Brown showing signs of improvement, ‘just a youthful team with a lot of young energy’

 (David Silverman/photo: Brown University Athletics)
Justin Jallen leads Brown in goals (5) and is tied for the team lead in points (7) (photo: Brown University Athletics).

Brown coach Brendan Whittet will be the first to say his team’s results have been inconsistent this season.

The Bears entered this past weekend with a record of 1-6-2.

But don’t confuse that inconsistency with the players’ effort this season. Out of the nine games they played heading into this past weekend, three of their losses were by one goal, and another one was by two goals which included an empty-net goal. Only two of their losses were by three or more goals.

Whittet knew with a young team – five freshmen and eight sophomores – that they will show flashes of their skill, but also their youthfulness will show like a newborn bear cub taking its first steps in the new world.

This past weekend, the Bears showed their skill and entered the semester and holiday hibernation period with three points as they earned a 3-3 tie with No. 11 ranked Union and then taking a 2-1 victory over Rensselaer on Saturday to improve their record to 2-6-3.

“We have been playing very good hockey – we are just a youthful team with a lot of young energy,” Whittet said. “With that youthfulness, you will have some stretches, shift to shift, period to period, game to game, where you are a little inconsistent with that youthfulness. For us, we just wanted to play a 60-minute game and get contributions from whoever was in the lineup in that specific night.

“I believe we can do that. We were much more consistent than we had been and were able to generate some goals.”

The team learned Friday night against Union that the game is played 60 minutes as the Bears were down 2-0 after 20 minutes. They stormed back with two goals from Justin Jallen and Alex Mehr in the first half of the second period. Union retook the lead with a goal from Parker Foo, but before the second period ended, Alex Brink found the back of the net for Brown.

Whittet loved how his team played in that second period by playing tenacious hockey and being first on the puck.

With about half the team being underclassmen, it’s no surprise the leading scorers are in their first two seasons of the college hockey. Jallen and Tristan Crozier – who are both freshmen – lead the team with seven points. Jallen, who plied his trade with the Northeast Generals of the NAHL in Attleboro, Mass., which is 20 minutes north of Providence, has five goals and two assists. Crozier has three goals and seven assists.

 (David Silverman/photo: Brown University Athletics)
Tristan Crozier also has seven points for Brown, including three goals (photo: Brown University Athletics).

While the two leading scorers are at a .63 point-per-game pace, Brown has had 19 of its 23 skaters finding the score sheet at least once this season. While the team hasn’t had that one or two guys that will provide offense in every game, Whittet believes that will come sooner rather than later.

“I have seen some glimpses,” Whittet said. “I guess the good way to put it is we are a team in every regard whether it would be the so-called top-end guys to the so-called energy guys, or the guys that play that role. I’ve seen contributions throughout a lot of different ways, not just on the score sheet, whether it be killing penalties or establishing the traits we want the team to play with in terms of playing with tempo, playing fast, transitioning quickly and possessing pucks.”

One of the things Whittet knows that needs improvement in the second half is the power play, where Brown is 2-for-33.

Another item of note Whittet wants the team to develop is going from 1-0 to 2-0. Whittet gave an example of the game against St. Lawrence on Dec. 1 where the Bears outshot the Saints 22-4 in the first period, but only led 1-0. The game ended in a 2-2 tie.

They aren’t chasing the puck, Whittet said, and noted that his team has been possessing the puck very well. He also likes the penalty kill, which is at 85.1 percent.

Whittet hopes the team can bond before the next ECAC games that will take place Jan. 18-19 against St. Lawrence and Clarkson, respectively. They will play in two tournaments, the Ledyard Bank Classic at Dartmouth and then the Three Rivers Classic hosted by Robert Morris. Brown will play Army and cross-city rival Providence at Dartmouth and will also face the Friars again on Jan. 15 for the annual Mayor’s Cup game. In Pittsburgh at PPG Arena – home of the Pittsburgh Penguins – the Bears take on Robert Morris and either St. Cloud State or Union.

“We look at it as challenge, especially playing Providence College twice in those five games – they are a heck of a hockey team,” Whittet said. “We look forward to that, we are excited, and it’s nice to play teams outside your conference. It’s nice to play teams out of your conference that are a very good hockey team, too. It’s nice to play in tournaments. It’s nice to play for a trophy. We play two tournaments back to back because I did it for a reason. I think it’s nice, like I said, to play for a tournament championship or tournament trophy.”