After falling to Rensselaer and Union last weekend, the men’s ice hockey team bounced back in two key ECAC matchups on the road. Brown (10-11-6, ECAC 6-8-6) ended the weekend with a 4-1 victory over Princeton and a come-from-behind 3-3 tie against No. 1 Quinnipiac.
The results were a repeat of a homestand two weeks ago, when Brown beat Princeton (9-14-4, 7-10-3) and tied Quinnipiac (23-4-5, 16-1-3).
Heading into their final two games of the season, the Bears stand alone in eighth place and are in position to host a first round playoff series. In the ECAC tournament, teams seeded one through four receive a bye, and those ranked fifth through eighth host first round matchups.
Brown 4, Princeton 1
Bruno was led by its top line of Jeff Ryan ’13, Garnet Hathaway ’14 and Mark Naclerio ’16, who came together for all four of the team’s goals.
Goalie Anthony Borelli ’13 overcame illness to contribute 32 saves to the victory and did not allow a goal until three minutes left in the game.
“We challenged the team to get better this week in practice,” said Head Coach Brendan Whittet ’94. “We responded in a game that we absolutely needed to win.”
Hathaway opened the scoring eight minutes into the game with his fifth goal of the season and his third against the Tigers. Naclerio assisted the goal after intercepting an errant Princeton pass.
With 2:15 remaining in the first period, Ryan stretched the lead to 2-0 on a one-time shot assisted by Naclerio and Hathaway.
Ryan scored his second goal of the evening late in the second period on assists from Joey de Concilys ’15 and Hathaway.
“It was a really good game,” Ryan said. “The whole team was firing. I got lucky playing with Hathaway and Naclerio. We complement each other very well.”
With 5:30 left in the third, Princeton coach Bob Prier decided to pull goalie Mike Condon for an extra attacker. The aggressive strategy did not pay off as Naclerio scored an empty-netter with 4:16 to go.
Borelli nearly earned his third shutout of the season, but the Tigers’ Andrew Calouf scored with under three minutes to go.
Brown 3, No. 1 Quinnipiac 3
After trailing by two goals to the top-ranked team in the country late in the third period, Brown scored twice to force the game to overtime and tie the Bobcats.
“That was a gutsy effort,” Whittet said. “We are a resilient group that never quits, and we were able to will ourselves to a tie in a packed arena against the top-ranked team in the country.”
Facing a 3-1 deficit with two minutes left in the game, Ryan scored for the third time this weekend on assists from Naclerio and captain Dennis Robertson ’14. Whittet then pulled Borelli to bring on an extra attacker.
One minute after Ryan’s goal, Chris Zaires ’13 gathered a rebound from Matt Lorito ’15 and buried a shot behind goalie Eric Hartzell, tying the score at three.
“I just tried to get to the front of the net to get the open shot,” Zaires said. “I just saw a rebound, kept poking at it, and it got through. It was pretty awesome to get that against the number one team in the country.”
Neither team was able to generate much offense in extra time, tallying one shot on goal apiece.
Jordan Samuels-Thomas scored the game’s first goal on a breakaway less than three minutes into the game, putting Brown in a 1-0 hole.
The Bears responded in the second when Joe Prescott ’16 scored on another breakaway opportunity, assisted by Richie Crowley ’13. Russell Goodman kicked off the third frame with a goal for the Bobcats before Bruno’s comeback.
Borelli made 36 saves for the Bears. He ranks second in the nation with a .947 save percentage.
Quinnipiac has beaten every team in the ECAC this season except for Brown, which it has tied twice.
“It’s definitely cool because they were number two and one,” Borelli said. “It’s a great opportunity to show people how good our team really is. Nobody really gives us credit, and it gives us a chance to disprove some of that thinking.”
Last weekend, Bruno fared worse on the road, falling 5-1 to Rensselaer (15-12-5, 10-7-3) and then 2-0 to Union (15-12-5, 8-8-4). Prescott scored Brown’s only goal of the weekend. The Bears lost to Union despite a career-high 46 saves from Borelli.
Brown returns to the Meehan Auditorium this weekend to take on Cornell (11-13-3, 7-10-3) and Colgate (14-14-4, 6-11-3) to wrap up the regular season.