Team Notes: Yale to Host Russia Junior Team in December 29 Exhibition
NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The Yale men's hockey
team (11-1-0, 6-0 ECAC), ranked No. 1 in the country for the second
straight week, has a few weeks off for exams and the holidays
before hosting a Dec. 29 exhibition at Ingalls Rink against the
Russian Junior United Team. The Bulldogs, whose last game was a 3-0
win over Vermont on Dec. 8, skate on the 29th in a contest that can
be seen live on yalebulldogs.com.
TICKETS
Tickets are available for this game at Ingalls (3,500). Call the
Yale Ticket Office at 203.432.1400 or go on yalebulldogs.com.
Tickets at the rink are available at 5:30 on game night.
LAST TIME OUT
Ryan
Rondeau stopped all 32 shots and Chris
Cahill hit the net twice as Yale blanked Vermont 3-0
before a sellout crowd on Dec. 8 at the Whale. Andrew
Miller, who had the other goal, and Brian
O'Neill each had two points.
RED STARS
The Russian Junior United "Red Stars," a team of elite players
from Russia, Latvia and Belarus, play the last of three exhibition
games in the Northeast against Yale. The Red Stars play Holy Cross
and Army before coming to New Haven. The touring team consists of
players from the Russian Junior Hockey League (RJHL). The
RJHL is the 29-team developmental junior league organized in 2009
by Russian professional hockey clubs playing in the Kontinental
Hockey League (KHL). Players in this junior league are
between the ages of 16 and 21. The majority of the players on
the Red Stars roster are ages 19-21. Alexander Semak, current head
coach of Tolpar Ufa and a former star player from Dynamo Moscow and
several NHL teams (289 games), is the head coach.
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
(11-1) start 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.
MILLER TIME
Sophomore F Andrew Miller (46 gp, 9-44-53), voted "best passer" by
his teammates, picked up where he left off his rookie campaign by
dishing out 15 assists in the first 12 games. Eleven of his 15
assists are primary ones and he ranks 2nd in the nation with a 1.25
average. He is also hitting the net this season with four goals,
while his three GWG are second in Division I. 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).
NET GAIN
Goalie Ryan Rondeau (Carvel, AB) has a scoreless streak of 135
minutes and 23 seconds after stopping all 32 of Vermont's shots on
Dec. 8. He became the first Bulldog netminder to notch consecutive
(Dec. 5, Union) shutouts since Alex Westlund blanked Cornell (11-0)
and Colgate (2-0) at the Whale on Feb. 6-7, 1998. Rondeau was ECAC
Goalie of the Week on Dec. 6 (30 saves, Union; 15, RPI) and now
owns all but two of Yale's decisions this season. He currently
ranks third in GAA (1.70) and fourth in SP (.935) in Division I.
Eight of the 17 goals he has allowed this year came on the
man-advantage. The senior, who owns a 16-4-1 career record, 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,
while he ranks ninth in points per game in the country. 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 (114 gp, 36-72-108), who was
voted by his teammates as the "best dresser" and "most talkative"
among the Bulldogs, 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. He ranks fourth in Division I for points (1.58) and
fifth for goals (.75) 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 (107 gp, 62-56-118), who has 11 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
83-50-12 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 is serving as head coach of the 2010-11 U.S. Junior
National Team at International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior
Championship (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 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.
WALLACK SERVING AS HEAD COACH
Kyle Wallack, in his first year as Yale's associate head coach, is
working his fifth campaign with the Bulldogs. The exhibition
against the Red Stars will be his first making all the calls for
the Elis while Keith Allain is out of town with the U.S. Junior
National Team. He may also take over for the Jan. 2 game at home
against Holy Cross, the school he coached at before coming to
Yale.
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 40
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.
BLUE & BLACK
Sophomore forward Antoine
Laganiere (Ile Cadieux, Que.) was injured in the Dec. 3
RPI game and missed the last two games before the break.
Senior Jeff
Anderson (Port Coquitlam, B.C.) was injured 16 seconds
into the Vermont game and missed the rest of the action.
