Brown Hockey 2012-2013:Climbing the ECAC Ladder

[Humanoid]

Re: Brown Hockey 2012-2013:Climbing the ECAC Ladder

My last point (now that I'm not on my mobile phone internet and can actually type without fat fingering everything. Guarantee there's some spelling issues cmoing yuor wya -- see what I did there??)...

Brown only has two defensemen recruited for next season - Cameron Romoff of Portland (EJHL) and Aleksi Rossi of Waterloo (USHL). Both are due to arrive at Brown next year and are not future recruits. That means next year Brown will have a full complement of D skaters. They also have a goalie in Tyler Steel out of the BCHL and a future recruit for 2014 in the form of Conor Maher. SO the future is very bright. I've followed Maher for a while since he's out of Marshfield, and he's developed into a very solid netminder. So while this year things look bleak, the future is very bright.

My guess is that Brown is looking inwards to determine if a converted forward will take over on the third pairing or if it'll be Tang. My guess is that they'll try Tang, but he will only shine if he has a chance to move the puck. If the Brown system keeps him planted at the blue line, then he's going to fail. When I saw him in the EJ's, he was great when allowed to make creative moves and flow the puck. He failed when he planted himself at the blue line.

What Brown can do is convert a forward back and see who wants it badly. If someone is going to put in the effort, then said person will earn the right to set foot on the ice. Brown has absolutely nothing to lose by doing this. It might help too to get some forwards exposed to the defensemen mentality. Maybe those guys on the third line who are struggling to crack the top six get a shot in this regard. They're going to have to get very creative in the way they approach the games since a straight up approach from here on out isn't going to work.

Brown essentially has to patchwork the rest of the year, and like BrunoFan00 said - if anything happens to Wahl or Robertson, this defense automatically becomes "cardiac arrest." IMHO - if anything happens to either one of those guys, then the season is, for all intents and purposes, over defensively and Brown will have the worst unit in the country. Crowley as a senior should be much better than he is, and the adventures in netminding that a nightly basis gives makes things tough.

I've seen worse. UConn one year was positively horrible defensively, but they recruited a goalie who stepped in for teh 2nd half of the year. It cost Garrett Bartus an entire year of eligibility, but his ability to stop 40 pucks per night earned him stripes and he's now one of the better goalies in the AHA. It's a shame he lost that year because I was really excited to see him a) not play a year and then b) redshirt so he'd be a senior when UConn left for Hockey East. And their defense gave up 45 shots per game that year. I doubt Brown could do something like this because of admissions - highly doubt you're getting a mid-year call up out of anybody (is that even possible?). Or at least one that Northeastern won't go and recruit on you during the first half of the year (hehehehehe).

It's doable but the entire playbook goes out the window now. It's like running a football offense - when your offensive line is turrible, you rebuild into a split veer option that doesn't get your QB killed. Brown's going to need to make a radical change to keep their goalies from getting killed every night.

[kdiff77]

Re: Brown Hockey 2012-2013:Climbing the ECAC Ladder

PC brought in Alex Beaudry in the middle of the season a few years ago, and he essentially did the same thing as the UConn kid you mentioned. I really don't think Whittet has any plans to bring on another goaltender, or if he does, he's been very quiet about it. Borelli looked good against Union and RPI, but we don't yet know if he's the answer for the full season. DeFilippo appears lost right now, but if he can regain his confidence, we have a very good netminder right there.

As for the recruited goalie you mentioned- I would hope they end up recruiting a second goalie to join him. Borelli graduates this year, and DeFilippo will be a senior next year, along with Joe Mello. However, I doubt Mello is viewed as a viable Division 1 goaltender, because he played for the Brown club team for two years. If possible, I would think Whittet would look to find a better option for a third-string goaltender.

Speaking of third-string goalies, that's exactly what Borelli was prior to this season. And now he's poised to be our starter for the foreseeable future. Yikes.

[Onion Man]

Re: Brown Hockey 2012-2013:Climbing the ECAC Ladder

No idea why Boston College would schedule Brown....not like the Eagles get anything out of it.

Can't wait for that one.

[Carmine Scarpaglia]

Re: Brown Hockey 2012-2013:Climbing the ECAC Ladder

And Jerry York has ALWAYS been gracious at scheduling teams on the road or on neutral sites. He's playing UAH in the first round of the Minnesota tournament this year (in which he'll break the all time record).

