Brown Hockey 2010-2011 - Onward and Upward

[kdiff77]

Re: Brown Hockey 2010-2011 - Onward and Upward

Well, I wanted to post on the Dartmouth thread to congratulate them, but I can't seem to find one.

Anyway, last night was incredibly frustrating. Dartmouth appears to have meticulously plotted out our every movement and was all over us. They seemed content, from the first whistle, to let us control the flow of the game and just sit back and defend. Well, it worked. Because they knew EXACTLY how to defend us. They put four guys in the middle at all times and had one chasing the puck carrier. Simple, but it confused the hell out of us and we failed to adapt. It didn't help that luck was not on our side and that we made trillions of fundamental mistakes. It also didn't help that Mello absolutely robbed us on several occasions.

All in all, it was a weird feeling, because clearly Dartmouth outplayed and outcoached us, but I still subconsciously felt we deserved a better fate. Maybe it was because we had so much control of the flow of the game, even though we were so sloppy. Very frustrating, and I hate the fact that we've score 5 goals in 5 games since the win over Yale. For a team that has almost no defense and prides itself on its offensive explosions, that's just unacceptable.

[Waterboy66]

Re: Brown Hockey 2010-2011 - Onward and Upward

Agreed. Dartmouth played a very disciplined game that seemed to create lots of issues for the Bears. Most noticeable was the inability to generate much zone possession on the PP opportunities. Brown did make a lot of mistakes.

That said, the Bears outshot Dartmouth pretty much every period and I believe had more scoring opportunities. They were pretty snake bitten. I think one goal is all they needed to create some momentum and perhaps take this one. I expect a good bounce back next weekend with the Clarkson and St. Lawrence trip. This team appears to play better on the road.

[Onion Man]

Re: Brown Hockey 2010-2011 - Onward and Upward

What is the record for one team losing games 3-0 in one single season?. Christ.

[DarthBruno]

Riding that ol' fan rollercoaster again

Are we still excited about this 2010-11 season?

[Mike Hutter]

Re: Riding that ol' fan rollercoaster again

Yes, we are. Clarkson this weekend is in my opinion a game Brown must win to secure a home series in the first round. 8th place seems to be coming down to CT and Brown. Clarkson seems to be more up and down than Brown and brown usually does well, at least in recent years, in the North Country trip. Brown takes CT and then SLU.

[Euler18]

Re: Brown Hockey 2010-2011 - Onward and Upward

LINDSAY SPARKS vs. CHRIS ZAIRES / MARC SENECAL

Brown fans remember the name Lindsay Sparks, a player who decommitted from Brown to attend Michigan, where he's currently a sophomore. I'd been wondering how his scoring stats would compare to those of current Brown sophomores, so I decided to check. Here are Sparks' not so sparkling stats:

Games G A P
2009-10 23 4 4 8
2010-11* 10 1 0 1
Career Totals 33 5 4 9

Here Chris Zaires' much better stats:

Games G A P
2009-10 36 9 15 24
2010-11* 22 4 12 16
Career Totals 58 13 27 40

Sparks' stats are more like Marc Senecal's

2009-10 23 2 5 7
2010-11* 7 0 0 0
Career Totals 30 2 5 7

[kdiff77]

Re: Brown Hockey 2010-2011 - Onward and Upward

Euler, would you consider the sophomore class as a whole a failure?

Zaires has been fantastic, but his classmates have been underwhelming to say the least. Drolet looked promising last year, but has barely seen the ice this season. Crowley played well last year, but has been largely unremarkable this year (in fact, I was shocked to see that he's played in 18 games; I sure haven't noticed him in any more than a couple). You aptly demonstrated Senecal's shortcomings. Borelli has started one game in two seasons. Ryan has 1 point in 29 games over two years.

If I'm not mistaken, Zaires is the only sophomore with a single point this season. That's absolutely dreadful, in my book. Can this be attributed to the transition year between the Grillo and Whittet eras? Did some better recruits perhaps de-commit when they learned of Grillo's departure? I am very concerned for the next couple years if the entire class of 2013 minus Zaires is largely unproductive. Yes, they all have ample time to turn their careers around, but at this point, there is little promise.

