Senioritis

Over the last several days, I have given an overview of the classes of 2014, 2015, and 2016. 

Now for the class of 2013; the seniors. This class fell victim to a coaching change, and because of that, it is relatively small and weak. Chris Zaires and Richie Crowley have proven to be indispensable over the past three years. However, Jeff Ryan, Francis Drolet, and Anthony Borelli have never become reliable players, and accordingly have never been ingrained in the lineup. 

Chris Zaires '13 has shown flashes of excellence over the
course of his Brown playing career. He needs to step it
up and take on a leadership role in 2012-2013.

Photo credit to brownbears.com,
the Official Site of Brown Athletics

Zaires has shown his immense talent at times throughout his career, but will have to take on a leadership role this year and pick up some of the offensive slack that Jack Maclellan left behind. The coaching staff seems to have been puzzled over the years about whether to play him on the wing or at center. In my opinion, he seems like a more natural center, but in the past he’s had some good production coming from the wing. I suppose there is no clear-cut answer to this problem; at least not yet.

Richie Crowley will have a mystery partner on the second defense tandem, but he has always been quietly consistent. If either Wahl or Robertson were to (God forbid) miss time due to injury or ineligibility, I would have no reservations about plugging Crowley into the top pairing. He is reliable and steady, though not very flashy.

Whittet's First Class is All Grown Up

There’s a lot of promise for the future of Brown hockey in the classes of 2015 and 2016. There are some budding stars (Ryan Jacobsen, Matt Lorito), as well as some talented prospects (Mark Naclerio, Nick Lappin). There has already been an extraordinary amount of discussion regarding the incoming freshman class, mostly because of the Roy brothers, but also because of theoup’s talent as a whole.

Meanwhile, Whittet's first recruiting class is now entering its third year at Brown. This class has some established starters in Dennis Robertson, Matt Wahl, and Garnet Hathaway, as well as some guys looking to finally put it together in Mark Hourihan, Mike Juola, and Marco De Filippo. 

Dennis Robertson '14 is one half of Brown's shutdown
 defensive pairing. While he provides some offense out of
 the back for Brown, his partner, Matt Wahl '14, is a
more traditional shutdown defender with a huge slap shot.

Photo credit to brownbears.com 

Wahl and Robertson form one of the best shutdown defensive pairings in the league, and they eat up a TON of minutes (perhaps too many). Hathaway is an effective power forward who was missed dearly last year while out due to injury for a few games. He doesn't provide much scoring, but his contributions on the penalty kill and on the forecheck are vital. 

As for Marco De Filippo- he appears to have the starting job in net, which is both terrifying and intriguing. He showed what he can do against New Hampshire, Quinnipiac (at home), and Clarkson last year, but also showed us his worst against Dartmouth, Colgate, and Quinnipiac (away) down the stretch. And his worst was discouraging. He'll have to put it together this year, because we have but two goalies on the roster (the other being perennial backup Anthony Borelli) now that the Roys are gone. 

How Sophomoric!

Yesterday, I previewed what should be a strong, albeit small, freshman class. Last year, Brown had a rather large freshman class, with nine members. Six of those players saw plenty of playing time, while Chris Draper saw the ice occasionally, and Taki Pantziris and Greg Tang spent most of their time up in the stands, watching the games from afar. 

However, in the players who did see a lot of ice time, there is plenty of reason for optimism. 

The sophomore class boasts some of the more impressive offensive prospects not just on the team, but in the league. Ryan Jacobsen was our second-best scoring threat last year, totaling 21 points in 32 games, while Matt Lorito managed 17 points despite missing 8 games. His .71 Points Per Game average was second only the incomparable Jack Maclellan, who will be sorely missed. 

Moving On

There has been a LOT of discussion about the Roy brothers this offseason. Far too much discussion about them, in fact. They've been a distraction and perhaps even a morale killer for the past half-year or so with their noncommittal verbal commitment to Brown. Finally, after claiming all summer to be devoted to and proud of their choice, they backed out, essentially saying "it's not you, it's me" or some other woefully cliché breakup cop-out. 

After all these lies, deceit, and classlessness, I have but one thing to say about them:

Forget about 'em. 

There's no reason to continue dwelling on the star that could have been in Kevin Roy, or his brother (whose name I can't even remember), the goalie with stats so mediocre even Brian Eklund or Scott Stirling look like solid starters in comparison. 

Instead, I propose a new outlook on this upcoming season: one that celebrates all the young talent we've stockpiled over the last couple years, and can hopefully now unleash. 

I am going to post an analysis of each class over the next few days, starting with the incoming freshmen.

Welcome!

Hi there!

I'm a dedicated Brown University Men's Hockey season ticket holder, and I recently decided it was time that the oldest college hockey program in the country had somewhere where fans could come to talk about the team. I participate in discussions on the USCHO fan forums, but thought that a blog would be a more appropriate setting for my typically-lengthy posts about games and the state of the team. My intention is to provide analysis and news about Brown's hockey team, as well as any of its alumni who do anything notable in the world of hockey.

I'm new at blogging- I've never actually done it before. But I love to write, and I love Brown hockey, so I will try my hardest to make this blog a reliable source for all things Bruno.

This upcoming season should be very exciting, for a variety of reasons- we have some great talent (even with the de-committment of the tandem of brothers who shall remain nameless); more home games than away games for the first time in years; seven afternoon games (apparently an attempt by the school to draw bigger crowds); and to top it all off, on a personal level, a new reason to get even more excited about the college hockey season than ever- this blog.

I cannot wait for this season to start! Bring on November!

And let the Meehan Madness begin.