The hope among Brown hockey coaches and players entering last season was that the program would undergo a fast and seamless rebuilding process.
Co-captains Mark Naclerio (Milford, Conn.) and Nick Lappin graduated in 2016, one year after former linemate Matt Lorito, and the Bears needed to replace one of the most productive scoring lines in program history.
What followed was a low point for the program — a season in which the Bears went 4-25-2 and finished last in ECAC Hockey. As the record would indicate, Brown struggled in every aspect of the game, ranking 11th in ECAC Hockey in scoring and 12th in goals allowed.
The lack of scoring was a bit of a surprise. The Bears boasted a strong junior trio in Tyler Bird (Andover, Mass.), Sam Lafferty and Max Willman (Barnstable, Mass.). All three came into Brown in 2014-15 with great expectations to fill the pending void left by Naclerio, Lappin and Lorito. Bird, Lafferty and Willman all were selected in the top five rounds of the 2014 NHL Entry Draft, and each player figured to have 100-career-point potential.
Lafferty was the only one to not start his high school career in Massachusetts. The Pennsylvania native played two years in his home state before transferring to the elite prep school Deerfield Academy. Bird played for St. John’s Preparatory School (Danvers, Mass.) before heading to Kimball Union Academy in New Hampshire, while Willman spent four years at Barnstable High School (Mass.) and a postgraduate year at Williston-Northampton.
Brown’s top three was decent last year, but the Bears will need them to be even better this year. Lafferty led the team in points (35), while Willman ranked third (25). Bird was fourth with just 12 points.
The Brown coaching staff appears to have placed the burden for the rebuilding process on Bird, Lafferty and Willman — all of whom are now seniors. Lafferty and Bird have been named assistant captains behind Josh McArdle.
"I’m pretty confident in the guys we have in the room," Bird said. "I think we’re a lot better than last year. We’ve shown flashes throughout my career, but it’s about playing more consistent. I think we’re ready to buy in this year and compete with the Harvards and Quinnipiacs of the world."
That would certainly point to a rapid rebuild and ascent to the top of the ECAC ranks, which has not been Brown’s typical standing in the conference over the past decade. Still, in the Naclerio/Lappin/Lorito era, Brown was a tough team to beat most nights and even made a run to the ECAC tournament championship in 2013.
The Bears certainly would take that on the heels of a season in which they earned just 10 total points in 31 games.
"We want to win more games," Bird said. "That’s the big goal going into my last year. We want to be better and come out with a successful season."
There’s nowhere to go but up for the BROWN Bears, who are coming off a disappointing 2016-17 season in which they went 3-18-1 in ECAC Hockey and 4-25-2 overall. Last year’s team MVP Sam Lafferty returns after having a hand in 32 of the team’s 66 goals.
Seniors Max Willman (Barnstable, Mass.) and Tyler Bird (Andover, Mass.) also are expected to carry a large share of the scoring load. Senior Charlie Corcoran (New Canaan, Conn.) is coming off a strong junior season in which he led the team in goals (15) and was the only Brown player to receive regular ice time and finish with a plus number in the plus/minus category.
CLARKSON had a strong regular season and finished sixth in ECAC Hockey with a record of 18-16-5 (10-9-3 ECAC). However, the Golden Knights had somewhat of a disappointing end to the sea- son, falling on their home ice to No. 11 seed RPI in the first round of the ECAC Hockey tournament.
Senior forward Nic Pierog will be the Clarkson captain this season and will wear No. 6, which had been retired in honor of former Golden Knight Mike Morrison, who died in a work-related accident shortly after the 1988-89 season. The Morrison family encouraged coach Casey Jones to give No. 6 to a player who embodied Morrison’s spirit.
The COLGATE Raiders graduated their two most important players after finishing 10th in ECAC Hockey with a record of 9-22-6 (6-13-3 ECAC). Marblehead, Mass., native Jake Kulevich will be the most difficult to replace; he was Colgate’s best offensive and defensive player last season. Goaltender Charlie Finn also graduated after breaking the program records in career saves and games played.
Sophomore Bobby McMann could be due for a spike in production after finishing second on the team with 14 assists. Goal scoring will be at a premium for a Colgate team that ranked last in ECAC Hockey last season with 40 goals in 22 conference games.
CORNELL has taken on a new personality in recent years under coach Mike Schafer, who always prided his teams on packing it in tight in the defensive zone and winning 2-1 games. That strategy appeared to be going too far to the extreme in 2014-15 when the Big Red ranked 56th out of 59 Division 1 teams in scoring (1.84 goals per game).
Over the past two seasons, the Big Red have increased team speed, and the results have been promising. Last season, Cornell ranked third among all ECAC Hockey teams in scoring and posted an overall record of 21-9-5 (13-4-5), earning an NCAA tournament invitation. It will be interesting to see which direction Schafer goes when it comes to a goaltender. Senior Hayden Stewart is competing with two freshmen — Matthew Galajda and Austin McGrath — for the starting job.
The DARTMOUTH Big Green took a step back last season after making a run to the ECAC semifinals in 2016. Last year’s squad went 10-18-3 (7-13-2) and closed out the season with five consecutive losses. The season started with promise when the Big Green opened with a victory over nationally ranked University of Michigan in its opener. But a squad with 11 freshmen ran out of gas at the end.