To be fair, he didn't exactly pick that game against UAH. They made BC and Minnesota play the other two teams and guaranteed a matchup between BC and MINN on the 2nd night. Usually the folks running that tournament in Minnesota determine how that all works and any team usually just agrees to play in it in any given year.

[Mike Hutter]

Re: Brown Hockey 2012-2013:Climbing the ECAC Ladder

PC brought in Alex Beaudry in the middle of the season a few years ago, and he essentially did the same thing as the UConn kid you mentioned. I really don't think Whittet has any plans to bring on another goaltender, or if he does, he's been very quiet about it. Borelli looked good against Union and RPI, but we don't yet know if he's the answer for the full season. DeFilippo appears lost right now, but if he can regain his confidence, we have a very good netminder right there.

As for the recruited goalie you mentioned- I would hope they end up recruiting a second goalie to join him. Borelli graduates this year, and DeFilippo will be a senior next year, along with Joe Mello. However, I doubt Mello is viewed as a viable Division 1 goaltender, because he played for the Brown club team for two years. If possible, I would think Whittet would look to find a better option for a third-string goaltender.

Speaking of third-string goalies, that's exactly what Borelli was prior to this season. And now he's poised to be our starter for the foreseeable future. Yikes.

By all accounts that I have heard Borelli played solid games against U and RPI. Seems like he should get the call and let him play until he shows he cannot handle the job. UConn Tournament is coming at a great time to allow Brown to see if Borelli can do it and find that 6th Dman, Tang or someone else.

[Brown09]

Re: Brown Hockey 2012-2013:Climbing the ECAC Ladder

Brown only has two defensemen recruited for next season - Cameron Romoff of Portland (EJHL) and Aleksi Rossi of Waterloo (USHL). Both are due to arrive at Brown next year and are not future recruits. That means next year Brown will have a full complement of D skaters. They also have a goalie in Tyler Steel out of the BCHL and a future recruit for 2014 in the form of Conor Maher. SO the future is very bright. I've followed Maher for a while since he's out of Marshfield, and he's developed into a very solid netminder. So while this year things look bleak, the future is very bright.

Actually Brown will have three incoming defensemen in 2013. In addition to the Romoff and Rossi, there's Tyler Wood, whose father Randy was a star at Yale and played in the NHL. Nate Widman and Kyle Quick are expected to make a full recovery from their surgeries.

Among the forward recruits, expect Zach Pryzbeck and Davey Middleton to play immediately -- provided, of course, that Northeastern doesn't interfere... :-)

However, the current situation at defense isn't good: a total of six defensemen, including a sophomore who hasn't played a varsity game yet (Tang), an inconsistent sophomore (DeConsylis), and a mistake-prone senior (Crowley).

[The Zlax45]

Re: Brown Hockey 2012-2013:Climbing the ECAC Ladder

The changing format heading into next year with the addition of ND is fact. They will switch to playing each team twice in home-home format. So a BC-BU weekend will feature one game at BC and one game at BU. the exceptions are trips to Vermont, Notre Dame, and Maine.

It takes a format where they played the 9 other schools 3 times (for 27 conference games) and makes it so they'll play each of the 10 other schools twice (for 20). That's factual.

I'm not sure what's happening when UConn goes. They haven't announced that. Also not sure why BC would come to brown. Everything I said was speculatory

They are going to just go to 22 conference games when UConn comes in...no reason for a change from that.

[Humanoid]

Re: Brown Hockey 2012-2013:Climbing the ECAC Ladder

They are going to just go to 22 conference games when UConn comes in...no reason for a change from that.

I assumed that's what they'd do, but I didn't want to say since I didn't know for sure. I know they're butchering the playoffs and including all 12 teams instead of the way it is now where bottom two don't get in (cry cry cry. I was hoping they'd do a different format or something!).

In any event - Brown is going to have some work cut out for itself in the UConn tournament. UConn has a porous defense, but their goalie is substantially better than Holy Cross. Bartus is a solid netminder who can win games. That's even if that's who they draw in the second game. If they play AIC - that team's pretty awful, which from my understanding doesn't bode well for Brown. They've played down to that level before and lost. Still, Meisner is supposed to be this great, grand goalie, but IMHO he looks better because his team in front of him really is just that bad. They can go from a 2-1 lead to a 8-2 loss in about 15 minutes of game time.

Don't know anything about Minnesota State, which would help since, you know, we know Brown's playing them.

