Nov. 27, 2004

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Joe Zappala had two goals and an assist and Matt Modelski stopped 36 of 37 shots as the Yale men's hockey team picked up its first win of the season with a 7-1 decision over Princeton before 3,157 at Ingalls Rink.

Yale (1-9, 1-7 ECACHL), which enjoyed its largest margin of victory since a win by the same score over the Tigers in November of 2002, got a pair of tallies from Christian Jensen and a goal and three assists from Brad Mills to split the home-and-home series this week with its travel partner.

Modelski, who had his second-highest save total at Yale, stopped 16 shots in the first and a dozen in the second period while blanking the Tigers (4-5-1) on all five power-play chances.

"From the beginning, I got the feeling he [Modelski] was there to play," said Yale head coach Tim Taylor. "He was playing with energy and enthusiasm. He has a charisma to his style and kids were feeding off that."

The Bulldogs got on the board first when Zappala banged home a rebound off Zach Mayer's shot at 4:55 of the opening period. Mayer, who had two points, took a feed from Zappala and snapped a shot from the right circle that bounced off Tiger goalie Eric Leroux. Zappala, standing to the side of the crease, saw the bouncing puck and swiped it into the back of the net for his second goal of the year.

Despite being outshot 16-10 in the first, Yale increased the lead to 2-0 with 59 seconds left. Mills won a faceoff and left the puck for Christian Jensen at the top of the right circle. The junior winger, who now has a team-high five goals, quickly fired a low shot that beat Leroux (4 GA, 16 saves) on the stick side.

Mayer's second goal of the season put the home team up 3-0 just 1:09 into the second frame. Cycling from the right circle, the junior wing found a loose puck in the slot off of linemate Blair Yaworski's stick and immediately got off a snap shot that hit the upper left corner of the net.

Jeff Hristovski (1-1-2) gave his squad a four-goal lead with 2:59 left in the middle period. After blueliner Matt Craig took a shot from the point that bounced off Leroux, Yaworski, who had three assists, flipped a shot at the Tiger goal that was blocked, then Hristovski fired through traffic from the slot. That goal led to the change in the Princeton net. B.J. Sklapsky (3 GA, 15 saves) took over for Leroux a minute later.

"Tonight 20 guys stepped up, we did it together as a team," said Zappala. "Getting a win like this, especially in this fashion, definitely puts smiles on everybody's face."

Twenty-four seconds into the third Jensen notched his second goal, and Zappala's second less than a minute later made it 6-0.

Princeton, outshot (38-37) for the second straight night by the Elis, finally solved Modelski with an Erik Pridham goal at 9:51. Yale blueliner Bill LeClerc notched his second of the week with just eight seconds left to close the scoring.

Report filed by Steve Conn, Yale Sports Publicity Director