ECAC Season Preview - Brown

Brown Bears

Last Years Finish - 12th
Key Returnees - Jeff Prough Jr. F, Brian McNary Jr. F, Brian Ihnacak Sr. F
Key Losses - Adam D'Alba Jr. G

Brown started it's 2005-2006 campaign off with promise. An overtime loss to Cornell in the opening weekend and a sweep of the north country the following weekend and the Bears were off to a 2-2 start. That was the high water mark of the season as Brown went 2-16-7 the rest of the way and finished with a 3-14-5 ECACHL record. Despite all of that the Bears took #5 seed St. Lawrence to 3 games in the first round of the ECAC playoffs, and we're an overtime goal away from upsetting the Saints. This upset was nearly pulled off due to the heroics of goaltender Adam D'Alba who made a mind staggering 154 saves in the three games.

Unfortunately for head coach Roger Grillo, D'Alba had a change of heart over the summer and retired from hockey. To fill this void Grillo brought in two freshmen goaltenders to compete with sophomore netminder Mark Sibbald, who saw action in only six games and had a 0-3-1 record. Needless to say, goaltending will be the Achilles heel of the Brown Bears.

On offense Brown needs to see some increased production from senior Brian Ihnacak who missed half of the season due to injury. Ihnacak only managed nine points which was a severe drop off of his 26 point per season average. With the return of top scorers Prough and McNary, Brown will look to increase it's league worst 2.05 goals per game average. However the big question will remain can the Bears score more often than what their goaltender will allow?

Best Case Finish - 10th
Worst Case Finish - 12th

CHF's Pick - 12th