Brown Hockey 2012-2013:Climbing the ECAC Ladder

[Humanoid]

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

Ok here we go. Thoughts on last night's game.

1) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=barWV7RWkq0 - your Humanoid youtube clip of the day.

2) Anthony Borelli is waking up this morning 2nd in the nation in both GAA and save percentage. He's done this despite not playing in over a year. He just shut down Yale while channeling a performance reminiscnet of Clemente's in the playoffs three years ago (or whatever it was), and also some guy who may or may not have played at Brown in the mid-2000s. You know. That Yawn Dennis kid.

3) Mike used a term last night on the air that I think was very astute when I was watching the game. He referred to Borelli as a performance and season that is looking an awful lot like Yann Danis. It's the first time I've heard a comparison to Yann since the first year he was gone with Adam D'Alba. Yann Danis is one of those players who comes along once in a lifetime and rewrites every record book. If we were purveyors of spirits, he would never have to purchase a drink in our establishment ever again. He's a folk hero, a ghost who's mythical presence has increased over time as Brown's sunk back into the lower echelon of the crust growing inside my toilet pipes. To make that comparison is something that cannot be taken lightly. But even if the shoe drops on Borelli's magical season, and even if Brown crash lands back to earth in the next few weekends, then we can still be pretty happy with the way the season's gone. For this year so far, Borelli has been nothing short of miraculous.

4) If Borelli's been great, then the coaching staff needs immediate raises. They've turned Brown into a legitimate contender in a season where a) they had nothing, b) lost what they didn't have, and c) established a presence that rivals everything. I find it increasingly hard that a recruit would choose playing for Keith Allain over Brendan Whittet right now; Whittet has fire, passion, and a fierce commitment to his players that rivals anyone anywhere. Allain is...well... a jerk. I just want to know if he actually shook Brendan's hand last night or if he walked off the ice like he tends to do. I want to touch Brendan Whittet's suit coat to see if it will heal hockey lepers.

5) If Brown wins a first round bye thi syear, I'm betting on the Cleveland Browns to win the Super Bowl tomorrow.

6) I mean this sincerely when I say that there isn't a single team in this league that wants to play Brown in the playoffs. Brown could be a top four seed with the way they're playing, and if they crush either RPI or Union this weekend, then they're totally legtimiate. The only team that presents a true nightmare matchup right now is Dartmouth. They've hung and played with everyone. If Brown played Qpac in the playoffs at any given point, is there anybody who doesnt think that would be a fun series to watch?

7) Not saying I'm making reservations for Providence in March/April, but I'm just sayin'. This Brown team could be capable of anything. They could win out, get a bye, do wahtever. At the same time, they could fall off the map and everything could catch up to them. So let's just appreciate this for what it is - a thing of freaking beauty.

8) The priest was unamused when I asked him to put the ashes in the shape of a B on me this morning. Good think I'm not giving up hockey for lent.

[rdf8585]

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

In advance of the Union game on Saturday, I conducted a Q&A with associate head coach Mark White.

Check it out here.

He talks about Borelli, Lorito, Union, and more.

[kdiff77]

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

Terrific (and colorful) insights by Humanoid! I personally loved #3, when he acknowledged Yann Danis as a folk hero.

Here are my own thoughts on the past few weeks, as I've fallen behind a bit with the blog:

http://brownhockeyblog.blogspot.com/


Speaking of Yann, he has a 1.000 save percentage and 0.00 GAA for the Oilers this year. 14 saves!

[DarthBruno]

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

Here are my own thoughts on the past few weeks, as I've fallen behind a bit with the blog:

http://brownhockeyblog.blogspot.com/

Fantastic blog entry. We need more frequent posts from you.

And as one of the gloomy skeptics from last fall, I stand pleasantly corrected by the play of this little-Brown-team-that-could.

[Onion Man]

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

Wow, nice job. The team plays hard every night, I"ll give them that.

[Mike Hutter]

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

Ken Schotts' predictions for the Capital District trip

http://www.dailygazette.com/weblogs/...12-13-week-19/

He has been high on Brown, picking Brown to beat Yale last week.

Again, looking forward to a great week end of hockey.

[kdiff77]

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

http://brownhockeyblog.blogspot.com/

Some sobering thoughts on a real stinker of a weekend.

[BrunoFan00]

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

http://brownhockeyblog.blogspot.com/

Some sobering thoughts on a real stinker of a weekend.

Having been at both games, some thoughts, which I think will validate your conclusions based on the numbers:

The RPI game was not good. Borelli let in a soft one just 46 seconds in, and that caused the Bears some problems in terms of emotion right off the bat. Truthfully, I wasn't expecting much, what with coming off the Yale game just 3 days prior, and the fact that most of these teams would be seeing Anthony Borelli for the second time. Add to the fact that RPI is playing some great, team hockey - they don't have one guy who can beat you, but just play a terrific team brand - and was coming out flying at home, where Kasdorf has been great... well, the recipe for a bad loss was there. Brown didn't do the little things well, two of the RPI goals went off Brown sticks, and the Bears didn't connect on consecutive passes very frequently, save the Prescott goal, which was a nifty bit of work in transition by Drolet, Senecal and the aforementioned Prescott.

