Re: Brown Hockey 2011-2012 - The Future Is Now
Tough season all around. Never anticipated Brown being a last place ECAC team with most fans here predicting/hoping for a 'home ice' playoff position. Especially with Maclellan leading them.......players with his skill and drive don't come around these parts very often and you don't want to waste the opportunity you have with them. On to next year, hopefully there are a few Harry Z's and Jack's developed out of the kids coming up.
Of the Juniors, I think Zaires may be able to step-up next year. Hopefully Crowley can also bring his game up. But the Junior class is probably not where we should look to for Brown's next leaders.
Of the Sophomores, Wahl and Robertson are two of the best in the league and will probably lead the team. DiFillipo had some good moments this year and will be counted-upon next year - hopefully he can continue as Borelli has not shown much and the incoming goalie is probably not ready for NCAA hockey yet. Hathaway can hopefully be more of an offensive force, he has the tools.
Of the Freshmen, I hope that Lorito and Jacobson continue to play at their level, and that Lamacchia begins to understand the game better (as he has some good skills). I think that their offence will depend on how well those three do in their Sophomore year. On defence, Quick, deConcilys, and Pantziris have all shown promise this year but certainly did not earn first-line minutes like Wahl and Robertson did as Freshmen last year. I expect a couple of them to be solid top-4 next year.
Of the players coming in, you have to feel optimistic about Kevin Roy. In his first year in the USHL, he is leading the league in scoring by quite a large margin, so you know he can step it up. The fact that he has committed to Brown rather than some of the much more high-profile programs which certainly recruited him aggressively speaks quite a bit about his character as well (and probably about his parent's income ;-). None of the other Matriculating players are really outstanding right now, but I would expect one or two of them to impress in their Freshman year in 2012/2013
Despite the loss of special players like Maclellan and Farnham, I think that Brown may actually make some serious strides next year. Next year is when Whittet's recruits start taking over the team leadership. There are some offensive stars waiting in the wings and the defence should be very solid in their first four. A lot depends on goalies and if the current Freshmen defense and offense manage to continue with their promise of this year.
With diFillipo, Wahl, Robertson, Zaires, Crowley, and Hathaway they should have some upperclassmen who can lead. We will see how the Freshmen and Sophomores can work out.
