Men's Hockey Opens Season with Weekend Series at Air Force

Friday, October 31

USAF Academy, CO

9 p.m.

Brown University

Air Force

Photo by: Sage Hurteau

Men's Hockey Opens Season with Weekend Series at Air Force

10/30/2025 3:50:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey

Game Notes

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The Brown Bears open the 2025-26 season with a trip west to take on the Air Force Academy Cadets (1-4-1, 0-2-0 AHA) on Friday (Oct. 31) and Saturday (Nov. 1) night in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Puck drop is set for 9 p.m. on Friday and 7 p.m. on Saturday, both times are Eastern. The games will not be streamed; the Air Force radio call is available both nights.

Brown finished eighth in the ECAC standings a season ago to host an Opening Round playoff game for the first time since 2019. Brown took a 3-2 win over Princeton to advance to the ECAC Quarterfinals.

The Bears finished 2024-25 with 14 wins, the most since the 2018-19 season.

SCOUTING THE CADETS

Air Force enters the weekend with a 1-4-1 overall record and 0-2-0 Atlantic Hockey mark. The Cadets most recently fell in consecutive games at RIT to open conference play.
Earlier in the season, Air Force earned weekend split with St. Thomas and skated to a 1-1 tie against fifth-ranked Denver.
Sam Stitz leads the team with six points in six games and is tied for second on the team with two goals.
Will Dawson leads Air Force with three goals and Nick Sajevic leads the team with five assists.
Between the pipes, Carter Clafton has made five starts and holds a .886 save percentage and 4.00 goals against average. Dominik Wasik owns an .895 save percentage an 3.70 goals against average in one start (three appearances).
The Air Force power play has struggled to open the season with just one man-advantage goal in 18 attempts.
The penalty kill clicks at 76.2% (16-21) through six games.
At the faceoff dot, Air Force ranks 42nd nationally at 47.3%.

INSIDE THE SERIES

The season-opening weekend marks the 12th and 13th meetings between Brown and Air Force in a series dating back to 1986.
The Bears hold a 6-2-3 all-time record against the Cadets but Air Force is 2-1-1 at home against Brown.
The teams renewed the series last November for the first time since 1997 with Brown earning a win and a tie.

THE CAPTAINS

Senior Ryan St. Louis and junior Alex Pineau captain the Bears in 2025-26.
They are the 116th and 117th captains in program history.

THE ASSISTANTS

Senior Zackary Tonelli and sophomore Brian Nicholas will serve as the assistant captains in 2025-26.

THE FORWARDS

Brown's roster features 16 forwards in 2025-26 split between 11 returners and five newcomers.
Ryan St. Louis led the Bears in scoring in 2024-25 with 29 points in 23 games. He tallied 11 goals and 18 assists along with six game-winning goals, the most in a single-season in program history.
Brian Nicholas recorded 11 goals and 14 assists for 25 points in 28 games in 2024-25. It marked the seventh-most points and eighth-most points by a freshman in program history.
Sophomores Ivan Zadvernyuk and Charlie Gollob both return after posting 10 and nine points as rookies a season ago.
The newcomers are split between transfers Ben Poitras (Northeastern) and Michael Salandra (Quinnipiac) and freshmen Matthew Cataldo, Trip Pendy, and Brendan Tighe.

THE DEFENSE

Brown has nine defensemen on the roster in 2025-26 split between six returners and three incoming freshmen.
Juniors Alex Pineau and Ethan Mistry both played in all 32 games a season ago and senior Nick Traggio appeared in 26 games on the blue line.
Pineau finished 2024-25 as the leading scorer among defensemen and was fifth on the team with 16 points (7 goals, 9 assists).
Mistry collected two goals and 10 assists for 12 points in 2024-25.
Sophomores Jack Hewitt, Leo Schwartz, and Tristan Zarsky also return for the Bears in 2025-26.
Ashton Bynum, Matt Desiderio, and Owen Dyer make up the incoming freshmen on the blue line.
Brown boasts a big group of defensemen with 8-of-9 standing at six feet or taller and an average weight over 200 pounds among all nine blue-liners.

THE GOALTENDERS

Senior Tyler Shea and junior Ryan Kazmouz return for the Bears in 2025-26.
Shea posted a .935 save percentage and 2.02 goals against average in six appearances last year with four starts.
The Stevenson Ranch, California native recorded 35 saves in a 3-2 loss against #19 Quinnipiac and 40 saves in a 2-0 loss to #5 Providence College last season.
Fred Halyk joins the returning duo as a junior in 2025-26. Halyk spent the last two seasons at the University of Denver and posted a .915 save percentage and 2.08 goals against average in nine games in 2024-25.

THE 2024-25 SEASON

Brown posted a 14-15-3 overall record and 9-11-2 ECAC mark in 2024-25. The Bears finished eighth in the ECAC standings to host a First Round playoff game for the first time since 2019.
The Bears took a 3-2 win over Princeton at Meehan Auditorium in the ECAC First Round game to advance to the ECAC Quarterfinals, ultimately falling to Quinnipiac.
Notably, Brown earned season sweeps over Clarkson and St. Lawrence in the same season for the first time in program history. It marked the first road sweep in the North Country since 2002 and the third in program history.
Brown also compiled a five-game win streak in January with victories over St. Lawrence, Clarkson, Merrimack, Stonehill, and Rensselaer. It marked the first five-game winning streak since the 2009-10 season and just the seventh for the program dating back to the start of the 1977-78 season.

2025-26 NON-CONS

Brown takes on seven non-conference opponents over eight games in 2025-26 beginning with the weekend series at Air Force to open the season.
The Bears face familiar foes in Northeastern, Providence College, Merrimack, and Stonehill.
New to the schedule is Alaska-Anchorage, marking the first game between the two teams since the 1991-92 season.
Additionally, Brown will face Princeton in a non-conference clash at Hobey Baker Rink on December 28.
The Bears went 4-2-1 in non-conference action in 2024-25 with wins over Air Force, LIU, Merrimack, and Stonehill.

WINNER, WINNER

Ryan St. Louis tallied six game-winning goals in 2024-25, the most in a single season in program history.
With nine in his Brown career, St. Louis is three shy of matching the record held by Bob Wheeler (1949-52) and Ryan Mulhern (1992-96).

FAMILIAR FACES

Freshman Matthew Cataldo joins his brother, junior Mike Cataldo, on the Bears in 2025-26.
They are the first brother duo on the team since Jordan Tonelli '24 and senior Zackary Tonelli spent two seasons together (2022-24).

IN THE LINEUP

Three Bears enter the 2025-26 season having played in every game in their respective college careers.
Junior defensemen Alex Pineau and Ethan Mistry have both played in all 62 games and sophomore Ivan Zadvernyuk appeared in all 32 games in 2024-25.

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