Completed Event: Women's Ice Hockey versus #9/9 Clarkson University on October 18, 2025 , Loss , 0, to, 3
Women's Ice Hockey
vs #9/9 Clarkson University
Final
0
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3
Providence College Athletics
Friday, October 5
Providence, R.I.
6:00 P.M.
Providence College
vs
Bemidji State University
Photo by: Stew Milne
Women's Hockey Opens Regular Season Against Bemidji State
10/4/2018 11:13:00 AM | Women's Ice Hockey
The Friars and Beavers clash for two games on Oct. 5 and 6.
Puck Drop
The Friars open the 2018-19 regular season with a two-game series against Bemidji State. Puck drop on Friday (Oct. 5) is at 6:00 p.m. and on Saturday (Oct. 6) at 2:00 p.m.
Scouting the Friars
The Friars finished 2017-18 with a 17-13-7 overall record and a 12-7-5 mark in Hockey East. The second-place regular season finish was the team's best since 2009-10. Providence's season came to a close in a Quarterfinal series against UConn, where the Friars fell in three games.
Providence returns top scorer, Maureen Murphy (Buffalo, N.Y.), as well as offensive threats Christina Putigna (Grimsby, Ontario) and Cassidy MacPherson (Oakville, Ontario). Murphy had 19 goals and nine assists for 28 points in her rookie campaign. She had four short-handed goals, which was good for first in the nation. Putigna only played in 29 games due to injury, but was still able to rack up 24 points on 11 goals and 13 assists. MacPherson led the Friars in assists with 17. She finished the year with 22 points as she chipped in five goals.
The Friars return all seven defensemen from last season, including senior Kate Friesen (Altona, Manitoba). She had 13 points in just 25 games played, including nine assists. Avery Fransoo (North Battleford, Saskatchewan) led the defense in scoring with 15 points on three goals and 12 assists. Whitney Dove (Port Moody, British Columbia) scored six goals from the blue line, as well.
In net, Madison Myers (Colchester, Vt.) returns for her senior season. She finished 2017-18 with 885 saves, which is third-most in a single season at Providence. She ranks fourth all-time in saves, with 2,158. Last season, she posted a 1.98 goals against average and a .927 save percentage with four shutouts.
Exhibition Versus Concordia
The Friars defeated Concordia, 6-1, in an exhibition game on Sept. 28. Five different players scored in the win, including MacPherson, who notched two goals. Murphy led the team in points with three. She had one goal and two assists. Sara Hjalmarsson (Bakeryd, Sweden) posted two assists in her first-career action. Friesen and Meaghan Rickard (Coventry, R.I.) were the other multi-point scorers. They each had a goal and an assist. All three goaltenders played for the Friars. Myers made five saves before Clare Minnerath (Sartell, Minn.) came in and made two saves in the second period. Sandra Abstreiter (Freising, Germany) played the third period, but did not record a save. Providence was 2-5 on the power play and 4-4 on the penalty kill.
Hockey East Preseason Poll
The Friars were picked to finish fourth in the Hockey East Preseason poll, which was released on Sept. 20. Providence received 54 points and was picked to finish behind Boston College (81), Northeastern (73) and Maine (59).
Rounding out the poll were Boston University (44), UConn (43), New Hampshire (41), Vermont (25), Merrimack (21), and first-year member Holy Cross (9).
Friars in the National Polls
The Friars received votes in both of the first two USCHO polls. Providence tallied one vote on Sept. 17 and again on Oct. 1. In addition, the squad received one vote in the first USA Hockey poll.
Meet the Staff
Matt Kelly was named the sixth head coach in Providence College women's ice hockey history on June 18, 2018. Most recently, he served as a Head Scout for USA Hockey and the Women's National Team. His primary responsibility was to oversee and maintain the player pools for the U-18 and U-22 squads, in addition to the Women's National Team. He recently captured a gold medal with the Women's National Team at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang. Prior to USA Hockey, Kelly served as an assistant women's ice hockey coach at Clarkson University. There, he helped the Golden Knights to the 2014 National Championship. He played at Wayne State and graduated in 2007.
