The men’s hockey team was unable to snap its losing streak this weekend, falling to Dartmouth Friday and No. 3 Harvard Saturday by tallies of 5-4 and 6-0, respectively.
Friday night, Bruno (4-21-2, 3-16-1 ECAC) was unable to maintain an early two-goal lead over Dartmouth (10-14-3, 7-11-2) acquired in the first three and a half minutes of play. Brent Beaudoin ’20 scored twice in the third stanza, but the Bears could not close the three-goal deficit posted by the Big Green.
“Sometimes when you get a lead right off the bat, you have a tendency to relax,” said Head Coach Brendan Whittet ’94. “We relaxed and let Dartmouth dictate and get back into the game.”
Tyler Bird ’18 and Sam Lafferty ’18 opened scoring with one goal apiece in the first frame. Bird sent a shot towards goaltender Devin Buffalo that found the back of the net after deflecting off a defenseman at 1:09. Zach Giuttari ’20 and Ben Tegtmeyer ’18 each picked up assists on the play. Two minutes later, Lafferty slotted the puck past Buffalo off a volley of passes with Max Willman ’18.
Dartmouth tied it up at two by the end of the first frame before notching another three consecutive goals in the second and third periods for a 5-2 advantage going into the final ten minutes. Bruno fell victim to the Big Green’s power play twice, conceding goals to Grant Opperman and Troy Crema. Opperman sent three shots past Gavin Nieto ’20 for the hat trick before Tim Ernst ’17 took to the crease halfway through the contest.
“We came out real well and then kind of got away from our game a little bit,” Beaudoin said. “We don’t want to be playing from behind … we’ve got to come out ready.”
Beaudoin fired a shot past Buffalo off a setup from Tyler Wood ’17 at 12:53 in the third period, narrowing the deficit. After the Bears pulled Ernst for the extra skater with three and a half minutes remaining, Beaudoin scored off assists from Josh McArdle ’18 and Lafferty for his second of the evening. Bird made a last minute attempt to even the tally, but the crossbar preserved the score.
“The resolve’s good — the urgency is good when we’re down,” Whittet said. “I just don’t know why we have to wait until we’re down in order to play with that energy.”
The following night saw Brown honor its departing seniors in its final contest at Meehan this season. Zack Pryzbek ’17, Davey Middleton ’17, Andrew Doane ’17, Aleksi Rossi ’17, Wood and Ernst started against the Crimson, instead of the previous day’s lineup that featured Willman, Lafferty, Charlie Corcoran ’18, Joe Maguire ’20, McArdle and Nieto.
No. 3 Harvard (20-5-2, 14-4-2) posted three goals in the opening 20 minutes Saturday, slotting the puck past Ernst 28 seconds into the game for the early advantage. After Brown replaced Ernst with Nieto in the crease at the beginning of the second stanza, the Crimson scored another three unanswered goals to widen its lead to six in the third. Ernst made 12 saves before giving way to Nieto, who stopped 16 shots in the loss. Harvard outshot Brown 34-23 in the contest.
“We just need people to start shooting more,” Beaudoin said. “What it comes down to is having the confidence to take a shot when you’re in a certain area instead of passing it off.”
The Bears are currently missing three key defensemen — Max Gottlieb ’19, Brady Schoo ’19 and Connor Wynne ’19 — due to injuries. Forward Tommy Marchin ’19 is also out for the remainder of the season with a broken hand.
“Those three defensemen can all move the puck out of our zone,” Whittet said. “We just seem to get hemmed in way too much.”
“Zone time is going to lead to offensive opportunities,” he added.
The Bears are nearing the end of their season, with one weekend remaining before the ECAC playoffs. “We’re going to be good in playoffs,” Beaudoin said. “We just need to keep our head high and play our game.”
The Bears close out their season this weekend with visits to Princeton and Quinnipiac.
