Brown University men’s hockey might be poised for a renaissance. If so, it’s already upgraded its castle.
Meehan Auditorium, home of the Bears since 1961, underwent a $7.5 million overhaul that resulted in new dressing rooms for the Brown men’s and women’s hockey teams, team lounges, an exercise bike room, and even a training/hydrotherapy room.
Longtime Brown men’s head coach and former Bears defenseman Brendan Whittet (East Providence, R.I.) feels those renovations can only help his team, as it strives for the upper reaches of ECAC Hockey.
“It’s a testament to the importance of Brown hockey in the landscape of the university,” said Whittet, now in his 13th season at the helm of his alma mater, of the arena improvements. “It’s all the bells and whistles, all the players need to improve and be successful, as players and as a program.”
Brown finished 7-20-4 overall last season (6-12-4 ECAC Hockey, ninth place), in its return to on-ice action after the Ivy League canceled all athletic activity for 2020-21 due to COVID-19. Whittet feels the Bears can improve upon those marks this season, in both ECAC Hockey and Ivy League play.
“Number one, we have the makeup of a good team,” he said. “We’re strong from the net out, and the expectation is that, by not dealing with COVID-19 and COVID pauses, we can take steps every day toward winning championships.”
Not that it’ll be as easy as showing up and putting on skates, of course.
“There is a process to get through, although I do like the makeup of our team,” admitted Whittet, a 1994 Brown graduate. “We’re strong in net and on the back end. We just need to find a way to generate offense and put more goals on the board, to get to the level to win championships.”
Brown notched 50 goals in 31 games overall last year, an average of only 1.6 goals per game.
Helping Brown’s push toward titles this season will be a freshman class of eight skaters.
“It’s a great class,” said Whittet. “They’ll really address some of our deficiencies that materialized last year, and they’ll also help in terms of offensive production.”
Among the rookie contingent this fall is defenseman Harry Meirowitz and forward Zackary Tonelli, son of former New York Islanders great and four-time Stanley Cup champion John Tonelli. He will join older brother Jordan, a junior, up front for the Bears. The biggest recruiting catch might be forward Ryan Bottrill, who tallied 17-42-59 points for Maryland (NAHL).
The Bears will have to replace last year’s three leading scorers, all graduated seniors. The top returning point producer is senior defenseman Luke Krys (Ridgefield, Conn.), who scored three goals and added 10 assists and is team captain this season.
“We have some great freshmen here, with a transfer, and we’re all looking forward to getting back on the ice and training again,” said Krys. “We’re going to take this season one step at a time. We’re really looking forward to the first game (against Yale), and we’re hoping to have a really good year and prove something."
Other returning New Englanders on this year’s roster include defensemen Tony Andreozzi (Winchester, Mass.) and Brett Bliss (Chelmsford, Mass.), and forward Thomas Manty (Andover, Mass.).
“The energy’s good, the new guys are great, and I think everyone’s really excited,” said sophomore forward Wyatt Schlaht, who prepped at St. Sebastian’s. “We’re all excited to finally get in there and get things going. The team’s goal every year is to win a championship. I think we have to get off to a good start, but it’s a long season.”
Holding down the fort in Brown’s own end of the ice, at least to start the season, will be second-year netminder Mathieu Caron. He’ll be joined by freshman Jacob Zacharewicz, who backstopped El Paso (NAHL) last season, and junior James Durham, who previously played for Des Moines (USHL).
“Our goaltending, I think, is excellent, and with the addition of Zacharewicz, it’s going to be a battle,” said Whittet. “Caron, as a freshman, wrestled the starting job away and had some really good moments and some outstanding games.”
Caron finished 6-14-4 over 26 outings, with a 2.74 goals-against average and two shutouts, which came on back-to-back nights against Harvard and Dartmouth for his first two career wins. Whittet feels that Caron just needs a tad more consistency, which should come with maturity and having a year of college hockey under his belt.
It won’t be an easy climb for the Bears in an admittedly tough conference, however.
“It’s a tremendous league, from top to bottom, and these are highly competitive programs and coaches that do everything to have success,” said Whittet of ECAC Hockey. “I think the league will be strong and fairly wide-open, where anyone can beat anyone else, any night. It should be an exciting season and finish.”
Unlike other schools, Brown hasn’t really dipped into the transfer portal, which has made more than a noticeable impact on college hockey in recent years, with automatic one-time transfers now the norm. The only player on this year’s roster who has skated somewhere else is junior forward Gavin Puskar (Farmington, Conn.), who spent two seasons at UConn.
“It’s here to stay,” said Whittet of the portal. “From our perspective, we have the ability to dip in if the right prospect presents himself — but the Ivies are a little more restrictive. It is what it is.”
He said the portal was good for players, in that it gave them flexibility to move, although he said it would be harder for schools to rely on it to improve their programs, resulting in varying degrees of success.
“You’ve got to worry about the chemistry issue,” said Whittet.
Matters might change when the extra year of eligibility that was offered to student-athletes in the wake of COVID-19 is finally rescinded, but Whittet said a team’s makeup can change very quickly depending on how much a school might access the portal.
The Bears made a run to the ECAC Hockey semifinals in 2019, ousting first Princeton and then Quinnipiac in best-of-three series, before falling to Cornell in Lake Placid. Although all the players from that season are gone, Whittet said there could be a reoccurrence in the offing.
“I truly believe that,” he admitted. “There’s a lot of effort and daily improvement needed to have everyone together. We’re going to have to make strides throughout the year, and find a way to generate offense to be in the upper echelon of the league.”
The Bears last qualified for the NCAA tournament in 1993 when Whittet was a junior, and also tied for third in the ECAC that season. To regain that lofty standard, Brown will have to improve upon a power play that connected at just 11 percent last season, although the penalty-killing unit had an 83.1 percent success rate.
“Time will tell,” Whittet said. “Our aspirations are to be better, in both the ECAC and the NCAA, and our goal is to be standing at the top of our league at the end of the year.”
