# 2023–24 Brown Bears men's ice hockey season

The 2023–24 Brown Bears Men's ice hockey season was the 106th season of play for the program and the 62nd in the ECAC Hockey conference. The Bears represented Brown University, played their home games at the Meehan Auditorium and were coached by Brendan Whittet in his 14th season.

## Season

Brown's season followed nearly the same path that it had in 2023. The Bears began poorly, losing six of their first nine due mostly to a weak offense. The goaltending dual that arose out of training camp was soon settled in favor of Lawton Zacher. However, in spite of stable goaltending, Brown was unable to capitalize on many resulting opportunities. In the first three months of the season, The Bears managed 3 goals in just four of fourteen games.
When the team started the second half of its season, there was a mild uptick in scoring but that was enough to give the Bears four wins in six games. The mini-streak put Brown in the middle of the conference standings and had them briefly competing for a home site in the conference playoffs. Once February rolled around, all of those gains were washed away. The offense slept-walked through the rest of their schedule and Brown didn't win once in their final nine games. The losing skid sent the team plummeting to the bottom of the standings and they finished just a single point out of last place.
The postseason opened with Union getting off to a quick start and never looking back. Brown was badly outplayed by the Garnet Chargers in the first two periods and found themselves down by three goals entering the third. The Bears were forced to abandon their defensive structure to try and tie the game but all that did was give Union free rein to all to their lead. When the dust settled, Brown was on the wrong end of a 0–6 score and their lackluster season was over.

## Departures

| Player | Position | Nationality | Cause |
| Luke Albert | Defenseman | Canada | Graduation (retired) |
| Mathieu Caron | Goaltender | Canada | Transferred to Boston University |
| Brad Cocca | Forward | Canada | Graduation (retired) |
| James Crossman | Defenseman | United States | Graduate transfer to Michigan State |
| James Durham | Goaltender | United States | Left program (retired) |
| Luke Krys | Defenseman | United States | Graduate transfer to Providence |
| Connor Marshall | Forward | United States | Graduation (retired) |
| Samuli Niinisaari | Defenseman | Finland | Graduate transfer to Massachusetts |
| Nathan Plessis | Forward | Canada | Graduation (retired) |
| Jonny Russell | Forward | United States | Graduation (retired) |

## Recruiting

| Player | Position | Nationality | Age | Notes |
| Griffen Barr | Defenseman | Canada | 21 | Nanaimo, BC |
| Matthew Brille | Forward | United States | 20 | Bethesda, MD |
| Michael Cataldo | Forward | United States | 20 | Norfolk, MA |
| Stephen Chen | Goaltender | China | 18 | Beijing, CHN |
| Tyler Kopff | Forward | United States | 20 | Ridgewood, NJ |
| Ethan Mistry | Forward | Canada | 20 | Toronto, ON |
| Alex Pineau | Defenseman | Canada | 20 | Thunder Bay, ON |
| Max Scott | Forward | United States | 20 | San Jose, CA |
| Tyler Shea | Goaltender | United States | 22 | Stevenson Ranch, CA; transfer from Michigan |
| Ryan St. Louis | Forward | United States | 20 | Burlington, VT; transfer from Northeastern |
| Lawton Zacher | Goaltender | United States | 19 | Buffalo, NY |

## Roster

As of July 20, 2023.

## Standings

2023–24 ECAC Hockey Standingsvte :
| | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Overall record | Overall record | Overall record | Overall record | Overall record | Overall record |
| | GP | W | L | T | OTW | OTL | SW | PTS | GF | GA | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA |
| #6 Quinnipiac † | 22 | 17 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 54 | 99 | 39 | 39 | 27 | 10 | 2 | 160 | 79 |
| #9 Cornell * | 22 | 12 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 44 | 74 | 45 | 35 | 22 | 7 | 6 | 115 | 65 |
| Colgate | 22 | 13 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 43 | 85 | 68 | 36 | 16 | 16 | 4 | 120 | 112 |
| Dartmouth | 22 | 9 | 6 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 37 | 66 | 60 | 32 | 13 | 10 | 9 | 92 | 91 |
| Clarkson | 22 | 12 | 9 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 36 | 62 | 58 | 35 | 18 | 16 | 1 | 95 | 97 |
| Union | 22 | 9 | 10 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 32 | 75 | 75 | 37 | 16 | 18 | 3 | 123 | 121 |
| St. Lawrence | 22 | 8 | 10 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 29 | 49 | 64 | 39 | 14 | 19 | 6 | 90 | 118 |
| Harvard | 22 | 6 | 10 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 28 | 49 | 64 | 32 | 7 | 19 | 6 | 70 | 106 |
| Princeton | 22 | 8 | 11 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 25 | 70 | 90 | 30 | 10 | 16 | 4 | 89 | 114 |
| Yale | 22 | 7 | 13 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 25 | 46 | 57 | 30 | 10 | 18 | 2 | 63 | 91 |
| Brown | 22 | 6 | 14 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 22 | 43 | 69 | 30 | 8 | 19 | 3 | 61 | 98 |
| Rensselaer | 22 | 6 | 13 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 21 | 58 | 89 | 37 | 10 | 23 | 4 | 93 | 150 |
| Championship: March 23, 2024 † indicates conference regular season champion (Cleary Cup) * indicates conference tournament champion (Whitelaw Cup) Rankings: USCHO.com Top 20 Poll |||||||||||||||||||

