Team Notes: New York State of Mind
NEW HAVEN, Conn. – ECAC Hockey's
capitol district trip has become one of the toughest in the
conference, especially with both teams earning national rankings
and producing impressive numbers. The top ranked Yale men's hockey
team (17-2, 11-1 ECAC), holding a slim lead atop the conference
standings, travels to No. 12/13Union (16-7-3, 8-3-1) and No. 10
Rensselaer (15-6-3, 7-5) this Friday and Saturday nights for a pair
of 7:00 puck drops.
VS. UNION
The Elis have a 21-14-3 lead in a series that began in 1991-92,
the year Union replaced Army in ECAC Hockey. The Dutchmen earned a
3-3 tie in the last meeting at Schenectady, but the Blue has taken
the last two games at Ingalls. It was the battle of the top ranked
offense vs. the nation's best defense on ESPNU when they last met
on Dec. 5 at Ingalls. Yale won 5-0 as Ryan
Rondeau stopped 30 shots and the Elis had two goals
from Chris
Cahill. Brian
O'Neill, Nick
Jaskowiak and Kevin
Limbert had the other tallies.
VS. RPI
The Bulldogs and Engineers first played in 1908-09 and RPI has a
49-38-6 lead. Yale won the last meeting at New Haven last month but
lost both games last winter. The Bulldogs took the game at the
Whale 4-2 despite a season-low 24 shots on goal in a battle of
ranked teams. Andrew
Miller's third-period power-play goal broke a 2-2 tie. Broc
Little, Chris Cahill and Jeff
Anderson had the other tallies as the Bulldogs used eight
RPI infractions to notch two of its four goals. Yale 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 for the Blue.
LAST WEEKEND
Five different Yale players found the net as the Elis combined to
outshoot its North Country opponents 69-52. The Blue, which needed
three goals in the third period of both games, beat Clarkson 5-2
before getting past St. Lawrence 4-1. Yale managed to score nine
goals despite scoring once on 14 advantages during a pair of
sold-out games at Ingalls Rink. Ryan Rondeau stopped 49 of 52 shots
while Kenny
Agostino (3 goals) and Chris Cahill (2-3-5) led the Yale
offense.
FREAKING OUT
Union, which has non-league wins over Minnesota and
Alaska-Anchorage, has won five of its last six after splitting a
home weekend with the Crimson (win) and Big Green (loss). The
Dutchmen have two of the league's top scoring players in Jeremy
Walsh and Daniel Carr, while Keith Kinkaid is among the top ranked
goalies in the country. Saturday night at Houston Field House is
"Big Red Freak Out Night," and the fans in Troy have reason to
freak out. Their Engineers have won three straight and four out of
five, including a sweep of Dartmouth and Harvard at home last week,
and had two players (Chace Polacek, Allen York) earn ECAC Hockey
Awards this week.
HISTORIC RUN
Yale's 2010-11 start is unique. This is the first time the Elis
have won their first nine conference games before taking 11 of the
first 12. The Blue has not won 17 of its first 19 games since Yale
ran off 16 straight wins in 1929-30 and finished 17-1-1.
MILLER TIME
Sophomore F Andrew Miller (53 gp, 10-50-60), voted "best passer"
by his teammates, is No. 3 in the nation with 1.11 assists per
game. What's more impressive is that 14 of his 21 assists are
primary ones. He is also hitting the net when it counts this
season; four of his five goals have been winners, which ranks
fourth in Division I. Miller (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.), who is 12th
in the nation with 1.37 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.
CAPTAIN AHAB BEWARE
The Whale (Ingalls Rink) has been a tough (12-0 for Yale) place
for visitors this season, Moby Dick would be proud. This is just
the fourth time (last in 2008-09) in school history that Yale has
won at least a dozen at home. The Bulldogs aren't biting any legs
off but they are 35-9-2 over the last three seasons at the
Whale.
