The 37th Mayor’s Cup was won by the tenth-ranked Providence Friars (10-5-2, 4-3-2 HEA) over the Brown Bears (4-9-1, 2-5-0 ECAC) on Saturday night at Meehan Auditorium. The game ended in a tie after two quarters of scoreless play.
Head coach Brendan Whittet ’94 remarked, “I thought we played great. I told the guys after the game I wasn’t disappointed at all with the effort, I was disappointed with the result.” “We lost to a really strong hockey team; the score remained at zero for much of the encounter. Both they and we had opportunities. Both their and our goalie performed admirably. With the fourth power play, they caught a break and scored.
“I genuinely think that this club will win a championship this year. We have some skill up front, strong defense, and outstanding goaltending, all of which point to the potential for a very successful hockey team.”
Goalie Lawton Zacher of Brown (35 saves) turned out all 12 of the Bears’ shots on goal to keep the game scoreless in the first frame. In the period, both teams failed to capitalize on a power play opportunity.
The Friars had the only power play opportunity of the half but were unable to convert it, so the middle stanza ended in another scoreless draw.
On their fourth power play opportunity of the evening, the Friars broke the tie 8:22 into the third quarter. After Zacher made the initial stop on Nick Poisson, Chase Yoder scored his sixth goal of the year by grabbing a rebound in the slot.
Taige Harding extended PC’s advantage just over ninety seconds later, with Austen May providing the assist on the rush.
Late in the half, Brown substituted Craig Needham for Zacher as an extra attacker in an attempt to get two goals, but Craig Needham struck the back of the net to make it 3-0.
Zacher’s 35 saves this season rank him second among Buffalo’s natives. In the first game of the season versus Yale, he recorded 37 saves.
“We’re going back to league play next week and the next four games are huge, all the teams are right around us,” Whittet stated. “We need to make sure we prepare well for a whole week before heading out on the road and playing hockey the way we did for an hour tonight. If we follow through on that, we’ll end up where we want to be.”
Next weekend, Brown will make a return trip to the ECAC to play Union (8-8-0, 3-3-0 ECAC) on Friday and Rensselaer (5-11-1, 2-4-0 ECAC) on Saturday. ESPN+ will provide live streaming for both games, which are set to start at 7 p.m.