Brown's strong start this season (tied for 1st in ECAC) still has left
a few doubters (me among them) wondering if they were really ready to
play with top-10 teams on a regular basis.  No doubts left after last
night.  Brown is for real.  BU, ranked #2 nationally, was lucky to escape
with an exciting 2-1 win..
 
   BU is big and fast and plays exceptional positional hockey.  They were
at their best in shutting down the Brown power play.  They work the box
so well that you're tempted to count players to make sure they haven't
slipped a 5th skater out on the ice.  Whenever a Brown forward made a
quick pass to an off wing or reversed the movement of the puck, right
there was a BU defender with his stick on the ice.  Great anticipation.
 
    But Brown played solid defense, too, smothering BU every time they
approached the net.  BU outplayed Brown for 2 periods, but Brown
kept it close with excellent goaltending by Geoff Finch.  The 3rd period
was all Brown, who shelled McKechnie (sp?) with 17 shots on goal.  Only
one, a beautiful tip-in of a wide slap shot, went in.  On all the rest,
including a couple of deflections that looked like sure goals, the BU
goalie was equal to the task.  He'd win my first star for the game,
followed by Finch.
 
    I'm sure Brown was disappointed not to get the tying goal, but they
left little doubt that they are deserving of a top-10 ranking.
 
                                      -Ken Miller