Team Notes: Bulldogs Welcome Catamounts to Ingalls Rink
NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The Bulldogs
(10-1-0, 6-0 ECAC), ranked No. 1 in the country for the first time
ever, take on perennial Hockey East power Vermont (1-7-4, 1-6-3 HE)
Wednesday night at 7 at the Whale in a matchup that carries a lot
of history and perspective. The Catamounts, a former ECAC member,
and Yale, coming off a 5-0 win over No. 13 Union, have been playing
for the last 35 years, including games in the NCAAs as well as
holiday tournaments. The game can be seen live on yalebulldogs.com.
TICKETS
A limited number of tickets are available for the game at Ingalls
(3,500). Call the Yale Ticket Office at 203.432.1400 or go on
yalebulldogs.com to order seats. The rink ticket office will open
at 5:30 on game night.
THE SERIES
UVM, which has won the last five straight, has been playing Yale
since 1975-76 and the Elis have a 27-26-4 edge in the series.
Yale's last win came Nov. 22, 2003 at New Haven when UVM was a
member of ECAC Hockey.
LAST TIME OUT
Sunday's battle of top ranked offense vs. the nation's best
defense went to the guys shooting the pucks. The Bulldogs got goals
from four different players and a perfect outing from
goalie Ryan
Rondeau in a 5-0 win over No. 13 Union. Yale, which
remained perfect in conference play while moving into a tie for
first place, won its fifth straight contest and a second
consecutive against a ranked opponent last weekend. Most of
the scoring came from the senior- junior-sophomore line ofChris
Cahill, Brian
O'Neill and Andrew
Miller (in photo), who combined for three goals and seven
assists. Cahill had two goals and an assist, O'Neill notched a goal
and two assists and Miller had four assists, all primary
ones. Defenseman Nick
Jaskowiak and forward Kevin
Limbert added the other Bulldog goals as Yale outshot
Union 40-30.
ALSO LAST WEEKEND
The Elis overcame some adversity to win last Friday despite being
held to a season-low 24 shots on goal. Yale weathered a Rensselaer
comeback and came out on top 4-2 before a full house at Ingalls
Rink. Andrew Miller's third-period power-play goal broke a 2-2 tie
and was the deciding tally. Yale's two PPG were the
difference. No. 15/16 RPI may have held the shot total down
on defense, but it was Yale that won the defensive battle by
allowing just 17 shots on target and preventing a power-play score
out of five chances. Ryan Rondeau stopped 15 shots and got plenty
of support from the guys in white jerseys. Broc
Little, Chris Cahill and Jeff
Anderson had the other tallies while Miller and Mike
Matczak each had two points.
LAST MEETING
Jeff
Malcolm '13 stopped 26 of 27 shots in his second
collegiate start, but the one that got away from him was the
difference in No. 19 Vermont's 1-0 win over No. 10 Yale before
3,675 at Gutterson Field House last November. The lone goal in the
re-match of the 2009 NCAA East Regional semifinal at Bridgeport,
Conn., was controversial. A second-period video review of a pileup
in front of the Yale net with 4:25 left in the second resulted in
the game-winner. David Pacan was credited with the goal after
Malcolm made at least two saves and about six players were battling
for the puck in the crease. The referee behind the net did not make
a call either way when first seeing the play. He left the ice to
view the video.
CATS COMING OFF LOSS TO UNH
Mike Sislo dished out five assists and Paul Thompson had a hat
trick to propel No. 5 New Hampshire to Sunday afternoon's 5-1
Hockey East victory against Vermont at the Whittemore Center. Josh
Burrows had the UVM tally while Rob Madore (3.22, .894) made 27
saves. Senior F Wahsontiio Stacey leads the Cats with six goals.
His squad's victory came against Boston College last month at home,
while the ties were with Denver, Merrimack, Northeastern and
Providence.
START WORTH NOTING
Yale's 2010-11 start is unique. This is the first time the Elis
have won their first six conference games, while this is the best
(10-1) opening third of the season since Yale was perfect in
1929-30 on the way to 16 straight wins and a 17-1-1 mark. The Elis'
best ECAC start was 8-1 in 1997-98.
NET GAIN
Goalie Ryan Rondeau (Carvel, AB) had a season-high 30 saves
against Union on Sunday and registered Yale's first shutout since
Alec Richards blanked Cornell in the 2009 ECAC Championship Game.
Rondeau, who owns all but two of the decisions this season, has
been a consistent force. He currently ranks sixth in GAA (1.89) and
14th in SP (.926) in Division I. Eight of the 17 goals he has
allowed this year came on the man-advantage. The senior has been in
net for six wins over ranked teams including a 3-2 decision with
North Dakota at the 2010 NCAA Northeast Regional semifinal.
