Time to Earn Some Respect!

Nate Owen, in his weekly ECAC game picks over at USCHO.com, has picked Brown to lose to both Providence and Holy Cross this weekend. 

Week in and week out, forum members pick the Bears to consistently get swept in league play in the "ECAC Pick 'Em" weekly contest. 

Brown was picked last in every poll preceding the season, and the general prognosis is that there is no reason to think otherwise at this stage in the season. 

All of this had really ought to piss Brendan Whittet and his boys off. I mean really: Owen claims the Bears won't be able to defend against Holy Cross, but will be able to score easily? Come on! The strength of this team has been defense, while the offense has struggled most of the time. This ignorant "analysis" (and I'm not necessarily picking on Owen, here) shows that nobody even respects the Bears enough to do them the kindness of watching some highlights, or even checking statistics. 

And it's about time the team took notice of little things like that. It's about time they developed an overwhelming sense of pride for their team and channel it into the relentless energy that spurred the playoff runs from 2008-10. 


There's no better time to start than now, as the rival Friars traverse the hills of Providence Saturday, making their way from Smith to College. They've been getting all the attention lately- big-name coaching hire, decent results the last year or so, big-name recruits coming in, winning or tying four of the past five Mayor's Cup games, the mostly successful branding of themselves as "Providence's team." 

Remember when this guy
ripped the Friars apart? 

Maybe 10-15 years ago, this rivalry was even, if not slightly in favor of the Bears. Anyone else remember that Damian Prescott hat trick in the 6-3 1997 rout at Schneider? Or in 2000, when the highly-ranked Friars came into Meehan against a woeful Brown team, and got absolutely spanked, 5-1? Or the great goalie battle between Yann Danis and Nolan Schafer at a nearly sold-out Meehan in 2003, when both teams were ranked?

But these days, it's all PC. Brown hasn't had much to say about this rivalry in years, despite a 5-2 victory last year on New Year's day in front of about 26 people (the Pats had a playoff game at the same time. Great scheduling). Bruno is the complete and total underdog in this game, and everyone knows it. There's no hiding that. And they need to play like they're gunning for a big upset of a hated rival- because that's exactly what they are doing. 

Holy Cross should be a tough opponent on Sunday. They've had a great season thus far, but they've had a couple bad losses, too. It's time for Brown to go out and earn the respect of the media and fans alike- and of other teams, for that matter. It's time to go out and win a pair of completely winnable games against tough but beatable teams.