Team Notes: Wednesday Night Mass for Bulldogs

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - The Yale men's hockey team completes the first segment of the 2011-12 season by traveling to UMass (4-7-4) for a 7 p.m. game on Wednesday. The battle of ECAC Hockey vs. Hockey East airs live from the Mullins Center on CBS3 Now TV.

SERIES
Yale has a 12-6 lead over UMass heading into the 19th meeting, though the Minutemen have won the last three and are 2-0 playing at Amherst.  UMass won the first meeting in 1911 and then Yale took the next five.  The Elis won seven straight from 1922 to 1974.

LAST MEETING
UMass, ranked 11th, beat unranked Yale 4-3 in OT at Ingalls Rink on Nov. 19, 2009. Nick Maricic (32 saves) was in net for the Bulldogs, who got goals from Sean Backman '10, Broc Little '11 and Denny Kearney '11.

BLUE BEATS BROWN 5-3 AT NEW HAVEN
Brian O'Neill (Yardley, Pa.) scored two goals and had one assist to help the Bulldogs erase 2-0 and 3-2 deficits on the way to an important conference victory in the first game of a home-and-home series with the Bears. The Bulldogs, who scored five of the game's last six goals, converted two of four advantages while edging Brown in shots, 39-37.Junior goalie Jeff Malcolm (Lethbridge, AB) stood on his head at times while stopping 34 of 37 shots against a team that produced a ton of odd-man rushes. The Bears, who had more shots on net than Yale in the first two frames, got 34 saves from Michael Clemente.

BROWN BEATS YALE 6-4 AT PROVIDENCE
Junior forward Antoine Laganiere (Ile Cadieux, Que.) had two goals and two assists and the No. 14/15 Yale men's hockey team erased a pair of two-goal deficits, but it wasn't enough to hold off Brown,  6-4 winners in ECAC Hockey action at Meehan Auditorium. Junior goalie Jeff Malcolm (Lethbridge, AB) made 37 saves as the Bulldogs (6-4-1, 4-2-0) were outshot 43-31. He helped Yale come back from 2-0 and 4-2 margins to nearly steal this one from the Bears.
    
MINUTEMEN
UMass, coming off a 4-4 tie with Harvard at home on Friday night, has wins over Boston College, Northeastern, Holy Cross and Bentley. Three of the wins were consecutive games.  Harvard outshot UMass 44-35 last week but Steve Guzzo had a goal and an assist for the Minutemen and Kevin Boyle made 40 saves.

RANKS
Yale's penalty-kill is second among Division I teams at 93.3 percent, while only three teams have been penalized less than the Bulldogs. The Elis' power play unit is second (28.9), scoring defense is 31st (2.82) and scoring offense 17th (3.27).
ECAC HOCKEY
Yale (8 points) is third in ECAC Hockey after playing six games. First-place Cornell has 13 points in eight games, Colgate is second with 12 points after eight contests. Yale's next league game is Jan. 6 at home against Quinnipiac. The Blue finished second to Union in the standings last winter.

LAGANIERE
Antoine Laganiere's four points were a career-high, though he matched his best goal outing, against Princeton his rookie year. The junior winger came close to making it a hat trick against Brown after making a nifty move past a defender and then barely getting stopped by Brown goalie Mike Clemente. Laganiere had three goals and five points in the two games against the Bears.

MALCOLM IN MIDDLE
Junior Jeff Malcolm has started every game this season and has all six wins. He had a shutout streak of three (Colgate, RPI, Union) games (3rd in Division I) and 226:39 minutes (parts of 5 games) in November and was named ECAC Hockey Goalie of the Week after stopping all 72 shots in wins at No. 8 Union and RPI on Nov. 11-12. The three straight SHOs tied the school record set by Ryan Rondeau '11 last winter. His scoreless streak fell short of the 240:53 by Rondeau. His career record is 12-8-1 with a 2.89 GAA and three shutouts. Malcolm has a 2.55 GAA (27th in Division I) with a .924 SP (12th) this year.

