Team Notes: Bulldogs, Bears All Weekend
NEW HAVEN, Conn. – It's travel
partner weekend for Yale and Brown with a home-and-home series
Saturday and Sunday afternoons in New Haven and Providence. The No.
1 ranked Bulldogs (14-1, 8-0 ECAC Hockey), who own the nation's
longest (9) active win streak, take on the Bears (5-6-4, 3-4-1)
with a tight conference race heading down the home stretch.
SERIES
Yale and Brown first played in the 1897-98 season and Yale has an
86-69-8 lead, including wins in 10 of the last 12. However,
the two Bear wins were crucial, helping the visitors take the 2010
conference playoff series at New Haven.
LAST MEETINGS
Yale beat Brown 7-4 in the Ivy Shootout at Ingalls Rink, the
season opener for both on Oct. 29. Denny
Kearney had a natural hat trick and four points, Brian
O'Neill (3 points) hit the net twice andBroc
Little added a goal and three points for a Bulldog team
ranked fifth. Yale scored five straight goals after being down by
two and outshot Brown 40-20 while converting two of six
man-advantages. Eli netminder Jeff
Malcolm halted 16 shots and gave up four man-advantage
tallies. Mike Clemente, who had 14 stops in the third, finished
with 33 saves for the Bears.
LAST WEEKEND
The Blue won 2-1 at Dartmouth and 4-2 at Harvard while getting
points from 14 different players.Josh
Balch, Brendan
Mason, Chad
Ziegler and Ken
Trentowski had points in both contests. Four different
players scored and Ryan
Rondeau stopped 29 shots before a sellout at Harvard's
Bright Hockey Center on a snowy night in Boston. Kenny
Agostino, Chris
Cahill, Mason and Ziegler found the net as the Bulldogs outshot
the Crimson 39-31 and converted two of seven power plays. Antoine
Laganiere and Balch hit the net at Thompson Arena on
Friday while Rondeau stopped 32 of 33 shots. Yale's six-goal
weekend included outshooting the two ECAC teams 76-64.
BEARS, BRUINS
Brown, coming off a win at Harvard and a loss at Dartmouth, has
split its last four games, including a 6-1 win over Boston
University at the Shillelagh Tournament in Hoffman Estates, Ill.
Jack MacLellan (11-14-25), second in Division I with 1.67 points
per game, and Harry Zolnierczyk (9-10-19) lead the team on offense.
Mike Clemente (3.92, .884, 3-4-4) has the bulk of the net work but
newcomer Marco DeFilippo (2.81, . 917, 2-2) made 32 saves in both
games last weekend as the starter.
HISTORIC RUN
Yale's 2010-11 start is unique. This is the first time the Elis
have won their first eight conference games, while this is the best
(14-1) first half of a season since Yale ran off 16 straight wins
in 1929-30 and finished 17-1-1. The Elis' best ECAC start was 8-1
in 1997-98.
FROSH LEADER
Kenny Agostino, the leading scorer among the Yale freshmen, has
four goals and seven points over the last four games. Agostino
opened the scoring at Harvard early in the second period when he
put back his tip-in try. On Jan. 2, he became the first Yale
newcomer in 30 years to record five points in one game. 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.
MILLER TIME
Sophomore F Andrew
Miller (49 gp, 9-47-56), voted "best passer" by his
teammates, is No. 1 in the nation with 1.20 assists per game.
What's more impressive is that 13 of his 18 assists are primary
ones. He is also hitting the net when it counts this season; three
of his four goals have been winners, which ranks fourth in Division
I. Miller (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.), who is eighth in the nation
with 1.47 points per contest, 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.
NET GAIN
Goalie Ryan Rondeau (Carvel, AB), who stopped 58 of 61 shots to
earn a pair of road wins last weekend at Dartmouth and Harvard, was
named ECAC Hockey Goalie of the Week for the second time this
season. Rondeau, who had a 141:29 scoreless streak and consecutive
shutouts (first time for a Yalie since 1998) in December, stopped
numerous odd-man rushes and grade-A chances in both contests.
Rondeau, ECAC Goalie of the Week on Dec. 6 (30 saves, Union; 15,
RPI), is 13-0 this season. He ranks second in GAA (1.74) and fourth
in SP (.936) in Division I. Nine of the 22 goals he has allowed
this year came on the man-advantage. The senior, who owns a 19-4-1
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 third on the team with eight goals
while his 22 points are second. His assist total (14) includes 11
that were primary helpers, while he ranks ninth in the country with
a .93 overall average. Kearney is eighth in Division I with 1.47
points per game. He notched eight of those 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 most prolific weekend of his
collegiate career. In addition, all four assists were primary ones.
Kearney (117 gp, 37-75-112), who was voted by his teammates as the
"best dresser" and "most talkative" among the Bulldogs, is Yale's
active career assist leader (7th best at Yale) 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
12 goals and 24 points. He is second in the nation with .80 goals
per game and is fourth with 1.60 points after tallying one assist
last weekend. Little, the only Bulldog with three (PP, SH, GW)
different types of goals this season, had his third career hat
trick (3-1-4) against Holy Cross on Jan. 2. Seven of his 12 assists
have been primary ones. He 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 (110 gp,
65-58-123), who has 13 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,
including RBK Second-Team All-America, first-team All-ECAC, All-Ivy
and All-New England. Little, a political science major, has shown
the same dedication in the classroom with a 3.1 GPA and three-time
ECAC Hockey All-Academic Team status.
