2023–24 Providence Friars men's ice hockey season

The 2023–24 Providence Friars Men's ice hockey season is the 73rd season of play for the program and 40th in Hockey East. The Friars represent Providence College in the 2023–24 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season, play their home games at Schneider Arena and are coached by Nate Leaman in his 12th season.
==Season==
Providence began the year with a bit uncertainty as it had lost the top three scorers from the previous season. For a team that was already offensively challenged, that could have been more than they could afford, but the Friars were bent on exceeding their expectations. New starter Philip Svedebäck took to the college game immediately and posted one of the best starts to a career by going 8–1–2 in his first eleven games. In that stretch, the young goaltender allowed just 20 goals and was ranked among the best goaltenders in the nation in just about every category. He was aided, in no small part, by the defense who was the second-most effective in the nation; only Cornell allowed fewer shots against per game and the success of the early season lifted Providence up into the top-5 in the polls. The offense, too, was playing well in the first month and a half; new addition Tanner Adams fit in well with a diverse group that scored by committee rather than concentrate all of its firepower on one line.
However, just before Thanksgiving, The Friars went through their first rough patch of the season. Going through a stretch of five games against ranked opponents, Providence lost four of those matches, however, due to the strength of their opposition, Providence only slipped a few places in the rankings and they were still a top-10 team by the winter break.
In the five weeks after returning from their vacation, Providence posted a solid record and largely held their position. However, cracks were beginning to form in the team. Svedebäck had started showing some inconsistence in his game; he posted three shutouts in that stretch but also had a couple of bad games as well. The offense was mostly effective but began to falter in February. The scoring never went away but it definitely ebbed as the season progressed towards the playoffs. The Friars lack of offense began to cost the team and they were losing games even when Svedebäck was playing well. However, at the beginning of March, the team was still in the top 10 in the PairWise and all they had to do was win a game or two to guarantee themselves a spot in the NCAA tournament. Losses to Merrimack and Boston University were not offset by a tie with Northeastern and on the final week of the regular season, the Friars dropped from 10th to 14th.
Now on the very edge of the playoff picture (14 was the bare minimum for any chance at an at-large bid), Providence would have to face Massachusetts in the quarterfinals with both teams fighting for their lives. The Friars and Minutemen were bunched up in the mid-teens and, because several teams from other conference were also rated about the same, the loser of the game would knocked out of postseason contention. Providence didn't get off to a good start in the game and in less than 5 minutes the Friars were already down by 2 goals. The team desperately tried to climb back into the match but offense was not their strong suit and time ticked away on their season. In the later stages of the third period, UMass got a third goal but then took a penalty immediately afterwards. Svedebäck was pulled to make the power play a 6-on-4 and the extra skater allowed the Friars to score in just 4 seconds. With the faintest of hopes, Providence began to ratchet up their attack on the Massachusetts cage but their comeback was stopped almost as soon as it started. Guillaume Richard took a tripping penalty and forced the team to play defense for 2 critical minutes. Though they managed to kill off the infraction, the momentum had vanished and Providence was unable to conjure up another goal. The 1–3 loss brought the once-promising campaign to a close.
==Departures==
Brett Berard 	Forward 		Signed professional contract (New York Rangers)
Michael Citara 	Forward 		Transferred to Merrimack
Max Crozier 	Defenseman		Graduation (signed with Tampa Bay Lightning)
Chase Dafoe 	Forward 		Transferred to Alaska
Parker Ford 	Forward 		Graduation (signed with Winnipeg Jets)
Luke Johnson 	Defenseman		Graduate transfer to Robert Morris
Cody Monds 	Forward 		Transferred to Clarkson
Patrick Moynihan 	Forward 		Graduate transfer to Notre Dame
Grant Porter 	Forward 		Transferred to Canisius
Austin Roden 	Goaltender		Graduate transfer to Clarkson
Uula Ruikka 	Defenseman		Transferred to Augustana
Garrett Sundquist	Defenseman		Transferred to Sacred Heart
==Recruiting==
Tanner Adams 	Forward 		18	Northport, NY
Marcus Brännman 	Goaltender		20	Bromma, SWE
Andrew Centrella	Defenseman		19	Philadelphia, PA
Graham Gamache 	Forward 		21	Edmonton, AB
Matt Hubbarde 	Forward 		23	Pickering, ON; transfer from Dartmouth
Cal Kiefiuk 	Forward 		23	Macomb, MI; graduate transfer from Massachusetts
Luke Krys 	Defenseman		23	Weston, MA; graduate transfer from Brown
Clint Levens 	Forward 		20	Windermere, FL
Hudson Malinoski	Forward 		19	Saskatoon, SK; selected 153rd overall in 2023
Austen May 	Defenseman		20	Woodhaven, MI
==Roster==
As of September 26, 2023.
==Standings==
==Schedule and results==
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!colspan=12 style=";" | Regular Season
|-
!colspan=12 style=";" | 
==Scoring statistics==
==Rankings==
Poll 	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week
Poll 	Pre 	1 	2 	3 	4 	5 	6 	7 	8 	9 	10 	11 	12 	13 	14 	15 	16 	17 	18 	19 	20 	21 	22 	23 	24 	25 	26 	27 (Final)
USCHO.com	18 	13 	10 	7 	7 	5 	5 	9 	9 	9 	10 	- 	9 	9 	9 	10 	10 	10 	10 	12 	10 	11 	13 	16 	16 	 	 	
USA Today	20 	15 	12 	8 	9 	6 	5 	9 	9 	10 	11 	11 	11^ 	9 	9 	11 	10 	13 	11 	11 	10 	10 	14 	16 	16 	 	 	
Note: USCHO did not release a poll in week 11.^USA Today did not release a poll in week 12.
==References==
Category:Providence Friars men's ice hockey seasons
Providence
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