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 (79 gp, 35-54-89) is third on the team with
seven goals and ranks ninth nationally in points per game (1.50).
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, who was
voted "most humorous" made the 2008-09 CHN (national) and
ECAC Hockey All-Rookie teams after going 12-14-26 in 2008-09.
CAHILL
Chris Cahill (North Andover, Mass.) entered the season with 16
goals in threecollegiate seasons. He already has half (8) that
total this winter, including three different two-goal games and a
pair of three-point outings. Cahill, 14th in Division I with .67
goals per game, was named ECAC Hockey Player of the Week on Dec. 6
after leading (3-1-4) Yale to a pair of wins over nationally ranked
teams with three goals and four points. The senior forward is
second on the team in goals with career numbers of 24 goals and 56
points.
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 59 goals and are No. 1 in the nation with a 4.92
average after finishing first last winter with just over four per
game. 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 11 of 12 opponents (by 125 combined)
this year after having the advantage in 26 of the 34 games last
year. Vermont (32-30) was the only squad to outshoot the Blue this
season.
A CLASS OF ITS OWN
With its next win, the Class of 2011 will become the winningest in
Yale men's hockey history. The current seniors have amassed 72
victories, equaling the total reached by the Class of 2010. In
addition, the Class of 2011, which is the first from this school to
win all four trips to Cornell, could be the first at Yale to have
four winning seasons since the Class of 1954.
SCORING SPREAD
Eight members of the senior class have accounted for 30 goals. The
juniors (6) have hit the net 20 times. Yale sophomores (3) have
five tallies while the freshman (4) have four goals. Bulldog
defensemen have hit the net five times.
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
Ryan Rondeau's 10-0 record this season is the best in Division
I... The Blue is 8-0 at home... Yale is tied with Princeton for
first place in the ECAC, but the Tigers have three games in hand...
Junior Chad
Ziegler (Spruce Grove, AB) has a career-best 5-3-8 already
this season.
UP NEXT
Holy Cross comes to the Whale on Jan. 2 for a 7 p.m. faceoff.
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).
TEAM VOTE
A survey of the 2010-11 Bulldogs produced the following results
about the student-athletes.
Who on the team…
Is the strongest (pound-for-pound):
Peel
Is the fastest on skates:
Balch
Has the hardest shot:
Matczak
Is the best fore-checker:
Jaskowiak
Is the best passer:
Miller
Which teammate is…
The best singer:
Anderson
Has the most unique hobby (what is it):
O'Neill (community theater)
Has best sense of humor:
O'Neill
Has the biggest appetite:
Peel
Most soft spoken:
Dueck
Most talkative:
Kearney
Want your sister to date:
Dueck
Best dresser:
Kearney
Likely to become a head hockey coach:
Rondeau
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 second straight week Yale (11-1 overall, 6-0 ECAC) is the
No. 1 ranked team in the two Division I college hockey polls. The
Bulldogs, who had never owned the top spot in the polls before last
week, are tied for first place in ECAC Hockey and do not play until
a Dec. 29 exhibition against a Russian touring team. The Elis, who
own the best record in the country and own the nation's longest (6)
active win streak, got all 34 first-place votes in the USA
Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll and 45 out of 49 in the uscho.com
poll. Yale has been ranked among the top in both polls all 11 weeks
this season. This is the best start for a Bulldog hockey team since
the 1929-30 squad won its first 16 on the way to a 17-1-1 campaign.
The Blue will be without Keith Allain '80, Yale's Malcolm G. Chace
Head Coach of Hockey, against the Russians. He is serving as head
coach of the U.S. Junior National Team at the 2010 World
Championships in Buffalo later this month. Associate head coach
Kyle Wallack will serve as head coach while Allain is away.
"While we acknowledge and appreciate the respect for our program,
our goal is to win a national championship. Focusing on things that
are out of our control - like national rankings – does not
help in the pursuit of our primary goal," said Keith Allain.
filed by Steve Conn, Yale Sports Publicity Director