It's disappointing, because I recall being excited about this bunch last year and thinking that many of them would amount to solid contributors. Unfortunately, only one of them has panned out so far. I'm no mathematician, but that's just an unacceptable ratio.

[DarthBruno]

Re: Brown Hockey 2010-2011 - Onward and Upward

Brown fans remember the name Lindsay Sparks, a player who decommitted from Brown to attend Michigan, where he's currently a sophomore. I'd been wondering how his scoring stats would compare to those of current Brown sophomores...

How does Michigan's competition compare to Brown's? This may not be a fair comparison.

[DarthBruno]

Re: Brown Hockey 2010-2011 - Onward and Upward

(Re: sophomores) ...I recall being excited about this bunch last year and thinking that many of them would amount to solid contributors. Unfortunately, only one of them has panned out so far.

While it's never desirable to have a gaping hole in the lineup where a strong class should be, don't you think our fantastic freshmen will fill in just fine for the less talented sophs? And presumably Whittet has recruited another good group for next year's freshman class (would love to know what/who we're getting).

[Onion Man]

Re: Brown Hockey 2010-2011 - Onward and Upward

How does Michigan's competition compare to Brown's? This may not be a fair comparison.

Good question. I think the top 1/4 or so of the ECAC (Yale*, Union, Dartmouth, RPI) could hold their own vs. the top 1/4 of the CCHA this year. Michigan has huge goalie problems, Miami is inconsistent, etc.

[GoUNH]

Good question. I think the top 1/4 or so of the ECAC (Yale*, Union, Dartmouth, RPI) could hold their own vs. the top 1/4 of the CCHA this year. Michigan has huge goalie problems, Miami is inconsistent, etc.

Not when it counts

[Mike Hutter]

Re: Brown Hockey 2010-2011 - Onward and Upward

Any comments from anyone who saw last night's game?

[vicb]

Re: Brown Hockey 2010-2011 - Onward and Upward

Clarkson game really could have gone Browns way if they could have put more pucks on net. They had a number of times where they controlled play with some great cycling of the puck in the corners only to get into chances to score and shoot the puck off net. Clarksons first goal was a shot from the point by Tom Pizzo that went into the upper corner of the net by a screened Clemente. Pizzo could probably take that shot 10 times and not hit the net on 9 of them. Clarkson's 2nd goal was on a fluke backhand from in the slot by Tremblay that was going high and wide of the net only to hit Clarkson's Alan McPherson (who had a Brown guy on him) in the back of the shoulder or head and bounce into the net past a startled Clemente. Clarkson's 3rd goal was on a scramble right in front on a rebound. Last was an ENG. Unbelieveable how Brown loses to Clarkson and then plasters SLU. It is looking to me more and more that 2 of these three; CCT, SLU or Brown will be matched up in the first round of the playoffs and it will be a dandy series no matter which 2 it is.

[Onion Man]

Re: Brown Hockey 2010-2011 - Onward and Upward

I think Brown may have benefitted from a let down effect from SLU beating Yale, but racing out to a 4-0 lead would make it difficult on anyone. I think Brown can do some damage in the ECAC playoffs. I'll tell ya right now that no way does Yale* win the ECAC tournament.

[Euler18]

Re: Brown Hockey 2010-2011 - Onward and Upward

How does Michigan's competition compare to Brown's? This may not be a fair comparison.

According to KRACH, Michigan has the 15th strongest schedule in the country and Brown has the 17th. Statistically speaking there isn't much difference in strength of schedule between Michigan and Brown. Each league has four teams currently in the top twenty. Outside the ECAC, Brown has played # 8 New Hampshire and # 15 Boston University (twice).

The point I was trying to make is that when Lindsay Sparks decommitted from Brown to attend Michigan, many in the Brown hockey family thought that we'd lost a potential star. But that doesn't appear to be the case at all. Sparks' stats are comparable to Marc Senecal's and Frank Drolet's, who, like Sparks, have been part time players. Chris Zaires' stats suggest that the young man from New Jersey is a better player than Sparks. I, for one, am glad Zaires came to Brown. He's a skilled player, who's been a solid performer for Brown though he's yet to fulfill his potential. I predict that he'll have a breakout year as a junior. As to Senecal and Drolet, they're two truly great kids who, hopefully, will develop into consistent performers for Brown the future.