Kenny Magowan's first collegiate hat trick led the Terrier offense during regulation, while...

Sophomore defenseman Bryan Miller scored the Terriers' first overtime goal in over a year and junior left wing Kenny Magowan registered his first collegiate hat trick to lift the Terrier hockey team to a 5-4 OT win over host Providence College in the first game of the best-of-three quarterfinal series in the Hockey East playoffs on Friday night, March 7.

The two teams will go at again on Saturday night at Providence. Should the Terriers come away with a win, they will advance to next weekend's Hockey East semifinals at the FleetCenter. If Providence evens the series, the two teams will conclude their quarterfinal round on Sunday night with a 7:00 p.m. game that will also be played at the Friars' Schneider Arena.

...Bryan Miller's OT goal sent the Terriers to a 5-4 win over Providence.

It marked the fourth time the Terriers and Friars had played this year, and all four games had gone into overtime. Providence had won two of the three, while the third ended in a tie.

"I guess it was just our turn tonight," Terrier head coach Jack Parker said after the game.

As it turned out, it was the Terriers' first overtime win since November 13, 2001, when they skated to a 4-3 OT victory at Yale. Since then, they had played seven overtime games and were 0-4-3. Of the seven, six were played this year, and the Terriers were 0-3-3. They had lost twice to Providence and once to UMass, while the ties were against Northern Michigan, Vermont, and Providence.

"I thought this was a much better game than the other three games we had played against them this year," Parker went on. "I thought that technically both teams played well tonight."

Individually, Magowan and Miller were the offensive standouts, while junior goalie Sean Fields played well, and senior captain Freddy Meyer returned to the lineup after missing the Maine series and provided the team with a great emotional lift.

"Kenny has really come into his own," Parker said of Magowan, who brought his season total to 11 goals. "Actually, that entire line of Magowan, Skladany, and Zancanaro has been on fire lately."

In the last seven games, this trio has accounted for 11 goals and 10 assists for 21 points as the Terriers have compiled a 4-2-1 record. During this stretch, Frantisek Skladany has 4-6-10, while Magowan has 6-1-7, and Brad Zancanaro has chipped in with 1-3-4.

It was Magowan, in the aftermath of the big win, who credited his linemates with his strong offensive performance.

"They really played great," said Magowan. "I think each one of us brings something different to the table, and that's one of the reasons we have been playing well lately. Fero (Skladany's nickname) has great moves and is an excellent player down low. Zanc (Zancanaro) is always flying around, and I use my size (6-2, 214) to move people out of the way."

It was this size that enabled Magowan to score his third goal of the game. It was the goal that had all the media talking after the game not because it tied the game with 4:35 to play in regulation, but the way he scored it.

He carried the puck around the Providence goal from the left of goalie Nolan Schaefer to his right. Magowan then made a move across the goal line, as it appeared at first that he was going to try a wrap-around. Instead, he spun around the Providence defenseman and put a backhand up over Schaefer. The Friar goalie had begun to cut across the crease anticipating Magowan's move across the crease. Instead, using his backhand, Magowan put the puck past Schaefer to tie the score at 4-4.

"My last hat trick was when I was playing Midget in 1998 so it's been a long time," smiled Magowan. "Actually, I was really lucky with my first two goals tonight. I just managed to get my stick on the puck and it went in."

His first goal came just 2:56 into the game, and he was camped in front to the right of Schaefer. Terrier freshman Jekabs Redlihs, who got the puck at the left point from Justin Maiser, took the shot on goal. Magowan put his stick on the puck and redirected it past Schaefer.

The Friars countered with their first of three power play goals at 4:03 of the first period when Jon DiSalvatore beat Fields.

Magowan came back to give the Terriers a 2-1 lead at 12:35 of the opening period when he knocked home the rebound of a shot by Zancanaro.

A little more than a minute later, the Friars evened the score when Peter Fregoe found himself down low at the right faceoff circle. His high shot beat Fields to the glove side, and Providence had tied the score on its second power play goal of the game.

The Friars' Chris Chaput made it 3-2 at 7:30 of the second period when he scored his team's third power play goal. Teammate Jonathan Goodwin slipped the puck across the crease to Chaput. With Fields over to try to block Goodwin, Chaput had an empty net to shoot at.

Freddy Meyer not only assisted on Skladany's goal but he also provided a big emotional lift for the team.

Skladany then tied the game for the Terriers as he took a beautiful pass down low from Meyer. Meyer had made a nifty move on the Providence defense as he came down the slot. He fed the puck over to Skladany, who notched his team-leading 12th goal of the season and third in as many games. Brian McConnell also earned an assist on the goal.

That set the stage for the third-period goals first by DiSalvatore and the second by Magowan.

While both teams threatened to score, neither could put the puck past the opposing goalie through the rest of regulation.

"I thought both goalies played well tonight," Parker said of Fields, who finished with 26 saves, in this, his 24th straight start. Dating back to the Cornell game on December 1st, Fields has started every game and has a 15-8-1 record along with a 2.39 GAA and a .909 save percentage. In the meantime, the Friars' Schaefer, who had not last a game since January 31st and was the Hockey East Goalie of the Month for February, had 41 saves vs. the Terriers.

"In the locker room after regulation, Coach just told us to play as hard as we had been and be more thorough at center ice," said Magowan.

John Laliberte assisted on Miller's game-winning goal.

Then, at 8:03 of overtime, Miller took a pass in the Providence zone from freshman John Laliberte and started carrying it down the crease. For a moment, it seemed as if he might have waited a bit too long. Then, at the last second, he let go a shot that Schaefer initially stopped. But, the goalie left a rebound out front where Miller nudged it home for the game-winner.

"When Miller goes like that, no one is going to take the puck away from him," said Parker.

"You couldn't ask for two more balanced teams," Parker said of the matchup between the Terriers and Friars. "I thought everyone played hard tonight.

"It was also great to have Freddy (Meyer) back in the lineup tonight," concluded the coach. "It's important to have him in the (locker) room. He gives us such a psychological lift. He's a real tough kid, and it was great to have him back tonight."