The Bears swept the road weekend against Princeton (5-2) and Yale (4-1)
thereby maintaining their ECAC (12-3-1) and Ivy (7-1-1) leadership.  The
twin victories marked the first time Brown has swept the home-and-home
series against Harvard, Princeton and Yale in one season since the 1964-65
campaign.  The Bears have one Ivy League game left on the schedule against
Dartmouth on February 27th at Meehan Auditorium.

Princeton at Baker Rink (Fri.)

    Brown scored three third period goals to snap a 2-2 tie and chalk up a
convincing 5-2 win against Princeton.  The Bears outshot the Tigers 19-5 in
the first stanza but were unable to crack Princeton sophomore goaltender
Eric Leroux until senior defenseman Scott Ford's lead pass in neutral ice
sent junior forward Les Haggett in alone on a breakaway while the teams were
playing 4x4.  Leroux made the initial save on a shot from the right face-off
spot, but Haggett collected his own rebound and wristed it into the left
corner of the net at 18:51 before Leroux could recover.

    The Bears extended their lead at 1:38 of the middle period when junior
forward Mike Meech, stationed in the slot, collected the rebound of an
initial shot by Haggett.  Meech wasted no time in slamming the puck past
Leroux for a 2-0 Bear lead.  At this point, it appeared that Brown might be
in full control of the contest, but Princeton took advantage of a Tiger
power play at 14:21 when freshman defenseman Max Cousins ripped a shot from
the right point that deflected off a Brown defender in front and beat Bear
senior goaler Yann Danis over his left shoulder. Then, at 16:18, the Tigers
evened the score when senior Dan Hursh converted a 2-on-1 break as Danis
tried to defend against a possible cross-ice pass and Hursh, the
puck-carrier, fired the disc into the upper left corner.

    Brown came out fired up for the final period and took the lead back on a
power play at 5:20 when Haggett won a faceoff draw back to freshman winger
Brian Ihnacak who fed Ford on the right point for a slapshot that beat
Leroux cleanly.  The Bears added an insurance goal 55 seconds later when
junior forward Chris Swon scored on the rebound of junior defenseman Gerry
Burke's slapper from the top of the right faceoff circle.  Sophomore forward
Cory Caouette was also credited with an assist.  Meech closed out the Bear
scoring at 19:11 when he fought off a Tiger defender in neutral ice to gain
control of a loose puck and lofted it into the open Princeton net that
Leroux had vacated moments before in favor of a sixth attacker.

    The victory marked Brown's 700th all-time ice hockey victory as well as
the Bears' sixth straight win over the Tigers.


Yale at Ingalls Rink (Sat.)

    The Bears used their customary rock-solid team defense highlighted by
Yann Danis' 32 saves to overpower Yale, 4-1, with two power-play goals and
one short-handed tally.

    Brown took an early lead at 5:41 of the first period on a power-play
when Ihnacak thread a perfect pass to Brent Robinson at the top of the slot
and the senior forward 's one-timer beat Yale goalie Josh Gartner over his
right shoulder.  Ihnachk and Ford were credited with assists on the play.
Yale responded at 18:22, after the Bears had taken two consecutive
penalties, by scoring in the last moment of their second man-advantage
opportunity as senior forward Ryan Steeves found sophomore forward Jeff
Hristovski with a goalmouth pass that he buried from the bottom of the left
face-off circle.

    Working still another power play in the second period, the Bears took
the lead for good at 11:19 when Robinson delivered a bullet pass right on
the stick of senior defenseman Vince Macri who had managed to isolate
himself in the slot.  Macri then beat Gartner cleanly to the glove side for
the go-ahead marker.  Ihnacak also earned an assist on the goal.

    The final stanza belonged to Brown as senior forward Nick Ringstad
scored one of the prettiest Bear goals of the season unassisted at 7:52
while Brown was shorthanded.  Ringstad corralled an errant Bulldog pass in
the neutral zone, skated in alone on Gartner, and blasted a rising shot into
the right side of the net.  The Eli were never the same after the shortie
and Meech added a last goal unassisted at 13:17 on the 4th Bear shot taken
during a goalmouth seige when he fired a wrister home from the low slot to
ice the impressive 4-1 victory.  Haggett and Robinson both notched assists
on the goal.  Combined with his 25 stops against Princeton, Hobey Baker
candidate Danis turned in a weekend total of 57 saves.

    #12 Brown (14-5-4 overall) now looks forward to hosting Union (Fri.) and
Rensselaer (Sat.) in a weekend series at Meehan Auditorium.


Bill Corrigan

LET'S GO BRUNO!