## Schedule and results

| Date | Time | Opponent$^#$ | Site | TV | Decision | Result | Attendance | Record |
| Regular Season ||||||||||
| October 27 | 8:00 pm | Yale | Meehan Auditorium • Providence, Rhode Island | ESPN+ | Zacher | L 2–3 $^{OT}$ | 798 | 0–1–0 (0–1–0) |
| October 29 | 2:00 pm | Stonehill* | Meehan Auditorium • Providence, Rhode Island | ESPN+ | Zacher | W 7–2 | 488 | 1–1–0 |
| November 3 | 7:00 pm | Colgate | Meehan Auditorium • Providence, Rhode Island | ESPN+ | Shea | W 3–2 | 577 | 2–1–0 (1–1–0) |
| November 4 | 7:00 pm | #10 Cornell | Meehan Auditorium • Providence, Rhode Island | ESPN+ | Shea | L 1–7 | 1,043 | 2–2–0 (1–2–0) |
| November 10 | 7:00 pm | at #10 Quinnipiac | M&T Bank Arena • Hamden, Connecticut | ESPN+ | Shea | L 1–5 | 2,979 | 2–3–0 (1–3–0) |
| November 11 | 7:00 pm | at Princeton | Hobey Baker Memorial Rink • Princeton, New Jersey | ESPN+ | Shea | L 2–3 $^{OT}$ | 1,553 | 2–4–0 (1–4–0) |
| November 17 | 7:00 pm | Clarkson | Meehan Auditorium • Providence, Rhode Island | ESPN+ | Zacher | L 2–3 $^{OT}$ | 542 | 2–5–0 (1–5–0) |
| November 18 | 7:00 pm | St. Lawrence | Meehan Auditorium • Providence, Rhode Island | ESPN+ | Zacher | W 2–1 | 673 | 3–5–0 (2–5–0) |
| November 24 | 7:00 pm | at Holy Cross* | Hart Center • Worcester, Massachusetts | FloHockey | Shea | L 3–6 | 647 | 3–6–0 |
| December 1 | 7:00 pm | Long Island* | Meehan Auditorium • Providence, Rhode Island | ESPN+ | Zacher | T 2–2 $^{OT}$ | 464 | 3–6–1 |
| December 3 | 4:00 pm | at Stonehill* | Bridgewater Ice Arena • Bridgewater, Massachusetts | NEC Front Row | Shea | W 4–1 | 217 | 4–6–1 |
| December 9 | 7:00 pm | Northeastern* | Meehan Auditorium • Providence, Rhode Island | ESPN+ | Zacher | L 4–1 | 1,077 | 4–7–1 |
| December 29 | 7:00 pm | Merrimack* | Meehan Auditorium • Providence, Rhode Island | ESPN+ | Zacher | L 1–5 | 610 | 4–8–1 |
| December 30 | 7:00 pm | #10 Providence* | Meehan Auditorium • Providence, Rhode Island (Mayor's Cup) | ESPN+ | Zacher | L 0–3 | 1,524 | 4–9–1 |
| January 5 | 7:00 pm | at Union | Achilles Rink • Schenectady, New York | ESPN+ | Zacher | W 3–2 | 1,822 | 5–9–1 (3–5–0) |
| January 6 | 7:00 pm | at Rensselaer | Houston Field House • Troy, New York | ESPN+ | Zacher | L 1–2 | 1,572 | 5–10–1 (3–6–0) |
| January 12 | 7:00 pm | Harvard | Meehan Auditorium • Providence, Rhode Island | ESPN+ | Zacher | W 5–3 | 1,112 | 6–10–1 (4–6–0) |
| January 13 | 7:00 pm | Dartmouth | Meehan Auditorium • Providence, Rhode Island | ESPN+ | Zacher | W 2–1 | 672 | 7–10–1 (5–6–0) |
| January 19 | 7:00 pm | at St. Lawrence | Appleton Arena • Canton, New York | ESPN+ | Zacher | L 1–2 | 914 | 7–11–1 (5–7–0) |
| January 20 | 7:00 pm | at Clarkson | Cheel Arena • Potsdam, New York | ESPN+ | Zacher | W 3–2 $^{OT}$ | 2,521 | 8–11–1 (6–7–0) |
| February 2 | 7:00 pm | Rensselaer | Meehan Auditorium • Providence, Rhode Island | ESPN+ | Zacher | L 1–3 | 679 | 8–12–1 (6–8–0) |
| February 3 | 7:00 pm | Union | Meehan Auditorium • Providence, Rhode Island | ESPN+ | Zacher | T 4–4 $^{SOL}$ | 330 | 8–12–2 (6–8–1) |
| February 9 | 7:00 pm | at Yale | Ingalls Rink • New Haven, Connecticut | ESPN+ | Zacher | L 1–3 | 1,637 | 8–13–2 (6–9–1) |
| February 16 | 7:00 pm | at #12 Cornell | Lynah Rink • Ithaca, New York | ESPN+ | Zacher | L 0–3 | 4,267 | 8–14–2 (6–10–1) |
| February 17 | 7:00 pm | at Colgate | Class of 1965 Arena • Hamilton, New York | ESPN+ | Zacher | L 2–4 | 1,059 | 8–15–2 (6–11–1) |
| February 23 | 7:00 pm | #7 Quinnipiac | Meehan Auditorium • Providence, Rhode Island | ESPN+ | Zacher | L 2–5 | 1,042 | 8–16–2 (6–12–1) |
| February 24 | 7:00 pm | Princeton | Meehan Auditorium • Providence, Rhode Island | ESPN+ | Zacher | L 1–5 | 895 | 8–17–2 (6–13–1) |
| March 1 | 7:00 pm | at Dartmouth | Thompson Arena • Hanover, New Hampshire | ESPN+ | Shea | L 3–5 | 1,615 | 8–18–2 (6–14–1) |
| March 2 | 7:00 pm | at Harvard | Bright-Landry Hockey Center • Boston, Massachusetts | ESPN+ | Zacher | T 1–1 $^{SOW}$ | 1,697 | 8–18–3 (6–14–2) |
| ECAC Hockey Tournament ||||||||||
| March 9 | 4:00 pm | at Union* | Achilles Rink • Schenectady, New York (First Round) | ESPN+ | Zacher | L 0–6 | 2,035 | 8–19–3 |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from USCHO.com Poll. All times are in Eastern Time. Source: ||||||||||

