PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The Providence College women’s hockey team skated to a 1-1 tie against the University of Maine on Saturday, Nov. 1 at Schneider Arena. The Friars are now 3-6-1 overall and 1-2-1 in Hockey East play, while the Black Bears move to 2-6-1 and 0-1-1. Senior Reichen Kirchmair (Oakville, Ontario) scored the lone goal for Providence, her eighth of the season.
 
SCORE
Providence – 1 | Maine – 1
 
RECORDS
Providence – 3-6-1 (1-2-1 HEAW) | Maine – 2-6-1 (0-1-1 HEAW)
 
VENUE
Schneider Arena | Providence, R.I.
 
GAME FLOW & NOTES
  
-The teams skated scoreless through the first period, with Maine holding an 11-4 edge in shots on goal. The Friars successfully killed off three penalties, including a five-on-three for 19 seconds.
 
-Providence opened the scoring on the power play to start the second period. Senior Reichen Kirchmair (Oakville, Ontario) found the back of the net, assisted by junior Audrey Knapp (Stevens Point, Wis.) and senior Cristina Cavaliere (Mississauga, Ontario). It marked Kirchmair’s team-leading eighth goal of the season.
 
-Maine tied the game just 34 seconds later on a goal from Frederikke Foss, assisted by Ali Altiman and Danielle Brunette.
 
-The teams played a scoreless third period to send the game to overtime, marking the Friars’ third overtime contest in their last four games.
 
-Neither team scored in overtime, resulting in a 1-1 tie. It was Providence’s first tie since Nov. 16, 2024, against Vermont.
 
-In the shootout, graduate student goaltender Hope Walinski (Lincoln, R.I.) stopped two shots, while Knapp and sophomore Jessie Pellerin (Bowmanville, Ontario) each scored to give Providence the extra point.
 
-Walinski finished with 30 saves in net for the Friars.

STAT COMPARISON

Providence – 1

Shots: 26

Face-offs: 27/45

Power plays: 1/1

Penalty Kill: 5/5

 

Maine – 1

Shots: 33

Face-offs: 18/45

Power plays: 0/5

Penalty Kill: 0/1

 

PC GAME HIGHS

Shots on Goal: Davies (5)

Blocks: Clarke (3)

Goals: Kirchmair (1)

Assists: Cavaliere, Knapp (1)

Points: Cavaliere, Kirchmair, Knapp (1)

 

UP NEXT

The Friars return to action next weekend with a home-and-home series against the University of New Hampshire in Hockey East play. Providence will travel to Durham, N.H. on Friday, Nov. 7 at 6:00 p.m. before hosting the Wildcats on Saturday, Nov. 8 at 2:00 p.m. at Schneider Arena.

For more updates on the Providence women’s hockey program, follow the team on Twitter and Instagram @PCWHockey.

 

– GO FRIARS –

A civil jury in Maine has awarded $25m to a woman whose teenage daughter died from leukemia after being misdiagnosed with a condition linked to steroid-using men.

The hefty verdict delivered in favor of Lyndsey Sutherland on Thursday called for her to receive $10m for the wrongful 2021 death of 15-year-old Jasmine “Jazzy” Vincent as well as $15m for pain and suffering, said her attorney, Meryl Poulin.

Poulin said on Friday that the verdict could be appealed, and an applicable Maine state law caps wrongful death damages at $750,000. Nonetheless, Poulin said, she hoped the amount awarded to her client sends “a clear message that Maine juries are willing to hold medical providers accountable when they fail to meet minimum standards of care”.

“There are so many and yet so few words to capture the impact of this result,” Poulin added in a statement to the Guardian. “Watching Lyndsey continue to push year after year, uphill, against the odds, to get justice for her daughter was beyond inspiring. This result was possible because of her unbelievable perseverance and determination to obtain justice for Jazzy.

“I hope that this verdict will finally bring some peace and closure for the tragic loss of this beautiful, innocent 15-year-old girl.”

Jazzy was initially diagnosed with pneumonia after becoming ill on 14 July 2021, according to reporting from the Maine news outlet WMTW.

