The men’s hockey team split the first two match-ups of a six-game road trip this weekend, falling 3-0 to No. 5 Quinnipiac Friday and topping Princeton 6-3 Saturday. The split gave Bruno two points for the weekend, settling the team near the middle of ECAC standings.
“We aren’t satisfied,” said Mark Naclerio ’16. “We’re happy to get two points, but we hope to do better over the next few games.”
Goalie Marco de Fillipo ’14 turned in a stellar performance against the Bobcats (9-1-1, 3-0-1 ECAC), tying a career-high 45 saves. But the strong performance proved inadequate as Quinnipiac outshot the Bears 48-20.
De Fillipo “played unbelievably,” said Head Coach Brendan Whittet ’94. “He really gave us an opportunity to win.”
In game two, Naclerio continued his hot start to the season by posting his team-leading fourth and fifth goals of the season, including a short-handed goal early in the third period. Nick Lappin ’16 tallied four assists, and Matt Lorito ’15 added a goal and an assist to round out the usual top line, which shifted around during Saturday’s game.
Quinnipiac 3, Brown 0
In its first road game of the season, Bruno (3-2-1, 1-2-1) faced off against the top ECAC team in one of the toughest national venues. Quinnipiac validated its No. 5 ranking in the nation with strong performances on both offense and defense.
“Quinnipiac is the best team I’ve seen in a long, long time,” Whittet said. “That being said, we didn’t give ourselves an opportunity to win.”
On the attack, the Bobcats sent 47 shots toward de Fillipo and controlled a lopsided face-off margin, 42-19. On the defensive end, Quinnipiac allowed just 20 shots on goalie Michael Garteig and killed off seven Brown power plays.
Bruno is not the only team to have faced such a lopsided shot margin against the Bobcats. Against No. 9 Yale, Quinnipiac outshot the defending national champions 51-20.
Quinnipiac took an early lead midway through the first period with a Cory Hibbeler wrist shot through traffic and past de Fillipo. After failing to convert on three power-play opportunities, Bruno gave up its second goal to Connor Clifton with just 1.2 seconds left in the period.
The score remained 2-0 until a Kellen Jones empty netter solidified the victory for Quinnipiac late in the third period. The Bobcats outshot Bruno 19-1 in the second period, but de Fillipo turned away all 19 attempts on his way to stopping 32 shots in a row to finish the game.
Despite facing an early deficit, Bruno threatened in the third period, outshooting the Bobcats 14-13 and nearly getting a goal from Lappin, which was nullified by a tripping penalty.
“We were a little overmatched in the beginning,” Whittet said. “We didn’t really assert ourselves until the third period.”
Brown 6, Princeton 3
The Bears saved all of the weekend’s offense for Saturday. After being shut out Friday, Brown tallied six goals against Princeton (1-5-0, 0-4-0) from five different players. Goalie Tyler Steel ’17 registered 22 saves behind production from the typical sources.
“The score was indicative of the way we played,” Whittet said. “We were on top of it. We were the aggressor from the drop of the puck.”
Lorito started the scoring less than three minutes into the game, putting Brown up 1-0 with his third goal of the season on assists from Ryan Jacobson ’15 and captain Dennis Robertson ’14. Princeton’s Andrew Ammon knotted the score midway through the first period.
A tripping penalty called on the Tigers’ Jeremy Goodwin late in the frame gave Bruno the momentum it needed to score three goals in just over a minute and a half. Matt Wahl ’14 kicked off the offensive explosion with a power play goal at 43 seconds left in the first.
The two power play goals in the first period reversed a troubling trend from last weekend. Against both Clarkson and St. Lawrence, Bruno gave up two power play goals in the first period of each game. This weekend, the Bears killed all of their first period penalties and scored two power play goals themselves.
“Our power play was excellent,” Whittet said. “The movement was excellent. We had a ton of shots in the second period (on the power play). We scored on some tough shots.”
Just 30 seconds into the second period, Robertson scored on assists from Garnet Hathaway ’14 and Jake Goldberg ’14. Twenty-two seconds later, Naclerio added another Bruno goal on assists from Lappin and Zack Pryzbek ’17. Less than a minute into the second, Bruno had given himself a 4-1 lead.
“Lappin got the puck in the corner, and passed it to Pryzbek, who was working hard down there to get me the puck,” Naclerio said. “I managed to get it in — low blocker. It was good to get a goal quick in the period to put Princeton back on their heels.”
The Bears did not stop there. Matt Harlow ’15 scored his second goal of the season midway through the period on assists from Joe Prescott ’16 and Lappin. Naclerio would add his second goal of the game on a short-handed tally on a two-on-one with Lappin.
“Lappin shot it on net, and the rebound was just sitting there for me,” Naclerio said. “I was able to tap it in pretty easily. It was a good job by (Lappin) to get the puck to the net.”
Undisclosed injuries forced Whittet to mix things up a bit on the top two lines. Naclerio and Lappin played with Hathaway, while Lorito centered the second line.
The challenges for Bruno against Princeton began before the game even started. The team didn’t arrive at Princeton until 2:30 a.m. after its bus broke down near Quinnipiac.
“The turnaround was quick,” Whittet said. “To turn around from that and play at 4 (p.m.) the next day is a tough thing to do, but our guys responded great.”
Bruno continues its road stretch Tuesday against the University of New Hampshire (3-5-1, AEC 2-2-0) at 7:00 p.m. The game will be televised on Fox College Sports.
“We just need to stay disciplined and stick to our system,” Naclerio said. “We’re taking a lot of penalties. If we do all the little things right I think we’ll be okay.”
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