BENCH LEADER
Keith Allain '80, Yale's Malcolm G. Chace Head Coach of Hockey, is
86-50-12 as a head coach, including 9-7 in the post season. Only
two 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 served as head coach of the 2011 U.S. National Junior
Team and led the squad to a bronze medal at the International Ice
Hockey Federation World Junior Championship in Buffalo, N.Y. The
U.S., which won all but its semifinal game, defeated Sweden to take
the bronze on Jan. 5. Allain, who helped the U.S. National
Junior Team win a second straight medal at the IIHF World Junior
Championship for the first time, owns a 13-4-2 overall record as a
head coach in the event, giving him the top winning percentage
(.736) of any U.S. head coach to have served on multiple teams.
Kyle Wallack, Yale's fifth-year assistant who is in his first
season as associate head coach, served as Yale's head coach in
Allain's absence.
CAPTAIN MARTIN
Captain Jimmy
Martin (St. Louis, Mo.) is a defensive defenseman who has
turned himself into a player with offensive potential. He has four
assists over his last four games and now has six goals and 43
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.
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 (15 gp, 2.96, .887, 7-4-2) played the last period
against Holy Cross (5 saves) but has not had a start this
winter.
ENGINE NO. 9
Junior F Brian O'Neill (82gp, 36-56-92) is third on the team with
eight goals and ranks 10th nationally in points per game (1.40). 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 (Yardley,
Pa.), who was voted "most humorous" by his teammates, 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 three collegiate seasons. He already has nine this winter,
including three different two-goal games and a pair of three-point
outings. Cahill, 12th in Division I with .64 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 25 goals and 59 points in 105
games.
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.
Agostino (2), Root and Peltz combined for four of Yale's five goals
in the win over the Red Stars. Agostino tied a school rookie record
with five (3-2) points against Holy Cross.
RED LIGHT DISTRICT
The Bulldogs have 75 goals and are No. 1 in the nation with a 5.0
average. They scored 10 against the Crusaders and had seven goals
twice, six once and five on five occasions this year. Yale led the
nation in scoring in 2009-10.
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.
FROM WHENCE THEY CAME
Northeast prep schools and the United States Hockey League each
contributed nine players to the Bulldog roster. Six former British
Columbia Hockey League skaters are at Yale while the Atlantic
Junior Hockey League has a pair. One Eli played in the Eastern
Junior Hockey League and another came from a private school.
SHOOTERS
The Bulldogs have outshot 14 of 15 opponents (by 155 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
The Class of 2011 became the winningest in Yale men's hockey
history after beating Holy Cross on Jan. 2. The current seniors
have amassed 75 victories, surpassing the total reached by the
Class of 2010. In addition, the Class of 2011, which is the first
from this school to be undefeated (3-0-1) at 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 37 goals. The
juniors (6) have hit the net 22 times. Yale sophomores (3) and
freshmen (4) have eight goals each. Bulldog defensemen have hit the
net five times.
SHORTY
Yale had four shorthanded goals last year and led the nation with
nine the year before. The Bulldogs' first goal of 2010-11 was
shorthanded by Broc Little, the school's career leader with seven,
but the team has not done that since.
BULLDOG BITES
Saturday is Youth Day at Ingalls Rink. Children will receive Yale
hockey team poster cards for use in a post-game autograph
session… Yale has six seniors with at least 105 games played
each... Josh Balch has a three-game point streak... The 33 SOG
allowed against Dartmouth were the most for Yale this year... Yale
and Dartmouth were called for two penalties each.
UP NEXT
The Elis host Clarkson and St. Lawrence next Friday and Saturday
nights in a pair of 7:00 starts.
BULLDOGS IN THE PROS
Thirteen former Yale players are skating professionally this
winter: Sean Backman '10 (Texas Stars, AHL, 28 GP, 5-7-12 ), Ryan
Donald '10 (Providence Bruins, AHL), Mark Arcobello '10 (Stockton
Thunder, ECHL, 29 GP, 6-10-16), Alec Richards '09 (Rockford
Icehogs, AHL, 21 gp, 50 GA, 2 SO, 2.65 GAA, 9-9-1, .909 save
percentage), 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 Higgins '05 (Florida Panthers, NHL, 34 GP,
8-8-16), 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 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 calls for the
Elis as well as an interview with Coach Allain.
YALE ON YES
The Feb. 5 Dartmouth game airs live on the YES Network as part of
the winter Yale on YES package. This is the first time the Yale
hockey team will appear on YES, the network available in New York,
Connecticut, New Jersey and Pennsylvania on cable, DirecTV,
AT&T U-verse and Verizon FiOS. The home of the New York Yankees
and New Jersey Nets is also available nationally on DirecTV,
AT&T U-verse, Verizon FiOS and select cable operators.
ON 'TV'
The Dec. 5 game against Union 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 available via internet this season. WYBC does
most of the 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
The Bulldogs wear the bullseye for the sixth straight week as the
nation's top ranked men's college hockey team. Yale received all 33
first-place votes in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll and 45
of 50 in the uscho.com poll. North Dakota, Boston College, New
Hampshire, Minnesota-Duluth, Denver, Michigan and Notre Dame round
out the top eight on both lists. The Fighting Sioux and Eagles were
the other schools to earn first-place tallies.
CONFERENCE
Yale, winners of the last two conference regular season titles,
has a one-point lead over second-place Princeton with a partial
ECAC schedule on tap for this weekend. Two other teams are a within
a good weekend's striking distance as part of a packed conference
race.
filed by Steve Conn, Yale Sports Publicity Director