MILLER TIME
Junior F Andrew Miller (80 gp, 19-69-88) scored the game-winner and hand out an important assist in Thursday's win over Brown. He leads the team with seven assists and has two goals and seven points over his last four outings. Miller, a 2010-11 first-team All-ECAC pick, was voted "best passer" by his teammates last season while he had 12-33-45. He was No. 4 in the nation with .97 assists per game (tops in ECAC). More impressive is that 22 of his 33 assists were primary ones. His team-high 33 helpers (2nd best at Yale and five behind Mark Kaufmann '93) were a sophomore school record while 45 points were second on the team. He probably had his best offensive weekend as a collegian on Feb. 25-26 when he hit the net three times against Colgate/Cornell combined. Miller (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.), was 12th in the nation with 1.29 points per contest and registered the most (34 as a freshman) 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. In 2009-10 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 that year with .85 assists per outing.

CAPTAIN O'NEILL
Yale's captain, Brian O'Neill (114 gp, 53-75-128), leads the squad with five goals and 11 points and jumped over Sean Backman '10 into ninth place on Yale's career points list with 128. He was a 2010-11 first-team All-ECAC selection and has led the team in scoring the last two seasons. His best night was a hat trick at Clarkson on Feb. 12, 2011. He ranked 15th nationally with 1.29 points per game last year. He began 2010-11 with a 3-2-5 weekend in the two wins including 2-1-3 and the GWG against Dartmouth on Oct. 30. The year before, he led the Elis with 29 assists and 45 points while ranking seventh in the country with 1.32 PPG. O'Neill (Yardley, Pa.) made the 2008-09 CHN and ECAC Hockey All-Rookie teams after going 12-14-26.

NET MIX
Junior Nick Maricic (Alta Loma, Calif.) saw his first action of the year at SHU but has not made a start this season. Maricic owns a 2.89 career GAA and an .885 SP. Freshman Connor Wilson (Cary, NC) is looking for his first opportunity.

BLUE LINE
There are seven defensemen on the Yale roster: two seniors, a junior, a sophomore and three freshmen. They have combined to score five goals while allowing 31 in 11 games. Two of the newcomers, Tommy Fallen (Plymouth, Minn.) and Matt Killian (Basking Ridge, NJ) scored goals against SHU. Three of the seven have a depth of experience. Seniors Kevin Peel (Onoway, Alb.) and Nick Jaskowiak (Bloomington, Minn.) have been regulars since arriving in New Haven. Junior Colin Dueck (Calgary, Alb.) became a mainstay last winter and sophomore Gus Young (Dedham, Mass.) has seen action in every game this season.   

AGOSTINO
Yale sophomore forward Kenny Agostino (Flanders, NJ), who missed the Brown series with an injury, has goals in his last three games. His best game this year was 2-2-4 vs. UConn. Agostino became the first Yale newcomer in 30 years to record five points in one game on Jan. 2, 2011. He notched three goals and two assists against Holy Cross and became the school's first freshman to tally five points since former Olympian and NHL star Bob Brooke '83 established the school rookie record against Dartmouth in 1980. Yale's rookie of the year last winter after scoring 11 goals and 25 points, Agostino was the HCA National Rookie of the Month for January (8-4-12), the first Bulldog to receive that award. He was ECAC Hockey MLX Skates Rookie of the Week on Jan. 23 (3 goals vs. Clarkson/SLU), becoming the only Bulldog to earn conference rookie honors in 2010-11. The former Delbarton School star had a goal and three assists before the holiday break, and 10 goals and 11 assists after. He ranked 11th nationally among rookies with .86 points per game.
 
BETTER LATE THAN NEVER
Senior F Dan Otto (Lake Zurich, Ill.) notched his first two collegiate goals at Union on Nov. 12 after battling injuries the last three years that prevented him from playing a regular season contest. Otto (2-0-2) has played in every game this year.

BULLDOG BITES
Yale split the season series with Brown for the second straight year… The Blue converted two of its four advantages… There were three freshmen in the lineup, two on defense and one up front… Freshman F Trent Ruffolo (Coral Springs, Fla.), who made his collegiate debut as the first Floridian to skate for the Elis, and sophomore F Brad Peltz (Mt. Kisko, N.Y.) were inserted into tonight's lineup. They replaced sophomore Kenny Agostino (Flanders, NJ) and freshman Nicholas Weberg (Oslo, Norway).  Newcomer Bennett Carroccio (Armonk, NY) was in for classmate Matt Killian (Basking Ridge, NJ) on the blueline.

