The 2021–22 Providence Friars Men's ice hockey season is the 71st season of play for the program. They represent

Providence College Providence College is a Private university, private Roman Catholic university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1917 by the Dominican Order and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence, it offers 47 undergraduate Academic ...

in the

2021–22 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season The 2021–22 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season began on October 2, 2021, and concluded with the NCAA championship on April 9, 2022. This was the 74th season in which an NCAA ice hockey championship was held, and was US college hockey's 1 ...

and for the 38th season in the

Hockey East The Hockey East Association, also known as Hockey East, is a college ice hockey conference which operates entirely in New England. It participates in the NCAA's Division I as a hockey-only conference. Hockey East came into existence in 1984 for ...

conference. They are coached by Nate Leaman, in his 11th season, and play their home games at Schneider Arena.

Season

Providence began the season well, winning its first three games and headed into the

Ice Breaker Tournament The Ice Breaker Tournament (also called the Ice Breaker Invitational or the Ice Breaker Cup) is a college Division I men's ice hockey tournament played annually at the start of each season. The tournament began play in 1997 as an exhibition and ...

ranked in the top 10. Unfortunately, when the Friars faced other highly ranked opponents, they weren't able to sustain the same level of success. They finished last in the tournament but recovered a week later with a win over

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. They regained their spot in the top-10 and held it until early November when they were swept by defending national champion

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

. The two losses were very harmful to Providence since their record left them with little opportunity for improvement over the next month. The Friars did win the succeeding six games, however, because all of them were to unranked teams (some of whom had terrible records) they actually fell in the rankings, dropping down to 13th by the beginning of December. The team finally got a chance to climb back into postseason contention when they met Northeastern. Unfortunately, just as they had against the Minutemen, Providence dropped both games to the Huskies and fell further down the standings. The Friars performed well in their four other games during the month but none were against ranked teams.

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

ended up causing Providence to cancel a few games at the beginning of January and the team looked out of sorts afterwards. Providence played inconsistently over the second half of the year. While the team did record impressive wins against upper-echelon clubs, the bright spots couldn't cover up the fact that, in a down year for

, the Friars finished in the bottom half of the standings. Providence entered postseason play with only a slim chance for an at-large bid. The Friars would likely need to make the conference championship game to have any hope at making the tournament but even that would not be a guarantee. They dominated

Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provinces and territories of Ca ...

in the opening match, outshooting the Catamounts 40–18, but only scraped by with a 2–1 victory. The lack of scoring continued in the quarterfinals when they took on Massachusetts. They continued to send a barrage of shots on goal, firing 47 in total, but again could only manage 2 goals. The Minutemen, however, had no trouble getting the puck past Jaxson Stauber and notched 4 on only 19 shots and ended the Friars' season.

Departures

Recruiting

Roster

As of August 12, 2021.

Standings

Schedule and results

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Scoring statistics

Goaltending statistics

Rankings

Note: USCHO did not release a poll in week 24.

Awards and honors

Players drafted into the NHL

2022 NHL Entry Draft

† incoming freshman

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Providence Friars men's ice hockey season 2021-22 2021–22 Hockey East men's season 2021–22 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey by team 2021 in sports in Rhode Island 2022 in sports in Rhode Island