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.
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| 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.
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| Marco De Filippo '14 has shown in the past that he is very talented. It's up to him to finally show it consistently. Photo credit to brownbears.com |
De Filippo appears to have the opposite condition of
Mike Clemente ’12. While “Lemons” showed up in big games and played at his
best, he often looked lethargic or apathetic in games in which we should have
been evenly matched with our opponents. On the other hand, De Filippo seems to
be rock solid in non-conference games or games in the middle of the season,
when there is little stress. However, as the playoff race heats up, he seems
to crumble under whatever minuscule pressure comes with being the goalie for a team that is in rebuilding mode. He’ll have to put that complex behind him this
season, or else we have a huge problem on our hands.
As for Juola and Hourihan, they’ve showed glimpses
of what they can provide to the team in the past. Juola has good puck-handling and
faceoff skills, but doesn’t appear to have any physicality in his game, as he
is smaller than most other players. Hourihan is a grinder who is good in the
corners, but not enough to validate giving him a full time roster spot.
The other three members of the junior class, Mike
Borge, Jimmy Siers, and Jake Goldberg, have all seen spotty playing time, but
have not established themselves as reliable players. Goldberg seemed to lose
Whittet’s trust after a single shift in which he elected to pass rather than
shoot on a 2-on-1 last season, and rarely, if ever, played down the stretch.
Siers has been used with varying effectiveness over his two-year career, and could
possibly develop into a decent role player. I can’t recall enough of Mike Borge
to provide a synopsis on his abilities, which is probably a reflection on his
lack of playing time and/or talent.
The junior class was Whittet’s first-ever
recruiting class at Brown. With that said, it is a somewhat surprisingly solid
class, given that Whittet was had been a head coach for just one season when he
convinced these nine young men to come play for him at a school that was building its team from the ground up. Robertson, Wahl, and
Hathaway are clearly the highlights, while others, such as Hourihan and Juola,
have a chance to prove they truly belong this season.
For De Filippo, on the other hand- well, the success
of the team essentially rests squarely on his shoulders. It’s up to him to meet
that challenge with open arms.
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