Providence begins its Hockey East tournament battle tonight. Best of 3 series with Merrimack that takes place Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
The Friars will be without Walman who is their best d-man.
A little on Gilmour in this article.
http://www.providencejournal.com/spo...without-walman
Quote:
John Gilmour isn’t one of those kids who was born with skates on. He didn’t take to the ice until he was 6 years old.
"Maybe a little later than most kids in Canada," the Montreal native says.
Once he got started, "My father put me in power skating. My weekends would be dominated by going from rink to rink, ice session to ice session."
And, boy, has Gilmour ever gotten the hang of it.
The Providence College senior has developed into one of the top offensive defensemen in Hockey East, thanks in large part to his superb skating. And he’s playing his best hockey of the season at a time when the Friars need him most.
With star defenseman Jake Walman out with a shoulder injury, the second-seeded Friars will look to Gilmour to continue his strong play in this weekend’s Hockey East quarterfinal series against seventh-seed Merrimack.
PC coach Nate Leaman is expecting a difficult series against the Warriors, who defeated New Hampshire, two games to one, in the opening playoff round last weekend.
"It’s gonna be a rock fight. They’re a well-coached team that makes adjustments," said Leaman. "They’re a hard forechecking team. They contest the puck all the time. You’ve got to play fast."
That’s where Gilmour — and the rest of PC’s strong-skating backliners — come in.
To play defense for Leaman, you better be able to get around the rink. One of the underrated elements of Providence College’s success over the last few seasons has been a very mobile defense corps.
"Mobility is the most important thing to playing D. When your team is mobile you can make mistakes and you can recover," Leaman said.
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