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.