Look for current sophomores Cam Strong, Will Graber and Ryan Blankmeier to benefit from the experience of receiving regular ice time last season. The Big Green lost just four seniors to graduation, but they will certainly miss last year’s leading scorer Troy Crema.
The HARVARD Crimson had their best season of the Ted Donato era last winter, finishing 28-6-2 (16-4-2) on their way to their third consecutive NCAA tournament appearance. Over the past three seasons, Harvard has accumulated two ECAC Hockey tournament championships, three NCAA tournament appearances, a Hobey Baker Award winner and a No. 1 national ranking entering the 2017 NCAA tournament.
The Crimson captured the Whitelaw Cup for an ECAC Hockey championship last season and posted their highest win total since the 1988-89 season — which also happened to be Harvard’s lone national championship season.
Goaltender Merrick Madsen, now a senior, had 26 wins last season — the highest win total by a Harvard goaltender in a single season. Ryan Donato (Scituate, Mass.) was named Ivy League Player of the Year, Adam Fox was selected Rookie of the Year and Ted Donato earned Coach of the Year honors.
The PRINCETON Tigers are on the rise under fourth-year coach Ron Fogarty. Princeton went 15-16-3 (8-11-3 ECAC) last season following a two-year stretch in which the team went 9-46-6. The Tigers return four 30-point scorers, including junior Max Veronneau, junior Ryan Kuffner, senior David Hallisey (Wethersfield, Conn.) and sophomore Jackson Cressey. Senior Ben Halford (Lenox, Mass.) might fill the void left in net by Colton Phinney’s departure.
Princeton won’t sneak up on any ECAC Hockey foes this season — not after a season in which the Tigers won a conference tournament series against Colgate and took Union to overtime in an elimination game in the quarterfinals the following weekend.
QUINNIPIAC fell just shy of earning an at-large berth in the NCAA tournament after a 23-win season, a year after falling to North Dakota in the national championship game.
The biggest question mark for Quinnipiac entering this season is its goaltending situation. Sophomore Andrew Shortridge started 20 games last year, posting a record of 13-7 with a 2.08 goals-against average and .920 save percentage. Senior Landon Smith led the team in scoring last season with 31 points and sits just three shy of 100 for his career. BU transfer Kevin Duane (New Canaan, Conn.) started to play a bigger role down the stretch last season.
Dave Smith takes over as the RPI head coach, replacing Seth Appert, who was fired in March after 11 seasons. RPI has pinned its hopes on Smith, who went 172-223-59 as Canisius’ head coach over the past dozen seasons.
The Engineers, who finished 11th in ECAC Hockey last year with a record of 8-28-1 (6-16-0 ECAC) received some bad news when one of its best players, Drew Melanson, became a graduate transfer to BU after spending the past three seasons at Rensselaer. Melanson picked up 43 points in 100 games with the Engineers and was named to 2014-15 ECAC Hockey All-Rookie Team.
RPI also graduated leading goal scorer Riley Bourbonnais, but it will return 10 of its top 11 scorers from last season, led by junior Evan Tironese.
All-American goaltender Kyle Hayton completed his bachelor’s degree at ST. LAWRENCE last spring and will continue his college hockey career as a graduate transfer at the University of Wisconsin. That will greatly impact a St. Lawrence team that had the top goals-against average in ECAC Hockey last year en route to a fourth-place finish (17-13-7 overall, 12-6-4 ECAC).
St. Lawrence also will miss All-ECAC Hockey defenseman Gavin Bayreuther (Canaan, N.H.), who led the team in scoring last season.
Look for seniors Mike Marnell and Joe Sullivan to attempt to fill the scoring void left by Bayreuther. Goaltenders Daniel Mannella and Arthur Brey will have the unenviable task of replacing an All-American netminder.
UNION extended the contract of head coach Rick Bennett (Springfield, Mass.) this summer through the 2022-23 season. That should provide some stability to a program that was crushed by a depletion in the talent pool due to the departures of Mike Vecchione (Saugus, Mass.) and Spencer Foo.
Bennett, who again was tabbed as the Tim Taylor Coach of the Year for the second time in his career, guided the Dutchmen to a share of their fourth Cleary Cup title with a conference record of 16-4-2 last season. He’ll lean on a strong junior class led by Sebastian Vidmar, Brett Supinski and Cole Maier usher in the next era of Union hockey.
YALE had a down year last winter, finishing 13-15-5 (7-11-4) after being an NCAA tournament contender for the half-decade prior. Yale will be without John Hayden (Greenwich, Conn.), who led the team in goals last winter and is now playing in the Blackhawks organization, as well as Frankie DiChiara, who tallied 21 points in his senior season. Joe Snively is back after leading Yale in points as a sophomore. Senior Ryan Hitchcock will look to set the table for the Yale offense after recording 16 assists in 2016-17.
Yale added seven recruits to mix, including standout defenseman Brian Matthews (Marshfield, Mass.) from Belmont Hill School and U.S. NTDP D-man Phil Kemp (Greenwich, Conn.). The Bulldogs will be without head coach Keith Allain for a stretch at midseason. Allain will be on the United States Olympic coaching staff for the third time.
