In 59 minutes of men’s ice hockey on Friday, nothing could separate Bruno (2-3-1, 2-3-1 ECAC) from nationally-ranked Clarkson (9-4-1, 3-1-0). But with only seven seconds remaining, Bruno won an offensive zone faceoff, securing a 1-0 victory for its first win in regulation this season.
In the left circle, Brian Nicholas ’28 won the faceoff, sending the puck to Ethan Mistry ’27, who fired a snapshot towards the net that deflected and found its way to Charlie Gollob ’28, just before time expired. With half a second left on the clock, Gollob buried the puck into the back of the net, notching his first career goal for the Bears and finishing off the match in Bruno’s favor.
“Our plan was to win a draw and get the puck and bodies to the net … luckily for me the puck found my stick and I shot it in,” Gollob wrote in an email to The Herald. “It was a great feeling scoring my first collegiate goal and even better given the importance and time of the game.”
Following their narrow victory over Clarkson, the Bears prevailed in another neck-and-neck game, beating St. Lawrence University (4-9-0, 0-4-0) 2-1 in overtime.
“Our team competed hard in both games,” Gollob wrote. “Our execution wasn’t there at times, but we played well defensively and had stellar goaltending.”
“We played very good hockey for a majority of the weekend,” Head Coach Brendan Whittet ’94 wrote in an email to The Herald. “We were excellent defensively, opportunistic offensively and had a penalty kill that was perfect on the weekend. We got contributions from many players and found a way to sweep a historically difficult North Country road trip.”
Gollob continued his phenomenal weekend in the team’s second game. A scoreless first period left the Bears itching for an opportunity. And when a St. Lawrence defender attempted to corral a puck that had jumped over his stick, Gollab seized the occasion to race the defender, latch onto the loose puck and bear down on goal. A left-handed shot sailed high short-side past St. Lawrence goalie Dominic Basse, securing the Bears’ first goal of the game.
“Gollob had a great weekend with a goal in both games,” Whittet wrote. “He's a very talented freshman in a very talented freshman class.”
While Gollob snagged points on offense, Lawton Zacher ’27 played hero at the other end of the ice for the Bears. Against the Golden Knights, he made 29 saves and recorded his first career shutout. He maintained his perfect record until six and a half minutes into the third period against St. Lawrence, when Jan Lasak slotted a cross-crease feed past him. Still, Zacher continued his strong form after the goal, saving 30 shots overall throughout regulation and overtime.
“Zacher got the nod to start on Friday against Clarkson, the 19th-ranked team in the country, and gave us a chance to win,” Whittet wrote. “He followed that performance up with another very good one at St. Lawrence.” Zacher’s scoreless streak stretched 157:04 — the second longest ever recorded in Brown history.
Up until overtime, it was Brown’s defensive play that kept the team in the game. The penalty kill successfully defended six penalties against the Saints, including two five-on-three advantages. After killing off a penalty halfway through the third, the Bears traded chances with the Saints, but neither could find the back of the net.
Brown lined up for its second three-on-three overtime this season, after outlasting Princeton in a shootout on Nov. 16. Winning the initial faceoff, Bruno held onto the puck for the entire first minute of the extra period. Then, a stretch pass from Mistry found Nicholas streaking beyond the St. Lawrence defense. On the breakaway, Nicholas’ shot beat Basse on his blocker side, giving Bruno a 2-1 win.
One area of concern for the Bears so far has been their underwhelming power play. “It’s hard to win games without generating on the power play,” Whittet wrote. “We need to simplify what we are doing and have quick puck movement and player movement with the understanding that we need to not always look for the perfect play.”
Brown will look to continue their two-game winning streak as they return home for Thanksgiving weekend with games on Friday and Saturday against the United States Air Force Academy.
“Good teams find ways to win, and that’s what we did here this past weekend,” Gollob wrote. “Our team has an even higher level and we are going in the right direction and are only going to continue to get better.”
