Bulldogs Breeze Past UConn

Boxscore

NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- Seven different players scored goals as the Yale men's hockey team hit the net six times in the third period on the way to a 9-1 win over Connecticut in a non-league game at Ingalls Rink.

The Elis (6-4-3) outshot the Huskies 46-21, including 20-11 in the final period as UConn freshman goalie Brad McInnis earned his first collegiate decision with 37 saves. Sophomore Billy Blase stopped 20 of 21 shots (half of them in the third period) for the victory in net.

"Our guys didn't let up for 60 minutes. They worked hard tonight. And the defense worked very hard, which is where it (the offense) comes from," said Yale Associate Head Coach C.J. Marottolo, 2-1 behind the bench in place of Keith Allain, who is on assignment with U.S. Hockey at the World Junior Championships.

The last time Yale enjoyed this type of offensive production was an 11-0 win over Cornell in 1998.

The Bulldog production in the first period came from an unlikely source, forward Patrick Brosnihan, who had three points. The 6-foot-4, 220-pound junior, playing in his fifth game of the year, had not tallied a point heading into the game. He scored goals a little more than two minutes apart midway through the opening frame to give Yale a 2-0 lead at the intermission.

His first tally came off a behind-the-net feed from Chris Cahill at 8:40. Cahill hit Brosnihan, who stopped the puck with his left skate and kicked it over to his stick, at the top of the right circle. The big forward fired a low wrister through traffic that beat McInnis.

The Elis, who outshot the visitors 14-5, made it 2-0 when Brosnihan saw Michael Karwoski handling the puck along the right boards and space in the slot. Karwoski threaded the needle with a perfect pass that eluded two defenders and led his linemate toward the low slot. Brosnihan caught the puck on his backhand and moved it over to his forehand before flipping the biscuit past McInnis's glove at 10:54.

The Blue outshot the Huskies 12-5 in the second and dominated play at both ends again. Yale made it 3-0 midway through the frame with its top line working the puck around. The Elis won a faceoff in the UConn end and defenseman Tom Dignard sent a lead pass to the top of the left circle for Sean Backman, who quickly flicked a pass across the slot to Mark Arcobello (6th goal). The sophomore center one-timed the pass under the UConn goalie's glove at 10:31.

Bulldog senior center Blair Yaworski, who also notched his first two goals of the season and had three points, increased the lead to 4-0 just 3:15 into the third period. However, his second goal may have been the night's top highlight. He wheeled around a defender in the right circle and then snapped off a nasty wrister in stride that McInnis never picked up as Yale upped the advantage to 6-0.

Sophomore winger Sean Backman, who leads the team with seven goals, found the net at 5:04 with Yale's fifth goal, while rookie Brendan Mason answered UConn's lone goal (6:52 left by Matt Turner) eight seconds later with his second tally of the year.

Will Engasser (2nd goal) also got in on the scoring when he flicked a puck past McInnis to make it 8-1, followed by senior David Germain's first career goal.

"We knew it was going to happen. We have a lot of scoring power and tonight was a great night to break out," said Eli captain Will Engasser. "Our celebration for the ninth goal was a little excessive, but we were very excited about [David] Germain's first career goal."

The Bulldogs skate next against Brown in a conference game at Providence Saturday night at 7:00.

Report filed by Steve Conn, Yale Sports Publicity Director