Men's Hockey to Host Brown

There were a lot of firsts when the Harvard men's hockey team met Brown in the season opener just two and a half weeks ago.

Unfortunately for the Harvard men's hockey team, however, there haven't been many seconds, thirds, fourths...or much of anything else for that matter.

Coming off of a disappointing, 6-2, loss to an unusually talented Princeton team at Hobey Baker Rink, Harvard is looking to turn its season around tonight against Brown at Bright Hockey Center and recapture some of the promise that was shown in its first game.

"Instead of having to wait a whole week," Harvard coach Ronn Tomassoni said, "It's nice to get right back into the fire."

Sprinting out of the blocks, the Crimson nabbed the ECAC's first win of the season with a convincing, 5-3 win over the Bears.

Since then, the team has suffered three losses and a tie with a combined scoring effort of only seven goals.

Although Coach Tomassoni insists that championships are not won in November, that the season is a marathon rather than a sprint, it is time for the Crimson to start picking up the offensive pace.

As of now, there are only two forwards who have found the back of the net multiple times this season: Senior Joe Craigen (2), sophomore Rob Millar (4).

Additionally, after finding the back of the net on its first two power play opportunities, the Crimson has gone a dismal 0-for-27 with a 6.9 percent success rate on the year.

"We've got to put this behind us," sophomore Ben Storey said. "We need to look forward to Brown and come out ready to go and try to get a win under our belts heading into the rest of the season."

Even though it is early in the season, the ECAC has demonstrated a lot of parity, with nationally ranked squads falling to middle-of-the-pack league teams.

Brown and Harvard both find themselves trying to avoid sliding into the ECAC cellar.

Contrary to the Crimson's predicament, Bears have no problems with offensive production. The Bears have posted 17 goals in the last four games. However, Brown's defensive is seemingly porous is allowing 19 in those same four games.

Tonight's contest against Brown marks the first time this season that Harvard has faced an opponent for a second time. Hopefully, this second chance will help turn the season around.