2020-21 Providence Friars men's ice hockey season

The 2020–21 Providence Friars Men's ice hockey season was the 70th season of play for the program and the 37th season in the Hockey East conference. The Friars represented Providence College and were coached by Nate Leaman, in his 10th season.
==Season==
As a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic the entire college ice hockey season was delayed. Because the NCAA had previously announced that all winter sports athletes would retain whatever eligibility they possessed through at least the following year, none of Providence's players would lose a season of play. However, the NCAA also approved a change in its transfer regulations that would allow players to transfer and play immediately rather than having to sit out a season, as the rules previously required.
Providence got off to a bad start, surrendering 12 goals in their opening weekend to Boston College. Afterwards, sophomore transfer Jaxson Stauber, son of Hobey Baker-recipient Robb Stauber, took over in net and the team saw immediate improvement. The Friars were able to remain in the top-20 for the remainder of the season but the team was never able to put a consistent string of wins together to get them either into the top-10 or among the best teams in their own conference.
By the end of the regular season Providence was considered a 'bubble team' for the NCAA Tournament and would need a very good performance in the Hockey East Tournament to improve their standing if they couldn't get an automatic bid. The first impediment for the team was Hockey East using a power index to decide conference placement rather than win percentage. This meant that Providence finished below Connecticut despite possessing a better record and would have to play a road game in the quarterfinals. The team was easily able to overcome that difficulty and defeated the Huskies 6–1. Their next opponent, Massachusetts, was not as easily beaten. After a good start, Providence was shut out over the final 50 minutes of play and lost 2–5.
Getting into the semifinal and losing to the eventual conference champion was a solid performance but Providence had a problem. Because there were little-to-no non-conference games for all of college hockey, the PairWise rankings would not be used. Instead, the NCAA selection committee decided to judge teams based upon how they performed against the best teams in their conference. Providence had lost both games to BC, gone 1–1 versus Boston University and 0–2–2 against Massachusetts (including the playoff match). This left the Friars with a 1–5–2 record against the 'good' Hockey East teams, which was not sufficient to earn them a trip to the national tournament.
Kyle Koopman and Jimmy Scannell sat out the season.
==Departures==
Jack Dugan 	Forward 		Signed Professional Contract (Vegas Golden Knights)
Jerry Harding 	Forward 		Transferred to Massachusetts
Shane Kavanagh 	Forward 		Graduation
Jake Kucharski 	Goaltender		Transferred to American International
Michael Lackey 	Forward 		Graduation (Signed with Orlando Solar Bears)
Caleb Rule 	Forward 		Transferred to Miami
Vimal Sukumaran	Forward 		Graduation
Spenser Young 	Defenseman		Graduation
==Recruiting==
Jack Adams 	Forward 		23	Boxford, MA; selected 162nd overall in 2017; transfer from Union
Brett Berard 	Forward 		23	East Greenwich, RI; selected 134th overall in 2020
Anton Martinsson	Goaltender		24	Klippan, SWE; graduate transfer from Alaska
Nicholas Poisson	Forward 		19	Vancouver, BC
Uula Ruikka 	Defenseman		20	Oulu, FIN
Jaxson Stauber 	Goaltender		21	Wayzata, MN; transfer from Minnesota State
Matt Tugnutt 	Forward 		24	Peterborough, ON; graduate transfer from Sacred Heart
Chase Yoder 	Forward 		18	Fairview, TX; selected 170th overall in 2020
==Current roster==
As of February 12, 2021.
==Standings==
==Schedule and results==
|-
!colspan=12 style=";" | Regular Season
|-
!colspan=12 style=";" | 
==Scoring statistics==
 	C 	25	11	14 	25 	16
 	C 	25	7 	12 	19 	14
 	C 	17	6 	9 	15 	8
 	LW 	25	6 	9 	15 	12
 	F 	24	5 	9 	14 	23
 	D 	25	3 	11 	14 	12
 	D 	25	1 	11 	12 	20
 	LW 	19	5 	5 	10 	16
 	D 	22	4 	4 	8 	4
 	D 	17	3 	5 	8 	10
 	F 	25	3 	5 	8 	14
 	C 	25	3 	4 	7 	2
 	C 	22	4 	2 	6 	4
 	F 	25	3 	3 	6 	8
 	D 	24	1 	4 	5 	8
 	C/RW	16	0 	5 	5 	8
 	LW 	15	1 	3 	4 	2
 	D 	25	1 	3 	4 	8
 	C 	23	3 	0 	3 	23
 	C 	12	1 	0 	1 	4
 	D 	17	0 	1 	1 	6
 	G 	1 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	G 	2 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	F 	6 	0 	0 	0 	4
 	C/RW	6 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	D 	10	0 	0 	0 	4
 	G 	23	0 	0 	0 	0
Bench	- 	- 	- 	- 	- 	4
Total	 	 	71	119	190	234
==Goaltending statistics==
 	23	1393	11	7	5	52	567	4	.916	2.24
 	2 	107 	0 	2	0	8 	44 	0	.846	4.47
 	1 	10 	0 	0	0	3 	3 	0	.500	16.82
Empty Net	- 	13 	- 	-	-	4 	- 	-	- 	-
Total 	25	1525	11	9	5	67	614	4	.902	2.64
==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
Poll 	Pre 	1 	2 	3 	4 	5 	6 	7 	8 	9 	10 	11 	12 	13 	14 	15 	16 	17 	18 	19 	20 	21 (Final)	 	 	
USCHO.com	17 	15 	13 	12 	19 	19 	15 	15 	16 	16 	18 	17 	16 	16 	15 	14 	15 	17 	14 	16 	- 	16 	 	 	
USA Today	NR 	15 	13 	12 	NR 	NR 	13 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	14 	NR 	NR 	NR 	 	 	
USCHO did not release a poll in week 20.
==Awards and honors==
Tyce Thompson	Hockey East Second Team	
==Players drafted into the NHL==
===2021 NHL Entry Draft===
3	91 	Taige Harding† 	Chicago Blackhawks
4	101	Guillaume Richard†	Washington Capitals
† incoming freshman
==References==
Category:Providence Friars men's ice hockey seasons
Providence Friars
Providence Friars
Providence Friars