NET GAIN
A year after four goalies shared the Yale net, Ryan Rondeau
(Carvel, AB), one of the four in 2009-10, has started 17 of the 19
games and has twice been named ECAC Hockey Goalie of the Week. He
has started the last 13 games; the last time an Eli netminder had a
streak like that was 2006-06 (Alec Richards '09). Rondeau, who had
a 141:29 scoreless streak and consecutive shutouts (first time for
a Yalie since 1998) in December, is 16-1. He ranks third in GAA
(1.80) and sixth in SP (.932) in Division I. Ten of the 30 goals he
has allowed this year came on the man-advantage. Rondeau's
season-high is 32 saves (twice) while his career-high is 40 at
Princeton in 2009. The senior, who owns a 22-5-1 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.
STREAK
After opening the season with five straight wins, the Blue
stumbled on Nov. 14 at Air Force before bouncing back with a road
win at Cornell on Nov. 19. That was the first of 10 straight wins
that carried through to the Jan. 15 victory over Brown at Ingalls.
Division I's longest win streak this year came to an end the next
day at Brown.
GOLD STANDARD
Denny
Kearney (Hanover, NH) is fourth on the team with 10 goals
and 24 points. His assist total (14) includes 11 that were primary
helpers, while he ranks 24th in the country with 1.26 points per
game. Kearney 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 (121 gp, 39-75-114), 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.), a Hobey Baker
candidate, leads the team with 13 goals and 27 points despite being
kept off the board last weekend. He is eighth in the nation with
.68 goals per game, seventh with 1.42 points. Little had his third
career hat trick (3-1-4) against Holy Cross on Jan. 2. Eight of his
14 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
(114 gp, 66-60-126), 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, 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.
HOBEY CANDIDATES
Senior Yale hockey forwards Broc Little (Rindge, N.H.) and Denny
Kearney (Hanover, N.H.) have been nominated for the 2011 Hobey
Baker Memorial Award. The first phase of the process includes fan
voting. Go to hobeybakeraward.com and make your choice once every
24 hours. The results of the fan voting will impact the final
selection process.
BENCH LEADER
Keith Allain '80, Yale's Malcolm G. Chace Head Coach of Hockey, is
89-51-12 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.
ALLAIN SAYS
"We are excited to play at two great hockey venues against a pair
of very good teams this weekend. We played tight, hard-fought games
against both RPI and Union at Ingalls Rink last month and I expect
the same this week."
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.
Allain was joined on the U.S. team by Yale's hockey strength &
conditioning coach Joe Maher. 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 had an
assist in both games last week and now has six goals and 45 career
points, including a career-best two goals and 17 assists last
winter. Martin, who attended three different high schools in three
states before coming to New Haven, is a political science major who
helped the Des Moines Buccaneers make it to the 2007 USHL final
four.
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 (86gp, 40-56-96), who has goals in four
straight outings, is second on the team with 12 goals and ranks
11th nationally with .63. 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.
BLUE LINE
Three seniors, two juniors and a sophomore comprise the typical
Yale defensive lineup this season. These six players, who have
seven goals between them in 2010-11, have a combined 474 career
games played. Mike
Matczak (Sewell, N.J.) was the only Yale blueliner to hit
the net (vs. SLU) last weekend.
CAHILL
Chris Cahill (North Andover, Mass.) entered the season with 16
goals in three collegiate seasons. He already has 11 this winter,
including four different two-goal games and a three three-point
outings. Cahill, 14th in Division I with .61 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 third on the
team in goals with career numbers of 27 goals and 66 points in 109
games.
HOTTEST BULLDOG
Yale freshman forward Kenny Agostino was named ECAC Hockey MLX
Skates Rookie of the Week after hitting the net three times last
weekend in a pair of wins last weekend. The Flanders, N.J., native
scored the game-winner against Clarkson on Jan. 21 before notching
a pair against St. Lawrence on Jan. 22. He is the first Bulldog to
earn conference rookie honors this season. Agostino, the hottest
hand on the nation's top ranked team, has seven goals over his last
seven games. His transition from first half of rookie season to now
has helped the Bulldogs win 17 of 19 games. The former Delbarton
School star had a goal and three assists before the holiday break,
and has seven goals and four assists since. The leading scorer
(8-7-15) among Yale freshmen, Agostino became the first Yale
newcomer in 30 years to record five points in one game on Jan. 2.
