The weekend was tremendous success for the men's hockey team. The Bears tied Princeton 1-1 on Friday then beat Quinnipiac University 6-3 on Saturday.
Goaltender Dan Rosen '10 was integral to the Bears' 1-1 tie against the Tigers, making 46 saves in the game. The following night, an extraordinary team effort in the third period lifted the team over the No. 18 Bobcats for a 6-3 win. Brown is now 9-9-5 overall, and 5-8-3 in ECACHL following the two league matches.
"It was a pretty big weekend for us," said forward Chris Poli '08. "Obviously, we prefer to come away with four points, but we'll take three at home any time - especially after last weekend which didn't go so well. We were able to rebound and that's sometimes hard for a team to do."
On Friday night, the Bears came out slowly and were out-shot 10-6 during the first period. Rosen's solid performance in net, however, turned aside all Princeton shots and held the game at 0-0.
Just 28 seconds into the period, Brown's offense finally broke through. Antonin Roux '07 fired the initial shot on the Tigers' goalie who made the save. The rebound kicked out to Aaron Volpatti '10 waiting in the slot. Volpatti knocked the puck into the lower left corner of the net for a 1-0 Brown lead.
After grabbing the lead, Brown's intensity seemed to wane. Brown was out-shot 17-5 during the rest of the second period. Though Rosen was able to stop the majority of pucks fired his way, he let a shot slip past him at 15:13 of the second period, evening the score at 1-1.
Despite facing a barrage of shots during the third period, Rosen and the rest of the defense held firm, sending the teams to an overtime session that ended scoreless as well. Rosen's 46 saves in the contest were one shy of his career-high.
"Even though we tied against a pretty good team, we could have played better," forward Sean Muncy '09 said. "We needed to take care of the puck more. There were too many turnovers, mostly at our blue line. We have a solid (defense), though. And Dan Rosen is great in net, so that helped make up for it."
The following night, the Bears hosted a particularly strong Quinnipiac team. The Bobcats entered the game on a 2-0-1 roll and had defeated the Bears 5-1 on their home ice back in January.
Behind three goals, one in each period, from forward Ryan Garbutt '09, however, the Bears overcame two early deficits to knock off the Bobcats. Defenseman Sean Hurley '08 posted two goals and two assists in the win, and forward Jeff Prough '08 had three assists in the 6-3 victory.
The Bears played without captain Sean Dersch '07, assistant captain Roux and forward Matt Vokes '09, due to injuries. Even without their usual senior leadership, the young Brown team rose to the occasion.
"The young guys are really stepping up lately," said Head Coach Roger Grillo. "They've been good all year, but whenever we call on them, they're there to do what's needed. They really relish the opportunity to play and make an impact, and this speaks volumes about their work ethic (and) character. The guys just have a great team attitude."
The teams traded goals in the first two periods of the tilt against Quinnipiac. The Bobcats earned a lead at 9:01 in the first, but Garbutt answered back, scoring his first goal of the game unassisted on a Brown power play. Picking up the puck after a Quinnipiac turnover, he carried it a few strides and fired it past the goalie, tying the game 1-1 at 14:37.
Quinnipiac regained its lead early in the second by capitalizing on a power play. Again, however, Garbutt responded to the challenge, picking up another power-play goal at 15:03.
After the break between the second and third periods, Brown came out firing on all cylinders. Defenseman Jeremy Russell '10 converted an odd-man rush with Prough and forward Sean McMonagle '10.
Two minutes later, Sean Hurley '08 widened the gap to 4-2 on another Brown power play. Only 1:08 later, Garbutt finished off his hat-trick.
The Bobcats continued to battle and eventually slipped another puck past Rosen at 13:27 in the third, narrowing Brown's lead to 5-3. Hurley closed out the scoring with an empty net, short-handed goal with 3:15 left to play.
"I am very happy with the way the guys played," Grillo said of the weekend. "They overcame adversity, losing their two captains and Matty Vokes on Saturday night."
Next weekend, Brown will travel to upstate New York for league contests against Clarkson University on Friday night and St. Lawrence University on Saturday night.
"This weekend should be huge for us, coming down the stretch," Poli said. "But these past two games were exciting for us. They got us back in the hunt a little, back in the race. Now it's up to us to see how things unfold."