CODE RED
There is one new face on the Yale bench this season, Dennis "Red" Gendron, who replaced Kyle Wallack as the Bulldogs' associate head coach. Dennis "Red" Gendron, an assistant at the University of Massachusetts the last six seasons and a former University of Maine coach from 1990 to 1993. He helped the Black Bears win a 1993 NCAA Championship before working in the New Jersey Devils organization.

BULLDOGS IN THE PROS
There are 23 former Yale hockey players skating professionally, including eight from the class of 2011. Here are the Bulldog pros, youngest to oldest.

Chris Cahill '11 (Cincinnati Cyclones, ECHL)
Denny Kearney '11 (Trenton Titans, ECHL)
Broc Little '11 (HockeyAllsvenskan, VIK Västerås HK, Sweden)
Jimmy Martin '11 (Florida Everblades, ECHL)
Brendon Mason '11 (Nybro Vikings, Sweden)
Mike Matczak '11 (Kalamazoo Wings, ECHL)
Ryan Rondeau '11 (Laredo Buck, CHL)
Ken Trentowski '11 (Brooklyn Aviators, FHL)
Sean Backman '10 (Bridgeport Sound Tigers, AHL)
Ryan Donald '10 (Florida Everblades, ECHL)
Mark Arcobello '10 (Oklahoma City Barons, AHL)
Billy Blase '10 (Neuilly-sur-Marne, France)
Tom Dignard (Belfast Giants, EIHL)
Alec Richards '09 (Rockford Icehogs, AHL)
Brennan Turner '09 (Dundee Stars, EIHL)
David Meckler '09 (Manchester Monarchs, AHL)
Blair Yaworski '08 (Utah Grizzlies, ECHL)
Jean-Francois Boucher (Saint-George COOL-FM, LNAH)
Matt Cohen '07 (Fife Flyers, EIHL)
Brad Mills '07 (New Jersey Devils, NHL)
Chris Higgins '05 (Vancouver Canucks, NHL)
Joe Callahan '05 (Hamilton Bulldogs, AHL)
Ray Giroux '98 (ChelyabinskTraktor, KL)

CURRENT NHL CONNECTIONS
Three players on the current Yale roster have been drafted by NHL teams: Gus Young (Colorado, 7th, 184, 2009); Kenny Agostino (Pittsburgh, 5th, 140, 2010); Brad Peltz (Ottawa, 7th, 190, 2009).

9 GRADS
It's not fair to compare recent Yale teams to the 2011-12 Bulldogs, who lost nine standout class of 2011 players. Eight of the graduates are skating professionally. The current squad isn't lacking talent, but nobody re-loads with equal force after losing nine seniors from a championship team. There are seven seniors seeing regular duty, though one of them seeks his first varsity letter. Four of the five sophomores and five of the six juniors have been in almost every game while five freshmen have been needed to fill the largest void.

YALE'S LAST 3
The Yale men have left a mark on Division I over the last three seasons under Keith Allain '80, the Malcolm G. Chace Head Coach of Hockey. The combined statistics from 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2010-11 make the last three years the best in the history of the sport in New Haven and among the best in the nation over that span.

The Numbers From 2008-11

Overall Record:            73-25-6 (.729)    
ECAC Record:            47-14-5 (.749)    
Scoring:                405 goals, 104 games (3.89)
All-Americans:            4
All-ECAC:            8
All-Ivy League:            10

Accomplishments
    Top Winning Percentage in Division I
    Two-time Division I Scoring Leader (2009-10, 2010-11)
    Led nation in scoring defense 2010-11
    2 ECAC Hockey Tournament Championships (2009, 2011)
    2 ECAC Hockey Regular Season Titles (2008-09, 2009-10)
    3 Ivy League Titles
    3 NCAA Tournament Appearances
    2 NCAA Regional Final Appearances (2010, 2011)
    School-record 28 wins (2010-11)
    10 All-Ivy League Selections
    8 All-ECAC Hockey Selections
    4 All-America Selections
    2 Hockey Commissioners Association Players of the Month

LOOKING AHEAD
The Bulldogs come back from exams and the holiday break to host an exhibition and a non-leauge game. Yale hosts the Russian Red Stars on Dec. 28 before the first-ever meeting of the Elis and Bentley on New Year's Day.

