In a brutal final game of the season that head coach Brendan Whittett '94 called “underpowered,” the men's hockey team (8-19-3, 6-14-2 ECAC) defeated sixth-seeded Union (16-16 lost). 3, 9-10-3 ECAC), which he won by a score of 6-0 in the first round of the ECAC playoffs.
Saturday's matchup in Schenectady, New York, was the third meeting between Brown and Union this season, with the two teams having faced each other separately in the regular season. On Saturday, the Garnet Chargers defeated Split and won against Bruno.
“Our biggest struggle on Saturday was not getting the first goal,” forward Tyler Kopf ’27 wrote in a statement to the Herald. “We created a lot of chances early on but couldn't execute them and as a result the game got away from us,” he added.
Despite the final score of the game, the first period was highly competitive. Brown's offense picked up steam, hitting the Union defense with five shots in just 90 seconds. Defensively, the Bears got off to a strong start, withstanding Union's strong attack as the home team had four shots between 5:23 and 5:43. Brown goaltender Lawton Zucker 27 and his comrades stood tall.
But at 14:57, the Bears' defense suddenly came to an end. Brown and several Union players scrambled for the puck in traffic and accidentally let the puck slide onto the stick of Union forward Caden Villegas. Villegas quickly took the shot, past Sacher and into the left side of the goal, giving the Garnet Chargers a 1-0 lead after one period.
The second period was similar for the Bears, who found some offensive opportunities but couldn't convert them into goals. Perhaps Bruno's most promising chance to fight back came at the 6:00 mark when Union's Nick Young was penalized for interference, giving Brown a power play.
However, despite being shorthanded, it was the Federals who attacked again about 90 seconds later. Garnet Charger forward DJ Hart held up his stick and slowly made his way to the hoop, receiving a sharp pass and immediately knocking the puck behind the Brown defense to extend the Union's lead.
Down 2-0, Bruno's forwards worked hard to improve their game and put pressure on the Union defence. Gavin Pusker, 24, got the puck and fired it at the Union goaltender after an encouraging 9:27 breakout. However, much to the Bears' dismay, Union goaltender Kyle Chauvet hit a passer's shot to the body with his glove.
About a minute later, at 10:33, Brown's chances of a comeback began to look slim. Union forward Chaz Smedsrud skated down the ice and hit a Brown defender in the face before firing a shot past Sacher from long range to give the Garnet Chargers a 3-0 lead in the third and final period. rushed into.
Brown forwards Ryan Bottrill (26), Brett Bliss (25) and Kopf led the Bears' third-period offense, each firing hard shots at the Union goalie but without success. Ta. Bruno's defense, on the other hand, continued to deteriorate. At 6:34, Union forward Ben Tapker scored another goal to electrify the New York crowd and give the Bears a 4-0 victory. Five minutes later, Union's Caden Villegas scored again to make it 5-0.
“The team will spend the offseason training and skating every day to prepare for a comeback next year,” Kopf wrote. “We are all bitter about yesterday's game, but we are fully motivated heading into this offseason,” he added.
Trailing 5-0, the Bears adjusted their defense and moved to an empty-net strategy aimed at generating offense. However, this strategy did not work. Just a minute into the empty net, Union's Ben Tapker scored a short goal for the Garnet Chargers to make the game 6-0 and send Bruno home early.
In a statement to Brown Athletics, Whittett said, “Our players battled and we thought we were incredibly understaffed over the last two months. We left the group on the ice, (and) it wasn't our night. '' he added. .
With Saturday's loss, the Bears finished the season with an 8-19-3 record and fell to second-to-last in the ECAC standings.
Still, Whittett remains hopeful about what's to come. “Our goal is to win championships. We said that when we came in and it still is. Our guys are going to come back after that. We have a lot of returning players. But we're also going to get some injured players and some pretty special players, and we're going to have a great class of players coming in,” he said in a statement to Brown Athletics.
“The future of our program is very bright,” he added.
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Cooper Herman is a senior staff writer covering sports, arts and culture. He is a freshman from Alexandria, Virginia, studying economics, international affairs, and public affairs.
