Brown's missing offense returned with a vengence last night as the
Bears' senior goaler and Hobey Baker candidate Yann Danis recorded his fifth
shutout of the season and the 13th of his Brown career while the Bear
skaters emerged from hibernation to score six unanswered goals against
Vermont.  It was Senior Night at Meehan Auditorium and the seven Brown
seniors celebrated in their final regular season game by scoring five of the
six goals tallied against two Catamount goaltenders.

    The decisive victory clinched third place in the final conference
standings (13-7-2) and assured the Bears of a first round bye in the ECAC
Playoffs which are set to begin next weekend.  Brown also shares the 2003-04
Ivy League Hockey Championship with Cornell by virtue of their 7-2-1 Ivy
record.

    Brown opened the scoring at 3:56 of the first period with a power play
goal by senior captain & defenseman Scott Ford who cranked a slapshot from
the right point that beat Vermont sophomore netminder Travis Russell cleanly
to the right corner.  The Bears continued to pressure Russell throughout the
period and took advantage of their second power play when senior forward
Nick Ringstad picked up a rebound in the crease at 13:53 and flipped it into
the Catamount net to forge a 2-0 lead.

    The second period was more of the same as Ford tallied his second goal
of the evening at 1:55 on a wicked slapper from the right point that beat
Russell to his stick-side.  Then senior forward Brent Robinson corralled a
rebound to Russell's left on a Bear power play and blasted the puck home at
8:49, and junior forward Mike Meech converted a rebound in the low slot at
11:43 to make the score 5-0.

    Catamount junior goalie Scott Sortal replaced Russell for the third
period, but the Bears continued the barrage and scored on still another
rebound during a man-advantage situation as senior defenseman Vince Macri
swept across the slot, collected the loose puck and rammed it by Sortal on
his glove side.

    Yann Danis made a game total of 26 saves and tied the all-time Brown
record for career victories held by Kevin McCabe '76.  Travis Russell (19)
and Scott Sortal (9) combined for 28 saves in the Cat net.

     Everything considered, a dominating performance, and by capturing a
first-round bye and breaking out of their two-week scoring slump with a
resounding 6-0 shutout, the Bears could not have delivered a stronger
message that their game is back in gear for the post-season.  Brown's
scoring woes in its previous four games cost the Bears an opportunity to
secure the ECAC regular season crown as they finished two points out of
first place after leading the conference standings for the entire season
until last weekend.

    The Bears will now seek to fine-tune their game for the ECAC
Championship Hockey Tournament as they await the determination of their
opponent for a best-of-three quarterfinal series at Meehan Auditorium on
March 12-14.  And with the wheels back on the offensive wagon, Brown can
take a measure of confidence that the system which served them so well for
most of this season is ready to roll again.

SCORING:
Brown       2  3  1  =  6
Vermont    0  0  0  =  0

PENALTIES:
Brown       6/12 min
Vermont    9/18 min.

POWER PLAYS:
Brown       4/7
Vermont    0/5

SAVES:
Danis (Brown)           5  7  14  =  26
Russell (Vermont)      8 11  -  =  19
Sortal (Vermont)        -   -   9  =   9


Bill Corrigan

LET'S GO BRUNO!