Mike Clemente '12 wasn't supposed to play much in last night's 4-3 loss to Providence College at Schneider Arena.
The Bears' goalie, who had started the team's first five regular-season games, was supposed to watch from the bench while Dan Rosen '10 got his first official start of the season in net. (Rosen started in an exhibition game in October.)
But just 1:24 after the puck dropped, Rosen suffered a game-ending groin injury and Clemente stepped in. By the final whistle, Clemente had let in four goals.
He said he wasn't fatigued and that he prepared for last night's game as he always does, even though he wasn't starting. But he also said it's tough to come into a game unexpectedly.
Barely two minutes after Clemente skated onto the ice, he let in the game's first goal. Providence defenseman Mark Fayne shot from the right point, and Clemente deflected the puck but couldn't corral the rebound. Sophomore wing Matt Bergland could, however, and he beat the Brown goalie to give the Friars a 1-0 lead.
"I didn't handle it correctly," Clemente said. "I should have tried to kick it to the corner. The guy made a good move."
Two of Providence's goals came off rebounds.
"You see the rebounds coming out, you want to crash the net hard," said junior Matt Germain, who scored two goals, one of which came on a put-back. "I mean, there's nothing better than getting a goal right on your tape from crashing the net hard."
Germain scored his first goal at 15:47 into the opening period when he received a cross-ice feed and one-timed it into the back of the net, giving Providence a 2-0 lead.
The Bears (0-5-1, 0-3-1 ECAC) got an opportunity midway through the second period when PC (6-3-0) took three consecutive penalties.
The Bears capitalized on a power play when Marc Senecal '13 sent a pass from behind the net through the crease and defenders to tri-captain Jordan Pietrus '10. The Bears' leading goal scorer one-timed the puck into a half-open net to cut the Friars' lead to 2-1.
But Providence regained its two-goal advantage 13:51 into the middle period when Kyle MacKinnon curled into the slot and fired a wrist shot through traffic. Ian O'Connor deflected the shot in for a goal.
The Friars then took a 4-1 lead 1:36 into the final frame on Germain's second goal, a put-back from point-blank range.
Midway through the third period, Chris Zaires '13 netted his second goal of the season to bring Brown back within two.
The score remained 4-2 until late in the period, but the game heated up when Brown Head Coach Brendan Whittet '94 decided to pull Clemente in favor of an extra attacker with more than four minutes remaining.
"To me, it doesn't matter if they score and they win 5-2. It's still a loss," Whittet said. "We pull the goalie at the end because we're trying to give the guys an opportunity to win."
They nearly did. With 1:11 remaining, Pietrus took the puck up from the left faceoff circle towards the blue line. A stride before he reached the point, Pietrus turned on the puck and whipped a shot at the goal. The puck beat Providence goalie Alex Beaudry glove-side, narrowing the deficit to 4-3.
With 50 seconds left, Clemente again vacated the goal, giving the Bears a six-on-five attacking advantage. But Brown could not find the back of the net, and the Bears skated off of the ice one goal short of a win.
"They play hard," Providence Head Coach Tim Army said of the Bears. "They work hard. And they're going to win some games."
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