Playoff hockey is all about heart, and Brown certainly had plenty of that this weekend.
The eighth-seeded Bears advanced to the quarterfinal round of the ECAC’s postseason for the first time since 2012-13 after defeating Princeton in straight games, 3-0 and 6-5. However, the scores from Providence don’t, at all, tell the whole story.
Brown clinched its opening playoff series on senior Alex Brink’s backhand goal at the 3:30 mark of triple overtime late Saturday night, which ended the longest game in the 120-year program history and the 18th-longest in all of Division 1 men’s hockey history. The dramatic ending came after the visiting Tigers scored three extra-attacker goals in a span of 2:47 to erase a 5-2 deficit to force the extra periods.
“I give our guys a lot of credit because that was the craziest ending to regulation that I've seen in all my years of coaching and playing,” said Brown head coach Brendan Whittet, whose 13-13-5 team will play its next best-of-three set at top-seeded Quinnipiac beginning Friday. “It would have been very easy to fold and feel sorry for ourselves, but I thought we played some of our best hockey in the overtimes.”
Brink had a pair of assists before creating the deciding goal, the latter which was his sixth of the season and first since Feb. 9 at Quinnipiac. It was only the Hamilton, N.Y., native’s second multiple-point game this year.
The Brown offense was regularly on the attack throughout the marathon contest as it held a 54-40 shot advantage, including 28-13 in the three periods beyond regulation. Junior Brent Beaudoin (Londonderry, N.H.) assisted on Brink’s winning goal and finished the weekend with three assists, while veteran defenseman Brady Schoo and freshman Justin Jallen both scored twice in the series.
While the offense created chances, junior Gavin Nieto faced a rather light workload for a game with such length as he never made more than nine saves in any period and totaled 35. For perspective, Nieto made at least 30 saves during regulation time in four of his 15 starts during the regulation.
Trustworthy goaltending and a creative offense is a good recipe for success at this time of the year. Entering a series against the league’s top team, the Bears have nothing to lose and are prepared to give it their all.
“I think we play the game really hard. We're tenacious in terms of our puck pursuit, I think we possess pucks very well, and it's a very determined hockey team,” Whittet said. “We're a good hockey team, so we have confidence. … We’re trying to win a championship this year. I believe that we can and know the team believes we can as well.”
Dartmouth dandy
Dartmouth has played the maximum three games in three consecutive ECAC playoff series after being forced into a Sunday night contest as 12th-seeded St. Lawrence, despite being outshot by a 60-24 margin, earned a 3-2 overtime win at Thompson Arena. The No. 5 Big Green responded in a big way, posting an 8-0 shutout to win the series and advance to a quarterfinal set at No. 4 Harvard for the second consecutive season.
Sophomore Quin Foreman (Needham, Mass.) finished the series with seven points, including four in the series-clinching game. Naturally, there were plenty of other offensive stars in the series as well as junior Will Graber (2-3-5) and senior Alex Jasiek (1-4-5) both had five points, freshman Jeffrey Losurdo also scored twice and had four points, and freshman Drew O’Connor had a goal in all three games to run his ECAC rookie-leading total to 16.
While the Big Green attack scored eight goals in a postseason game for the first time since 1990, goaltender Adrian Clark was making history himself. The junior made 22 saves in the Sunday contest to post his league-leading sixth shutout, which also sets a program record.
Leader of balanced Bulldogs
Eight different Yale skaters scored goals en route to a 4-1, 4-0 sweep of Rensselaer over the weekend at Ingalls Rink, but senior Joe Snively was still the leader of the offense as he has been all season long. The Virginia native finished the weekend with a 1-3-4 line, scoring his goal on Saturday to help support senior Sam Tucker (Wilton, Conn.) during a 25-save shutout.
Snively ranks seventh in the ECAC with 36 points in 31 games, twice as many as junior Robbie DeMontis and the rest of the Bulldogs. Five of his 15 goals come in the last 13 games, helping him take 15th nationally with 1.16 points per game.
Heartbreak for Holy Cross
After going 4-2-2 in February and 6-3-2 in total over its final 11 games of the regular season, ninth-seeded Holy Cross saw its season end in heartbreaking fashion with a pair of Atlantic Hockey first-round losses at Robert Morris.
Senior Tommy Nixon stopped 29 of the 30 shots he faced in Friday’s 1-0 setback and then made 37 more saves in a 3-2 loss the following night that was decided with 6:15 to play in regulation. Nixon, whose save total in the series finale was a new career-high, posted a .938 save percentage over a 3-3-1 stretch to conclude the year.
Junior Kevin Darrar and freshman Ryan Leibold scored goals for a Crusader team that went 6-for-6 on the penalty kill in the series but went 4-8 in one-goal games on the season.
20, 20, 20…
Freshman Tyce Thompson (Milford, Conn.) became the seventh Providence skater to reach the 20-point mark this season when he registered a goal and an assist in last Thursday’s 3-1 win over Boston College. The Friars have more 20-point scorers than any Hockey East team.
A night later, Northeastern senior Lincoln Griffin (Walpole, Mass.) assisted on junior John Picking’s (Wellesley, Mass.) shorthanded goal in the third period to become the sixth Husky to reach that mark, making UMass for the second-most in the league.
In posting a 4-0 shutout of New Hampshire, the Huskies have 15 Hockey East wins for the second straight season and fourth time in program history. Sophomore Cayden Primeau led the shutout with 32 saves, while junior Biagio Lerario scored the first two goals.
Loose pucks
— UConn finished its campaign on a high note in the form of a 4-3 upset of Hockey East regular-season champion UMass last Friday. Junior Benjamin Freeman’s (Falmouth, Maine) two goals included the game-winner 1:21 into the third period as the Huskies beat the No. 2 team in the country, marking the highest-ranked opponent they have defeated in program history.
— While Maine senior Rob McGovern (Weymouth, Mass.) made 30 saves in his only start of the regular season, Nashua, N.H., native classmate Brendan Robbins led the Black Bear offense to a 6-0 win over Boston University. Robbins scored twice and also assisted against the Terriers and has now logged eight of his 14 points this season over the last nine games.
— After two scoreless periods, Providence scored three straight goals during last Thursday’s 3-1 win over BC. The result locked the Eagles into seventh place in the Hockey East standings, meaning it will be on the road for the quarterfinals for the first time since 2009 at New Hampshire. On the flip side, UMass is hosting a series for the first time since 2007.
— The usual series previews will be posted this week, but Atlantic Hockey quarterfinal action begins on Wednesday with Sacred Heart looking to advance to the league’s final four for the first time since 2009-10. The fourth-seeded Pioneers host RIT in a rematch of a two-game split in Bridgeport on Feb. 15 and 16.
