston College visits Boston University on Sunday. The lowest remaining seed will lock twigs with PC at Schneider Arena at noon on Saturday, March 6, with the winner advancing to the title tilt on Sunday, March 7, at 12:30 p.m.

There was a time, though, when such an arrangement did not seem likely. When their 34-game regular season was half finished at the end of November, the Friars were a toe-curling 4-7-6 overall and 3-3-3 in league action, good enough for a tie for fourth place.

But beneath the dodgy data was a lineup jolted by injuries and pelted by a challenge that came with facing nationally ranked opponents in nine of its first 17 ventures.

"Those first 17 games, there was very little continuity," Deraney said. "Once we got our lineup set and had all bodies available to us, it gave us an opportunity to finally become the team we were capable of becoming.

"Continuity is such a big part of success in a team sport. If you don’t have it, it can really prevent you from showing who you are. I’m just glad that we’ve been able to get that continuity back."

Once they started to regroup, beginning with that revolutionary 4-1 triumph at Lake Whittemore on Dec. 5, the Friars proceeded to go 11-3-3 in the second half. They ultimately faced ranked teams in 18 of 34 games, going 7-7-4 in that scenario, and are now within tasting distance of a Top 10 slot themselves.

"We were going into every game with our best effort and we were just coming up short," team captain Colleen Martin ’10 insists. "At Christmas break, we all went home for a while, then came back ready to go from the moment we stepped on campus. We knew the team that we had and the success we could achieve. We just worked after that and continued our game. We never really changed much."

Nor do they plan on altering their approach for the so-termed "second season." PC has arguably undergone the fieriest baptism in the country this season, and based on the current rankings, it still needs to hack a little more off of a certified contender.

They will likely have that opportunity when, next Saturday, either BC, No. 7-ranked UConn, or No. 8 Northeastern challenges the Friars’ bid for a title game passport.

"When playoff time comes, every team is tough and everyone wants to win," said forward Jean O’Neill ’11, who piloted the team’s second-half tear with 10 goals and 19 points in her last 14 games.

"Every game is going to be the same no matter who you’re playing," she said.

"We’ve been playing playoff games for a very long time," added Deraney. "When you have a record of 4-7-6, every game has meaning. We’re used to playing under these conditions."