A dominant third period gave the men's hockey team a 5-2 win over Colgate University on Friday night, but penalties plagued the team Saturday in a 4-1 loss to Cornell. The Bears now have a 1-2-2 overall record and are 1-1-2 in ECAC Hockey after their only two home games of the fall semester.
In Friday's game, Brown and Colgate headed into the third period with the score tied at two, but forward Aaron Volpatti '10 made a play to give the Bears the lead with 12:01 remaining in the game. Taking a pass from David Robertson '08, Volpatti beat his defender and buried a shot in the right corner of the net for his first goal of the season, giving the Bears a 3-2 lead.
With 6:15 left in the game, Sean Muncy '09 scored a wrap-around goal to increase the lead to 4-2, and in the final minute of the game, Brown took advantage of an empty-net situation when Ryan Garbutt '09 put in a goal to make the final score 5-2.
"When you jump up by a goal, the pressure shifts," said Head Coach Roger Grillo. "We had some opportunities, and we capitalized on them. That was the difference in the game."
Brown struggled early on against Colgate. Just 8:22 into the game, David McIntyre beat goaltender Dan Rosen '10 to put the Raiders up 1-0. But 4:31 later, defenseman Paul Baier '08 sent a wrist shot toward the net and it got past the Colgate goaltender to tie the game.
Early in the second period, the Bears found themselves on a power play and they did not let the opportunity go to waste. Only eight seconds into the power play, forward Devin Timberlake '10 found the back of the net, assisted by Muncy and Robertson, to give Bruno its first lead of the game. Then, with 9:52 remaining in the period, Colgate's Peter Bogdanich deflected a shot from teammate Jason Fredricks into the goal to tie the game.
In the third period, the Bears dominated the puck possession, out-shooting the Raiders 17-7 and scoring three unanswered goals.
"We played to our strengths well. We're a little bit more physical than we've been in the past, and we have good team speed, and we used it well," Grillo said. "We were forechecking well and had good possession."
The next game told a different story, though, when Cornell scored three power play goals en route to a 4-1 victory over Brown.
Despite a 9-4 shot advantage in the first period, the Bears were unable to score. But Brown also killed two Cornell power plays to keep the score even.
In the second period, Brown capitalized on its first power-play opportunity of the night, when Garbutt scored a goal from the right face-off circle, assisted by Sean McMonagle '10 and Chris Poli '08.
The Big Red benefited from two power plays of their own in the second period, finding the back of the net at 12:25 and again with 24 seconds left in the period, to grab a 2-1 lead heading into the final frame.
In the third period, Brown dominated Cornell on shots on goal, by an advantage of 14-6, but could not get the equalizer, despite several great opportunities.
"We had a couple great scoring chances, and we didn't put it home," Grillo said. "I felt like we dominated play for the most part on Saturday night, but ended up on the back end of a loss."
With 3:44 left in the game, the Big Red once again took advantage of another Brown penalty to add another goal, and the final goal came two minutes later with an empty net.
"We took too many dumb penalties," Muncy said. "When we're playing five-on-five, we're great, but when we're down a man it's hard to get any momentum."
Brown will look to rebound from the loss when it faces St. Lawrence University and Clarkson University, both ECAC opponents, on the road this weekend.
"I think we have a pretty nice squad," Grillo said. "Our consistency's got to be there, and we need to play with a greater sense of urgency. But I'm pleased with the attitude, and we've come a long way in the mentality aspect."
