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Brown Hockey 2019-2020: Hibernation is Over

Re: Brown Hockey 2019-2020: Hibernation is Over

kdiff77 said:
Cornell-Colgate is always a tough trip for Brown, but if we can score some goals we can pick off Colgate, who struggles offensively. Intrigued to see how the power play performs. It won't be a surprise to anyone – it was even mentioned in two separate USCHO columns. I assume both opponents will have scouted it extensively; we'll see if Brown has the answer.

Nieto looked really solid last weekend, and despite ceding a lot of possession to Yale on Friday, I didn't think the defense was particularly worrisome, either. Hoping Justin Jallen isn't injured – he limped off toward the end of Saturday's game, but was electrifying all weekend.
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Expect Jallen to play on a line with Brent Beaudoin and Michael Maloney, as was the case last weekend.
 
Re: Brown Hockey 2019-2020: Hibernation is Over

Two points in central New York is a successful trip no matter what, but being outshot a combined 78-39 over the weekend is not good! I watched the Cornell game and I actually thought the shot clock was a bit unkind, as we were more competitive than it insinuated. Felt bad for Nieto, who made some terrific saves but will have to live with four goals allowed on 32 shots. Kania saving 42 against Colgate is a terrific sign. If both are playing well, we have a good problem on our hands.

Didn’t get to see the Colgate game, but looks like we weathered the storm in the first and then played them evenly afterward.

Time to regroup and come home for a pair against Ivy rivals. Harvard looks scary, after pasting each of Dartmouth, Quinnipiac, and Princeton. Dartmouth is good this year, too, but I see that as a more winnable game since they aren’t as well-rounded as the guys from Cambridge.

Regardless of how it plays out, Brown has 2 wins in four games. It took us 9 games to get there last year! If we can keep playing decent hockey early in the season before turning it on in January, like last year, we’ll see an improvement in record
 
Re: Brown Hockey 2019-2020: Hibernation is Over

A great effort against Clarkson on Friday was ultimately fruitless, as the Knights managed to steal a win in overtime off a bad turnover. Too bad; a three-point weekend would've been a great success for Brown! At 3-5-0, I'd say the team is about where I expected them to be to date, give or take a win. Bentley hasn't been good, so anything short of a win tomorrow would be disappointing. The Mayor's Cup might get ugly, as Providence has been scoring in bunches all season, but part of me thinks we could catch them napping and pull off the upset since they've been inconsistent. Still, Leaman has had his guys amped up for that game ever since we upset them when they were #1 in the country in 2016, so I'm going to expect the worst and hope for the best.

Jallen, Giuttari, Stillwell, and both goaltenders have been great so far. We'll need to find more goals from other contributors if we want to compete for home ice advantage in the playoffs, however. There are a lot of solid players on the roster who don't make too many mistakes; there aren't a lot of game-breakers in terms of skill that can punish the other team. I'd like to see Berger and Cocca step up to deliver some more scoring, since those guys have a good mix of skill and speed. The power play hasn't been clicking like it did early in the season, but it's still a strength. Penalty killing has been strong as well.

Again: If Brown finds a way to score some more goals, this can be a very, very successful season!
 
Re: Brown Hockey 2019-2020: Hibernation is Over

kdiff77 said:
The Mayor's Cup might get ugly, as Providence has been scoring in bunches all season, but part of me thinks we could catch them napping and pull off the upset since they've been inconsistent.
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If you want another source of hope, Brown has a good power play. The Friars have been committing far too many penalties this year. Just ask BU.
 
Re: Brown Hockey 2019-2020: Hibernation is Over

Jon said:
If you want another source of hope, Brown has a good power play. The Friars have been committing far too many penalties this year. Just ask BU.
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To be fair, five of our seven power play goals came in the opening weekend against a Yale team that either hasn't clicked yet or won't be any good this year. PC's penalty kill percentage is pretty mediocre (80.4%), but our PP success rate might be a little bit inflated. Another key: Brown has won the three games in which it scored first and lost the five in which it allowed the first goal. Starting strong will be crucial for both teams.

It'll be an interesting game, for sure. I'm just hoping it's closer than the last few Mayor's Cups! PC has outscored us 19-2 :eek: since that aforementioned 2016 overtime win. Yikes.
 
Re: Brown Hockey 2019-2020: Hibernation is Over

kdiff77 said:
To be fair, five of our seven power play goals came in the opening weekend against a Yale team that either hasn't clicked yet or won't be any good this year. PC's penalty kill percentage is pretty mediocre (80.4%), but our PP success rate might be a little bit inflated. Another key: Brown has won the three games in which it scored first and lost the five in which it allowed the first goal. Starting strong will be crucial for both teams.

