>Posted on 13 Dec 1995 at 12:57:42 by (Chuck Wilrycx)
>
>Checking out this weekends results, Brown made some impressive improvement,
>in what has been to this point a thoroughly discouraging season.  The "par"
>performances against Clarkson and St. Lawrence should bethe perfect way for
>the Bears to head into break and think about the rest of the season.
 
Although Brown's record so far is not what anyone had expected, it's too
early to talk about a "discouraging season." At the beginning of the season
the team had a few problems that had to be addressed, including defensive
coverage and the right line combinations. It appears that the coaching
staff has been able to fix most of the glaring problems. Brown has been
playing well for the past few weeks. They dominated a bigger Providence
College team that was ranked in the national top ten at the time, and,
except for a weak second period, performed extremely well against a very
good Harvard team. I didn't travel to the North country but I understand
Brown played well. Any team that can return from that trip with two points
should be reasonably pleased.
 
 
>I was hoping to garner some comments on Hollowaty's performance in net, and
>ask you guys about goalie rotations.  It seems that Audette and Hollowaty
>both have great records, but it is Parson' who carries the season, and thusly
>chalks up the losses.
 
Brown has three capable goalies. It's a question of who will perform most
steadily. Right now Holowaty is playing a bit better than Parsons and
Audette, but the coaching staff is non-committal about who the number one
goaltender is.
 
Parsons shouldn't be counted out by any means. He's a good goalie, who
will play well again in the not so distant future. Remember that he was a
First-Team All-Ivy and an ECAC honorable mention (behind Vermont's Tim
Thomas and Yale's Todd Sullivan) last year. Audette also has the
ability to play at the Division I level, as he proved at the end of last
season.
 
 
>The early sweep by Harvard is of course a bummer, but if anyone hear saw that
>game, you'll know it was a great tilt.  Maybe he Bears will see some Crimson
>hide in the playoffs.
 
The Brown-Harvard game at Harvard was a very interesting game, played
with skill and intensity -- college hockey at its best.
 
 
>It seems that the Bears tried to recruit bigger and more aggressive players
>this year, as opposed to previous years, where the Bruno team excelled in
>skating speed and passing.  Is the switch to bigger players maybe part of the
>problem Brown is facing this year?
 
Brown has made a conscious effort to recruit a few bigger players without
sacrificing speed too much, as coach Gaudet favors a style that combines
physical play with skill. The coaching staff has been striving to
achieve an ideal balance between size and speed ever since that
speedy, but smallish 1993 team was physically pounded by Clarkson in the
ECAC final (despite a close 3-1 final score). That team reached the ECAC
final by outskating Harvard in the semifinal, but had a bit of trouble
with the bigger Clarkson players. This problem resurfaced the following
weekend in the first round of the NC$$ tournament against the University
of Minnesota-Duluth.
 
Luiz F. Valente
 
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