Team Notes: Bulldogs, Bears Twice this Week

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - The Yale men's hockey team (5-3-1, 3-1-0 ECAC) is back in conference play after three straight games out of ECAC Hockey. The No. 14/15 Bulldogs take on conference travel partner Brown (3-5-1, 2-2-0) in a home-and-home series on Thursday and Saturday nights at 7. The two Ivy schools meet at Ingalls Rink on Thursday, which can be seen on Yale's All Access, and Meehan Auditorium on Saturday.

BROWN-YALE SERIES
Yale and Brown first played in the 1897-98 season and Yale has an 87-70-8 lead, including wins in 11 of the last 14.  However, two of the three Bear wins were crucial, helping the visitors take the 2010 conference playoff series at New Haven.

LAST MEETINGS
Yale and Brown split a home-and-home series last January. The Blue won 5-2 at New Haven before Brown took a 3-2 game at Providence. Six different Bulldogs accounted for the seven Yale goals; Brian O'Neill had a pair. Ryan Rondeau '11 stopped 22 shots twice while Mike Clemente combined for 62 at the other end.

BC SLIPS PAST YALE
Chris Kreider's goal with 39 seconds left in the third period capped a late comeback as No. 5 Boston College edged Yale 3-2 before an Ingalls Rink sellout on Nov 26. Yale had a 2-0 lead until the end of the second period, and then BC got two in the last three minutes of the third. Yale goalie Jeff Malcolm (Lethbridge, AB), who had 36 saves, stopped all seven BC power-plays. The teams combined for 12 scoreless advantages and Boston College ended up with more (39-33) shots as well. The Eagles needed every one of freshman Brian Billett's 31 saves, while he gave up goals to Jesse Root (Pittsburgh, Pa.), who had two points, and Kenny Agostino (Flanders, NJ).

BROWN THUS FAR
The Bears, with wins over Princeton, Cornell and Union, are coming off a loss to Holy Cross last weekend at Worcester. Brown is led offensively by seniors Jack Maclellan (3-4-7) and Bobby Farnham (2-3-5) while classmate Mike Clemente (.917, 2.12) has all the decisions in goal.

RANKS
Yale's penalty-kill is currently tops among Division I teams at 95.1 percent, while only eight other teams have been penalized less than the Bulldogs. The Elis' power play unit is 9th (24.3), scoring defense is 18th (2.44) and scoring offense 24th (3.0).

ECAC HOCKEY
Yale (6 points) sits fifth in ECAC Hockey after playing four games. First-place Cornell has 10 points in six games. Some schools have played as many as seven conference games. The Blue finished second to Union in the standings last winter.

MALCOLM IN MIDDLE
Junior Jeff Malcolm has started every game this season and has all five 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 11-7-1 with a 2.77 GAA and three shutouts. Malcolm has a 2.21 GAA (21st in Division I) with a .931 SP (10th) this year.

MILLER TIME
Junior F Andrew Miller (78 gp, 18-68-86), who missed the last game and a half with an injury, is tied for the team lead with six assists and has a goal and five points over his last two 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 (112 gp, 51-74-125), is second on the team with three goals and eight points this season. 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 (national) 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 four goals while allowing 22 in nine 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) leads the Blue with 6-4-10 including two goals and four points last week. 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 was No. 14 in the latest uscho.com poll, while USA Today/American Hockey Magazine had Yale 15th. Senior forward Charles Brockett (Shaker Heights, Ohio) played his 100th career game last Saturday…  Fourteen different Bulldogs have scored goals... Yale has allowed six goals in four conference games which ranks first in the ECAC… Yale and Brown are the only ECAC teams skating Thursday, but all 12 schools are in action on Saturday in league games.

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 (Bakersfield Condors, 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

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 the three (Cornell, Colgate, BC) of the first four 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.