This is a big hockey weekend for the Gillies family of South Portland.

Cameron, 17, is chasing a national title in Troy, Michigan, as a member of the Portland Junior Pirates.

South Portland native Jon Gillies led Providence College to the NCAA championship in April. In his first year of professional hockey, he had season-ending hip surgery Wednesday. Photos courtesy of Providence College

Jon, 21, has his Providence College team back in the NCAA tournament, where the Friars will face off with top-seeded Miami of Ohio at 6:30 p.m. Saturday.

Jon is one of the finest goaltenders in college hockey, following a path paved by his grandfather, Bruce Sr., and father, Bruce.

Cameron, against all odds, is a forward.

“He wasn’t dumb enough to be a goalie,” Jon joked Friday. “I was screwed from the beginning.”

Jon is getting updates on his little brother’s team from his dad, who is in Michigan. Mom Debbie and grandpa Bruce will be in Providence, Rhode Island, to cheer on Jon as he attempts to help the Friars reach the Frozen Four in Boston. With a win Saturday, Providence (22-13-2) would face Boston College or Denver for the East Regional title Sunday at the Dunkin Donuts Center.

This is the first time Providence has reached back-to-back NCAA tournaments, and Gillies is a big reason. The 6-foot-5 junior ranks seventh in the nation with a 1.95 goals-against average and sixth with a .931 save percentage.

Gillies downplayed his significance, focusing instead on a strong defensive corps that helped Providence lead Hockey East this season by allowing only 2.00 goals per game.

But his coach, Nate Leaman, left no doubt how much of his team’s success will ride on Gillies this weekend.

“Look, the ice surface is 200 feet. Even if you play great defensively, the puck is going to get to the net at least 20 to 25 times,” Leaman told the Providence Journal. “It’s tough to win if you don’t have a good goalie. Fortunately we have one of the best in the country – if not the best.”

This also might be Gillies’ collegiate swan song. A third-round draft pick of the Calgary Flames, he is likely to turn pro after the season. Which he’s hoping happens in two weeks at TD Bank Garden, at the bottom of a dogpile of ecstatic teammates.

Last year, Providence won its first NCAA tournament game since 1991 as Gillies and Co. shut out Quinnipiac 4-0 in the opener. But the Friars lost 3-1 to eventual national champion Union the next day. Gillies had a .956 save percentage in the two games.

“We were able to come out and play a very detail-oriented game,” Gillies said of the Quinnipiac victory. “That showed us that this tournament is up for grabs. The parity is there.

“You sit back after that and think, ‘Wow, we were one game away from the Frozen Four. That’s how quick this tournament progresses. It’s four games to the national championship.”

This year, older and wiser, Gillies senses a different mindset in his team.

“I don’t want to use the phrase ‘we were just happy to be there’ last year, but we were. It was just a loosey-goosey thing. We were just ready to go out there and have fun,” he said.

“Now, this year, it’s go time, and we feel that we’re going to be able to contend for the championship.”

Providence, which lost a quarterfinal series to New Hampshire in the Hockey East playoffs, had to wait a week as other league tournaments played out before learning it would be one of the 16 teams chosen for the NCAA tournament.

The Friars, despite being a No. 4 seed, were kept at home, although they’ll be playing in an unfamiliar rink, the one that usually hosts the school’s basketball games. Gillies said that negates any notion of a home-ice advantage. Indeed, the players aren’t even staying in their homes this weekend, having decamped to a hotel away from campus.

“It’s just another game,” Gillies said. “No pressure. We just have to go out and play our best.”

Gillies felt he played well this season, focusing on small details and maintaining consistency. His teammates, he said humbly, helped him greatly and made him look better than he was at times.

“I think it’s just the work ethic and how everyone’s bought into the system. Every guy is blocking shots. It doesn’t matter, first line, fourth line, sixth defenseman,” Gillies said. “We have a very tight-knit group in our locker room.”

Whenever his tournament run ends, Gillies knows he’ll be able to relive it with his grandfather, who played at Norwich, and father, a star goalie at New Hampshire. Uncle Chris was a goaltender at Denver.

“It’s an honor,” he said of the Gillies tradition. “It’s something to keep carrying on and something to look back on and realize how special it is.”

Dumb enough to be a goalie? Smart enough to savor every moment of it.

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