Brown Women's Hockey Season Preview
10/21/2021
Coach Melanie Ruzzi on the New Season
After a layoff of 610 days since their last game, the Brown women's ice hockey program will drop the puck on the 2021-22 season this weekend, with a pair of home games against Penn State. Backed by an entirely new coaching staff, eight returners and 16 underclassmen who have yet to play a collegiate game, the Bears are excited for their long-awaited return to the ice.
“We've spent the majority of this preseason shaping our identity," said first year head coach Melanie Ruzzi. "It's a whole new team. We missed a whole year last year so we've been shaping our identity, who we are as a team and what that will look like.
“The ECAC is the toughest and deepest conference for women's hockey," Ruzzi said. "Every weekend we need to be prepared. Last year was a non-starter for all but four teams in our conference, so we're all heading into this year after a year off. I think early in the season we're just focusing on us and being the best version of ourselves that we can possibly be, and being competitive in every game. Penn State is the top team in the CHA and they have six games under their belt already, so opening weekend will be a real test. Everything is new, but also exciting and everyone has a lot of intense energy."
Meeting the New Staff
First year head coach Melanie Ruzzi takes over behind the bench this season for Brown. Ruzzi comes to College Hill after a successful two years as an assistant coach at Princeton, where she helped lead the Tigers to a program record 26 wins in 2019-20 and win their first ever ECAC Tournament title. No stranger to Providence, Ruzzi also spent six seasons as the associate head coach at her alma mater, Providence College, where she graduated in 2003 and earned Hockey East Honorable Mention accolades as well as national all-academic honors.
Justin Simpson will serve as an assistant coach after coming over from RIT, where he was an assistant for the 2020-21 season. Previously, he served as an assistant at Colby College and also spent five years on staff at Providence.
Makenna Newkirk also joins the Bears staff as an assistant for this season. A four-year standout at Boston College, Newkirk was the 2016 Hockey East Rookie of the Year and was voted the conference's Best Defensive Forward in 2019. She helped BC to a national championship game appearance, win two Hockey East Tournament titles and thee Beanpots. She graduated in 2019 fifth on the program's career points list with 189.
Outlook by Position
CAPTAINS:
The Bears will be captained by senior Shay Maloney in 2021-22. Maloney has served as an assistant captain each of the last two seasons. Brown will also have three assistant captains in senior Tina Paolillo, senior Haley Kliczko and sophomore Madie Stockfish.
OFFENSE:
The Bears return seven upperclassmen from their 2019-20 squad, including four of their top five scorers. Senior captain Shay Maloney is back to help lead the offense after leading the Bears in points and tying for the team lead in goals two seasons ago. As a rookie in 2018-19, Maloney scored seven goals, had a team-high 11 assists and was second on the squad with 18 points. Tina Paolillo tied for the team lead with six goals in 2019-20 while fifth year grad student Megan Forrest and senior Lizzy Gross tied for third on the squad in points.
“Our seniors make a huge difference," Ruzzi said. "Shay is not only our captain, but the way she goes is the way the whole team goes. She is someone that people should be aware of and she's looking to have an incredible senior season. Tina (Paolillo) is another senior who will do anything you ask her to do. She'll block shots, she plays incredibly hard, she's fast and all over the puck.
“We have some very talented young kids who are learning the Division I game, but they're going to contribute right away,” Ruzzi said. "Anna Gallagher, Anna Hurd, Maya Mangiafico, Anna Shelden are among them. There's a really good crop of young players that we'll see what they can do at this level, but there are high expectations there."
DEFENSE:
The Bears return two upperclass defensemen in senior Mel Anderson and junior Eva Durandeau, who appeared in 27 and 25 games, respectively in 2019-20.
“Mel Anderson is our senior and she's someone that works very, very hard,” Ruzzi said. “Her effort is always going to be there. We also have some young defenders that have emerged as being really skilled and pretty smart in terms of their defensive play. Meadow Carman, who was on campus last year is one, along with a true freshman Cameron Sikich. Those two are really standing out as being leaders of the defensive position.”
GOALTENDING:
Senior assistant captain Hayley Kliczko is the Bears lone returning goaltender with collegiate experience, having made 11 appearances, including eight starts between the pipes in 2019-20. She will be joined this season by sophomore Kaley Doyle and freshman Grace Kedziora.
“Hayley is someone we will lean on early on, but I think both Kaley and Grace are very talented. You'll probably see each of our goalies contribute in different ways,” Ruzzi said.
The Schedule
Brown will open up the regular season with four straight home games, starting with two matchups against reigning CHA regular season champion Penn State on Saturday, October 23 and Sunday, October 24. The team's first ECAC matchup will come in its next game on Friday, Oct. 29 against Quinnipiac.
In total, Brown will play 29 games, including seven against non-conference opponents. The complete schedule can be viewed here.