GOLD STANDARD
Denny
Kearney (Hanover, NH) is second on the team with seven
goals and 18 points. Nine of his 11 assists are primary helpers.
Among Division I players, he currently ranks fifth in points per
game and eighth in assists. He notched eight of his points over the
first two games (Brown, Dartmouth on Oct. 29-30) and was ECAC
Hockey's Player of the Week. That included his first collegiate hat
trick (natural) and a game-winner during the best weekend of his
collegiate career. In addition, all four assists were primary ones.
Kearney (113 gp, 36-72-108) is Yale's active career assist leader
but may not be the best athlete in his family. His sister, Hannah
Kearney, won an Olympic gold medal in mogul skiing at the 2010
Games and is the top ranked American in that event.
LOTS OF LITTLE
Yale senior forward Broc Little (Rindge, N.H.) leads the team with
nine goals and 19 points. Little had a four-game goal streak
heading into last weekend but did not hit the net in either game.
He ranks fourth in Division I for goals (.82) and second for points
(1.73) while being the only Bulldog with three (PP, SH, GW)
different types of goals this season. Five of his 10 assists have
been primary ones. Little, who has two career hat tricks, was named
one of the 20 candidates for the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award in
hockey, which honors student-athletes who excel both on and off the
ice. Little (106 gp, 62-56-118), who has 12 more points than games
played, led the 2009-10 Bulldogs with 27 goals, a Yale record for
juniors, while leading all of Division I in goals per game (.79).
He was second on the team with 41 points and garnered numerous
post-season honors. Little was named RBK Second-Team All-America
and first-team All-ECAC, All-Ivy and All-New England. Little, a
political science major, has shown the same dedication in the
classroom. He owns a 3.1 GPA and has been a three-time ECAC Hockey
All-Academic Team pick.
Recent Yale Hat Tricks
Date
Player
(Pos)
Opponent
Points
10/29/10 Denny
Kearney (F) Brown
#
3-1-4
3/28/10
Mark Arcobello (F) @ Boston
College 3-3-6
2/20/10
Broc Little
(F)
Clarkson
3-1-4
3/21/09
Sean Backman (F)
Cornell
3-0-3
2/2/07
Sean Backman (F)
@Quinnipiac
3-0-3
12/28/07 Broc
Little
(F)
@Nebraska-Omaha 3-0-3
1/22/05
Brad Mills
(F)
UConn
3-0-3
1/17/04
Joe Zappala
(F)
UConn
3-1-4
12/5/03
Joe Callahan
(D)
@
RPI
3-0-3
# natural hat trick
BENCH LEADER
Keith Allain '80, Yale's Malcolm G. Chace Head Coach of Hockey, is
82-50-12 as a head coach, including 9-7 in the post season. Only
four other Yale hockey head coaches have more wins, and none have
reached the 80-win mark faster than Allain. The former Yale goalie
has led the Blue to three Ivy League titles, two ECAC regular
season championships and a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances.
Allain, who played and worked for Tim Taylor at Yale, earned the
2008-09 Tim Taylor Award as the ECAC Hockey Coach of the Year by
leading the Elis to the best season in the program's history. A
school-record 24 wins, Yale's first ECAC Tournament Championship
and a school-best No. 5 national ranking in late March were a few
reasons why he was selected. College Hockey News named him 2008-09
national coach of the year. This is Allain's 12th overall year at
Yale; he spent four as a student-athlete goalie and three as an
assistant coach in the 1980s. Allain, a former NHL (17 years) and
Olympics (1992, 2006) assistant, was named the 11th head coach of
the Yale men's ice hockey program on April 15, 2006. Allain is the
second Yale graduate to take the position and the first since
Holcomb York '17 led the Bulldogs from 1930 to 1938 (Lawrence M.
Noble '27 coached the Elis from 1928 to 1930). The starting goalie
on four Bulldog squads, Allain recorded the second-most (31) wins
for a Yale netminder and ranks third at the school with 2,337
career saves. He owns four of the top 10 Yale single-game save
totals, including 55 stops in a 7-3 loss at Minnesota on Dec. 28,
1978.
WORLD JUNIORS
Keith Allain will serve as head coach of the 2011 U.S. National
Junior Team. The U.S. takes part in the 2011 International Ice
Hockey Federation World Junior Championship from Dec. 26 to Jan. 5
in Buffalo, N.Y. The U.S. is aiming for its second consecutive
title, having won the gold medal last year at the 2010 IIHF World
Junior Championship in Regina and Saskatoon, Sask. Allain, who
reports to Buffalo on Dec. 16, owns a 9-3-2 overall record as a
head coach in the event, giving him the top winning percentage
(.714) of any U.S. head coach to have served on multiple teams.
Former Yale mentor Tim Taylor, who coached Allain in New Haven and
brought him back as an assistant coach, joins his
protégé as Team USA's director of player personnel.
