But after a fine performance at home in a sweep of Clarkson and a fantastic upset of RPI, a team that has had our number in the regular season for a number of years, I think it's necessary to do a pre-Atlantic City post. The fact that there's still something to write about on ECAC championship weekend is remarkable in itself.
 |
| Having beaten Clarkson and RPI, Brown will face #2 Quinnipiac in the ECAC semi-finals. Photo courtesy of ecachockey.com |
Let's look back at how we got here:
Hosting Clarkson in the first playoff series at Meehan Auditorium in eight years, the Bears dispatched of the Golden Knights relatively easily. In Game One, Brown took a 1-0 lead in the first period and held that lead until the third, when Matt Lorito made it 2-0 and Joey DeConcylis iced the game with a terrific empty-netter from his own blue line.
Game Two would not be so eventless. Brown pounced on Clarkson early on, taking a 3-0 lead in the first period, before a Knights goal cut the lead to 3-1. The Bears regained their three-goal advantage in the second on a Jake Goldberg (who finished with two goals in the game) goal.
The third was absolutely wild. Clarkson scored two goals to cut the Brown lead to 4-3, leaving Bruno fans sweating. The last several minutes of the game were frantic, as Clarkson attempted to save its season. However, the Bears were able to fend off the assault, and Clarkson found itself making golf reservations.
Brown then traveled to Troy, New York, to face the red-hot RPI Engineers, who had won nine of their previous ten games coming into the series.
Game One mirrored the Brown-Clarkson series, as both teams seemed content to feel each other out and neither side took control. Brown grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first period, before RPI tied it in the second. Mike Juola would score the game-winner with just under two minutes to play in the third, before Mark Naclerio scored an empty-netter to close out the game.
In Game Two, tensions grew and the two teams began taking vicious hits. One player from each team was given a game misconduct, and RPI was able to take advantage of Brown losing its captain and best defenseman, Dennis Robertson, pulling away from a tight, 2-2 game, and winning 6-2.
 |
| Jake Goldberg, to the surprise of many, has been a hero for Brown in these playoffs so far. Photo courtesy of browndailyherald.com |
After scoring two goals in quick succession late in the second period, RPI wasn't able to find the net in the third. Goaltender Anthony Borelli bailed Brown out left and right and as a result, his team is moving on to Atlantic City.
So, now that we're all up-to-date on the playoff run, it's time to delve into this upcoming weekend in Atlantic City.
I will, fortunately, be making the trip to AC to see the Bears in what hopefully aren't their last games of the season. With that in mind, here's what I posted on the Brown thread on the USCHO.com forum before last week's series at RPI:
"Before the series starts tonight, I think it's important to recognize what a fun season this has been.
No matter what happens this weekend, this has been the most exciting season of Brown hockey since 2003-2004, when Yann Danis was on the Hobey Baker shortlist and the likes of Haggett, Robinson, Esdale, and Burke made Meehan Auditorium a fortress. The 2012-2013 Bears have not seen similar success - that '03/'04 team was ranked in the top ten nationally before a late-season swoon knocked it out of the polls - but they've definitely provided a similarly special season for us all. Two ties against #1 in the country, an upset of a heated rival and then-tenth-ranked Yale, a shutout at Lynah, a senior goaltender who had rarely played putting up numbers better than the great Danis himself, a team that was picked to finish dead last and lost plenty of significant contributors throughout the season coming together to fight tooth-and-nail for home ice, and, most importantly, hosting (and sweeping) the first playoff series at Meehan Auditorium in eight years.
Maybe we beat RPI and go to Atlantic City. Maybe we get crushed. It doesn't matter. The future of this team is bright, and I just want to thank every player on the team, as well as the coaching staff, for a really fun and exciting season.
With that said, let's go get a couple wins in Troy. There's no reason this season can't continue."
Clearly, I had pretty low expectations going into the series. I truthfully thought that a streaking RPI team was going to kick the crap out of us and roll into Atlantic City. To my (pleasant) surprise, Brown showed more fortitude than it has all year (and that's a lot of fortitude!) in upsetting the Engineers in three games.
Now we have the task of facing a Quinnipiac team that has been ranked in the top five almost all season, and is currently #2. It would seem to be a daunting task, but I have faith in Brendan Whittet's troops. We've tied the Bobcats twice this year already, and if we can keep them off the board, we have a very good shot at winning.
Though I have decidedly more confidence heading towards AC than I did heading to Troy, I think it's important to recognize what I said in that post. No matter what happens, this team has exceeded all expectations and we will be proud regardless of the results. Brown has caused quite a stir throughout the college hockey landscape. If we win the Whitelaw Cup, we would completely mess up the bracketology.
If we lose to Quinnipiac by five goals, so what? At least we made it. At least the majority of our team is young, full of energy, and has the experience of playing on the big stage. At least we can say with almost complete certainty that Brown will be even better and more dangerous next year.
And you never know...there's always an outside chance that we'll do to Quinnipiac and Yale or Union what we did to RPI.
No comments:
Post a Comment