Maine faces Bentley on Friday and Providence on Sunday in a pair of games at Alfond Arena, and when the Black Bears face the Friars, they'll face a brand-new goalie who's already on a tear.

Alex Beaudry joined the Friars earlier this month and has won his first two starts, including Providence's 4-2 upset Tuesday of No. 2 Boston University. It appears Beaudry may have appeared out of nowhere - to Providence via the Gloucester (Ontario) Rangers, to be exact - but Providence Coach Tim Army said this morning his team wasn't planning for the possibility of picking up a new netminder until after the season began. Ryan Simpson, the projected starter at the beginning of the season, has been injured and Kevin Gates and Chris Mannix combined for a goals-against average of 4.14 in Providence's first 16 games.

"If you look at the goals-against average, it was reflective of some shoddy play on our part," Army said. "Ryan Simpson has been hurt for 2 1/2 years and is still hurt. If we could find the right guy that could come in and upgrade us, but also who could fit academically, we would try to matriculate him. We looked at a lot of goalies and things just fit, that Alex was equipped to come in as a student-athlete. It was at the right stage of his development."

But again, a goalie - or any athlete, for that matter - just can't show up and sign a contract. Consider that Beaudry had to go through admissions, go through the NCAA for academic compliance, obtain a student visa ... just to show up on campus and join the team. The process, Army explained, had to be expedited.

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