Sports Insider by Frank Coppola: Radja's late goal lifts UNH past Providence

February 16, 2008

Radja's late goal lifts UNH past Providence

By Roger Brown
DURHAM — Although he scored twice, junior right wing Pierce Norton may have cost the Providence College men’s hockey team a victory Saturday night.

Norton received a five-minute major for hitting from behind and a game misconduct with 5:30 left in the third period, and the University of New Hampshire didn’t waste the power-play opportunity. Center Mike Radja scored on a shot from the right faceoff circle with three minutes left in regulation, and that goal ended up being the difference in UNH’s 4-3 triumph.

Radja’s shot sailed over the right shoulder of Providence goaltender Tyler Sims (33 saves). Radja leads UNH in goals (18) and game-winning goals (six).

“I couldn’t even see the net to be honest with you,” Radja said. “I was just trying to use the defenseman as a screen and it went right in.”

Defenseman Joe Charlebois, right wing Matt Fornataro and right wing Mike Sislo also scored for the fourth-ranked Wildcats, who raised their record to 19-7-2 overall and 15-4-2 in Hockey East. UNH has a six-point lead over Boston College, which is alone in second place.

“You can’t hit from behind,” Providence coach Tim Army said. “You gotta hold up. The call is accurate as five-minute major.

“Five minutes is a long time to kill that late in the game. Guys are getting tired. You’re rolling the dice because you’re giving too many good players too many touches in that situation.”

Freshman right wing Jordan Kremyr collected Providence’s other goal. It was his first collegiate goal.

The loss dropped the Friars to 13-11-4 overall and 10-7-4 in the league. Providence and Northeastern are tied for third place, eight points behind UNH.

UNH carried a 3-2 lead into the final period, but the Friars tied the game when Kremyr put a rebound over Kevin Regan’s right pad with 8:32 remaining in the third.

“We were fortunate with the penalty at the end after they tied it up,” UNH coach Dick Umile said. “Radja has done a lot for us lately in terms of scoring.”

UNH had a 2-0 lead after one period, but Providence sliced that deficit in half when Norton scored on a wrist shot from the slot 1:28 into the second. The goal came during a Providence power play.

The Friars pulled even when Norton beat Regan (37 saves) with a shot from the right faceoff circle at 13:44 of the second, but UNH regained the lead a little more than two minutes later. Sislo converted a rebound while Regan was off the ice during a delayed penalty

Charlebois and Fornataro collected first-period goals for the Wildcats. Charlebois scored on a shot from the right point at 3:59, and Fornataro made it a 2-0 game at 13:45 when he swept a crossing pass from Danny Dries into the Providence net while the Friars were short-handed.

Army said he benched Norton for most of the first period.

“I thought some of our upperclassmen weren’t really sharp when we started the game,” Army said. “We challenged him in the locker room after the first intermission. I thought he responded after that and scored a couple of nice goals. Unfortunately (he made) a bad decision at the end to take a five-minute major.”

’CAT NOTES: UNH defenseman Jamie Fritsch and Providence center Nick Mazzolini each received a five-minute major for fighting and a game disqualification with 3.4 seconds to play. A game disqualification carries an automatic one-game suspension. … Charlebois’ goal was his first of the season. … UNH will play Boston College twice next weekend. Friday’s game will be at BC’s Conte Forum and can be seen on NESN. Saturday’s contest will be in Durham.

Posted by Frank Coppola at February 16, 2008 11:09 PM

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