Q&A with Brown associate head coach Mark White

by Ryan Fay

Fresh off a 1-0 shutout of #9/10 Yale, surging Brown (9-9-5, 5-6-5) comes in for a pivotal stretch run game Saturday night at Messa Rink. The Bears enter the weekend just one point behind Union (13-10-5, 6-6-4) in the league standings and both teams are fighting for a first-round bye.

In advance of the game, I chatted with Brown associate head coach Mark White. He discussed what he saw from Yale last night, breakout players like Matt Lorito and Anthony Borelli, his impressions of Union, and more.

UNION HOCKEY NEWS (UHN): Yale comes here on Friday. What were your impressions of them last night?

MARK WHITE (MW): They transition really well. They're going to be poised for a playoff run. It's a typical Yale team. They have a couple elite level players and they're a fast team. Yale has a defense that can move the puck. There were some questions about their goaltending with Jeff Malcolm out but I thought Nick Maricic (31 saves) looked pretty solid.

UHN: What can you say about the way Anthony Borelli has been playing in goal for you? His numbers (1.42 goals against average, .951 save percentage) rank him as one of the best in the country since he took over for Marco DeFilippo in early December.

Borelli (Brown)

MW: Anthony has taken the opportunity he was given and ran with it. He's been fantastic and very competitive in net for us. You look for a senior or two every year to step up and he's been that guy for us. You're usually only as good as your senior class. We've had a couple guys step up and he's been one of them. We had Mike Clemente getting the bulk of the starts the past couple years, but Anthony has proven he can play at a very high level.

UHN: Matt Lorito is breaking out in his sophomore season. His 14 goals leads the team and rank second among ECAC players. What's spurring his improvement?

MW: Matt missed the first seven or eight games with a wrist injury last year. To miss those games as a freshman made it tough to get off to a good start. He's a dynamic skater, has a knack for scoring, and he uses his speed to get into scoring situations. He played with senior Jack McClellan (15 goals) last year and that may have taken the load off him a bit. This year he's taken it more on himself to do some of that scoring. We're not a team that scores a lot, but he's doing the bulk of our scoring.

UHN: Your club is 3-0-1 over the past four games. What's clicking?

MW: Our goaltending is very strong. We play a strong defensive game and we don't give up a lot of "grade A" chances and second chances off rebounds. Beyond that, there's a belief in the locker room that we can win hockey games any way, any how. We're blocking a lot of shots and doing the little things that lead to wins. Guys are playing with a lot of grit right now. It's a small little stretch of wins, but we need to keep that going. It's crazy how tight the standings are.

UHN: Brown is riding a three game unbeaten streak against Union (2-0-1). Most other league teams haven't been as successful against them lately. Why do your guys match up so well against them?

MW: We've gotten good goaltending against them be it this year or last year. Union is usually ranked pretty high when we play them and the guys get up to play a nationally ranked opponent. Union has proven that they're an elite level program the past couple years. It's no different than any other ranked team that we play. We want to play everyone hard.

UHN: What were your impressions of Union when your guys skated to a 3-3 tie with them in December?

MW: They're a good team. Union has what you need in the special teams department. That's something that hurt us earlier in the year, but we have corrected that a bit. 33% of the game is played on special teams and Union excels in that area. They're not a team that beats themselves a whole lot. They have an identity, they stick with that identity, and they're disciplined in how they play.

UHN: Other than special teams, what are a couple other keys to the game from your end?

MW: We need to find a way to get traffic and pucks to the net. We pride ourselves on eliminating as many odd man rushes as possible and that tends to eliminate a lot of "grade A" chances for our opponent. If we work through the middle of the ice, we'll have a good chance to compete.