In a home-and-home against No. 10 Yale this weekend, the Bears picked up a win at Meehan Auditorium Friday supported by the efforts of three first-years but were blown out in New Haven the following day. Zack Pryzbek ’17 and Kyle Kramer ’17 each scored third-period goals Friday, while goalie Tyler Steel ’17 contributed a strong performance in the 3-1 win. Pryzbek and Massimo Lamacchia ’15 were both ejected in a 6-0 loss Saturday, as Yale scored four power-play goals. The Bears now sit in seventh place in the ECAC.
Friday: Brown 3, Yale 1
In Friday’s game, Bruno (8-8-3, 5-6-1 ECAC) took down the Elis on the strength of their third and fourth lines.
Matt Lorito ’15 started the scoring by giving the Bears a 1-0 lead in the second period, but Yale quickly responded to tie the score heading into the third period. Then the young Bears took over.
Pryzbek and Kramer scored just 86 seconds apart in the third to put Brown up by two. Steel made 42 saves, locking down a Yale offense that was fourth in the ECAC and averaging 3.29 goals per game.
“I felt great tonight,” Steel said.
Head Coach Brendan Whittet ’94 was satisfied with the way his young players stood up against tough competition. “Sometimes as a freshman it’s hard,” Whittet said. “I think as the season’s gone on we’ve seen more of what will make the freshmen successful.”
The two first-years’ goals were even more notable given that Kramer and Pryzbek are on the second and third lines, respectively. Before Friday’s game, the first line’s attackers had scored 74 percent of the team’s goals by forwards. Pryzbek’s goal was the first of his career.
“We had some secondary scoring,” Mark Naclerio ’16 said.
Whittet added, “We’re going to need it.”
After the win, Whittet said the next game would be “very tough.” Yale proved him correct — to say the least.
Saturday: Yale 6, Brown 0
In Saturday’s matchup, several untimely penalties halted any momentum for the Bears.
Only a day after playing a big role in Brown’s win, Pryzbek was ejected for hitting a Yale player from behind, resulting in a five-minute major penalty. During the major, which does not expire after a goal is scored like minor penalties do, two Brown players were called for minors — leaving the Bears two men down for nearly three minutes.
Yale scored three goals in those three minutes. Steel, another of the previous day’s stars, was pulled after 5:03, having allowed three goals on seven shots. His replacement, Marco De Filippo ’14, gave up three goals on 30 more shots.
“We kind of shot ourselves in the foot,” Naclerio said. “It’s hard to come back from that deficit so early.”
After the first-period storm passed, Bruno could not produce much offense, managing only 12 shots in the second period despite going on three power plays. Penalties continued to dog the team. Brown committed three more in the second but killed each off successfully.
“In the second and third, we couldn’t generate anything to come back,” said captain Dennis Robertson ’14.
Three more penalties in the third led to two more Yale goals, capping off a disappointing game for Brown. Though the Bears managed a win against a top-10 team, players said the loss left them disappointed with the weekend.
“We’re definitely not satisfied by any means,” Naclerio said.
Robertson wanted to move past the loss and has already set his sights on the team’s next two games, when the Bears face conference rivals No. 12 Cornell and Colgate. He called the upcoming games part of “another huge weekend.”
“We can’t sit and feel sorry for ourselves,” he said.
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