It'll be an interesting game, for sure. I'm just hoping it's closer than the last few Mayor's Cups! PC has outscored us 19-2 :eek: since that aforementioned 2016 overtime win. Yikes.
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Yale's PK is operating at 60%. Yikes indeed. You were not kidding.

Then again, PC's power play did not show up against UCONN and their PK isn't great either. Still got 3 out of 4 points.
 
Jon said:
Yale's PK is operating at 60%. Yikes indeed. You were not kidding.

Then again, PC's power play did not show up against UCONN and their PK isn't great either. Still got 3 out of 4 points.
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All I know is, if Brown plays the way they did on Tuesday at Bentley, they’ll be demolished. It was the sloppiest hockey game I’ve ever seen, by both teams. Hoping they were saving it for tomorrow.
 
Re: Brown Hockey 2019-2020: Hibernation is Over

Rough few weeks for the Bears. Nothing seems to be working offensively. Hoping they can catch UMass napping on Tuesday before the long break.
 
Re: Brown Hockey 2019-2020: Hibernation is Over

what's Giuttari's role on the team. of course, he's the captain! but beside that? strenghts? weaknesses? upside maybe?
 
Re: Brown Hockey 2019-2020: Hibernation is Over

Season turning win? A scoring -challenged team scores 4 goals in third, overcomes 2-0 and 3-2 P leads, plays solid D when absolutely necessary, wins without a point from Jallen. Yes, Princeton was opponent but P has always been a tough opponent with good and not so good teams. Trust Brendan can get team to continue.
 
Mike Hutter said:
Season turning win? A scoring -challenged team scores 4 goals in third, overcomes 2-0 and 3-2 P leads, plays solid D when absolutely necessary, wins without a point from Jallen. Yes, Princeton was opponent but P has always been a tough opponent with good and not so good teams. Trust Brendan can get team to continue.
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Mike, Bears are always very competitive, but Meehan is a tough place to play as a visitor. Big, dark, empty, quiet and in QPak case, comes off packed Yale OT win. A down night but Bears played to draw. A good night for Bear fans and tolerable for QPak fans.....I always count Brown in for night of good hockey. Any ECAC or Hockey East team can win any night against any more their team...
 
Re: Brown Hockey 2019-2020: Hibernation is Over

SnowDogFlyer said:
Mike, Bears are always very competitive, but Meehan is a tough place to play as a visitor. Big, dark, empty, quiet and in QPak case, comes off packed Yale OT win. A down night but Bears played to draw. A good night for Bear fans and tolerable for QPak fans.....I always count Brown in for night of good hockey. Any ECAC or Hockey East team can win any night against any more their team...
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Brown and Q have developed quite the rivalry over the past few years. I think it helps Brown whether playing at Q or at Meehan (dead as it is) that Q plays Yale the day before or after. From the Q thread it seems that Yale is THE GAME for Q. But then there is last year's ECAC playoffs.
 
Re: Brown Hockey 2019-2020: Hibernation is Over

Bears are on a nice run here! A 3-1-1 record in the past five games, with the only loss coming to top-10 Clarkson on the road, is nothing to sneeze at – and it's a great response to that brutal losing streak. Glad to see the offense (and power play!) showing some signs of life after struggling for a couple months after Chris Berger went down to injury. It would be nice to keep it rolling and maybe steal one up at Harvard or Dartmouth. We're still alive for home ice in the playoffs, though the odds are not great since Yale is a few points ahead of us and has the same schedule the rest of the way.

While losing Beaudoin, Nieto, and (especially) Giuttari will be rough, what has me excited for the future is the fact that this is largely an underclassman-led team now. Jallen, Cocca, Maloney, Berger, Crozier, Stillwell, Krys, Kania, Crossman, Marshall, and Niinisaari will form a nice nucleus next season.
 
Re: Brown Hockey 2019-2020: Hibernation is Over

Kudos to Coach Whittet for getting the team to finish the season on a solid 5-4-2 run after it seemed like all was lost. They faced lots of adversary considering the injuries to key contributors, but they hung in there and played some really good teams tough, while beating those that were close to them in the standings.

Too bad they couldn’t quite get home ice, but Colgate seems like a favorable matchup to me, considering Brown has outscored them 7-2 in two wins this season. Hoping that streak continues next weekend in Hamilton. If Gavin Nieto plays as well as he’s been playing, we have a good shot.
 
Re: Brown Hockey 2019-2020: Hibernation is Over

Colgate season ticket holder here and losing both games this season to our first-round opponent is a concern for us, especially considering that we have a losing record at home. he he he
 
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