Bears Host Clarkson and St. Lawrence in Final Regular Season Home Weekend; Seniors to be Recognized Saturday

This Weekend: The Bears close out the home portion of the regular season with a pair of games against Clarkson and St. Lawrence. Brown will look to rebound after a tough weekend in central New York, during which Brown lost a close game to #6 Cornell, 5-3, and fell to Colgate, 6-2. The Bears are still in the hunt for home ice in the playoffs, though they have a lot of work do to, as they are four points out of eighth place with four games remaining.

Last Time Out: The Bears were swept by #6 Cornell (5-3) and Colgate (6-2) last weekend, stretching their winless streak to five games (0-3-2), dating back to a 4-3 overtime win over RPI on January 29th. Brown was led by four different players, who all had two points over the weekend, three of whom had one point in both games. Senior Aaron Volpatti and freshman Chris Zaires both scored against the Big Red and had an assist against the Raiders, while sophomore Jack Maclellan had an assist in each game. Sophomore Jeff Buvinow recorded a pair of assists against Cornell. Sophomore Mike Clemente made 33 saves against the Big Red, while freshman Anthony Borelli earned the start against Colgate and recorded 19 saves, before being relieved by Clemente, who stopped eight in just under 15 minutes of action. The Bears were within two pipes of beating the Big Red and had late chances in what was a 4-3 game until Cornell scored an empty-net goal with .1 seconds remaining.

Coming Up: The Bears will close out the regular season with a trip to Quinnipiac and Princeton next weekend. Depending on their results this weekend against Clarkson and St. Lawrence, Saturday’s game against Princeton, which is currently one point ahead of Brown in the standings, could have seeding implications for the post-season.

These Dates Historically Speaking: All-time, Brown is 8-12-1 in games played on February 19th and 8-8-1 in games played on February 20th. Brown is 5-2-0 in home games on the 19th and 6-1-1 in home games on the 20th. Brown and Clarkson have met one other time on February 19th, a 5-2 Brown win in 2005. Brown and St. Lawrence have met one other time on February 20th, a 4-0 St. Lawrence victory in 2004.

Brown vs. Clarkson: Brown and Clarkson have met 75 times, with the Golden Knights leading the all-time series, 55-14-6. Brown won the first meeting, 6-5, in a neutral site game played at St. Lawrence on 12/20/52. Clarkson dominated Brown in the early part of the series, winning 13 straight games from 1981-1987 and going 21-0-5 from 3/7/92-11/30/01. Since the 2001 game, Brown has found some success, earning a 6-9-1 record. The Bears snapped a seven-game winless streak against the Golden Knights with a 3-2 victory in Potsdam on 1/23/10, their first victory over Clarkson since 11/11/05. Senior Sean McMonagle is Brown’s statistical leader against the Golden Knights with four points (1g, 3a) in six career games, while seniors Aaron Volpatti (2g, 1a) and Devin Timberlake (1g, 2a), and sophomore Jeff Buvinow (1g, 2a) all have three career points against Clarkson.

Scouting Clarkson: The Golden Knights are coming off a weekend sweep of Princeton (4-3) and Quinnipiac (4-1), wins that snapped an eight-game losing streak and a nine-game winless streak. Clarkson is in 12th place in the league standings but a pair of wins this weekend would move them up one spot.  Clarkson is led by senior Matt Beca, who has 30 points (16g, 14a), including four power play goals, in 30 games. Junior Scott Freeman has also reached at least 20 points and is second on the team with 21 points (6g, 15a) in 29 games. Six other players have reached double digits in scoring, while an additional 12 players have posted at least one point. Sophomore Paul Karpowich has played the majority of time in net this season and has a 3.70 GAA and .889 save percentage in 24 games (1298:49). Sophomore Richie LaVeau has played in 10 games (486:15) and has a 3.33 GAA with a .895 save percentage.

Brown vs. St. Lawrence: Brown and St. Lawrence have met 69 times, with the Saints leading the all-time series, 38-23-8. St. Lawrence won the very first meeting, 6-3, on 12/19/52. In the early part of the series, St. Lawrence dominated Brown, winning eight straight games from 1981-1985 and going 10-0-2 from 2/13/87-1/9/93. Since the 1993 game, Brown has earned a 17-13-6 record, including a 9-8-3 record since the 2001-2002 season. In addition, Brown has also earned at least one point against the Saints in each of the past 17 seasons, winning at least one game in 13 of the past 17 years. Last season, Brown earned a 2-2 tie in Canton, while St. Lawrence came away with a 6-1 win in Providence. Senior Sean McMonagle is Brown’s statistical leader against the Saints with 6 points (5g, 1a) in six career games, while senior Devin Timberlake adds 1-2-3 totals in six career games.

Scouting St. Lawrence: The Saints are in the midst of a four-game skid, having gone 0-2-2 in their last four games, including a 5-0 loss to Quinnipiac and a 2-2 tie with Princeton last weekend. St. Lawrence enters Friday night’s game at Yale in search of its first win since a 3-2 overtime victory at Colgate on January 30th. St. Lawrence is led by senior Travis Vermeulen, who has 29 points (14g, 15a) in 31 games. Two other players, senior Mike McKenzie (7g, 16a)  and freshman Kyle Flanagan (5g, 16a) have scored at least 20 points, while nine other Saints have reached double digits in scoring and an additional 11 players have tallied at least one point. Senior Kain Tisi has seen the majority of time in net this season, posting a 2.32 GAA and .917 save percentage in 20 games (1088:02). Senior Alex Petizian and sophomore Robby Moss have played in nine and seven games, respectively. Petizian has a 3.47 GAA and .896 save percentage, while Moss has a 3.13 GAA and .888 save percentage.

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Pictured: Jack Maclellan ’12. Photo by DSPics.com.