The nature of the game is such that we gravitate toward the scores. The games on a given weekend paint a simple picture, and the resulting standings tell a simple story about what’s gone on in a given year. But it’s not always so simple, so black and white. There’s also the case of Brown.
Aaron Volpatti, third on Brown in scoring, and the Bears are enjoying a much-improved season.
A late-summer announcement of new head coach Brendan Whittet following the resignation of Roger Grillo to take a position with USA Hockey meant that some new attitudes and new energy would be taking over at Rhode Island’s Ivy League school. Whittet, a former player at Brown and 1994 graduate wanted to emphasize pride and passion while invigorating a program that he is so proud to be a part of.
“We’ve come a long way from the team we were at the beginning of the year. We work very, very hard to create our chances. I give our guys credit. They’ve got a lot of heart, they play with a lot of passion for Brown and they play hard,” Whittet said. “We stressed it. When people by into that, when they buy into the fact that they’re playing for more than themselves. Brown is a special place, and I just want the guys to represent the college, and they lay it on the line every time we’re on the ice.”
That message means more to current players when coming from someone who’s worn the sweater, taken the classes and represented Brown in the past.
“This season, my senior year, has been the most fun for me. I’ve never been on a team where the guys are so tightly tied together and I think a lot of that has to do with the coaching staff. Coach Grillo, I had a good relationship with and I enjoyed when he was here also, but Coach Whittet is a new voice and the guys all love him,” senior defenseman Sean McMonagle said. “He really emphasizes how much it means to the alumni as well as us. It’s more than just us wearing the jersey. We’re playing for a group of brothers and it motivates the guys for sure. You can see it in their eyes when he speaks to you in the room.”
McMonagle is a part of a senior class that put the interests of the program ahead of their personal experiences. He specifically demonstrated his individual commitment by moving back to play defense this season after spending his first three college seasons – and most of his youth hockey and junior hockey career as a forward. It’s not totally unfamiliar to McMonagle, as he has played the point on the power play and he looks forward to continuing his hockey career as a blue liner.
Aaron Volpatti, one of three Brown captains, is another member of the senior class.
“We, as seniors wanted to leave our mark on the program and be a part of turning it around,” he said. “I think we’ve already done that, and now we’ve just got to stay positive. Our compete level is there and we’re in every game we play, we just have to tighten up defensively.”
As Volpatti mentioned, reducing goals-against will be a key over the season’s last four games. Some of that starts with defensive zone efforts, but some of the burden falls on sophomore goalie Mike Clemente. The hero of Brown’s postseason run last year hasn’t backed it up this year. He currently ranks outside of the top-12 qualifying goalies in league play in goals-against average and save percentage.
“We’ve got to find a way to get him out of it, he’s a pretty good goaltender when he’s on, I just think he’s too deep in his net right now,” Whittet said.
Clemente made a name for himself in last year’s league playoffs. After recording just three wins as a team in the entire regular season,12th-seeded Brown upset fifth-seeded Harvard on the road behind back-to-back shutouts from Clemente. They followed that up by giving regular-season and eventual playoff champion Yale all it could handle in the quarterfinals.
That helped Brown get some energy headed into the season, but it didn’t yield immediate results. The Bears started 0-7-1 before rattling off a five-game winning streak. Some tough matchups against nationally-ranked teams followed and Brown dropped five straight, but has improved in recent weeks, earning league points in four of its last seven games.
“The guys are great kids and have played really hard. We haven’t gotten all of the results we wanted but by and large we’ve made a lot of strides. A lot of people may not see that but this was a program that was on real hard times,” Whittet said. “I got hired in August, it’s not like we brought in our own guys, the guys that were here performed very very well. By and large, we’ve been in every game.”
That attitude and confidence has come from the top and filtered through the players. A positive turn for Brown is apparent, and the Bears are excited about the future, in the close of this year and in years to come.
“Before we never realized what it really meant to represent Brown. We all had pride but, Brendan just kind of reiterates the kind of history that goes into the program. I guess we’re all more aware of it now, realizing on a bigger scale that it’s not just about us, it’s about everyone,” Volpatti said. “Winning breeds more winning and losing breeds more losing. In the past, it was just a snowball. Now we bounce back with a sense of confidence even when we don’t come back with the win. There’s still that confidence that we can win every game we play.”
