A shutdown penalty kill and bursts of execution on the power play were all Brown needed to get by an injury-depleted St. Lawrence team on Saturday night at Meehan Auditorium in Providence.
“We had the puck a lot,” said Brown coach Brendan Whittet. “I think when you have the puck a lot, you’re going to have more and better offensive opportunities. Our power play has been much better, we’re shooting pucks finally rather than just passing around the perimeter. We had 46 shots, so maybe we could have had a couple more {goals}.”
Max Willman put Brown (2-4-0, 2-4-0) ahead 1-0 at 9:07 when the senior took a pass from Charlie Corcoran and fired it low blocker side from the hash marks and just inside the short-side post, putting the Bears ahead 1-0. The Bears outshot the Saints 19-5 during the first period and maintained their 1-0 lead at the end of one.
St. Lawrence’s Ryan Lough was assessed a game misconduct penalty for hitting from behind less than two minutes into the second period, giving Brown a five-minute power play. The Bears cashed in on the man-advantage at 2:13, as assistant captain Tyler Bird tipped home a shot from the point by Charlie Corcoran to extend the Brown lead to 2-0.
St. Lawrence (1-10-1, 0-3-1) killed off the remainder of the five-minute penalty and almost cut the deficit in half just as the penalty concluded when Philip Alftberg blocked a shot in his own end and won the race for the loose puck out in the neutral zone. Alftberg dangled his way through three Bears defenders and fired a shot that beat Brown goaltender Luke Kania, but rang off the post and was cleared out, keeping it at a 2-0 deficit for the Saints.
At 9:17, St. Lawrence finally got the break it needed when Jacob Pritchard fired home his fourth goal of the season when the junior flung a shot on net from the far left-side boards that somehow found its way through traffic and through the body of Kania to cut the Brown advantage down to 2-1.
At 11:59, St. Lawrence’s Nolan Gluchowski went off for tripping, giving the Bears a chance to extend their lead back to two goals. Charlie Corcoran fired home a one-timer from the top of the right circle at 14:44 for his third point of the game, giving Brown a 3-1 lead heading into the third period.
The Bears continued to provide immense amounts of pressure in the St. Lawrence end throughout the third period, but were unable to extend their lead past two goals.
St. Lawrence pulled goaltender Daniel Mannella for the extra attacker with just under three minutes to play in search of two goals to tie the game. With 1:30 to play, Kania stuffed St. Lawrence’s Callum Cusinato at the doorstep to keep it at a two-goal lead for Brown. The Bears continuously cleared the zone, and time eventually ran out on St. Lawrence, as Brown emerged with their second win of the season.
Whittet credited his penalty killers following the victory.
“I think we wanted to make sure that we had pressure up-ice,” said Whittet. “They {St. Lawrence} were a group that was playing really short, they were going to the well a lot with some of the same players on their power play so we wanted to make sure we put enough pressure on those guys up-ice and then not have to defend in our own zone. The {penalty} kill had been very good until the last few games. We started 12 for 12 against a really good Yale team on opening weekend but it’s kind of slipped a little since then, especially last night against Clarkson who’s got an excellent power play. But, you know, special teams are a big part of hockey and you got to make sure you come out plus in those situations or it’s going to be really hard to win games.”
ECAC Roundup
No. 14 Cornell 3, No. 5 Harvard 2
Cornell completed a four-point weekend thanks to a tiebreaking goal with under two seconds to play in regulation by Alec McCrea, pushing the Big Red to 6-0-0 for the first time since 1971-1972.
Harvard, meanwhile, went 0-2 this weekend after losing 2-1 to Colgate on Friday. The Crimson jumped out to a 2-0 lead thanks to first-period goals by Henry Bowlby and Ty Pelton-Byce. Yanni Kaldis tied the game on a power play late in the period for Cornell to make it a 2-1 game at the first intermission.
Jeff Malott tied the game midway through the second period for Cornell on a highlight-reel goal, sending the game to the third tied at two. With 1.4 seconds to play, McCrea fired home a one-timer from the right-side hash marks to win the game for the Big Red.
No. 11 Clarkson 4, Yale 1
A night after scoring a hat trick against St. Lawrence, Dante Palecco struck again to give the Yale Bulldogs an early 1-0 lead against Clarkson.
The Golden Knights responded with four straight goals, however, coming off the sticks of Josh Dickinson, Sheldon Rempal, Brett Gervais, and Terrance Amorosa, as Clarkson prevailed to earn themselves a four-point weekend. Goaltender Jake Kielly had 27 saves for Clarkson.
Union 4, No. 16 Quinnipiac 1
Union got off to a strong start at home against Quinnipiac on Saturday night, as Ryan Scarfo scored for the second straight game just 5:17 in to get the Dutchmen off and rolling. Anthony Rinaldi put one home at 16:25 to up the lead to 2-0 at the first intermission.
Luc Brown extended the Union lead to 3-0 just over five minutes into the second period. Chase Priskie cut it back to 3-1 with a goal 4:51 into the third, but Brown’s second of the game at 17:53 sealed the victory for Union.
Colgate 3, Dartmouth 2
A night after upsetting No. 5 Harvard 2-1, Colgate completed a four-point weekend with a 3-2 win over Dartmouth on Saturday.
Corey Kalk gave Dartmouth a 1-0 lead 10:10 into the first period, but the Raiders responded with two second-period goals coming off the sticks of Mike Panowyk and Bobby McMann to take a 2-1 lead into the third.
Bobby McMann’s second of the game on an empty-netter extended the Colgate lead to 3-1 with under a minute to play. Dartmouth cut it back to 3-2 with seven seconds to play thanks to Matt Baker, but Colgate was able to hang on for the one-goal win.
Princeton 6, Rensselaer 2
Goals came early and often on Saturday night at Houston Field House as Princeton jumped out to an early 2-0 lead thanks to goals by Ryan Kuffner and Eric Robinson, but Jared Wilson and Billy Jerry responded to tie the game at two for Rensselaer with a little under four minutes to play. Just a minute and 50 seconds later, however, Jackson Cressey reclaimed the lead for the Tigers, and Princeton held a 3-2 lead going into the second.
Josh Teves extended the Princeton lead to 4-2 midway through the second period, but Robinson’s second of the game just 50 seconds into the third period gave the Tigers a commanding 5-2 lead. Luke Keenan scored just 1:28 later to push the lead to 6-2 and seal the victory.
