Thoughts After Week 2

Results:
Harvard 3, Brown 2
Dartmouth 2, Brown 1


It was a tough weekend for the Bears, as they dropped two closely-contested games with Ivy rivals Harvard and Dartmouth. However, the greatest loss was seeing freshman Nate Widman go down with what appears to be a season-ending knee injury. Classmate Nick Lappin also left the Harvard game early, apparently with some sort of hamstring injury. 

The Bears struck first in both games this weekend, and could/should have gotten better results. Marco DeFilippo had a fantastic pair of games, allowing just five goals on 74 shots. Not bad at all. It looks like Anthony Borelli will be on the bench for good, contrary to some of Whittet's preseason comments regarding the goaltending situation. 

It's good to see Matt Lorito keep scoring. He could be a really important piece to build around for the next three seasons. Last year, he was hampered by a broken wrist before the season started, but he seems to finally have recovered all his wrist/forearm strength and has even better hands than last year. 

Ryan Jacobsen is someone who needs to step up soon. He was our second-leading scorer last year, and hasn't put up a single point through four games. I expect him to get going relatively soon, but a quiet start is never a good thing, especially since we've had three one-goal games already. We've been outscored 9-5 so far, and while that's a great defensive number through four games, five goals is unacceptable. The offense simply has to improve, and Jacobsen is a big part of that. 

I am not trying to pick on Jacobsen, because he obviously isn't the only one struggling. But it's a little disappointing to see him not living up to expectations so far. Hopefully he kicks it into high gear sooner rather than later, because he is one of our more talented players. 


Looking forward, Brown hosts St. Lawrence and Clarkson this weekend in its conference home openers. St. Lawrence has been red-hot to start the season, going 5-1 with impressive wins at Western Michigan and Maine (outscoring the Black Bears 10-1 over a two-game stretch). However, Clarkson is still looking for a win at 0-4-3, which is good news for an injury-stricken and young Brown team. Three or four points is ideal for this weekend, but realistically, we should expect two. I'll have a more intensive preview later in the week.