Upcoming Event: Women's Ice Hockey versus Sacred Heart University (Exhibition) on September 27, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Women's Ice Hockey
vs Sacred Heart University (Exhibition)
3:00 PM
Providence College Athletics
Friday, February 1
North Andover, Mass.
5:00 P.M.
Providence College
at
Merrimack College
Women's Hockey Ready for Weekend with Merrimack and UConn
1/31/2019 11:58:00 AM | Women's Ice Hockey
The Friars travel to Merrimack on Friday (Feb. 1) before hosting UConn (Feb. 2).
Puck Drop
The Friars face Merrimack on the road on Friday, Feb. 1 at 5:00 p.m. Providence then returns home to host UConn on Saturday, Feb. 2 at 2:00 p.m.
Scouting the Friars
The Friars are currently 17-9-0 overall and 11-8-0 in Hockey East. Last weekend, the Friars dropped a pair of games to #9 Boston College. Both games ended in 4-2 results.Meaghan Rickard (Coventry, R.I.) and Caroline Peterson (East Falmouth, Mass.) scored on Friday, while Hayley Lunny (Bedford, N.Y.) and Sara Hjalmarsson (Bankeryd, Sweden) lit the lamp on Saturday. Three of the Friars' four goals from the weekend came on the power play.
Maureen Murphy (Buffalo, N.Y.) leads the charge offensively for the Friars with 36 points (20 goals, 16 assists). Christina Putigna (Grimsby, Ontario) is second. She's tallied nine goals, 10 assists and 19 points. Cassidy MacPherson (Oakville, Ontario) and Sara Hjalmarsson (Bankeryd, Sweden) are third on the team with 18 points apeice. MacPherson has nine goals and nine assists, while Hjalmarsson has eight goals and 10 assists. Avery Fransoo (North Battleford, Saskatchewan) is second on the team in assists, as she has 11 this season.
Madison Myers (Colchester, Vt.) has made 24 starts in net. She holds a .923 save percentage and a 1.85 goals against average. The netminder has made 529 total saves and has four shutouts.
Earlier This Season Vs. Merrimack
Providence swept a home-and-home weekend series with the Warriors back in Novemeber, winning 3-1 and then 5-3. Murphy had three points in Friday's home win, while Whitney Dove (Port Moody, British Columbia) and Rickard had two points apeice. Murphy continued her strong weekend with another three-point game, including two goals, on Saturday. Putigna also chipped in three points.
Earlier This Season Vs. UConn
Providence split the weekend series with UConn earlier this season. Each team picked up a road victory, as the Friars won 4-1 at UConn (Nov. 30) before the Huskies won 2-1 at Schneider Arena (Dec. 1). Murphy and MacPherson each scored two goals in Friday's road win. Rickard was the lone goal-scorer on Saturday. Briana Colangelo scored both goals for the Huskies in that game.
Protecting Leads
The Friars are an impressive 13-1-0 when leading at the end of two periods. Providence has done well to protect leads and also finds success when scoring first. The Friars are 11-2-0 when they light the lamp first.
Multi-Point Murphy
Maureen Murphy has recorded at least two points in 12 of 26 games so far for Providence. She's only been held off the score sheet in six of 26 games all season. She's currently ninth in the nation in points per game (1.38) and third in goals per game (0.77). She is also first in the nation in game-winning goals (seven) and tied for second in short-handed goals (three).
The Launch of Lunny
Lunny collected three points during her freshman season and already has 14 this season. The sophomore forward has eight goals and six assists for the Friars. She ranks tied for fourth on the team in goals and fifth on the team in points.
Where the Friars Rank
Providence ranks 12th in the nation in scoring margin (0.92), sixth in the nation in penalty kill (88.6%) and tied for 10th in team winning percentage (.654).
National Polls
The Friars were ranked in the top-10 nationally for seven-consecutive polls, before being just outside the top-10 for the past two weeks. The team is now receiving votes. The best ranking for the Friars so far this season is No. 7 in both polls (Dec. 10/11).
Milestones for Myers
Myers is just three games away from moving into second all-time at Providence is goaltender games played. The senior has played in 113 total games. She's also just seven wins away from moving into second in career wins by a goaltender. Myers already took over second place in all-time saves earlier this season. She currently has 2,687 total saves.