Allain and Taylor were featured in a documentary that aired on CBS
College Sports TV during the Nov. 19 Yale-Cornell broadcast.
ALLAIN AFTER UNION
"The game was probably a lot closer than the score indicated. We
were good defensively when they had their best moments offensively.
It was a nice, collective win."
CAPTAIN MARTIN
Captain Jimmy
Martin (St. Louis, Mo.) is a defensive defenseman who has
turned himself into a player with offensive potential. He notched
his first goal of 2010-11 at Air Force with a nasty shot from the
point that went off the crossbar. He now has six goals and 39
career points, including a career-best two goals and 17 assists
last winter. Martin is a political science major who was a member
of the Des Moines Buccaneers' 2007 USHL final four squad.
MILLER TIME
Sophomore F Andrew Miller (45 gp, 8-43-51) picked up where he left
off his rookie campaign by dishing out 14 assists in the first 11
games. Eleven of his 14 assists are primary ones. He is also
hitting the net this season with three goals. Miller (Bloomfield
Hills, Mich.) registered the most (34) points by a Yale rookie
since Tom Walsh set the bar with 41 in 1984-85. The speedy forward
was the 2008-09 USA Junior Player of the Year and 2007 Michigan
High School Mr. Hockey. Last winter, he was second among conference
rookies with one point per game, which also put him fourth in the
country for newcomers. He ranked eighth in Division I last year
with .85 assists per outing. Miller is currently seventh in the
nation in points per game (1.55) and second in assists (1.27).
B-A-M LINE
Junior Charles
Brockett (Shaker Heights, Ohio) and seniors Jeff Anderson
(Port Coquitlam, B.C.) and Brendan
Mason (Nanaimo, B.C.) are the players who form Yale's most
physical line. The three have a combined 31 goals and 71 career
points over 282 games, but they are better known for putting bodies
on bodies rather than pucks on nets.
BACKSTOP BACKDROP
A pair of experienced sophomores joins Ryan Rondeau in the net
mix. Jeff Malcolm (12 gp, 4.02, .837, 6-4-0) made 16 saves in the
7-4 win over Brown on Oct. 29 before stopping 25 shots in a 4-3
loss at Air Force. The Lethbridge, AB, native has allowed eight
goals, including six on the power play and two with a 5-on-3
advantage. Alta Loma, Calif., resident Nick
Maricic (14 gp, 2.95, .888, 7-4-2), who has not seen
action this season, is the other returnee between the pipes.
ENGINE NO. 9
Junior F Brian O'Neill (78 gp, 35-52-87) is tied for second on the
team with seven goals and ranks 12th nationally in points per game
(1.45). He began 2010-11 with a 3-2-5 weekend in the two wins
including a career-best 2-1-3 and the GWG against Dartmouth on Oct.
30. Last winter he led the Elis with 29 assists and 45 points while
ranking seventh in the country with 1.32 PPG. One of his best plays
of 2009-10 was a pass he put on Sean Backman's stick in OT that set
up the winner at Cornell. He also had the tying goal in the OT draw
at the Badger Showdown title game against Wisconsin. O'Neill made
the 2008-09 CHN (national) and ECAC Hockey All-Rookie teams after
going 12-14-26 in 2008-09.
FROSH
The class of 2014 includes four forwards and one defenseman. All
five competed in the Northeast during 2009-10. Three of the new
Elis played in the juniors (Eastern, North Atlantic) last winter
while two came to Yale from New England prep schools. F Clinton
Bourbonais (Colchester, Conn.), F Kenny
Agostino (Flanders, N.J.) and F Jesse
Root (Pittsburgh, Pa.) have all found the net this season.
D Gus
Young (Dedham, Mass.) has an assist in two games played,
while F Brad
Peltz(Mount Kisco, N.Y.) is looking for his first action.
RED LIGHT DISTRICT
The Bulldogs have 56 goals and are No. 1 in the nation with a 5.09
average after finishing first last winter with just over
four. They have scored seven goals twice, six once and five
on five occasions this year.
GEOGRAPHIC BALANCE
The Yale roster includes players from 12 different states and
three provinces. Illinois, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New
Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania are represented twice each while
six hail from Alberta, including a Calgary pair.
SHOOTERS
The Bulldogs have outshot all opponents (by 127 combined) this
year after having the advantage in 26 of the 34 games last
year.
SCORING
Eight members of the senior class have accounted for 28 goals and
70 points. The juniors (6) have hit the net 20 times with 41
points. Yale sophomores (3) have 4-22-26 while the freshman (4)
have 4-4-8. Bulldog defensemen have four goals and 23 points.
SHORTY
Yale's first goal of 2010-11 was shorthanded by Broc Little, the
school's career leader with six. The Elis had four SHG last
winter.