A doctor with the Mid Coast Medical Group later concluded Jazzy had gynecomastia, which is an increase in breast tissue that is frequently found in men who use anabolic steroids, as noted by Maine’s Portland Press Herald.

Jazzy subsequently died of cardiac arrest on 1 August 2021, a little more than two weeks after she first indicated she felt sick. It was later determined that Jazzy’s death resulted from a buildup of fluid stemming from acute lymphoblastic leukemia, which Sutherland’s attorneys contended was a common kind of pediatric cancer that responds well to treatment if diagnosed appropriately. Sutherland ultimately sued Mid Coast, alleging negligence in the death of Jazzy, who lived in Maine’s New Gloucester area.

Attempts to contact Mid Coast Medical Group for comment were not immediately successful. But WMTW reported that Mid Coast’s attorneys maintained that medical personnel are tasked with making many decisions daily, and honest mistakes should not be punished.

Mid Coast’s attorneys also argued that another provider who first saw Jazzy had some responsibility as well.

Jurors sided with Sutherland after a trial that began on Monday.

Sutherland testified during the trial, according to the Press Herald.

“I don’t want anybody [else] to have to do this,” Sutherland reportedly said on the witness stand while discussing why she was pursuing her lawsuit. “Nobody should have to do this.”

Maine, once a national competitor in student achievement, now sits at or below the national average for standardized test performance.

While scores nationwide have dropped since the COVID-19 pandemic, Maine student performance has been sliding for more than a decade. 

And a Maine Monitor analysis of 20 years of student test scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP, showed that some students are sinking to the bottom faster than others. Low-income students and children with disabilities saw peak test scores on the NAEP starting around 2007. Then these students started to see huge losses. 

Between 2007 and 2024, the portion of all Maine students reaching at least a partial, basic level of understanding of reading and math fell more than 14 percent.

But the percentage of students with disabilities reaching the same, bare-minimum performance level or higher fell more than 32 percent — in some subjects more than 40 percent. The group of low-income students meeting that level, meanwhile, fell more than 23 percent.

The percentage of Maine test takers performing at a basic level or more is lower than the national average. (The NAEP results are only presented as percentages, not total numbers, and the exact loss in performance depends on the subject and grade level.) 

The Maine Monitor ran the data by two education researchers to confirm that children with disabilities and from low-income households were sliding significantly. 

Students with disabilities have plans that provide accommodations for learning; they may have autism, dyslexia and more.

Economically disadvantaged students include children who come from low-income households, are homeless, or may qualify for programs such as free and reduced lunch.

Other groups of students have been struggling as well. Black students saw significant losses in test scores, as did English language learning students, though data collection for both of these groups has been inconsistent over the years given their small numbers.

On the NAEP test, students can score at four levels. If they meet the basic level, it means they showed some, but not a complete, understanding of the fundamental things kids usually know at their grade level.

For instance, in reading, fourth graders meet the basic level if they can at least make simple inferences from text, and eighth graders meet it if they can answer specific questions about the text.

At the proficient level, or the level that the National Assessment Governing Board describes as the goal for all student performance, children show a solid understanding of challenging math and reading skills. The percentage of students performing at the proficient level in Maine started to decline between 2013 and 2017 across grade levels and subjects.

Advanced-level students, meanwhile, have mastered math and reading skills. As a whole, between 2 and 10 percent of Maine students perform at an advanced level across grade levels and subjects. This range for the top tier of performance has stayed fairly consistent over time.

Students fall into a fourth category of performance, called “below basic,” when they cannot demonstrate even fundamental knowledge in reading or math. 

The Monitor analysis showed that the percentage of students performing at this lowest level has grown since 2007. For instance, about 59 percent of fourth graders with disabilities tested below the basic level on reading in 2007. By 2024, about 78 percent of these students did.

In the same subject in 2007, 41 percent of low-income fourth graders tested at the below basic level. In 2024, 59 percent of these students did.

This story was originally published by The Maine Monitor, a nonprofit civic news organization. To get regular coverage from The Monitor, sign up for a free Monitor newsletter here.