## Scoring statistics

| Name | Position | Games | Goals | Assists | Points | PIM |
| Ryan St. Louis | LW | 30 | 13 | 11 | 24 | 4 |
| Ryan Bottrill | F | 30 | 3 | 16 | 19 | 10 |
| Max Scott | F | 22 | 7 | 11 | 18 | 12 |
| Tyler Kopff | F | 30 | 6 | 12 | 18 | 16 |
| Alex Pineau | D | 30 | 7 | 8 | 15 | 20 |
| Ethan Mistry | D | 30 | 0 | 11 | 11 | 6 |
| Brett Bliss | D | 30 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 27 |
| Matt Sutton | F | 24 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 14 |
| Jordan Tonelli | C/LW | 16 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 8 |
| Jackson Munro | D | 18 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 10 |
| Ryan Shostak | F | 30 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 4 |
| Tony Andreozzi | D | 30 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 6 |
| Nick Traggio | D | 26 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 12 |
| Thomas Manty | F | 18 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| Mike Cataldo | C | 26 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 8 |
| Zackary Tonelli | F | 30 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 |
| Brendan Clark | F | 16 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 14 |
| Noah Wakeford | F | 23 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 8 |
| Wyatt Schlaht | F | 10 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Dean Bauchiero | W | 21 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| Matthew Brille | F | 11 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Lawton Zacher | G | 26 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Harry Meirowitz | D | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Spence Evans | D | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Tyler Shea | G | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Lynden Grandberg | F | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Gavin Puskar | F | 26 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Total | | | 61 | 106 | 167 | 201 |

## Goaltending statistics

| Name | Games | Minutes | Wins | Losses | Ties | Goals Against | Saves | Shut Outs | SV % | GAA |
| Lawton Zacher | 26 | 1380:40 | 6 | 14 | 3 | 67 | 667 | 0 | .909 | 2.91 |
| Tyler Shea | 10 | 422:25 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 23 | 210 | 0 | .901 | 3.27 |
| Empty Net | - | 21:29 | - | - | - | 8 | - | - | - | - |
| Total | 30 | 1824:54 | 8 | 19 | 3 | 98 | 877 | 0 | .899 | 3.22 |

## Rankings

| Poll | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week |
| Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 (Final) |
| USCHO.com | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | – | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | – | NR |
| USA Hockey | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | – | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR |
Note: USCHO did not release a poll in weeks 11 and 25. Note: USA Hockey did not release a poll in week 12.