The Brown Bears continue to prove they are a team to be reckoned with
this season.

    After a somewhat tentative performance against Dartmouth at Thompson
Arena Friday evening, during which Brown was still in contention at 3-4 late
in the third period until an ill-advised penalty (involving an exchange of
pleasantries behind the Big Green net) with three minutes remaining cost the
Bears a powerplay goal and an empty-netter, Brown rebounded at Gutterson on
Saturday to dominate Vermont with a 5-1 victory.

    Brown was 2-for-6 on the powerplay.  Vermont was 0-for-7.  Shots for
Brown were 18-10-12 = 40; and for Vermont 5-14-5 = 24....most of the
Catamounts' power play opportunities came in the second period.

    Brian Eklund had 23 saves and Vermont's two goalers made a total of 35
saves.  The starting Cat goaltender, Shawn Conschafter was lifted after the
fifth Brown goal hit the twine at 10:57 of the final stanza.  It should also
be noted that there was also an exodus of Cat fans from Gutterson at that
juncture that rivaled anything that went on in biblical times.  Kind of took
the lustre off the Vermont fandom for me...but then I couldn't remember ever
leaving that building with a victory margin of four goals.  So, maybe this
happens whenever the Catamounts fail to deliver; if so, the Lynah Faithful
reign supreme.

    The above results proves, once again, how competitive the ECAC
conference is from top to bottom -- On Friday, Vermont beats Harvard, the
pre-season consensus pick to win the league championship, by a score of 5-1
in Burlington.  Saturday night, after losing to Dartmouth, Brown destroys
the Catamounts in their own building and comes away with a 5-1 win.
Meanwhile, in back in Hanover, Harvard, beaten badly on Friday night,
manages a 3-3 tie with a Dartmouth team that had played exceptionally well
against Brown (6-3) on their opening night at Thompson Arena.  Translation:
It's going to be awfully tough to sweep a weekend during this season and
exceedingly tough for a road team to do so.  Two host teams, Clarkson &
Cornell, were the only ECAC squads to survive the weekend undefeated and
untied in conference play.

    Brown now prepares to host Colgate (Fri.) and Cornell (Sat.) in its
opening weekend series at Meehan Auditorium this weekend.  It should be fun.


Bill Corrigan

LET'S GO BRUNO!