Men's Ice Closes Out Six-Game Road Swing with Trip to St. Lawrence and Clarkson

Friday, January 22

7 pm

Brown University

St. Lawrence

Men's Ice Closes Out Six-Game Road Swing with Trip to St. Lawrence and Clarkson

1/22/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey

This Weekend: The Bears will play their fifth and sixth straight road contests this weekend, closing out a season-long road swing with this trip to the North Country. It has been a season of streaks for Brown, which will look to get back in the win column, having lost four straight games. The Bears opened the season with an eight game winless streak (0-7-1), before going on a five-game winning streak. Unfortunately, Brown's break for exams and the holidays came at just the wrong time, as the Bears are 0-4-0 since returning from break.

Last Time Out: Brown dropped an 8-5 decision to #5 Yale, closing out the regular-season home-and-home with its travel partner on Saturday night. The game was actually much closer than the final score would indicate, as the Bulldogs never led by more than two goals until the final tally, an empty net goal with 49 seconds left. The Bears hung with Yale for the entire game, answering every pivitol Bulldog goal with one of their own to keep the contest from getting out of reach. Sophomore Jack Maclellan led the Bears with 3 points (1g, 2a), while senior Aaron Volpatti (1g, 1a), sophomore Harry Zolnierczyk (1g, 1a), and sophomore Jeff Buvinow (2a) all had two points in the loss. Sophomore Mike Clemente notched 45 saves, two shy of tying his career high.

Coming Up: Having been on the road for the entire month of January and not hosted a game since December 8th, Brown returns home for a pair of League games against RPI and Union on January 29th and 30th next weekend. The games are the first of four straight at home for the Bears, who will host Harvard and Dartmouth the following weekend.

These Dates Historically Speaking: All-time, Brown is 4-3-1 in games played on January 22nd and 3-5-0 in games played on January 23rd. Brown is 1-2-0 in away games on the 22nd and 2-1-0 in away games on the 23rd.

Brown vs. St. Lawrence: Brown and St. Lawrence have met 68 times, with the Saints leading the all-time series, 37-23-8. 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 17-12-6 record, including a 9-7-3 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 5 points (4g, 1a) in five career games. However, all of those points came with McMonagle playing forward, which he has not played since mid-November.

Scouting St. Lawrence: The Saints are coming off a three-point weekend at home against Colgate (W, 4-0) and Cornell (T, 1-1). Friday's victory over Colgate came following a non-league split with Niagara (W, 7-2; L, 4-3), as St. Lawrence is 3-1-2 in its first six games of the 2010 calendar year. The Saints are led by freshman Kyle Flanagan, who has 19 points (5g, 14a) in 19 games and is ranked 5th in the nation in points per game among rookies. 10 other players have already reached double digits in scoring, including seniors Travis Vermeulen (9g, 9a) and Mike McKenzie (5g, 13a), who are tied for second on the team with 18 points. Senior Kain Tisi has seen the majority of time in net for St. Lawrence, having posted a 1.99 GAA and a .926 save % in 13 games. Senior Alex Petizian (8 games) and sophomore Robby Moss (7 games) have also seen action. Petizian has a 3.74 GAA and a .883 save %, while Moss has a 3.13 GAA and a .888 save %.

Brown vs. Clarkson: Brown and Clarkson have met 74 times, with the Golden Knights leading the all-time series, 55-13-6. 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 recent success, earning a 5-9-1 record. However, Clarkson has won seven straight games, sweeping last season's series by a 3-1 score in Potsdam and a 4-3 overtime win in Providence. Senior Aaron Volpatti is Brown's statistical leader against the Golden Knights with 3 points (2g, 1a) in five games.

Scouting Clarkson: The Golden Knights were swept at home by Cornell (3-1) and Colgate (6-2) last weekend and last won a game on January 8th, a 3-1 victory over Alabama-Huntsville. The win over Huntsville was Clarkson's fifth of the season and first since a 3-2 victory over Dartmouth on November 20th. The Golden Knights are led by senior Matt Beca, who has 22 points (12g, 10a) in 22 games. Junior Scott Freeman has also reached the 20-point plateau with 5 goals and 15 assists in 21 games. Five other players have reached double digits in scoring, while 17 players have tallied at least one point this season. Sophomore Paul Karpowich has seen the majority of time in net for Clarkson and has posted a 3.37 GAA and a .893 save percentage in 16 games. Sophomore Richie LaVeau has a 3.57 GAA and a .885 save percentage in seven games.

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