#17 Brown Stops Johns Hopkins 12-6 in Eastern Championship First Round

Gertridge Nets a Pair for the Blue Jays

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Senior <b>Kyle Gertridge</b> scored two goals for the Blue Jays.

Senior Kyle Gertridge scored two goals for the Blue Jays.

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Nov. 21, 2008

ANNAPOLIS, MD - Brown's Mike Gartner and Grant LeBeau combined for seven goals as the 17th-ranked Bears upended Division III top-ranked Johns Hopkins University 12-6 in the opening round of the 2008 Eastern Championship at the United States Naval Academy.

The win places the Bears into a semifinal showdown with 13th-ranked and Southern Division champion Princeton University at 5:30 pm on Saturday, Nov. 22, while the Blue Jays will meet the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the first consolation game at 2:30 pm on Saturday. JHU is 2-0 versus MIT knocking off the Engineers 10-7 and 20-15 in the Division III Eastern title game at JHU a few weeks ago.

Brown built a 4-0 lead in the first period and never looked back as the Bears pushed the margin to 8-2 to halftime and coasted to the six-goal victory. Nico Fort opened the scoring floodgates with 4:52 left in the first period before Gartner, Gordon Hood and Toby Espinosa tacked on markers at 4:16, 2:40 and 1:54, respectively.

The Blue Jays broke up the Bears' shutout bid 21 seconds into the second period on a blast from the wing by junior Peter Sauerhoff (St. Louis, MO/John Burroughs), but Brown tacked on two scores as Gartner and Zach Levko found the back of the goal twice in less than 40 seconds at 5:58 and 5:22 to push the margin to 6-1.

Hopkins sliced the lead to four goals at 4:38 with a goal by senior Josh Kratz (Lansdale, PA/North Penn), but the Bears plucked the Jays for a pair of scores as Gartner and Hank Weintraub tallied an exclusion goal (2:41) and a natural score (2:01) to give Brown a six-goal lead at 8-2 through two periods of play.

The lead was too much for Hopkins to overcome as the Bears pushed the margin to eight goals at 10-2 with 2:25 left in the third to take the win. LeBeau accounted for the first two goals of the third period as he buried a natural goal at 6:24 and converted on a penalty shot chance at 2:25. Hopkins trimmed the lead back to seven by the end of the period as junior Jamie Neuwirth (Ross, CA/Phillips Andover (MA)) lobbed a shot that crossed the plane of the goalmouth with 32 ticks left on the clock to pull JHU to within 10-3.

Brown and Hopkins traded goals to open the fourth period as Gartner added his fourth goal and freshman Mark Strickland (Houston, TX/Strake Jesuit) rifled shots to the twine at 5:20 and 3:05, respectively. Hopkins pulled to within six at the 2:23 mark on a tally by junior Kyle Gertridge (Gunn Prep/Paolo Alto, CA), but the Bears built the lead back to seven scores at 2:01 with an exclusion goal by LeBeau. Gertridge closed out the game's scoring with an exclusion score with 41 seconds left on the clock for the 12-6 final.

In cage, senior goalie Chris Hutchens (Granite Bay, CA/Bellarmine Prep) finished with three saves, while Kent Holland stopped 15 shots to earn Player of the Game honors.