Dutchmen connections abound in Frozen Four semifinal

by Ryan Fay

Connections to the Union men's hockey program will be abound when Providence meets the University of Nebraska Omaha in a Frozen Four semifinal game on April 9 in Boston. The two programs have a combined five ties to the Dutchmen.

Nate Leaman

Leaman

Leaman won a program record 131 games as Union's head coach from 2003-11. He guided the Dutchmen to their first Cleary Cup and NCAA tournament berth in 2011 before departing for Providence shortly after the season.

When Leaman took over at Providence, the program was fresh off its fifth straight losing season. But after a 14-20-4 season in his first year, Leaman has led the Friars to three consecutive winning campaigns. Providence has made the NCAA tournament in back-to-back years for the first time in school history, and the program is in the Frozen Four for the first time since 1985, when it lost to RPI in the title game.

Overall, Leaman is 77-58-19 in four seasons with the Friars.

Kris Mayotte

Mayotte

Mayotte tended goal for Union from 2002-06. He won 46 career games, a program record that stood for nine years until Colin Stevens broke it this past season.

Mayotte joined Providence as an assistant coach last summer after spending time as an assistant at St. Lawrence and a volunteer assistant at Cornell. Under Mayotte's tutelage, Friars starting goaltender Jon Gillies has posted a career-best 2.01 goals-against average this season.

Trevor Mingoia

Mingoia

Mingoia had three goals and three assists in 18 games for Union as a freshman in 2010-11. He left the team a couple weeks into the 2012-13 season and ended the year with the U.S Hockey League's Tri-City Storm.

He joined Providence last season and has become a star for Leaman, who originally recruited him to Schenectady. Mingoia, now a junior, is tied for the team lead in goals (14) and is fourth in points (29).

Bob Driscoll

Driscoll

Driscoll was at Union from 1977-81 and held a variety of roles at one time or another: head baseball coach, Assistant Athletic Director, Director of Intramural, Recreational and Physical Education Programs... and interim hockey coach.

He picked up the interim hockey coach tag in 1977-78 after then-coach Ned Harkness (and most of the team) quit amid a scandal. Saddled with a team of JV and intramural players, Driscoll went 0-13 the rest of the season before giving way to Charlie Morrison.

Driscoll has served as Providence's Athletics Director since 2002. 

Alex Todd

Todd

Todd was a defenseman for Union from 1997-01, collecting 16 goals and 13 assists in 115 career games. He served as an alternate captain during his senior season.

The Rice Lake, Wisconsin native joined UNO as an assistant coach in July 2013 after posting a 114-78-21 record in eight seasons as the head coach at Division III Castleton State. 

Todd has worked with UNO's defensemen, and the unit has improved under his watch. After allowing an average of 3.24 goals per game last season, the Mavs have given up just 2.26 this year, their best defensive season in several years.

The Mavs are making their first Frozen Four appearance.

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