Men's Hockey Set to Return to the Ice after Three-and-a-Half Week Hiatus

After closing the first part of their schedule on a five-game winning streak, the Brown men's hockey team (5-7-1) is set to return to the ice to begin the 2010 calendar year with a two-game series at St. Cloud State this weekend. The Bears have been off since December 8, a 5-2 win over AIC, taking a three-and-a-half week break for exams and the holidays. This weekend's series, to be played on Saturday, January 2 and Sunday, January 3, will begin a stretch of six straight road games for the Bears, who will not be home again until January 29th against RPI. Both games this weekend begin at 6:07 p.m. CST and will be streamed on B2 Networks.

This Weekend: Brown makes its fourth trip out to St. Cloud all-time to face the Huskies for the 8th and 9th time in the history of the two teams. Brown will look to continue its current five-game winning streak, the nation's 7th-longest such streak, in Saturday's game. The Bears are also in search of their first victory over St. Cloud in games played in Minnesota, as they are 0-5-1 in away games. Brown's only win came during the 2001-02 season when the Bears' picked up a 4-1 victory over the Huskies, then ranked #2 in the country, at Meehan. After playing six of their last seven and eight of their last 10 games at home, this weekend's series also begins a stretch of six straight away games for Brown, including a trip to New York's North Country at the tail end.

Last Time Out: Brown closed the semester with a non-league, 5-2, victory over AIC, the fifth straight win for the Bears. Brown stormed out to a 3-0 lead in the opening 8 minutes, as sophomore Jack Maclellan and senior Aaron Volpatti each had a goal and two assists in that span. Sophomore Jeff Buvinow scored the second goal, while freshman Richie Crowley and junior Jeremy Russell also had assists. After AIC scored a pair of goals 3:10 apart to make it a one-goal game, junior Harry Zolnierczyk added an unassisted score with 2:36 left in the period for a 4-2 lead. The two teams were quiet until 15:21 of the third period when freshman Chris Zaires scored off assists from junior Jesse Fratkin and senior Devin Timberlake. Sophomore Mike Clemente picked up his fifth victory of the year with 24 saves.

Coming Up: Brown returns to Rhode Island on Monday, January 4th and will hit the road again just three days later on Thursday, January 7th, to travel to Hanover, NH for a single-game at Dartmouth. The Bears have another single game at Yale the following weekend and travel to St. Lawrence/Clarkson January 22-23, before returning home at the end of January.

These Dates Historically Speaking: All-time, Brown is 7-8-1 in games played on January 2nd and 9-6-2 in games played on January 3rd. The Bears are 2-6-1 in away games on the 2nd with a 4-2-0 record in away games on the 3rd.

Brown vs. St. Cloud State: St. Cloud State leads the all-time series, which dates back to 1988, with Brown by a 5-1-1 margin. The two teams posted the first tie in the all-time series in their last meeting, as Brown rebounded from a 4-1 loss to earn a 4-4 tie in the second of a two-game series in November of 2005. This weekend's series will mark the first-ever meeting between the two squads with current members of the Brown team.

Scouting St. Cloud State: This weekend's series also marks the Huskies first action after a break for the Holidays, as St. Cloud was last in action on December 11th and 12th against Colorado College. The Huskies saw their three-game winning streak end against the Tigers, posting a 4-4 tie on Friday and dropping a 4-1 game on Saturday. St. Cloud State is led by senior Ryan Lasch (9g, 5a) and junior Garrett Roe (4g, 10a), who both have 14 points. Junior Tony Mosey is the only other player to have reached double digits in scoring and is third on the team with 11 points (7g, 4a), while leading the Huskies with six power play goals. Freshman Mike Lee has seen the majority of time in net and has posted a 2.63 GAA with a .909 save percentage in 12 games (729:33). Junior Dan Dunn (361:22) has a 2.32 GAA and a .926 save percentage in six games.

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