Putigna Point Watch
Putinga currently has 99 career points. The senior forward has scored 40 goals and tallied 59 assists during her four seasons. With one more point, Putigna would become the 27th Friar to reach the 100-point mark.
Progressing Toward Playoffs
With just a month left in the regular season, Providence is tied for fourth in Hockey East. The top four seeds will host #5-8 in best-of-three quarterfinal series from March 1-3. The Friars have hosted the quarterfinal round in the last two seasons.
Notching Awards in November
Murphy and Myers were named Player and Goaltender of the Month, respectively, by both Hockey East and the WHCA in November. It was the first national monthly award for either of them.
Murphy finished the month tied for a conference-lead in goals (eight). She registered at least one point in every game of November, scoring goals in five of eight games. Five of her strikes came as game winners, which lead the nation for the month. The sophomore forward added six assists during the month for 14 total points. Murphy had a nine-game point streak from Oct. 28-Nov. 30.
Myers went 8-0-0 and had one shutout during November. She had the best goals against average in Hockey East (1.25) and ranked second in save percentage (.944). She made 167 saves during the month and picked up one shutout. The senior netminder allowed one goal or fewer in six of the eight games during November.
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.
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.
Most recently, she was invited to participate in USA Hockey's Winter Training Camp. She was one of 44 players that participated in the camp from Dec. 17 to 21 in Michigan.
Hjalmarsson at Four Nations
Freshman Sara Hjalmarsson missed the Friars' Nov. 9 and Nov. 11 games to represent Sweden at the Four Nations Cup in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Sweden dropped its games against Canada (6-1), Finland (3-2) and the United States (5-1).
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).
Scouting the Warriors
Merrimack is currently 14-9-4 and 10-8-2 in league play. The team is 3-2-1 since the start of 2019, having split with Vermont, swept Maine and went 0-1-1 against BU. In the second game against BU last weekend (Jan. 26), Merrimack had a 3-2 lead before surrendering an extra attacker goal with 1:03 left on the clock. The Warriors have strong special teams, ranking sixth in the nation in power play (21.9%) and ninth in penalty kill (87.5%).
Who to Watch
Senior Katelyn Rae leads Merrimack offensively with 29 points on 20 goals and nine assists. She ranks sixth in the nation in goals per game (0.74) and is tied for a nation-lead in power-play goals (five). Junior Mikyla Grant-Mentis has a team-leading 15 assists and has added 11 goals for 26 total points. Freshman defeseman Julia MacLean is second in assists, as she has 13. Paige Voight is the other Warrior with double-digit goals (ten). Five of those have come on the power play, which has her tied with Rae for the nation's lead.
In net, Samantha Ridgewell has a 13-7-4 record, a 1.80 goals against average and a .938 save percentage. She ranks eighth in the nation in save percentage and is tied for first in shutouts with five.
All-Time Series with the Warriors
Providence leads the all-time series, 9-1-1. The Friars won both meetings back in November, putting this season's series record at 2-0-0.
Scouting the Huskies
UConn is 13-12-2 overall and 8-10-2 entering the weekend. The Huskies host #3 Notheastern before traveling to Providence on Saturday. UConn was on a six-game winning streak, which began at Providence back on Dec. 1, before a recent four-game winless streak. The Huskies dropped two contests against Northeastern and then one game at Maine before a 0-0 tie with the Black Bears. As a team, UConn averages and allows 2.48 goals per game. The Huskies are one of the least penalized teams in the nation, averaging just 2.8 penalties per game.
Who to Watch
Sophomore Natalie Snodgrass leads the team in goals (12) and points (23). Junior Catherine Crawley has 22 points (nine goals, 13 assists) and sophomore Morgan Wabick has 20 points (10 goals, 10 assists). Crawley is tied for the team lead in assists with Briana Colangelo and Viki Harkness. They each have 13 helpers on the season. In net, junior Morgan Fisher has played 23 games. She holds a 2.30 goals against average, a .922 save percentage and has three shutouts.
All-Time Series with the Huskies
Providence leads the all-time series with a record of 44-20-7. UConn has won three of the last five meetings between the teams. All three wins for the Huskies have come at Schneider Arena.
- GO FRIARS! -
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