RED STARS
The game against Yale on Dec. 28 is the middle of an eight-game U.S. trip for the touring team that will face North Dakota (12/17), Vermont (12/27), Northern Michigan (12/30), Notre Dame (1/3), UMass-Lowell (1/5) and two NAHL teams.
                   
GEOGRAPHIC BALANCE
The Yale roster includes players from 13 different states and three provinces. New York and Minnesota are represented by three players from each state while Alberta brings in four players.

FROM WHENCE THEY CAME
The United States Hockey League contributed 10 players to the Bulldog roster. There are four from the British Columbia Hockey League, one from the Atlantic Junior Hockey League and another from the Eastern Junior Hockey League. Ten Yale student-athletes came directly from prep schools.

ON TV
The Nov. 4 Cornell game at Ingalls was on CBS Sports Network, the first of three TV games including Yale this month. Time Warner Cable did both the Nov. 11 and 12 games at RPI and Union. Other TV games planned are Jan. 27 at Harvard (NBC Sports Ntwk), Feb. 17 Dartmouth (NBC Sports Ntwk) and Feb. 25 at Quinnipiac (SNY).

YALE HOCKEY BROADCASTS
Pay-per-view broadcasts of Yale hockey regular season home games are available on yalebulldogs.com. The Yale Athletic Department production is almost entirely student run: Sam Dorward '13 is the producer; Tom Stokes  '12 and Patrick Ouziel '13 are the cameramen; Evan Ellis '12, the Voice of Yale Hockey, and Max Valenstein '13 are the broadcasters.

WYBCX.COM
The Yale student radio station formerly found on AM-1340 and on wybc.com, is only available via internet this season. WYBC does most of the home contests and a pre-game interview with Coach Allain.
 
INGALLS
Yale hockey celebrated the re-dedication of Ingalls Rink (3,500 capacity) on Jan. 16, 2010. 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.

WHALE OF A TIME
The Whale (Ingalls Rink) has been a tough place for visitors in recent years. Yale, which enjoyed its first undefeated (15-0-1, only Division I team to do that) regular season at Ingalls last winter, finished 17-1-1 at home (2-2 this year). That is the most wins ever in New Haven for a Yale team (The Blue went unbeaten at New Haven in 1928-29). The Bulldogs are 42-11-3 over the last three-plus seasons at the Whale and 12-10-3 in home ECAC playoff games all time.

SOLD OUT
Ingalls Rink was sold out for the last 12 games of the 2010-11 regular season and three (Cornell, Colgate, BC) of the first five games this season. There are tickets available for the rest of the home campaign, but only G.A. and S.R.O. tickets remain for contests with Harvard and Dartmouth.

HARBOR YARD
Yale and Fairfield hosted the 2009 and 2011 NCAA East Regional Tournaments in Bridgeport at Webster Bank's Arena at Harbor Yard, and the Bulldogs participated in both. The 2012 East Regional is also slated for the Yard, which has also hosted numerous NCAA post-season events.

ATTENTION MEDIA
Here are some important things to know if you are covering the Bulldogs or just working a game at Ingalls. Interviews: Yale head coach Keith Allain and select players are available on a semi-regular basis each week at Ingalls Rink, typically Thursdays at 2:30 p.m. If you would like to attend these informal media sessions, please contact Sports Publicity Director Steve Conn. Post-game:interviews with Yale personnel are conducted in one of the youth locker rooms at ice level on the home side of the building. Let Steve Conn know who you would like to speak with immediately after the game.

Media Gate List
Attendants stationed at the front and back of the rink have a media gate list to check off your name. The same list is used for PARKING in the garage (entrance off Prospect Street) behind the rink.

filed by Steve Conn, Yale Sports Publicity Director