Before we get started, we’d like to once again express our sympathy and well wishes to coach Brendan Whittet and his family in this trying time as he prepares to step down from his long-held perch to grapple with a medical issue. Having to step down in this manner must be awful for a man who’s devoted most of his life to Brown hockey. We’ll keep him in our thoughts over the coming weeks and months.

Brown’s hockey teams both played reasonably well this past weekend, but only the women were rewarded for their efforts, sweeping ECAC basement dwellers Union (7-3) and RPI (4-0) on the road. The men weren’t so fortunate at home, as they relinquished an early three-goal lead before losing in a shootout to Colgate and then fell to a top-10 Cornell team, 4-2.

I’d like to try a new format for these recap articles instead of doing game-by-game reviews. Let’s take a look into what went right, what went wrong, and where there’s room for improvement. As always, the rankings next to teams' names are pulled from the NPI, not human polls.

WIH

@Union: W, 7-3

@ RPI: W, 4-0

The Pandas entered the weekend coming off a disappointing 4-0 home loss to RIT last Saturday. Early on against Union, it felt like the wheels might be coming off after a great start to the season, as Brown fell behind 2-0 early in the second period. But a five-goal flurry over the next 15 minutes followed by another pair by the midway point of the third put the game to bed.

Against RPI, the Pandas were in control the whole way, and probably could have run up the score more if not for the excellent goaltending of Reese Keating.

It was all smiles for the Pandas this weekend as they rolled through New York's Capital District. Photo credit to Brown Athletics.

What went right: A whole lot! Jade Iginla was named ECAC Forward of the Week after a five-point outburst. Monique Lyons and India McDadi chipped in their customary point-per-game outputs (and more). Izzy Gratzl conducted the offense from the blue line and notched a couple assists. And even Rory Edwards had an assist on Iginla’s end-to-end goal against Union.

It was a much more satisfying pair of wins than when Brown hosted these two teams last month — a 4-3 overtime win over RPI that required a frantic three-goal comeback in the final 10 minutes, and a 3-1 win over Union that should have been more like 8-1 after the Bears piled 50+ shots at the Chargers’ net.

What went wrong: A rocky start against Union threatened to derail Brown’s weekend from the get-go. With games against the top three teams in the ECAC (and a decent St. Lawrence team) coming down the pipeline, any slip up against the bottom two teams in the conference would have been disastrous for Brown’s hopes for a first-round bye in the playoffs.

But the Bears recovered from a 2-0 hole and were lights-out for the rest of the weekend, scoring nine of the next 10 goals across the two games. They were clinical in their finishing against Union and thoroughly controlled the game at RPI the following afternoon. And 11 goals was a nice shot of adrenaline for a team that doesn’t always convert on their myriad chances.

Room for improvement: This isn’t really “room for improvement” so much as a “what’s going on here?”, but Rory Edwards got her sixth straight start in net after it seemed as though Anya Zupkofska had seized the starting job last month. This hasn’t been a problem, as Edwards has two shutouts and has only allowed 11 goals in those six games, but we have to wonder if something is wrong with Zupkofska. She does appear to have been on the bench for every game, so if there’s an ailment, it would seem to be minor enough that she could potentially play through it if necessary.

And who knows — maybe there’s no issue, and Coach Melanie Ruzzi has simply decided that Edwards has earned the nod in net, even though Zupkofska’s .938 save percentage is better than Edwards’ .915. Time will tell!

MIH

Colgate T, 3-3 (SOL)

#7 Cornell: L, 2-4

The two games at Meehan Auditorium were the first since Whittet announced he would be stepping down. The Bears, perhaps motivated by their coach’s upcoming departure, came out of the gate on fire both nights, scoring three high-skill goals in the first 7:30 against Colgate and taking an early lead over Cornell, as well.

