In reply to hunsts@RPI, yeah, the Brown crowd at Friday's ECAC game
was good.  The Band was there, and the "zoo crew", a band of Brown
faithfuls, also made the trip.
And "Bruno" is from the Latin for Brown (Ivy League?  Who, us?), and
is the general nickname for the school.  Many of our songs refer to us
as "Brunonia", and the bear is sort of assumed to be named Bruno, as well.
To all the folx who said "Oh, yeah Brown might get a bid, IF they win
the finals... (right).": THPHTHPHTHPHTHPTHBLBLBLBLBLBL!
Heh heh heh.
Regarding fan behavior at the ECACs: there were a couple of Clarkson
fans hanging out behing the Brown Band during the Brown/Hahvahd game;
the ultimate stereotypical jocks, tall, fat, drunk, assholes.  Their
most amusing cheer was, "Go, Brown!  Beat the Ivy!"  :-P
And concerning seniors on Brown's team: don't you worry.  See below for
more details.
Yes, as someone pointed out, the Brown Band marched (well, sauntered :-)
down Main Street before the 5:00 game.  Yes, we were the only band to
do so.  However, the Olympic Authority invited all four bands to join
in the parade, and the rest of 'em were too lame to take 'em up on the
offer.  I guess they couldn't stand the cold.  We got a really cool
reception from the locals, though, coming out of shops and such.
And as Eduardo pointed out, the Band is going to Detroit.  The Brown
Sports Foundation has most generously offered to fly us out there this
weekend, and also to Milwaukee if we need it (again, see below).  The
Band is taking them up on both offers, which is pretty cool when you
consider that these weekends mark the start and finish of our spring
break.
Thoughts on Brown's chances this weekend:
Brown vs. U Miss - Duluth: in one game, anything can happen.  UMD may
be ranked slightly higher, but the boys are *pumped*, and you saw what
happened to Hahvahd.
Neither Brown nor Hahvahd give athletic scholarships, per Ivy League
policy.  Does anyone know if this is the case with any of the other
teams in the NC$$ tournament?
Brown vs. LSSU: this is a bit more of a problem.  The team did not
sleep after beating Hahvahd last week; otherwise they probably would
have had better concentration during Saturday's game.  I don't think
that UMD represents as much of an archenemy for them, so a victory,
although it will hype them, probably won't be as disastrous.  The
main problem is LSSU's bye.  They're going to be rested; we're not.
We beat them before the ECAC season started; we can do it again.
The fatigue will be our worst opponent.
Notes on Geoff Finch:
I've been watching his career since freshman year, 'cause he was in
my freshman unit and so I actually *knew* someone out there on the ice.
There are two '94 goalies: Brett Haywood and Finch.  Woody was trumpeted
as a key recruit and awesome bag for Brown; Finch was not nearly as
heavily recruited.  They were the only goalies that year, and Woody started
the season as the regular goalie.  He kept screwing up.  So, in one
game that didn't really matter, Gaudet put Finch in.  He kicked ass.
Finch began starting more regularly, and the Bruins went on to take
the Ivy title, and lose to Yale in a heartbreaker in the Tuesday night
playoff.  Apparently, Gaudet has a feud with Finch, because every
season he starts Woody until he screws up.  This is part of the reason
for the end-of-season turnaround for the bears.  Chris Harvey '90
was touted as God to me as an incoming freshman, but from what I've
heard, Finch is already better than Harvey was his senior year.
And concerning seniors and Brown's future:
For goalkeeping they're in pretty good shape.  Finch and Woody have
another year left, and Mike Parsons is a freshman with a lot of promise.
It's hard to compare him with Finch as a frosh because Finch as a junior
keeps getting in the way.  And it's true that Hanley, O'Brien, etc.
are graduating, but many of the goals in the ECAC tournament were
scored by freshmen Kaban and Mulhern.  In short, we're in pretty good
shape for the future.
 
Peace, Love, and Happiness,
crism
 
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