[Humanoid]

Re: Brown Hockey 2012-2013:Climbing the ECAC Ladder

Brown drops to Mankato, 3-1. once again the ugly PK unit rears its ugly head and gives up a PP goal, which is just plain ugly. Take back that goal, and Brown has themselves a different outcome. The fact that Naclerio scored on the PP helps soften the blow, but there are major issues with Brown right now. The offense didn't generate enough, and I don't think Borelli played horrible, but still, there's too many non-serviceable guys.

Anyone at the game with some insight?

[kdiff77]

Re: Brown Hockey 2012-2013:Climbing the ECAC Ladder

I wasn't there, but watched online. Some notes:

-Borelli was apparently playing with the flu, so kudos to him for even suiting up. DeFilippo had some issue with his knee, so he wasn't going to start.
-Forget the PP goal (though it sucks that we gave yet another one up), if that stupid first period goal that hit the glass, bounced over the crossbar, off Borelli's glove and into the net had taken even a slightly different deflection, it would have been a 1-1 game in the third. Fluky goals happen, but I'd rather give one up that the other team earned.
-Both teams played a solid, physical game and the refs were letting EVERYTHING go- which was nice, because it was not a dirty game by any means.
-The shot statistics are misleading. We had the puck in their zone for the majority of the second and third periods, but couldn't get anything through to the net because their defense just clogged every single shooting lane. Their goalie also had terrific positioning, though he didn't do anything flashy. The only goal came on a shorthanded 2-on-1.
-Greg Tang and Jake Goldberg both did a fine job filling in on defense. I can't imagine why Tang has never played before, as he looked very composed and played smartly. Goldberg did not look like a guy who had played forward for two years, as he played a stay-at-home role and never looked to rush the puck.
-Though we lost, I loved the fight Brown showed. They never gave up, and the last two minutes or so were spent desperately trying to claw their way into overtime. It was to no avail, but the effort was most certainly there.

We get AIC tomorrow, and though they beat us last year, we should pretty clearly beat them by a few goals. They lost to UConn 7-2 tonight, so we should easily dispatch of them. I hope Whittet's message to the team is something completely different (we can't afford to get cocky), but we should sweep the floor with these guys.

[BrunoFan00]

I wasn't there, but watched online. Some notes:

-Borelli was apparently playing with the flu, so kudos to him for even suiting up. DeFilippo had some issue with his knee, so he wasn't going to start.
-Forget the PP goal (though it sucks that we gave yet another one up), if that stupid first period goal that hit the glass, bounced over the crossbar, off Borelli's glove and into the net had taken even a slightly different deflection, it would have been a 1-1 game in the third. Fluky goals happen, but I'd rather give one up that the other team earned.
-Both teams played a solid, physical game and the refs were letting EVERYTHING go- which was nice, because it was not a dirty game by any means.
-The shot statistics are misleading. We had the puck in their zone for the majority of the second and third periods, but couldn't get anything through to the net because their defense just clogged every single shooting lane. Their goalie also had terrific positioning, though he didn't do anything flashy. The only goal came on a shorthanded 2-on-1.
-Greg Tang and Jake Goldberg both did a fine job filling in on defense. I can't imagine why Tang has never played before, as he looked very composed and played smartly. Goldberg did not look like a guy who had played forward for two years, as he played a stay-at-home role and never looked to rush the puck.
-Though we lost, I loved the fight Brown showed. They never gave up, and the last two minutes or so were spent desperately trying to claw their way into overtime. It was to no avail, but the effort was most certainly there.

We get AIC tomorrow, and though they beat us last year, we should pretty clearly beat them by a few goals. They lost to UConn 7-2 tonight, so we should easily dispatch of them. I hope Whittet's message to the team is something completely different (we can't afford to get cocky), but we should sweep the floor with these guys.

I was there, and the above assessment is pretty close. Yes, both teams played a clean, physical brand, and the refs let them play; the calls were all warranted (truthfully, I didn't see the Zaires penalty, but the game was well-called, so I assume it was there).

Goldberg and Tang played well; there were a couple of times where Tang looked out of place, or tentative, but I assume that happens when you haven't seen the ice for a live game in two years. I specifically recall a couple of rushes with Wahl where Wahl decided to keep the puck rather than give to Tang - that's a confidence in a linemate, I think.