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.
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.), who has been fighting injuries, has
an assist in two games played, while F Brad
Peltz (Mount Kisco, N.Y.) is looking for his first regular
season action. Agostino (2), Root and Peltz combined for four of
Yale's five goals in the win over the Russian Red Stars. Agostino
tied a school rookie record with five (3-2) points against Holy
Cross.
RED LIGHT DISTRICT
The Bulldogs have 91 goals and are No. 1 in the nation with a 4.79
average. They scored 10 against the Crusaders and had seven goals
twice, six once and five on seven 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 18 of 19 opponents (by 192 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 76 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, is 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 43 goals. The
juniors (6) have hit the net 24 times. Yale sophomores (4) have
tallied 10 goals, while the freshmen (4) have added 12. Bulldog
defensemen have hit the net seven 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
RPI asked Yale to wear its home white jerseys for Saturday's Big
Red Freak Out Night, so the Elis will wear them both nights this
weekend… This is the 10th campaign a Yale hockey team has
won 17 games or more… Yale has the top (.895) winning
percentage in Division I hockey… The defense (2.05) and
power play (24.1) rank third in the nation…The Elis are 5-1
in Ivy League games and have a two-point lead over 4-1
Dartmouth… The Bulldogs are 12-0 at home and are averaging
3,280 (3,500 capacity) at Ingalls Rink… The average
attendance at a Yale road game is 3,280… The Blue has three
NHL draft picks on the roster: Kenny Agostino (Penguins), Gus Young
(Avalanche) and Brad Peltz (Senators).
UP NEXT
The Blue is home next weekend to host Harvard and Dartmouth in a
pair of 7 p.m. games on Alumni Weekend. The annual alumni game is
9:30 AM on Feb. 5.
BULLDOGS IN THE PROS
This season, for the first time ever, two former Yale players
skated on the same National Hockey League team. Chris Higgins '05
and Joe Callahan '05 are both on the Florida Panthers' roster,
though Higgins is currently injured. They played in the same game
twice in November. Thirteen former Yale players are skating
professionally this winter: Sean Backman '10 (Texas Stars, AHL, 33
GP, 5-8-13 ), Ryan Donald '10 (Reading Royals, ECHL), Mark
Arcobello '10 (Oklahoma City Barons, AHL), Alec Richards '09
(Rockford Icehogs, AHL, 24 gp, 56 GA, 2 SO, 2.64 GAA, 9-11-1, .907
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 (Florida Panthers, NHL; Rochester
Americans, AHL), Stacey Bauman '03 (Tulsa Oilers, CHL), Jeff
Hamilton '01 (HIFK Helsinki, FNL), Ray Giroux '98 (Chelyabinsk
Traktor, KHL).
IN THE POLLS
Yale has been Division I's top ranked squad the last two months.
The Bulldogs made it an eighth straight week on Monday when the
USCHO.com and USA Today/American Hockey Magazine polls were
released. The Blue earned 46 of 50 USCHO.com first-place votes,
while No. 2 Boston College had the other four. Yale, one of five
ECAC teams in the Top 20 poll, became No. 1 in December, the first
time in program history. Yale was the unanimous choice in the USA
Today poll, taking all 34 first-place votes. RPI and Union are the
other ECAC squads on that top 15 list.Boston College was No. 2 in
both polls, while Denver jumped over North Dakota for No. 3 in the
rankings.
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.
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. Encore
airings of the Yale on YES will be Feb. 5 at 11:30 p.m. and Feb. 6
at 5 p.m.
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. Both
games this weekend are slated for TWC.
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.
NCAAS BACK AT BRIDGEPORT
Yale and Fairfield hosted the 2009 East Regional in Bridgeport at
Webster Bank's Arena at Harbor Yard, and the Bulldogs were one of
the four teams to participate. The 2011 and 2012 East Regionals are
also slated for the Yard. 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.
CONFERENCE RACE
Yale, winners of the last two conference regular season titles,
has a five-point lead over second-place Union with a full
ECAC schedule on tap for this weekend.
filed by Steve Conn, Yale Sports Publicity Director
