It's time for a reality check regarding Brown Hockey.
 
>I have been following Brown hockey since the 93-94 season and have been a
>bit distressed by the change for the worse the team has taken.  ....
>In the 93/94 season, Brown was extremely well disciplined, and rarely
>penalized.  The squad sported a great line of quick and agile skaters.
> ....  The 94/95 Bear showed alot more spunk in their gains in size, but
>the loss in speed was apparent as they just missed a first place finish to
>Clarkson.  But the penalties began to pile up, Mulhern leading the way.
>this season is out of control.  The embarrassment of pre-warm up fights, GM
>in 3 of the last 5 games.  It seems as though Gaudet may have fed his
>anxiety unto his players, and the crop is ready for harvesting.  The Bears
>are no longer the disciplined team they once were, and it appears it is by
>design.
>We had great hope for Brown, a recent basement dweller to finally become a
>steady power in the ECAC but alas it appears not to happen.  Any comments?
 
    You bet.  Now, let me see if I've got this straight.  Brown had a fast-
skating, clean-playing team in 93-94, which finished 6th.  Gaudet then
recruited bigger players, and the lack of speed caused them to slump (?) to
2nd behind Clarkson. This year, Gaudet has decided that a foul-mouthed
brawl-starting team is best, and that's directly responsible for the
"decline" in Brown's fortunes. Right?
    Not only is this scenario incorrect, it also suggests that Gaudet is
just about the dumbest guy in the world, since it assumes that he's too
dense to figure out that he was winning with the clean-skating 93-94 style and
losing with the current team.
    Let's set things straight here.  Brown hockey had some great teams
in the 60s and 70s, including a number of national contenders and a
final four appearance (in '76, I believe).  In the 80s, its fortunes
slumped and the team racked up some of the poorest records in ECAC
memory.  Bob Gaudet rescued Brown Hockey from the doldrums in just 3
years, and he did it by assembling a fast-skating team of kids passed
over by other schools but still able to make it academically.  That's
no mean feat.
    Look at the record of the previous 3 seasons.  My recollection is that
Brown has finished higher than its pre-season rankings EVERY YEAR.  In
other words, in spite of limited talent, the team has out-played expectations.
What causes a team to consistently out-perform its talent level?
Coaching.  Good coaching.  Credit to Bob Gaudet.
    It is absolutely true that Bob Gaudet is a vocal coach who gets on the
refs.  He's hardly alone in that respect.  And, as a high school official
in another sport, I can tell you that it does not help a team's cause to
ride the refs.  I wish Bob would cool it a little during games.  However,
he's an ex-goaltender, and goalies tend to be very vocal in their opinions
of how a game should be called.  BUt I don't think for a minute that he's
the source of the GM penalties that have been called on Brown in the past
few games.
     A more likely source is player frustration.  This year's team
is the first in many years at Brown that is not quite living up to its
talent level (so far), and that's tough on the players.  I'm sure that
the players are trying everything, including raising their intensity level,
to break out of their slump.  And that will lead to penalties in any
team.
    But let's look at reality.  Brown is not in the league cellar.  In fact,
its right in the middle of the pack, and has played a few great games,
including an 8-4 blowout of Hockey East leader Providence College.
Bob Gaudet is a great coach who will find a way to get the Bruins playing
the way they are capable of by playoff time, and I'm sure that this
will be remembered as a successful season.
 
    Could it be that some of the criticisms of Gaudet are inspired by
the fact that Brown has indeed skated back into the top rankings of
ECAC teams under his tenure, and that has upset the applecart a bit?
 
    Ohio State tried mightily to recruit Gaudet to turn arounds its program
in the off-season, but Bob decided to stay at Brown.  I, for one, am glad
he did, and look forward to an exciting postseason with Gaudet behind the
bench.
                                               Ken Miller
 
HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey;  send information to
[log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.