Despite the stellar play of several individuals, the men's hockey team struggled over the winter break, continuing what is now a 13-game winless streak. In the team's seven-game stretch dating back to Dec. 8, Devin Timberlake '10 has scored a team-high four goals, while assistant captain Jeff Prough '08 led the way with five assists.
Following an emphatic 8-0 Dec. 4 loss to Providence College, the Bears looked to rebound against Yale on Dec. 8. Timberlake notched his second goal of the year to break a scoreless tie 7:36 into the second period, but just 2:45 later the Bulldogs countered with a power play goal to tie the game. The score remained at 1-1 until the final minute of the game, when Yale found the net on a five-on-three advantage to seal the win over Brown, 2-1.
After a three-week break, the Bears traveled to Connecticut to compete in the Toyota UConn Hockey Classic. In their first round game against Ferris State University, Bruno came out strong, when just 2:11 into the game, Jordan Pietrus '10 picked up a loose puck in the slot and beat the goaltender to grab the early 1-0 lead. In the second period, Brown withstood two five-on-three advantages from the Bulldogs, but with 9:03 remaining in the period, with the Bears at full strength, Ferris State scored a breakaway goal to tie the game. Under five minutes later, Ferris State scored again to take a 2-1 lead. Brown, who was out-shot 41-19 in the game, failed to come up with an equalizer and took the loss despite a career-high 39 saves from goalie Mark Sibbald '09.
In the third-place game, the Bears fell behind against Army with five minutes left in the first period, but Dan Rosen '10 kept Bruno in the game with 30 saves, including a save on a break-away shot late in the first period, to hold Army's lead at only one goal. With just under nine minutes left in the game, Chris Poli '08 beat the Army goaltender for a wrap-around goal to force overtime. Neither team scored in the extra frame, and the game ended in a 1-1 tie.
On Jan. 5, Brown carried a 2-1 lead over Yale into the third period, after goals from Timberlake and Ryan Garbutt '09 erased an early 1-0 deficit. Once again, though, Bruno failed to protect its lead late in the game, allowing a Yale goal with just 1:08 remaining in regulation. In overtime, it took the Bulldogs just 51 seconds to find the net again for the 3-2 victory over Brown.
On Jan. 11, the Bears surrendered four goals to Quinnipiac University in the first period en route to a 6-3 home loss, and the next day told a similar story, when Princeton out-shot Brown 58-25 in a 6-2 loss for the Bears. One bright spot in those two games, however, was the play of David Brownschidle '11, who scored a goal in each game, giving him three goals on the season.
The Bears took the ice again on Sunday, with the start of the game moved up from 4 p.m. to 1 p.m., in order to allow fans to see both the hockey game and the American Football Conference Championship game between the Patriots and the Chargers.
In a tight game with Merrimack College, Brown suffered another frustrating loss, 4-3, in a game where the Bears held the lead twice. Garbutt got the scoring started 7:24 into the second period, but midway through the frame Merrimack found the net twice in a span of 2:10 to take the lead. The Bears struck back, though, as Pietrus tied the game on a power play goal with 5:44 left in the second period, and Timberlake scored on a man advantage, for his fifth goal of the year, to regain the lead at 6:17 into the final frame. But Brown's defense again faltered late in the game, allowing goals at 12:31 and again at 15:37, to give Merrimack the 4-3 win.
Brown is now 1-12-4, with a 1-6-3 record in Eastern College Athletic Conference Hockey League play. The team has not won a game since its 5-2 win over Colgate University on Nov. 9, but the Bears will look to change that when they head to upstate New York this weekend to face off against Cornell on Friday and Colgate on Saturday.
