Wow! It was just a few years ago I remember hearing from other ECAC team
fans how they hated to play Brown because they played "clutch and grab"
hockey. Like it or not, fellow Brunonians, what some call "clutch and grab"
is what others call "good, smart team defense. If you are playing a faster
team, particularly if they are smaller than you, the idea is not to let
them get up to speed, where they can cook your butt. From a thousand miles
away, I have no idea how Princeton and Brown played each other last
weekend. But knowing what I know about both teams, I'd expect Princeton to
do everything in their power to keep Brown from using its speed in key
areas on the ice.
 
Back when Brown was turning its program around, the Bruins (and I'll always
call them that, I think) would drive teams like Harvard absolutely nuts by
tying them up whenever possible. Now the skate is on the other foot, and
Brown is finding that other teams, like Princeton, are doing the same to
them. I wouldn't expect any less, and I doubt that the Brown players would
expect any less. They do their share of tying folks up, too. It's all part
of using what your team has to its best ability to win hockey games.
 
If this Princeton team is like Brown's teams two or three years ago -- if
they overachieve and play with that kind of intensity -- I hope they kick
butt in the ECAC tournament.
 
And as for us, tip our hats to 'em and figure out some new strategies to
break through into their zone more effectively next year. And while we're
at it, we can smile a bit about a 1994-95 season that proved far better for
Brown hockey than most folks (except probably the team and Coach gaudet)
expected. But let's stop whining.
 
'Nuf sed,
 
Ted McEnroe, Brown '89, '92.