Goldberg looked good. I don't think he will make people remember McMonagle when he made the switch, but he can give the team minutes. I was impressed late in the third to see Goldberg with Pfeil - a freshman whose value went up exponentially now that DeConcylis is temporarily sidelined.

While AIC is a team Brown should realistically beat, and score against, they did beat Quinnipiac earlier this year in Hamden, and we played insanely flat against them last year. I didn't think Brown was particularly intense until the last ten minutes of the game against Minnesota State - yes, carried play at times, but nothing particularly memorable. Thus, the first ten minutes against AIC will be quite telling. My concern is that it ends up like the Holy Cross game - come out flying, give up a fluky goal, and now you're down against a team that should realistically be getting throttled.

This is a game for guys like Harlow, Hathaway, Hourihan, and Jacobson, none of whom has played particularly good hockey or been visible on the attack, to get into a groove and do something offensively. Somebody besides Matt Lorito has to score goals, otherwise this will be a long second half of the year.

[DarthBruno]

Re: Brown Hockey 2012-2013:Climbing the ECAC Ladder

I'm curious -- especially given the title of this thread.

What would it take for Brown hockey to REALLY become a winning team? --An exciting, reasonably consistent team with some flashy firepower on offense and a rock-solid D that can contribute to scoring as well as bottle up the competition? And a Danis-level goalie?

How do we get there? Is it hopeless? I've watched Brown hockey faithfully for decades, but sometimes I feel we're all fooling ourselves that we'll ever again have a team like Toomey's in the mid 1970s, or the one Damian Prescott skated on.

Coaches come and go, and with a few exceptions, the Bears are inconsistent and disappointing most of the time. I am touched by the earnest belief of fans on this board that the glory days are just around the corner. But I've been hearing it for 30 years. I'm getting beyond cynical. And that's sad.

Personally, I don't feel see a lot of institutional support for traditionally big-ticket sports at Brown... Yes, we have great programs in this or that smaller sport, and Phil Estes has managed to stay in the top half of the league most years with his football program.

But I would like to have a stretch of really excellent hockey teams at Brown. Teams that fill Meehan again and go to the playoffs every year and even occasionally get a crack at the Final Four. Can that happen? Why not?

How do we convince the best players to come here? How do we find THE coach who lifts their skills and teamwork to the highest level? What is the magic formula? Share your wish list! Within the recruiting and season restraints of the Ivy League, what should Brown's New Year's resolutions be when it comes to ramping up men's hockey once and for all?

[Humanoid]

Re: Brown Hockey 2012-2013:Climbing the ECAC Ladder

A couple of thoughts on today's big win over AIC:

- I know it needs to be tempered because AIC is such a horrible team, but this is the type of win Brown needs against a team like AIC. When you're playing a team with a defense that takes essentially entire periods off, you have to be able to score and score with lethal efficiency. When they give you a 5 and 10 power play, you have to score on them. Brown took care of business in an extremely efficient way, and while AIC is a terrible team, winning 7-2 is exactly the outcome that leaves you satisfied in watching the game.

- Great to see Pfeil picking up four points and Prescott picking up multiple goals. All except for like 3 guys in the Brown lineup got into the act, and that's a huge positive for a team that's had trouble finding other people to score points.

- Sometimes a game like this is exactly what a team needs to kickstart its heart (if you'll allow me the phrase from when Brown came out to that song a number of years.... somewhere Nikki Sixx is smiling at the irony that the Brown team that came out to that song was fairly dead). They've gotten through the part of the season where the guys dropped like flies, and now they'll have a chance to work out some new lineup combos when they scrimmage the Russian Red Stars. I wouldn't be shocked to see Brown really go crazy in that game before heading up to Clarkson and St. Lawrence, which is exactly the road trip Brown could possibly want right now. If they take some good points up in the north country, they all of a sudden come back on a roll.

- One thing that is really great for Brown is the fact that AIC only had 27 shots. I remember the Holy Cross game earlier this year where Brown outshot them by a 2:1 margin, yet HC beat Brown's defense with its forwards. Brown limited shot selection. Yes, AIC's team is horrendous, but the forwards have a couple of guys with skating ability. LImiting shot selection and limiting the amount of looks on Borelli is the first step towards overcompensating for what's been a disastrous goaltending campaign.

