Totally lesser actually. Roy could not be afforded the privilege of tying Gaudreau's shoes.
Do yourself a favor...But back to the original point about the tournament - it's a funny thing, getting the tournament bid. They've been in position by making the conference final four twice, but let's look at how ECAC makes the tournament.
You have 2 bad leagues with autobids - the AHA and the nWCHA (it's not like it used to be). You have an extra bid to the Big Ten, which is MInnesota, Michigan, and everyone else. And you have Hockey East automatically getting 4 bids on the "HOckey East is the SEC of hockey" theory. That leaves a few bids for teams that are either really good and didn't win their league or weren't really good and benefitted from playing in a good league from any league. All I'm saying is that it really has to break the right way with a stat to get in, and it needs to be examined within the context of the circumstnaces of a year instead of a blanket statement.
It's been all doom and gloom around here lately, so here are some positives to take from this past season going forward:
-Mark Naclerio and Nick Lappin are going to be stars in the ECAC for the next two years. Their chemistry is uncanny and it's very fun to watch when they're on.
-Brandon Pfeil looks like he'll turn into a top-notch two-way defenseman. He can move the puck well either skating or passing, and he is for the most part defensively responsible.
-Tyler Steel showed some signs of becoming an elite goaltender, if he can find some consistency and eliminate the soft goals. He made some HUGE and spectacular saves at various points this year, and if he can be less sporadic, we've got ourselves a real backbone of the team.
-I was really impressed at times by Kyle Kramer. Love his intensity and speed. I could see him turning into a Bobby Farnham kind of player.
-Tyler Wood looked like a veteran in the second half of the season. He is a prototypical stay-at-home defenseman.
-Zack Pryzbek has all the tools to be a dominant power forward. He also looked like a vet at times this year.
-We still have Matt Lorito, and he'll finally be complimented by another big scoring threat (Wellman), which means we'll be able to run out two scoring lines (Naclerio-Lappin-Kramer, Lorito-Wellman-Pryzbek?).
-He didn't play much, but I liked what I saw of Andrew Doane. Gritty guy.
There. We'll probably be a much better team next year, so everyone quite wallowing in their sorrows and get excited!
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Brown was my darkhorse for a big improvement this year. They may have slipped a year but I still think they'll be challenging for a bye in the near future.
And when it happens maybe Darth Bruno will finally stop calling for Brendan Whittet's firing...
For the past few days I've been focusing on my other school, Bowdoin College, which came off the fifth-seed position to win the NESCAC tournament for the second time in a row, and the third time over the past four seasons. Even though the Polar Bears underachieved and had a so-so regular season (14-8-2), they still instilled an element of fear in their NESCAC opponents at tournament time, not only because of their talent, but also because Bowdoin is expected to win... And finds a way to win... The Polar Bears are making their fourth NC$$ Division III tournament appearance over the past five years. The current senior class has won three league titles and will have played in three national tournaments.
This is the position where I'm sure we'd all like the Brown program to be in the future. And I see no reason why it won't be possible. The Brown Bears have a solid foundation of experienced elite performers (Lorito, Naclerio, Lappin, Pfeil) as well as promising young players (Pryzbeck, Kramer, Steel). Despite the loss of Miles Wood, the next two recruiting classes look terrific. There's a real sense of community among team members. The leadership is good.
And, yes, the coaching is solid.
You're hardly unbiased, given that you were in the committee that selected him. He's good at putting together good playoff runs, especially since they come at the expense of an even worse coach most of the time (having gone through RPI both times) but he can't get the job done in the regular season, as he showed these past 3 weekends.
ECAC Hockey today announced the finalists for the 2013-14 Men’s Best Defensive Defenseman Award. Dan Federico, Quinnipiac, Union’s Shayne Gostisbehere and Dennis Robertson, Brown have each been nominated for the honor by the league’s coaches.