BULLDOG BITES
Yale had 21 shots on goal in the first period against Colgate and
SHU, three less than it got against RPI for the game... The current
seniors are the only Yale class to have won all four games at Lynah
Rink… The Bulldogs have outscored opponents 56-25, including
20-9 in the first… Yale is averaging 2,990 over seven home
games at Ingalls Rink (3,500)… The Bulldogs have an
exhibition game against a Russian national team on Dec. 29 at
Ingalls. The Russian roster has yet to be determined… Former
Yale skater Jeff Dwyer '04 is the director of education and
recruitment for College Hockey, Inc., which was formed by the
commissioners of the six Division I men's leagues to raise college
hockey's profile… Twenty-one Bulldogs have points this year,
16 have goals.
UP NEXT
The Elis are off for exams and the holidays before skating against
a Russian all-star team in a Dec. 29 exhibition at Ingalls
Rink.
BULLDOGS IN THE PROS
Fourteen former Yale players are skating professionally this
winter: Sean Backman '10 (Texas Stars, AHL), Ryan Donald '10
(Reading Royals, ECHL), Mark Acrobello '10 (Stockton Thunder,
ECHL), Alec Richards '09 (Rockford Icehogs, AHL), Brennan Turner
'09 (Elmira Jackals, ECHL), David Meckler '09 (Manchester Monarchs,
AHL), Matt Cohen '07 (Hamburg Freezers, DEL), Brad Mills '07 (New
Jersey Devils, NHL; Albany Devils, AHL), Chris Brooks '06
(Bakersfield Condors, ECHL), Chris Higgins '05 (Florida Panthers,
NHL), Joe Callahan '05 (Rochester Americans, AHL), Stacey Bauman
'03 (Tulsa Oilers, CHL), Jeff Hamilton '01 (HIFK Helsinki, FNL),
Ray Giroux '98 (Chelyabinsk Traktor, KHL).
YALE HOCKEY BROADCASTS
The pay-per-view Yale home hockey "TV" broadcasts on
yalebulldogs.com are a Yale Athletic Department production that
employs students to produce, shoot and broadcast most of the
action. Sam Dorward '13 is the producer and Joel Oblizalo '12 does
the camera work. Evan Ellis '11 handles most of the play-by-play
for the Elis as well as an interview with Coach Allain.
ON 'TV'
Sunday's game aired live on ESPNU with Barry Melrose and E.J.
Hradek calling the action. It was the first of two Yale games on
ESPNU this season. The Feb. 20 game at Princeton is also on
ESPNU. The Union game was Yale's third on the tube this
season. The first was Nov. 19 at Cornell on CBS College Sports
followed by a Nov. 20 game at Colgate on Time Warner Cable.
WYBC
The Yale student radio station formerly found on AM-1340 and on
wybc.com, is only availabe via internet this season. WYBC does all
home contests and a pre-game interview with Coach Allain.
INGALLS RENOVATIONS
Yale hockey celebrated the re-dedication of Ingalls Rink (3,500
capacity) on Jan. 16, 2010, with ceremonies on and off the ice. The
rink built in 1958 has been modernized in many ways while adding
13,000 square feet of varsity operational space. The additions
include locker rooms and space for strength & conditioning
(including skating treadmill), student-athlete study area, medical
& training, officials, video, coaches, equipment, reception
(Schley Room) and more. There are new historical displays and
concession stands and bathrooms for the building nicknamed the Yale
Whale because of its humpback-shaped roof.
NCAAS BACK AT HARBOR YARD
Yale co-hosted the 2009 East Regional at The Arena at Harbor Yard
in Bridgeport, and the Bulldogs were one of the four teams to
participate. The 2011 and 2012 East Regional Tournaments will also
be at The Arena co-hosted by the Elis and Fairfield. This coming
NCAA tourney is March 25-26. Game times on the 25th are 3 and 6:30
with a 6:30 p.m. championship contest on the 26th.
IN THE POLLS
For the first time in the history of the program Yale is ranked
No. 1 in the nation. The two major polls have the Blue in the top
spot of both after a pair of wins over nationally ranked teams last
weekend. Yale, No. 2 last week, is the first ECAC team to be ranked
No. 1 since Cornell entered the 2003 NCAA Tournament as its top
seed. The Elis have been ranked fifth or better since the start of
the 2010-11 campaign and own the nation's longest active win streak
at five. The Elis received 34 of 50 first-place votes and 973
points in the uscho.com poll which put them ahead of No. 2
Minnesota-Duluth (13, 950), last week's top-ranked squad. UMD, also
nicknamed the Bulldogs, split with No. 9 Denver over the weekend.
The Blue had 24 of 33 first-place votes in the USA Today/American
Hockey Magazine poll. UMD had nine top votes and was second on this
list as well.
filed by Steve Conn, Yale Sports Publicity Director
