Last week, Sean Morey '99 and Mark Whipple '79 were the targets of the Brown national sports spotlight when the Pittsburgh Steelers won Super Bowl XL. This weekend, the focus will shift to the University's five alums - all women's ice hockey players - competing in the Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy which kick off this weekend.
Goaltender Pam Dreyer '03 (Eagle River, Alaska), forward Kim Insalaco '03 (Rochester, N.Y.), forward Kathleen Kauth '01 (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.) and forward Katie King '97 (Salem, N.H.) will play for Team USA, while defenseman Becky Kellar '97 will play for Team Canada.
King is the only one of these five with previous Olympic experience, having played for the United States in 1998 and 2002, tallying 15 points. She is one of the most decorated athletes to have played on College Hill, winning Ivy League Player of the Year twice in both hockey and softball. The other four all have international experience but will be making their Olympic debuts.
In case the Brown connection isn't enough of a reason for you to watch, there's also a budding rivalry between Team USA and Team Canada, who both played in the last two gold medal games at the Olympics and are the odds-on favorites to do so again. The Americans emerged victorious in Nagano in 1998 to win the sport's first gold medal, but the Canadians got their revenge by winning in Salt Lake City in 2002. Team USA beat Canada in the 2005 World Championships, but our northern neighbors won six of the eight pre-Olympic warm-up games between the two teams.
Both teams begin their quest for gold tomorrow. Team USA squares off with Switzerland at noon, followed by Team Canada's game against Italy at 2:30.
Hartigan '06 at homeLooks like someone finally found what it took to keep Nick Hartigan '06 out of the classroom: The much-lauded running back is spending the semester at home in Virginia preparing for the National Football League, having already earned enough credits to graduate in May.
Hartigan's move is not unprecedent-ed. Chas Gessner '03, the program's last NFL prospect, took a similar route in his senior year. The All-American wide receiver did not play his senior season of lacrosse, instead spending the semester training with a strength specialist and taking independent study classes.
Risky business without RuscoeMen's basketball tri-captain Luke Ruscoe '06 confirmed earlier this week that his injured ankle is broken and will need surgery. Ruscoe will attempt to rehab the ankle and return in a few weeks, but one wonders if he should even bother.
Without Ruscoe, Brown now lacks a player that has ever averaged double-digit scoring over an entire season. Damon Huffman '08 and Sam Manhanga '07 have both averaged 8.4 per game, the most among the remaining players, but Manhanga is also hurt and will probably miss this weekend's games. Huffman currently leads the Bears with 10.2 points per game.
More importantly, the team lacks a senior. While the team's chances at an Ivy League crown were already nil with a 2-4 record, this announcement more or less officially gave this season the dreaded "rebuilding" tag. Now Brown fans can only sit back and hop e for an upset of Penn or Princeton at home the last weekend of the season to make things interesting.
NBR digs the long ballAs hinted at above, this spring holds promise for the baseball team. Now, outfielder Paul Christian '06 has been named to the first team of Northeast Baseball Review's Northeast Corridor Team.
Eleven players from the America East, Atlantic-10, Big East, Colonial Athletic Association, Ivy League, Metro Atlantic Athletic, Northeast and Patriot League Conferences were chosen for the first and second teams.
Christian, whose towering home runs have been known to terrorize neighbors living on Arlington Avenue across from Aldrich Dexter Field, ranked in the top six in the Ivy League with a .355 batting average, eight home runs, 38 RBIs and 43 runs scored last season. He will move from second base to the outfield this spring after undergoing Tommy John surgery in the offseason.
Hayes '06, gymnasts this week's award winnersGuard Sarah Hayes '06 of the women's basketball team was named a second team District I Academic All-American by the College Sports Information Directors of America. Currently third in the Ivy League at 14.8 points and first with 2.9 steals per game, Hayes is double concen-trating in psychology and history with a 3.43 grade point average. No word on what her GPA would be with pluses and minuses.
Brittany Anderson '09 won the ECAC's Rookie of the Week for gymnastics for the second consecutive week, hitting career bests in every event and scoring a 38 in the all-around on Sunday against Cortland State University. Rachel Foodman '09 also earned weekly honors, when she was named Specialist of the Week for getting the team's top score in the floor exercise on Saturday in a loss to Cornell and getting the top mark in the vault on Sunday.
As the only Salem, N.H. resident on campus, Sports Editor Chris Hatfield '06 always has some 6-0-3 love for Katie King for reppin' his hometown and soon-to-be alma mater.
