It’s been an exciting week in these parts, as the Brown women’s hockey team rocked Dartmouth, 7-2, in the first round of the ECAC Tournament on Saturday. Then, in the midst of a record-breaking blizzard that smothered Providence in over three feet of snow, Brown announced Monday morning that it had hired UMass assistant coach Tommy Upton to fill the men’s head coaching vacancy in the wake of Brendan Whittet’s departure. Oh, yeah, and the men’s team played a pair of games this past weekend too.

We’re working on sorting through all of this, as well as wrapping up the article we promised revisiting some of the best games of the Whittet era. For this entry, we’re going to focus solely on the women’s playoff run, taking a look back at the big win over the Big Green and giving a breakdown of what to expect this weekend as the Bears head to Connecticut to take on #7 Quinnipiac in a best-of-three quarterfinal series.

Last Week: No repeat of last year

Brown finished the 2024-25 regular season in eighth place in the ECAC standings, earning themselves the final home ice spot for the first round of the playoffs. They hosted ninth-seeded Union, which had won the two regular season meetings between the teams — and the Garnet Chargers came into Meehan Auditorium and did it for a third time, suffocating the Bears and claiming a 2-0 victory.

While this Dartmouth team isn’t as good as that Union team, and Brown has taken a step forward this year, there was still concern that a team that shut the Bears out last time they met could provide another stifling test defensively.

Those fears evaporated pretty quickly. The Bears jumped out to a 2-0 with a pair of goals 35 seconds apart around the eight-minute mark of the first period. They added another early in the second period before Dartmouth made a push to cut the score to 3-2 with 12 minutes remaining in the period. But Brown wasn’t fazed, as ECAC Hockey Forward of the Week Sam Broz restored the two-goal lead about 40 seconds later.

Monique Lyons' goal and two assists paced the Bears as they easily dispatched Dartmouth, 7-2. Photo credit to Brown Athletics.

It was more of the same in the third period — the Bears converted on their chances by getting traffic to the net, scoring thrice more to bring the final score to 7-2. It was a satisfying statement win that dismissed any doubts regarding this group’s ability to rise to the moment.

In fairness to the Big Green, stellar netminder Michaela Hesová was in Milan playing for the Czechia women’s team in the Olympics. Jiuhui Zhan struggled in relief, allowing six goals on 27 shots, a couple of which were clunkers.

But goaltending aside, this was still a dominant display by Brown and a strong start to the postseason.

This Week:

Brown returns to Hamden to take on #7 Quinnipiac after losing there 5-2 two weeks ago. The Bears split the season series with the Bobcats, winning a hard-fought game in Providence last fall, 1-0. Quinnipiac has been in the top 10 nationally virtually all season, riding a scintillating 12-1-0 start and avoiding the kind of precipitous slide that can derail a season.

India McDadi's laser beam one-timer was the lone goal in Brown's upset win over Quinnipiac last fall. Photo credit to Brown Athletics.

The straw that stirs the drink is sensational junior Kahlen Lamarche, who is tied for fourth in the nation with 52 points in 34 games. After that, the production drops a bit (Lamarche is the only player averaging more than a point per game), but the Bobcats still have plenty of scoring depth with 11 skaters posting at least 13 points on the season.

They’ve also gotten elite — and I mean elite — goaltending from sophomore Felicia Frank, who checks in with a gaudy .945 save percentage in 34 games that’s good for fourth in the country. She was just named ECAC Women's Goalie of the Year.

The Bobcats present a daunting challenge, especially on home ice and in a best-of-three series. Brown will need to dig deep to keep these games tight. They let Quinnipiac jump out to an early 3-0 lead two weeks ago, and despite cutting the score to 3-2 by the end of the second period, the Bears couldn’t get over the hump and the hosts pulled away.

On the bright side for Brown, Lamarche only has a single point against them this season, and it came on an empty netter at the end of the last meeting. Shutting down one of the most lethal offensive talents in the country is a good recipe to stealing wins on the road. Now the Bears need to avoid the type of lapse that has plagued them at times this season. Even against Dartmouth last week, they allowed a pair of goals within four minutes of each other that trimmed a 3-0 lead to 3-2 before reasserting themselves and burying the Big Green.

One of the fun questions we've always had throughout the season is on goaltending. The Bears have a good tandem in Anya Zupkofska and Rory Edwards. Both were snubbed for All-ECAC awards. Edwards started in the first game against Quinnipiac and Zupkofska started a couple weeks ago. As Edwards started last weekend against Dartmouth, we can see her starting on Friday, but it feels very likely that the net will be shared this weekend especially if it goes to three games.

If Brown can play a tight, structured defensive game and go toe-to-toe with Quinnipiac in possession — which they’ve now done twice this season — they can have a real shot at winning the series. But make no mistake: this is the biggest test the Bears have faced this season. Beating an elite team twice in a weekend on the road is a monumental task. We’ll soon find out if this team has what it takes to get to legendary Lake Placid for the first time ever and return to the ECAC semifinals for the first time since 2006.

As always, subscribe to our newsletter (form at the bottom of the page) to stay up-to-date on our latest content. And make sure to cheer on your Pandas this weekend, whether it be from home or from Hamden. Go Bruno!

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