Chris Hutchens

ANNAPOLIS, Md. --  Mike Gartner (Sr., San Jose, Calif.) and Grant LeBeau (Sr., San Diego, Calif.) combined for seven goals as the No. 17 nationally-ranked Bears of Brown University 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 No. 13 ranked and Southern Division champion Princeton University at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, November 22, while the Blue Jays will meet the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the first consolation game at 2:30 p.m. on the 22nd. 

Overall, Brown is 0-2 against Princeton falling 14-9 and 15-10 this year, while JHU is 2-0 versus MIT knocking off the Engineers 10-7 and 22-5 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 (Sr., Miami, Fla.) opened the scoring floodgateswith 4:52 left in the first period before Gartner, Gordon Hood (So., Carlsbad, Calif.) and Toby Espinosa (Fr., Palo Alto, Calif.) 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 Peter Sauerhoff (Jr., St. Louis, Mo.), but Brown tacked on two scores as Gartner and Zach Levko (Jr., Wildwood, Mo.) found the back of the cage 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 Josh Kratz (Sr., Lansdale, Pa.), but the Bears plucked the Jays for a pair of scores as Gartner and Hank Weintraub (Sr., Los Angeles, Calif.) 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 Jamie Neuwirth (Jr., Ross, Calif.) 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 Mark Strickland (Fr., Houston, Texas) 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 Kyle Gertridge (Jr., Palo Alto, Calif.), 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, Hutchens finished with three saves, while Kent Holland (Jr., Orinda, Calif.) stopped 15 shots to earn Player of the Game honors. 

Brown Goals: Mike Gartner (4); Grant LeBeau (3); Zach Levko; Hank Weintraub; Nico Fort; Gordon Hood; Tony Espinosa

JHU Goals: Kyle Gertridge (2); Josh Kratz; Jamie Neuwirth; Peter Sauerhoff; Mark Strickland

Saves: Brown - Kent Holland (15) ; JHU - Chris Hutchens (3) 

Ejections:  Brown - 7 ; JHU - 8

Sprints: Brown - 1 (4th - Brandon Yoshimura) ; JHU - 3 (1st & 2nd - Kyle Gertridge ; 3rd - Jamie Neuwirth)