The 2023–24 Providence Friars Men's ice hockey season was the 73rd season of play for the program and 40th in Hockey East. The Friars represented Providence College in the 2023–24 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season, played their home games at Schneider Arena and were coached by Nate Leaman in his 13th 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.[1]
| 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 |
| 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
| ||
| Cal Kiefiuk | Forward | 23 | Macomb, MI
| ||
| Luke Krys | Defenseman | 23 | Weston, MA
| ||
| Clint Levens | Forward | 20 | Windermere, FL | ||
| Hudson Malinoski | Forward | 19 | Saskatoon, SK
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| Austen May | Defenseman | 20 | Woodhaven, MI | ||
| Samo Meritähti | Forward | 21 | Seinäjoki, FIN
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As of September 26, 2023.[2]
|-!colspan=12 style=";" | Regular Season|-!colspan=12 style=";" |
| 35 | 9 | 15 | 24 | 16 | |||
| 35 | 6 | 15 | 21 | 6 | |||
| 35 | 11 | 9 | 20 | 26 | |||
| 35 | 9 | 9 | 18 | 29 | |||
| 35 | 3 | 15 | 18 | 27 | |||
| 34 | 8 | 9 | 17 | 6 | |||
| 35 | 6 | 11 | 17 | 16 | |||
| 35 | 9 | 7 | 16 | 18 | |||
| 26 | 5 | 10 | 15 | 29 | |||
| 35 | 6 | 8 | 14 | 8 | |||
| 30 | 4 | 9 | 13 | 4 | |||
| 34 | 1 | 11 | 12 | 12 | |||
| 28 | 7 | 4 | 11 | 16 | |||
| 34 | 4 | 7 | 11 | 31 | |||
| 25 | 2 | 8 | 10 | 24 | |||
| 29 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 10 | |||
| 27 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 16 | |||
| 34 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 12 | |||
| 29 | 1 | 6 | 7 | 8 | |||
| 18 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | |||
| 24 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 31 | |||
| 13 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | |||
| 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |||
| 35 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Total | 100 | 176 | 276 | 359 |
|---|
| 35 | 2072:21 | 18 | 13 | 4 | 80 | 717 | 4 | .900 | 2.32 | ||
| 5 | 44:51 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 9 | 0 | .750 | 4.01 | ||
| Empty Net | - | 13:18 | - | - | - | 0 | - | - | - | - | |
| Total | 35 | 2130:30 | 18 | 13 | 4 | 83 | 726 | 4 | .897 | 2.34 |
|---|
See main article: 2023–24 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey rankings.
| Poll | Week | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 (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 | – | 16 | |
| USA Hockey | 20 | 15 | 12 | 8 | 9 | 6 | 5 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 11 | – | 9 | 9 | 11 | 10 | 13 | 11 | 11 | 10 | 10 | 14 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 16 | |
See main article: 2024 NHL Entry Draft.
| 1 | 19 | † | Vegas Golden Knights | |
| 3 | 67 | † | Chicago Blackhawks | |
| 3 | 78 | † | Montreal Canadiens |