Kelly hired Jake Anderson, Ali Domenico and Doug Ferry to round out his staff. Anderson previously coached at Merrimack, RPI and Holy Cross. He graduated from American International College in 2011, where he was a goaltender. Domenico, a 2009 St. Lawrence graduate, coached at Syracuse prior to arriving at Providence. Ferry remains with the program as the Director of Hockey Operations after serving as a student manager and then the program's graduate assistant for the past two seasons.
Fresh Friar Faces
Providence welcomes four new players to the roster for 2018-19. Annelise Rice (Excelsior, Minn.) joins the program as a sophomore transfer. She played 25 games at North Dakota (2016-17) and registered two points on one goal and one assist. Freshmen Ciara Barone (North Tonawanda, N.Y.), Sara Hjalmarsson (Bakeryd, Sweden) and Caroline Peterson (East Falmouth, Mass.) round out the new additions. Barone attended the Nichols School, while Peterson attended Saint Mark's School. Hjalmarsson went to school and played in Sweden, most notably for the national team in the 2018 Olympic Games in PeyongChang.
Murphy with USA Hockey
During the off-season, Murphy had several chances to compete for USA Hockey. In August, she competed for the USA U-22 Women's Select Team in a three-game series against Canada. She recorded two goals in three games. In September, Murphy was invited to U.S. Women's National Team Evaluation Camp. From Sept. 13-17 she participated in practices and scrimmages with the top players in the country, including 17 players that won gold at the recent Olympics.
2017-18 Award Winners
Maureen Murphy headlined the Friars' Hockey East awards last season. At the conclusion of the season, she was selected to the league's All-Rookie team and was also a Second Team All-Star. Additionally, she was tabbed a New England Hockey Writers All-Star, making her the first to earn the honor since Genevieve Lacasse in 2011-12. During the season, she earned Hockey East Rookie of the Week honors three times. She was also the Rookie of the Month in December.
Kate Friesen was recognized as a Hockey East All-Star Honorable Mention at the end of the season, despite missing 11 games due to injury.
During the season, several other Friars were recognized by the league. Madison Myers was named Defensive Player of the Week twice and Goaltender of the Month in October. Whitney Dove was also named Defensive Player of the Week once.
Scouting the Beavers
The Beavers opened the regular season with a two-game series at home against No. 1 Clarkson. BSU fell 5-1 and 5-3. On opening night, the Beavers outshot the Golden Knights, 30-14. Clarkson went 2-2 on the power play en route to the victory. The following night, BSU made a valiant comeback effort. Clarkson led 4-0 before the Beavers stormed back to make it 4-3. An empty-netter sealed the victory. Once again, BSU led in shots on goal, 35-19.
Who to Watch
Briana Jorde and Jacqueline Kaasa lead the Beavers with two points apiece. Both of their points came from assists. Four different Beavers scored goals over opening weekend. Paige Beebe, Emily Bergland, Lydia Passolt and Kiki Radke each have a point on one goal. Bergland was Bemidji State's second-leading scorer last season. She had 24 points on 11 goals and 13 assists. Haley Mack, who has not registered a point yet this season was last year's points leader, with 25. She put up 11 goals and 14 assists.
Kerigan Dowhy and Lauren Bench each played a game in net during opening weekend. Bench made nine saves and allowed five goals in the first game, while Dowhy made 14 saves and allowed four goals in the second game. Bench saw the majority of time last season, making 19 appearances. She held a 2.71 goals against average and a .903 save percentage. Dowhy played nine games, held a 1.82 goals against average and a .936 save percentage.
All-Time Series with the Beavers
The Friars trail in the all-time series, 1-2-1. The teams have not met since the 2012 season, when Bemidji State came to Providence. The teams split that series, with BSU taking game one (3-2) and Providence taking game two (5-1).
- GO FRIARS! -
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