Men's Hockey Blanks Holy Cross in Physical Non-Conference Opener

Friday, November 25

Providence, R.I.

2 p.m.

Brown University

2-6-1

Holy Cross

2-12-1

Holy Cross

Brown

Photo by: Emma C. Marion

Men's Hockey Blanks Holy Cross in Physical Non-Conference Opener

11/25/2022 5:44:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey

Box Score Photo Gallery

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The Brown Bears (2-6-1, 1-6-1 ECAC) opened non-conference play with a 3-0 home shutout win over the Holy Cross Crusaders (2-12-1, 2-7-1 AHA) Friday afternoon at Meehan Auditorium.

Sophomore goaltender Mathieu Caron recorded a 24-save shutout to pick up the victory.

"A win is good for the morale as I think we've worked really, really hard in a lot of these games and just haven't been rewarded," said head coach Brendan Whittet '94. "We've been very close and tonight we were able to get over the hump. We got really good goaltending from Caron, he gives us an opportunity to win and today he gave us an opportunity to get out of that first period even and find a way to put a little more energy into the team."

Brown and Holy Cross went scoreless in the opening frame with each team killing off a minor penalty.

Caron made a stellar save against Jack Ricketts with six minutes remaining in the second to keep the game scoreless. Defenseman James Crossman swatted a rebound attempt to safety to save a goal.

Nathan Plessis was assessed a minor penalty late in the second period with the game stll scoreless, but a Holy Cross retaliation made it 4-on-4 for two minutes and Ryan Bottrill struck for the afternoon's first goal with 1:13 remaining in the period, wiring a drop pass from Samuli Niinisaari past Crusader goaltender Thomas Gale (23 saves).

Luke Krys doubled Brown's lead 1:26 into the third with a wrist shot off a feed from Matt Sutton for his first of the season.

Holy Cross pulled Gale from goal with nearly five minutes remaining in the third looking for two goals to tie the game. Sutton picked off a Crusader pass in the neutral zone and rifled a shot on goal with Gale leaving the net for the extra attacker. Gale was unable to recover following the Holy Cross turnover as Sutton's shot hit the back of the net to make it 3-0 Bears.

GAME NOTES

Sutton's goal and assist mark his second career multi-point game and first of the 2022-23 season.
Caron recorded his third career shutout and first of the 2022-23 season.
Brown was assessed six minor penalties compared to seven for Holy Cross. Neither team struck on the power play with Brown finishing 0-for-4 and Holy Cross finishing 0-for-3.
Holy Cross held a slight advantage at the faceoff dot, winning 34-of-62 draws (54.8%).

"It sets up a nice Saturday where we play for a trophy in the Mayor's Cup. Providence is an unbelievably good hockey team and they're well-coached, they're hard, and they're heavy," Whittet added on PC. "We're going to have to be on top of our game and any time you play for a trophy we want to make sure that we come out on top."

Brown travels across town to take on the eighth-ranked Providence College Friars (8-2-3, 6-0-3 HEA) tomorrow night at Schneider Arena. The annual Mayor's Cup battle is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. and will stream on ESPN+.

Gallery: (11-25-2022) MHockey vs. Holy Cross (11/25/22)

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