But things went south from there. Colgate beat Tyler Shea off a deflected floater late in the first, added a second a few minutes into the second, and finally found a tying goal in the third after burying the Bears in their own end for much of the period. After a boring overtime session, the Raiders would win the shootout 1-0 to claim the extra point in the standings. It was a bitter pill for Brown to swallow after its bright start, which saw them score a trio of very skillful goals and impose their will on the game early.

Ivan Zadvernyuk snipes one past Colgate goalie Reid Dyck from a sharp angle. Photo credit to Brown Athletics.

Saturday’s matchup with the Big Red, which came into the game with a 27-5-4 record against Brown during Whittet’s career as head coach, started similarly brightly for Brown. Ben Poitras buried a shot past terrific freshman netminder Alexis Cournoyer off a rush just a few minutes into the first period. But, ironically, a monstrous hit by Alex Pineau at the Big Red blue line led to a giveaway that left Cornell’s Aiden Long in alone on Tyler Shea, and he beat Shea low on his glove side to tie the game just over a minute later.

The Big Red would largely control the game from there, scoring the next three goals and having the majority of puck possession and offensive zone time. Brown actually did well to create some good chances in the second period, but they couldn’t poke one past a scrambling Cournoyer, who was out of position a few times due to quality puck movement by the Bears.

Poitras added another goal late to bring the score to 4-2, but Brown couldn’t find another — and neither could Cornell, despite taking about 10 shots at an empty net and either missing or having them saved by sprawling Bears in almost cartoonish fashion. It was an entertaining end to a game that had largely felt over since the second period.

Ben Poitras' two-goal effort was a bright spot against #7 Cornell. Photo credit to Brown Athletics.

What went right: Honestly? More than you’d think from a one-point weekend. Brown was clearly fired up to start each game and scored the first goal both nights. They continued the trend of being much more competitive at home than on the road, despite their record at Meehan falling to 4-5-1 (they’re an astonishing 0-12-0 away). Special teams were largely good for a change — they went 6-7 on the penalty kill and 2-8 on the power play (for a team that entered the weekend with three power play goals on the season, that’s pretty good!).

The Bears competed hard and generated good scoring chances both nights, but simply seemed to run out of gas against Colgate and were overpowered by a superior team on Saturday. You’d certainly like to have closed out the Colgate game, and the third period was largely spent in Brown’s defensive zone — but that’s probably to be expected when the staff rolls three lines all game, rendering their top players exhausted by the end.

What went wrong: Some sloppy giveaways and defensive plays proved costly, and Tyler Shea allowed a couple goals he’d probably want back. Once again, the Bears were indecisive to a fault in the offensive zone, passing up good shots in search of a perfect one that never came. When they got pucks and bodies to the net, they were dangerous; it just happened too infrequently overall. Coupled with the frequent turnovers in all three zones, Brown spent too much time on its heels chasing opponents around the ice.

Room for improvement: There are a few ways I could go with this one, but I’ll focus on the one that often frustrates me the most: the breakout strategy is very much broken. Most of Brown’s defensemen do not have the skill required to be handling the puck looking for a clear passing lane deep in their own zone; they too often are pressed backward, trapped behind the net, and forced off the puck by aggressive forechecking teams. I’m not sure what the answer is, but a big reason the Bears often get buried on the shot clock is that they can’t cleanly exit their own zone. Turnovers are a killer for this team.

Up Next

The women return home to Meehan next weekend for their final home series of the season (seriously?? Already?? How???) against St. Lawrence and #11 Clarkson on a pair of critical ECAC games. Brown sits 3.5 points behind Quinnipiac for the fourth and final first-round bye. A pair of wins would keep them in the hunt, with a head-to-head matchup with the Bobcats on deck the following weekend.

As for the men, they head to #9 Quinnipiac and Princeton in search of their first road win(s) of the season. It would take a great run of success over the final few weeks to be in position for a home playoff game, as the Bears now sit seven points removed from 8th place. However, with games against the three other teams outside the home-ice picture on deck, Brown could theoretically get back in the mix if they take care of business against those teams and spring an upset or two. You never know!

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