On Saturday night, the men’s ice hockey team (4-16-0, 3-9-0 ECAC) braved the winter storm and traveled to Boston to fight their own icy battle against Stonehill (5-16-2, Independent). Two goals by Ivan Zadvernyuk ’28 pushed the game to overtime, but the Bears ultimately fell 3-2 to the Skyhawks.
“We did a lot of good things tonight, but it’s hard for us to get over the hump,” Head Coach Brendan Whittet ’94 told Brown Athletics. “We need to find a way to consistently do the right things.”
With around a month of play left in the regular season, the Bears currently stand at 10th place in the Eastern College Athletic Conference standings.
Following back-to-back defeats against Rensselaer and Union, the Bears entered the Boston arena eager to bounce back against a prime non-conference rival. Bruno brought the energy and intensity from the very beginning, tallying two shots in the first three minutes.
But Stonehill refused to roll over, outshooting Brown 11-3 over the next six minutes. Goalie Tyler Shea ’26 successfully fended off the onslaught, refusing to let eight of the Skyhawks’ attempted shots into the net.
Eight minutes into the period, the Bears committed a critical penalty. Playing with a one-man advantage, Stonehill seized the opportunity, splitting the defense with a dangerous pass to set up Joel Lehtinen to score the first goal of the game.
But the Bears found their claws soon after, winning a faceoff and tried for a comeback. Matthew Desiderio ’29 sent a shot wide, and another attempt by Charlie Gollob ’28 was blocked by Stonehill’s defense. The team’s third try was the charm when they struck successfully just two minutes after Stonehill’s tally.
Leo Schwartz ’28 sent a pass behind the net to Gollob, who scanned the ice to find Zadvernyuk open enough to fire a shot. As the Skyhawks scrambled to defend, Zadvernyuk sent the puck flying toward the back of the net, tying the game 1-1 and tallying his fourth goal of the season.
“Our team was getting a lot of scoring chances, and what helped to score the most was getting quick shots on goal from around the opponent’s net,” Zadvernyuk wrote in an email to the Herald.
For the remainder of the first period, the game remained at a stalemate. Bruno picked up speed in the second period, with a whopping 33 shots to the Skyhawks’ 21. But 11 minutes into the third period, Stonehill pulled ahead 2-1, and it looked as though the Bears’ time was running out.
With the final whistle approaching, Brown once again pulled through. Tanner Hartman ’26 fed the puck to Zadvernyuk, whose hot hands could not keep from scoring. Zadvernyuk smoothly notched his second goal of the game to even the score 2-2 and send the game to overtime.
“I give our guys credit; we found a way to respond,” Whittet told Brown Athletics. “I thought Zadvernyuk’s line played great. They were a threat every time they were on the ice; they moved their feet, and they did a lot of really good things.”
With both teams fighting for a walk-off goal in a five-minute 3-on-3 overtime period, the game heated up quickly — Brown tallied three shots to Stonehill’s one in around the first minute and a half of overtime.
But two minutes into overtime, the Skyhawks were the first to find the back of the net. A one-timer fired by Evan Orr sailed past Shea and sent the Bears packing with a disappointing 3-2 loss.
“Right now, we’re finding ways to beat ourselves and make critical mistakes at critical times,” Whittet told Brown Athletics. “It can’t be self-fulfilling every weekend where we play well enough to be around the game, but falter in those critical moments.”
The team will look to bounce back this weekend at home in Meehan Auditorium as they face Colgate (9-13-2, 6-5-1 ECAC) Friday at 7 p.m. and Cornell (14-5-0, 9-3-0 ECAC) Saturday at 5 p.m.
