One doesn’t have to look too far back in time to know how significant it is for Boston University and Providence to face off at TD Garden.
There was the 2018 Hockey East championship game, won by the Terriers 2-0. And with all due respect to the Hockey East tournament, there was a meeting with much higher stakes just three years earlier — the 2015 NCAA championship game, which Providence won in a come-from-behind 4-3 thriller. That year, the Friars were ousted at home by New Hampshire in the Hockey East quarterfinals, had to sit on the edge of their seats for two weeks waiting to find out if they would receive an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament, then emerged from the East Regional as a No. 4 seed before beating Omaha in the Frozen Four semifinals.
It’s a good bet that Providence coach Nate Leaman is hoping this year’s team can capture some of the magic that led to the success of his 2015 team.
This year the Friars (16-13-7, 11-9-6 Hockey East) are the No. 7 seed in the tournament and clawed their way into Friday’s semifinal (4 p.m., NESN) with a pair of 2-1 overtime wins — at home vs. UNH on March 8 and last Saturday at Northeastern.
“I wouldn’t want to go to overtime against us right now,” said Leaman. “I can tell you that. They believe. They want these moments. That’s what you want as a coach. You don’t want your guys backing down in these moments. You want them wanting these moments and growing in these moments. That’s what’s happening right now.”
To say the Friars are getting hot at the right time would be an understatement — Providence suffered through a brutal second half losing five straight games at one point and going winless in nine out of 11 to close the regular season.
Leaman said the rough second half “hardened” his team for the postseason.
“I think we know who we are a little bit better,” he said. “I think we can handle adversity within a game a lot better.”
BU (26-10-0, 19-6-0) enters the weekend with the top tournament seed and a No. 5 ranking in both the USCHO.com men’s D-I poll and the PairWise rankings, which the NCAA selection committee uses to decide which teams get at-large bids to the tournament.
They also carry a burning desire to erase the memory of their last foray to the Garden, which resulted in a fourth-place finish at last month’s Beanpot, which kicked off a four-game losing streak for the Terriers.
“During the course of the season, you’re going to have some times when you’re not playing your best,” said first-year BU coach Jay Pandolfo, recently named Hockey East Coach of the Year. “It just happens. That was a stretch that happened to us — not great timing, because of the Beanpot and the importance of that. But it does happen. So I think we’ve learned from it. I think we’ve started to play the way we’re capable of playing.”
BU senior forward Wilmer Skoog, who scored twice in the Terrier’s 7-3 quarterfinal win vs. Vermont, said his team’s success will depend on consistent play.
“The games will be harder, faster and tougher in every aspect,” he said. “So we just have to go out there and play a little stronger on the puck and a little stronger on the ‘D’ zone as well. We all know what we can do. If we go out a little stronger mind set I think we’ll be off to a good run here.”
Nick Zabaneh, the Terriers’ junior forward who thrice scored in the Vermont win, said getting off to a fast start like they did against the Catamounts — BU was up 3-0 less than 10 minutes in — will be key this weekend.
“It’s a one-and-done game — you can’t start off slow,” Zabaneh said. “Working them down and getting them tired, that’s the biggest thing. We just have to start off hot.”
Following the PC-BU battle will be the second semifinal between No. 5 UMass-Lowell and No. 2 Merrimack. The championship game is slated for Saturday night at 7 p.m.
