Men's hockey Head Coach Brendan Whittet '94 said before this weekend that he didn't know who would win the starting goalie job this season. His decision didn't get any easier this weekend. Dan Rosen '10 and Mike Clemente '12, who each started a game this weekend, allowed just one goal between them.
Clemente got the start in the Bears' season opener at Princeton on Friday afternoon. After 60 minutes of play, he hadn't allowed a puck behind him. It took an overtime goal for Princeton to win, 1-0.
Rosen started against the University of Ontario Institute of Technology on Saturday, and had 10 saves without allowing a single goal in his 30 minutes in net. UOIT didn't score until Anthony Borelli '13 was in net and the Bears were ahead, 4-0.
"Michael Clemente played unbelievable against Princeton," Whittet said. "And I thought Danny Rosen played very, very well.
"It's up in the air as we move forward, he said. "I could see a rotation until somebody wins the job."
Princeton 1, Brown 0 (OT)
Princeton couldn't score in 60 minutes of regulation play Friday, but it took just 1:16 in overtime for Tyler Beachell to beat Clemente and win the game.
The goal came just five seconds after the Tigers got a power-play opportunity because of an interference penalty against Jesse Fratkin '11.
Princeton had only one more shot than Brown during the game, and it was the 32nd one that Clemente couldn't turn away. Princeton goalie Zane Kalemba, who led the ECAC in save percentage last season, posted a shutout with 31 saves.
Princeton got out to a 10-2 shot advantage in the first period, but the Tigers didn't dominate play, as the Bears spent much of the opening frame with the puck in the Tigers' zone.
Although the Tigers couldn't beat Clemente in the opening period, they had a number of chances in the center of Brown's zone. The puck crossed the slot in front of Brown's goal three times in the first period, but no Tigers were there to finish it.
The closest they came was when Mark Magnowski one-timed the puck in the slot, but Clemente turned it away with under five minutes left in the period.
Clemente got another scare at the start of the middle frame, when Tiger Sam Sabky wound up with a slap-shot from the left point. The puck went past Clemente, off the inside of the post and out of the goal.
Princeton kept Clemente busy at the beginning of the third period, but the Bears withstood the siege and came back to regain a 12-10 shot advantage in the frame.
Neither team could get the go-ahead goal in the final minutes of regulation, sending the game into overtime. It didn't take Princeton long to score in the extra period, giving the Tigers a win on their season opener.
The season-opening game, played outside of the normal ECAC schedule, does not count in the conference standings but will count as an official game in both teams' overall records.
Brown 6, UOIT 1
Brown scored 25 seconds into the exhibition game on Saturday, and the game was never close again. By the end of the game, six different players had notched a goal for the Bears.
Brown's first goal came when tri-captain Devin Timberlake '10 passed across the crease to Chris Zaires '13, who one-timed it into the net for his first collegiate goal on the Bears' opening shift of the night.
"That was a great first shift, but we didn't play how we wanted to play in that first period," said tri-captain Aaron Volpatti '10. "I think we improved as the game went on."
Brown pulled away to a 2-0 lead by the end of the first period despite getting only three shots on goal.
UOIT outshot the Bears, 7-3, in the opening frame, but Brown controlled the puck for most of the period.
Whittet said he thought his team came out slow, but played better in the last two periods.
"Our guys just thought it was going to be easy, they thought it was an exhibition game," he said. "I don't think they had the feeling that there needed to be that intensity. And I want it. I want that intensity, and I want that passion, and that drive — every, every shift."
UOIT got only six shots off in the final two periods, one of which was a one-timer that beat Roselli.
With a 3-0 lead entering the third period, the Bears didn't let up, and ended the game ahead 6-1.
"It was great because it went 60 minutes," UOIT Head Coach Marlin Muylaert said.
But the final period was plagued by whistles, as the teams took a combined total of 16 penalties.
"I just felt that the officials were going to be really relentless in making sure that we were going to be the team always shorthanded," Muylaert said.
UOIT took 15 penalties in the game for 38 minutes, compared to Brown's 12 penalties for 40 minutes. Whittet said he thought the officiating was "great."
The Bears will return to the ice next weekend, when they will face Union and RPI in on a two-game road trip.
ADVERTISEMENT
