Sunday afternoon at cold Bright Hockey Center, found the Ivy League
Champion Bears finish their title with a 10-0-0 mark.  The game was
pretty chippy with both teams using "crash the net" tactics.  The
Crimson's defense was well suited to Brown's flat attack.  In the end
the Bears had just enough creative talent to win the match.
 
There was no scoring in the first period.  Using a flat offense it
looked like it was going to be a long day for Brown in breaking down
Harvard.  In the second period, Harvard scored first when AJ Mleczko
(Joey Alissi, Stacy Kellogg) finished off a lovely 1-2-3 passing play.
The goal was made by the long, swift passing that changed the point of
attack twice to put AJ in alone.  Brown tied the game when Danielle
Solari (Becky Kellar) shot home after a brilliant heads up play by
Kellar.  Kellar had chased a loose puck, poked it by a Crimson
defender and then hung with it until she get hit Solari.  Lovely play!
The Bears went up 1-2 on a power play goal when first-year sensation
Katie King (Shannon Bryant) put home a second rebound.  King's double
spin in traffic, right in front of the net was marvelous.  In the
third period Brown put the game away with another power play goal as
Joy Woog's shot from the high left circle was deflected in by the
crowd gathered in front of the net.  I should add, the power play was
the result of Becky Kellar's stellar break in move which had forced
the Crimson to criminal action.
 
Brown is a team filled with talent.  Coach "Digits" has a ton of
enthusiasm behind the bench.  I suppose I would like to see this team
try the more interesting and productive offensive sets.  Using the
flat stuff and bumping and grinding your way to victory works some-
times, but with that much skill, they deserve better.  The Bear's best
player on the ice Sunday afternoon had to be fantastic first-year
forward Kate King.  This kid can skate!  Her speed and attacking
skills are wonderful to watch.  Seeing her is worth the trip to the
rink.  Shannon Bryant played a great game on D.  She filled the pass-
ing lanes well, stepped up and made the attacking play.  Becky Kellar
besides being a superb face-off winner, is an extremely good skater.
Her breaks were fun.  Goalie Kate Presbrey is probably the most solid
netminder I have seen this season.  She seems to play with a lot of
confidence.  Danielle Solari showed off some interesting moves.  Chie
Chie Sakuma and Valerie Mills were expert with defensive reads.
Nicole Haakenson gave us some fancy stick handling.  So as you can
see, the Bears are an impressive team.  Lookout for them in the play-
offs!
 
Harvard hung tough with their positional D, but I didn't see them
generating enough offense to crack the Brown defense.  When the first
line of Alissi, Kellogg and AJ sprung the nice break away for AJ I
thought they might have found something.  It turned out to be a one-
off.  Still I thought the first line played very well today.  Lead by
gopher Alissi the team play they had been lacking was much better.
The best player on the ice for the Crimson was Winkie Mleczko.  The
big defender had a good weekend.  Against the Bears she used her
large reach to provide excellent defensive coverage.  She kept it
simple and made the good play.  Erin Villiotte made a number of key
saves to keep Harvard in the game.  Holly Leitzes and Colleen Malek
both had strong games on D.  The second line of Diana Clark, Megan
Hall and Christa Calagione had a good game.  Lead by the hard playing
Clark the line tried to get their attacking ideas together.  The third
line of Ellen Frump, Jennifer Duval and Kate Schutt saw limited ice
time again this weekend.  When they were on, their hustle proved they
should get a regular shift.  Nice skating!  All in all a fair game for
the Crimson.
 
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 good shooting
 rhun
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