The PK was bad. The "two" successful kills were actually on the same 5x3 power play, and Brown essentially let the RPI forwards camp out around the crease. (Yes, I know Bailen is a d-man, but he had some much space on his goal, he could have had a coffee and still found time to put the puck in). Matt Wahl didn't have a particularly good weekend (his turnover against Union led to their only goal), and I didn't see Brown connect on many passes. Now, we factor in the fact that they got that power play goal late in the first, and instead of being in it at 1-0 after 1, the game was 2-0 and the wheels were effectively coming off.

There were a couple of penalties that were mysteries in that game, but certainly not the difference. The game was a stinker, plain and simple.

On to Union.

The biggest statistic for the Bears was actually the second period. No, not the shots, which I think were 18-6 or something like that, but the face-offs. After winning a good chunk of the draws against RPI, Mark Naclerio and Mark Hourihan couldn't buy a faceoff win. Part of it was that the linesmen kept kicking them out, so their timing was not crisp, but Union won something like 40 of the last 50 faceoffs in that game. I don't know if the Bears won an offensive zone face off that entire game, or at least that's how it seemed.

Borelli was outstanding. Not good, not great... outstanding. It put to rest any concern we may have had about teams gettnig to him the second time around, and he dealt well with the pressure around the goal, which Union attempted to apply with great regularity. He kept his sightlines open, controlled rebounds, and kept his composure.

Conversely, Grosenick was largely untested for the first 35 minutes of the game, and the best looks that Brown had in the first period and a half went wide. By the time he established a rhythm, the Bears were pressing, and he thus made the saves he had to. Truthfully, it looked like Union had shortened the bench to their top 4 D, if that at times, but the Brown d-men and forwards struggled against a very aggressive and quick Union forecheck. (Hence the Wahl turnover, which wasn't entirely on him, as Crowley or Deconcylis had skated away from him, and the forwards weren't giving him any support either).

Compounding the issue was that the Dutch did a terrific job of neutralizing Matt Lorito. Frequently, the line matchups, given that Union last change, worked in their favor, particularly in the first two periods, when Senecal, Juola, and Prescott found themselves against Union's top line, and then Union's "second" line was able to hold Lorito and company in check. Now, factor in the fact that Lamacchia and Harlow - two guys the Bears NEED to be visible - barely skated in the third, and someone like Hathaway, who is at his best when he is buzzing around the ice using his hits to bolster Brown's puck control, was rendered essentially invisible, well... you get the picture.

Bright spots:

1. Mark Senecal. Great to see him making the most of his opportunities.
2. Jake Goldberg. He continues to play consistently at defense. He wasn't great against RPI, but, then, nobody was.
3. Borelli vs. Union. If he has a rough game, that one is 5-0 and we're wondering who's getting the nod against Princeton.

KDiff: You are absolutely correct in your implication that special teams will be the Achilles heel for the Bears. The power play didn't get many chances this past weekend, but the ones they did were poor. The penalty kill was back in mid-November form - which is not a good thing. That said, the team needs to focus on each game, starting with a huge one at Princeton. Very hard to beat a team three times, and I think a shot at home ice is on the line on Friday, period. Beyond that, I'm not looking at Quinnipiac, the other games on the ECAC schedule, or the home series to conclude. The Bears need points on Friday.

Finally, a self-correction. I had written some time ago that RPI was not a good hockey team. They are very different today than they were when we left them in December, and that means they are solid. I stand corrected.

[Mike Hutter]

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

KenSchott's take on the Brown Union game, including video of Brendan's post-game cnf:

http://www.dailygazette.com/weblogs/...with-3-videos/

Like Brunofan00, I was at both games. Most of my views are similar.

First, as to the Union game I agree with his assessment of Senecal, Goldberg and Borelli. Senecal played well and saw a lot of time on the third line. He was disrupting many of Union's attempted break-outs. It is hard to believe Goldberg has not played D before. I rank him as Bruno's third best D-man, behind Robertson, Pfeil. Robertson, BTW, had a solid game. Atrue physical force. Borelli is the real deal. With some more scoring Borelli can take Brown into the ECAC final 4.

I thought Brown played well overall agianst a good Union team. Grosemick over the last half of the game played like the All-American he was last year. He made some truly great saves including robbing Robertson on a shot through a lot of traffic. While U put a lot of shots on Borelli, many of them were soft ones, with the D doing a good job on U's efforts. The U goal was a goal scorer's goal. Novack ened up with the puck in front of Borelli. He hesitated on his shot, Borelli went down in his butterfly, thinking he was going law, and Novack then weht top-shelf. Great shot.

Lorito was a marked man. Brown really needs to develop a second scorer on a consistent basis... I can't figure out what Hathaway's role was last night.

Lastly, with the Union game being televised on the local cable network's sports channel, I videotaped it. I watched some of it, including the between period and after game comments of Dan Fridgen, RPI's former coach and color guy for the TV. If anyone wants to seeit, contact me off line and I will mail to you. No need to return. A bonus is the tape of Union Yale game.

