The men’s hockey team continued conference play on the road this weekend, claiming a 4-1 victory over Colgate University Saturday after falling to No. 4 Cornell 4-1 Friday.
Saturday’s win featured a formidable performance in net from goaltender Luke Kania ’21, who made 42 saves to power the Bears past the Raiders. Justin Jallen ’22 notched a pair of goals, and Tristan Crozier ’22 and Michael Maloney ’22 each scored their first tallies of the season against Colgate.
Brown 1, Cornell 4
Friday night, the Bears (2-2, 2-2 ECAC) equalized the game at one in the second period, but the Big Red (4-0, 2-0) responded with three unanswered goals to secure the victory.
Cornell opened the scoring late in the first period as forward Alex Green sent a shot from the slot past goaltender Gavin Nieto ’20. The Big Red continued to exert offensive pressure on the Bears in the second stanza, but an athletic save from Nieto in the fourth minute kept Cornell on its heels. Nieto dove forward in the crease and grasped the puck with his catcher in mid-air to deny Tristan Mullin’s bid to widen the Red’s advantage to two. He would finish the contest with 28 saves.
Bruno evened the tally three minutes later, as Zach Giuttari ’20 took a shot from the point that was blocked before bouncing off the skate of Brent Beaudoin ’20 into the Cornell net. Jallen also recorded an assist on the play.
The Big Red notched goals in the ninth and twentieth minutes of the period to reclaim the lead. The home team extended its advantage a minute into the third frame, when Morgan Barron scored on the power play to set the tally at 4-1.
Though Brown remained active in the offensive zone and took five shots in the final stanza, Big Red netminder Matthew Galajda held off the Bears to seal the win for Cornell.
Brown 4, Colgate 1
The following day, Bruno reversed its fate, posting a three-goal second period to ice out the Raiders (2-5-3, 1-1-0).
A scoreless first period saw impressive goaltending from Kania, who made 23 saves in the stanza to fend off Colgate’s attack.
“The guys really kept the shots out wide for me and I was able to make some simple saves,” Kania said. “We got through the first period until our legs were under us, and took it to the second period and ran them from there and came out with a good win.”
Jallen put the Bears on the board midway through the second frame, burying a rebound from Beaudoin’s initial shot to give Brown the advantage.
Crozier doubled Bruno’s lead at the 16:16 mark, scoring on a wraparound after the Bears won a faceoff in the zone. Less than a minute later, Jallen posted his second goal of the evening, sending the puck through the five hole of Raiders netminder Mitch Benson to extend the advantage to 3-0.
In the second period, “we just started following our structure a little bit more — we were keeping our game simple, chipping pucks in and getting behind their (defensemen), and then just working them below the goal line,” Crozier said. “Our skating and getting our feet moving up ice was a big factor in some of the goals as they were on the rush, and we beat (Colgate) up the ice and were able to capitalize on our opportunities.”
Tyler Penner scored Colgate’s first goal of the evening early in the third period, tapping in a rebound in front of the crease. But solid goaltending from Kania and an empty-net goal in the penultimate minute from Michael Maloney ’22 secured the victory for the Bears.
“We really came together as a team and we found a way to weather the storm,” Kania said. “We came out and scored the first goal, and we attacked them from there and never backed down and never gave them any chance to come back into the game. That’s just something that we’ve got to carry into every game — we’ve got to be the enforcer instead of being enforced.”
While special teams featured heavily in last weekend’s contests against Yale, the Bears took just three penalties on their New York road trip. Both teams’ penalty kills went 2-for-2 in Saturday’s matchup.
“The first weekend it was nice to get some power play goals, but this weekend it’s been good to get some even strength goals,” Crozier said. “That’s refreshing because even strength goals come from hard work, and that’s what we generated.”
With a pair of home contests against No. 18 Harvard and Dartmouth coming up this weekend, Head Coach Brendan Whittet ’94 emphasized the importance of consistency, presence and resolve in the team’s preparation.
“We just need a consistency of play — being consistent in practice in terms of systematic stuff, our work ethic (and) our trademark style of play,” Whittet said. “Some of it is a learned process to understand how hockey has to work and how much we have to play together in order to be successful in our league.”
“All of us are really hungry every day to get to the rink and get to practice, and especially games,” Kania said. “We’re definitely a fast-paced team that wants to work hard … and make sure we’re playing our game and not worrying so much about the other team. We know that if we take care of our end, we’re going to come out on top more often than not.”
The Bears return to Meehan Auditorium to host Harvard and Dartmouth this weekend. Face-off is at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