- If it wasn't before, this weekend is officially making it so it's Borelli's job to lose now. A little bit of open competition never hurt, but I think if Brown can keep the shot totals between 25-30 with its patchwork defense, then we can all be ELATED at the performance by the players and coaching staff. This is going to be a masterpiece of a coaching job if they can piece together a defense that can stop some teams and eke out some wins down the stretch.

- I'm going to Northeastern on Saturday for Bentley-NU. I think it would be a great idea to sit behind the NU bench with a Brown university hoodie on. Or would that be too forward?

[BrunoFan00]

A couple of thoughts on today's big win over AIC:

- I know it needs to be tempered because AIC is such a horrible team, but this is the type of win Brown needs against a team like AIC. When you're playing a team with a defense that takes essentially entire periods off, you have to be able to score and score with lethal efficiency. When they give you a 5 and 10 power play, you have to score on them. Brown took care of business in an extremely efficient way, and while AIC is a terrible team, winning 7-2 is exactly the outcome that leaves you satisfied in watching the game.

- Great to see Pfeil picking up four points and Prescott picking up multiple goals. All except for like 3 guys in the Brown lineup got into the act, and that's a huge positive for a team that's had trouble finding other people to score points.

- Sometimes a game like this is exactly what a team needs to kickstart its heart (if you'll allow me the phrase from when Brown came out to that song a number of years.... somewhere Nikki Sixx is smiling at the irony that the Brown team that came out to that song was fairly dead). They've gotten through the part of the season where the guys dropped like flies, and now they'll have a chance to work out some new lineup combos when they scrimmage the Russian Red Stars. I wouldn't be shocked to see Brown really go crazy in that game before heading up to Clarkson and St. Lawrence, which is exactly the road trip Brown could possibly want right now. If they take some good points up in the north country, they all of a sudden come back on a roll.

- One thing that is really great for Brown is the fact that AIC only had 27 shots. I remember the Holy Cross game earlier this year where Brown outshot them by a 2:1 margin, yet HC beat Brown's defense with its forwards. Brown limited shot selection. Yes, AIC's team is horrendous, but the forwards have a couple of guys with skating ability. LImiting shot selection and limiting the amount of looks on Borelli is the first step towards overcompensating for what's been a disastrous goaltending campaign.

- If it wasn't before, this weekend is officially making it so it's Borelli's job to lose now. A little bit of open competition never hurt, but I think if Brown can keep the shot totals between 25-30 with its patchwork defense, then we can all be ELATED at the performance by the players and coaching staff. This is going to be a masterpiece of a coaching job if they can piece together a defense that can stop some teams and eke out some wins down the stretch.

- I'm going to Northeastern on Saturday for Bentley-NU. I think it would be a great idea to sit behind the NU bench with a Brown university hoodie on. Or would that be too forward?

Truthfully, it's hard to get too excited about a 7-2 win, simply because AIC was THAT bad. Their goalie was immobile, their defense slow, and their offense disorganized. The first goal was a result of a turnover that gift-wrapped the puck in front of Borelli. The second goal came after one of the Bear defensemen hopped off for a change and AIC sprung for a 2-on-1 break.

Pfeil and Prescott looked good, and Harlow probably played his most complete game. Hathaway, while not on the scoresheet, had a couple of great shifts, one of which led to Prescott's first goal of the game.

Borelli is the starter moving forward, without a doubt, as he gutted out this weekend - he definitely didn't look 100% today. Given Brown's holes on defense, and relative lack of consistency in back, limiting opponents to 20-25 shots and keeping pucks where the goalies can see them may be Brown's only shot at consistent victories.

I can only imagine where this team would be if Quick and Widman were healthy and the turncoats had ended up in Providence instead of the South End of Boston. Not that it matters at this point.

Humanoid, if you end up at Matthews, I'm sure you can think of some colorful things to yell from the stands. But try not to hurt anyone's feelings. Ha.

And as an FYI: the Kickstart my Heart entry music was for the 2003 squad, captained by Korbl and featuring Robinson, Haggett, Danis, et al, certainly one of Brown's best entries of the past decade.

Finally, the Bears will not see a team as bad as AIC the rest of the way, this much we know. So getting a confidence booster in time for an exhibition and a layoff heading into the league stretch run was just what the doctor ordered. For that, we are thankful for their obliging us.

[kdiff77]

Re: Brown Hockey 2012-2013:Climbing the ECAC Ladder

That 2003 team went 10-2-5 at home. Maybe we should bring back Kickstart My Heart; apparently it turned Meehan into a fortress.