Cumberland goalie Brett Vaudreuil walks off the ice to the locker room after the Clippers beat East Providence, 3-1, at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center in Providence last night.

The Providence Journal / Glenn Osmundson

PROVIDENCE — The members of the Mount St. Charles hockey team knew yesterday’s game would be special. After all, they were playing at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center.

The Mounties had no idea just how special, though.

Unbeknownst to them until it was over, yesterday’s 4-1 decision over La Salle was more than just a key win over a Division I rival before a crowd of about 1,300 at The Dunk.

It also signified longtime coach Bill Belisle’s 800th career victory.

“I really didn’t know [about the record]. David (Belisle’s son and assistant coach) didn’t tell me anything about it,” said Belisle, wearing a game jersey presented to him by the team after the game. “I knew my old record (before the start of the season) was 789. That’s all I knew. I knew it was coming, but when I didn’t know.

“I’m happy for myself. I’m happy for the kids. I have to say that,” added Belisle. “I started 32 years ago. People would laugh at me when I said the Mount Pride. But I started the Mount Pride at Mount St. Charles, and I’m proud of it.”

Earlier in the night, Eric Meunier scored back-to-back goals, the second of which proved to be the game-winner, as Cumberland defeated East Providence, 3-1, in a Division II matchup. It was the other half of a special Rhode Island Interscholastic League double-header played at The Dunk.

Having served as an intern for the Providence Bruins in 1996, Cumberland coach Mark Andreozzi encouraged his players to savor the moment of playing on the very ice where the P-Bruins captured the 1999 Calder Cup.

“I told them what an experience it is to be in that locker room and to sit where a lot of guys they’ve looked up to sat,” he said.

Andreozzi also warned them not to get too caught up in the excitement.

“I think at the beginning we were a little awe struck about the whole thing,” he said. “I think it took us a little while to settle down and start focusing on what we needed to do to be successful.”

East Providence, meanwhile, got on the board just 46 seconds into the game, when Anthony Galvao came from behind the net and kicked a pass out to Zachary Kazarian, who was deep in the slot.

The Townies, who are playing their first season in Division II, stayed on top until a string of second-period penalties proved costly. Cumberland picked up three goals in a span of two minutes.

Meunier recorded the first two, converting a pass from Michael Darlington at 3:21 when East Providence was down two players.

Meunier struck again less than a minute later, again on the power play, this time taking a feed from Jon Cox.

Kyle McLaughlin set up Mathew Jones for the Clippers’ final tally at 5:21.

“All of a sudden, something just clicked in their heads,” said Andreozzi, whose team improves to 5-6-1, strengthening its hold on the sixth and final playoff spot. “I think we just forgot about where we were playing and how big it is to play here and be on this stage, and we just started to focus on what we had to do.”

Jared Lackey’s second-period goal proved to be the game-winner for Mount in the nightcap. The sophomore forward beat Rams goalie Christopher Cooney to his stick side from the left faceoff circle at 11:09 to snap a 1-1 tie.

Jeffrey Lace made it 3-1 just 1:38 into the third period when he went end-to-end and parked the puck into the right-hand corner of the net. Peter DeAngelo added a fourth goal to the winning effort at 13:39.

“The kids really played hard,” Belisle said. “They really gave me a good third period, I’ll tell you. They played a real Belisle style — forecheck, backcheck, played a good bodycheck. I give credit to that La Salle team. They’re always a hard team to play against.”

cthorn@projo.com