It sounds almost too fanciful, but Providence head coach Bob Deraney insists there is still more to cultivate from where his team has extracted its best start to a season in his now 12-year tenure.
After years of customarily attracting, soothing, and waiting out growing pains until about Thanksgiving and then going on a valiant, but vain, cramming session in the homestretch, the 2010-11 Friars are a cast-iron contender. They own the sixth-best overall record in the country at 13-5-1 for a .711 winning percentage. They are a stride above both Minnesota-Duluth (.694) and Minnesota (.684) in that category.
Their offense is seventh-best in the nation with a nightly median of 3.26 goals while the defense is No. 8 with 1.89 goals against per game. They are a not-too-distant No. 9 on the penalty kill with a sound 86.7 percent success rate, and it is worth noting they trail four conference cohabitants on that list.
The only major category that is calling for an upgrade is the power play, which went quite arid for the better part of November, but has occasionally flaunted its capability.
More than anything, the Friars’ first-time promise of start-to-finish success can be attributed to the maturity of the heavily leaned-on class of 2012. Already, three individual juniors –speedster Kate Bacon, towering blueliner Jen Friedman, and long-suffering laborer Abby Gauthier- have cemented career years on the stats sheet.
Meanwhile, senior co-captain Alyse Ruff, formerly a finishing specialist, is now a primal playmaker with 13 assists and leads all Hockey East skaters with a plus-19 rating. If she stays on pace, Ruff should have her first 30-point campaign under wraps before the postseason.
With six goals and eight assists to her credit, Corinne Buie is on pace to cement the second-best season (roughly 24 points) by a PC rookie in the Hockey East era. If that happened, she would only trail her current linemate, junior Laura Veharanta, who after lashing out a 16-15-31 log as a frosh is steadily recovering from a mass sophomore downturn. She already has six goals on the year after inserting a mere three last year.
Through 19 games, PC’s top six forwards have combined for 42 goals and 85 points, or a nightly median of 2.21 and 4.47, respectively. Another seven strikes and 28 helpers have come from the blue line brigade.
Beneath all that, there is, in fact, more firepower that the Friars could kindle. Senior co-captain Jean O’Neill, sidelined since October 2 with a lower body injury sustained against Robert Morris only one day after her opening night hat trick, was shrewdly kept out of game action until the December deceleration. As a result, she is now on a miniature summer vacation to replenish her game shape while her mates have a four full weeks off themselves.
O’Neill’s reinsertion, but more importantly her reinsertion when she should be ready to make a punctual impact, will give the Friars a quorum of 12 offensive players. That, in turn, can go a long way towards complementing the top six.
The all-sophomore third line of Nicole Anderson, Jess Cohen, and Jessie Vella may or may not be kept intact after a forgettable first half together. Meanwhile, two-way connoisseur Lauren Covell should be assigned a full-time forward position and freelance center Emily Groth can finally look forward to taking regular shifts with the same pair of wingers.
Providence would indubitably benefit from an upgraded strike force. In a league long-established as a haven for otherworldly goaltenders –which the Friars have covered with the minute-munching Genevieve Lacasse- the concept of a deep and balanced offense cannot be overstressed.
And there is one other unused surplus in the Friars’ possession. With two-thirds of their 21-game Hockey East schedule yet to come, they have two games in hand on the teams they are chasing (BC and BU) and those with whom they share claim to third place (Connecticut and Northeastern).
A first-round bye in the Hockey East playoffs is still a stretch –though not to be ruled out- but PC simply has more opportunities than most of its peers to accelerate its national rep. The first three outings of the New Year will be especially taxing, given that Lacasse will be backstopping Canada at the MLP Cup. But by now, this generation of players ought to know how to resist excuses.
If they prove as much, it could be a long-awaited revolutionary year in Friartown.
Al Daniel is the Hockey East correspondent to Beyond the Dashers
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