[Mike Hutter]

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

Commenting on the RPI game, Brown's effort was sub-par but not all that bad. The team came out flat, and the soft goal 40 seconds into the game was deflating. The power play goals were true killers. RPI's pp effort was as sharp as any team's I have seen this year. You can't take penalties with them. Having said that, I believe 2 of the penalties could have been no-calls.

Brown stayed with RPI for longstretches of the game. Both teams match-up well. But the penalties disrupted and set back Brown every time. And RPI's freshman goalie Kasdorpf is simply outstanding. He should be first team ECAC goalie. He will take RPI into the final ECAC 4.

[Humanoid]

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

Commenting on the RPI game, Brown's effort was sub-par but not all that bad. The team came out flat, and the soft goal 40 seconds into the game was deflating. The power play goals were true killers. RPI's pp effort was as sharp as any team's I have seen this year. You can't take penalties with them. Having said that, I believe 2 of the penalties could have been no-calls.

Brown stayed with RPI for longstretches of the game. Both teams match-up well. But the penalties disrupted and set back Brown every time. And RPI's freshman goalie Kasdorpf is simply outstanding. He should be first team ECAC goalie. He will take RPI into the final ECAC 4.

A truly maddening weekend. I'll buy on RPI for now in the regular season as a solid team that deserves a first round bye. Judging from what I've heard, they're going to be tough to beat. I don't think they have enough horses in the stable to win the league or get into the tournament, but I'll buy in on them making noise. And, for the first time in a long time, I think RPI presents a bad matchup for Brown, where in the past it was the other way around.

I will sell, however, on Union. It's a game that should've been a 0-0 tie had there not been a bad turnover leading to a goal. Borelli woke back up afte rbeing chased against RPI, which I think was his let down game after having to make 40-plus against Yale in a midweek. It's always a tough turnaround, on the road, and he was way overdue to lay a complete egg in a game. So there it is. Better now than in the playoffs.

On the bright side, everyone lost. So Brown's right in there for a first round home series. I think it's huge that Brown beats Princeton; I don't think they'll be able to duplicate that performance against Qpac that they did a couple of weeks ago. I think that game will still be close, though, since Brown is a bad matchup for the cats. It's most likely going to come down for this team to next week against Colgate and Cornell at home. There's still something about those teams that scare me, even though both are playing like poo by some seasons' standards.

[kdiff77]

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

Humanoid, Colgate probably scares you because no matter where they've been in the standings the past 15 years or so, they've absolutely owned us. We usually play Cornell tough, but I've never seen them in an underdog role against us, so that should be interesting.

But as for this coming weekend: we've got a tall task. As someone else said, beating a team three times in one year is incredibly difficult. Just ask the 2007 Cowboys, who positively owned the Giants in the regular season but lost at home in the playoffs. Princeton isn't playing great hockey right now, but that doesn't mean they're not capable of playing well. They know their season is on the line here, and a home game against Brown would be a good opportunity to get two points for them. It'll be a battle, for sure.

Quinnipiac doesn't scare me as much as they used to. I think they've let up a little, since the Cleary Cup has been clinched. They barely snuck by Clarkson and lost to St. Lawrence at the Bank this past weekend. If we don't play as well as we did against them two weeks ago, we won't win. But if we do play that well, expect a favorable result. I'm sure Whittet will use this past weekend as an example of how the team can't play for the remaining four games.

[QUAlum2004]

Humanoid, Colgate probably scares you because no matter where they've been in the standings the past 15 years or so, they've absolutely owned us. We usually play Cornell tough, but I've never seen them in an underdog role against us, so that should be interesting.

But as for this coming weekend: we've got a tall task. As someone else said, beating a team three times in one year is incredibly difficult. Just ask the 2007 Cowboys, who positively owned the Giants in the regular season but lost at home in the playoffs. Princeton isn't playing great hockey right now, but that doesn't mean they're not capable of playing well. They know their season is on the line here, and a home game against Brown would be a good opportunity to get two points for them. It'll be a battle, for sure.

Quinnipiac doesn't scare me as much as they used to. I think they've let up a little, since the Cleary Cup has been clinched. They barely snuck by Clarkson and lost to St. Lawrence at the Bank this past weekend. If we don't play as well as we did against them two weeks ago, we won't win. But if we do play that well, expect a favorable result. I'm sure Whittet will use this past weekend as an example of how the team can't play for the remaining four games.

It's senior night at bank next Saturday. Those 11 seniors will be up for that game.

[Mike Hutter]

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

On the fight card the other night - Volpatti v Garbutt!!

http://www.hockeyfights.com/fights/115924

[Humanoid]

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

On the fight card the other night - Volpatti v Garbutt!!

http://www.hockeyfights.com/fights/115924

Bruno on Bruno violence!

Remember when Mike called Garbutt the human penalty at least 5 times. The man was guaranteed to get at least 2 penalties a game for something like boarding or charging. Ahhhhh the good ole days.