February 11, 2010

Team Notes: Final Weekend at Ingalls Critical for Playoff Hopes

The following article appeared February 11 on the Yale Web site.

 

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - With four games left in the regular season, the ECAC Hockey playoff picture remains unclear. One thing is certain, though: the two games at Ingalls Rink this weekend will go a long way towards deciding who is in and who is out. Yale is currently tied with Dartmouth for the eighth and final playoff spot, five points behind seventh-place Princeton. The Bulldogs have a one-point lead on 10th-place Colgate, which visits Friday (7 p.m., Yale All-Access live video, wybc.com). Second-place Cornell, which is within striking distance of first-place Clarkson, comes to town Saturday (4 p.m., Yale All-Access live video, WYBC 1340 AM) for Senior Day as the Bulldogs pay tribute to the Class of 2010.

Yale (9-13-3, 7-10-1 ECAC Hockey) was on a hot streak, winning five of six, until last weekend's visit to Dartmouth and No. 6 Harvard. The Bulldogs dropped both games, and Dartmouth's 4-2 win over Brown on Saturday pulled the Big Green into a tie with Yale for eighth place in the conference standings. Dartmouth has an edge over Yale in the first tiebreaker (head-to-head record).

Despite the two losses there were bright spots for the Bulldogs over the weekend. They were able to get their power play going, converting four of 12 chances. Yale now has at least one power-play goal in six of the last seven games, and those goals have come from four different players: freshman forward Alyssa Zupon (Basking Ridge, N.J.) has three, senior defenseman Alyssa Clarke (Donkin, N.S.) and senior forward Caroline Murphy (Woodstock, Conn.) have two each, and junior forward Bray Ketchum (Greenwich, Conn.) has one. Ketchum and freshman defenseman Tara Tomimoto (Calgary, Alta.) have four power-play assists in that span, and senior forward Berit Johnson (Wayzata, Minn.) has two. Four other players have one each.

Complete article can be accessed via the Yale Web site by clicking here.