Friar Q&A: Catching Up With Mark Jankowski '16

Friars.com caught up with Mark Jankowski '16 recently to see how he's handling the NHL pause and to reflect back on his time at Providence College.

With the NHL on pause right now, can you give us some updates on how you are spending your time lately and any creative things you are doing to stay in game shape?

Our strength coach has been giving us at home body weight workouts that I've been doing pretty much every day in my backyard. I've also been going on runs around my neighborhood. Other than that, I've been cooking, playing board games, cards, video games and doing some reading. I've also got a six-month old golden retriever, Lucy, so she keeps me busy as well. She loves trying to join in on the workouts. Just trying to keep doing as much as I can given the circumstances.

Do you still keep in contact with any of your Friar teammates?

Oh yeah, our class has a group chat that's going every day, especially now. Whenever I play in a city that one of my former teammates lives in, Boston and New York are big ones, I always try and get together with them and grab dinner and hang out. Also, once a year in the summer, our class always gets together for a weekend, which is a tradition we want to continue as it's the only time we all get to be together at once.

It's now been four seasons for you professionally between Stockton and Calgary, can you reflect on the last four years and talk about how you have evolved as a person and player at the professional level?

I feel like Providence prepared me very well for the jump to pro hockey. I spent one year in Stockton and then the last three in Calgary, and I feel every year I've kept getting more comfortable and more confident.

You scored four goals against Vegas two years ago, has that been your most notable moment personally at the NHL level or is there another moment you would like to share?

Scoring four goals against Vegas was definitely one of the highs of my career so far. It just felt like one of those nights where my teammates were getting me the puck and everything I touched somehow went in. My first NHL goal was also a big moment for me, and my first playoff game last season. The atmosphere and the intensity is on a whole different level than the regular season and that experience left a hunger for me to get back there and be successful.

Do you still follow the Friars? It must give you a sense of pride knowing that your class was a key part in developing the culture that has continued to have success after you graduated.

Yeah, I follow the Friars pretty closely still. It's been awesome to see how successful the program continues to be after we left, especially the team last season that went back to the frozen four. That's a testament to Coach Leaman, his coaching staff, and the current players that put in the work every day and never get complacent.

It's been five years since the national championship, can you reflect on how it felt being on that run?

That run was one of the best times of my life. We felt going into that season we had a team that was able to win a national championship and we didn't quite live up to it during the regular season. All we needed was a chance to play in the tournament, and once we knew we made it in, the rest was up to us. Playing the first round at the 'Dunk was special with all the support we got from the fans and students. That definitely helped us win the regional and move onto the Frozen Four. I think our semifinal win against Omaha was the best complete game our team played in my four years at PC. We were running on all cylinders at the right time with everyone contributing. We were confident going into the championship against BU. Even when we were down there was a confidence on our bench and in our locker room where we knew we were going to find a way to win that game.

You scored some big goals during that run against Omaha and BU, do you ever find yourself checking out the highlights whenever you have free time?

Haha I haven't watched the highlights of those games in a long time actually, until I saw the team account live tweeting the national championship. It was awesome to re-watch the highlights and have all those emotions come back me. The anniversary we were all talking in the group chat about what it was like playing in that game and what it was like afterwards celebrating with each other and with our families, and then how it was back at school with all the students and faculty members and alumni. That championship was for every one of those people and it was special to be able to celebrate with them.

Can you describe what it's like to play against some of your former teammates (Acciari, Tanev, Rooney, Gilmour) and is there a little extra chirping going on when you face-off against those guys?

One of the great things about playing at PC is not only did we have a ton of team success, but everyone has had a ton of individual success in whatever they have done afterwards, including having multiple guys playing in the NHL. It's pretty cool to be able to line up against some of my closest friends at the highest level and there's definitely a fair bit of chirping going on too.

After the national championship, it's almost forgotten how loaded the team was your senior season and the hot start in the first half where the team didn't lose a game. Can you reflect on your final year in Friartown, wearing an "A" and how you were personally able to become a point per game player?

Coming back for our senior season after we won the championship, i can speak for our whole team that once you win it once, that feeling and that experience just makes you want to win it all over again. We lost some huge members of our championship team, but we had the majority of our team coming back and we're hungry to do it again. We had a pretty big senior class so the leadership group on that team helped carry us through that season. Unfortunately, the season didn't end the way we wanted it to, but we all knew we had a lot to be proud of from that season, and from our four years at PC.

Anything you would like to say to the Friar fans and any final thoughts overall on your four years in Providence?

I just want to say that my four years at Providence we're truly the best four years of my life. I made some of my closest friends at PC and those friendships and bonds will last forever. When you spend four years with the same group of guys eating, sleeping, going to the rink together, there's really nothing else in the world like it. I'd tell the current Friars to enjoy every minute of it because you may not realize it now, but when you leave you're going to miss it like crazy. Go Friars.

Completed Event: Men's Ice Hockey versus Vermont on February 7, 2026 , Win , 6, to, 1

Completed Event: Men's Ice Hockey versus Northeastern on February 13, 2026 , Loss , 2, to, 4

Completed Event: Men's Ice Hockey versus Northeastern on February 14, 2026 , Win , 4, to, 1

Completed Event: Men's Ice Hockey at Vermont on February 20, 2026 , Win , 5, to, 2

Completed Event: Men's Ice Hockey at Vermont on February 21, 2026 , Win , 5, to, 3

Completed Event: Men's Ice Hockey versus New Hampshire on February 27, 2026 , Loss , 0, to, 1

Completed Event: Men's Ice Hockey at New Hampshire on February 28, 2026 , Win , 3, to, 2

Completed Event: Men's Ice Hockey versus #14/15 UConn on March 7, 2026 , Win , 3, to, 1

Completed Event: Men's Ice Hockey versus Merrimack on March 14, 2026 , Loss , 2, to, 3 , (OT)

Completed Event: Men's Ice Hockey versus Quinnipiac on March 26, 2026 , Loss , 2, to, 5

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