Bulldogs Try To Win 2 Straight

Jersey Night At Ingalls

NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- The No. 11 Bulldogs (3-2-2, 2-1-2 ECAC), who have played three straight overtime games, host Sacred Heart (3-6-2, 2-4-1 AHA) Tuesday night at Ingalls Rink. This is the first-ever meeting of the two Division I Nutmeg State schools. Faceoff is 7:00 and can be seen and heard live on yalebulldogs.com as well as WYBC (AM-1340) and wybc.com. It is "Jersey Night" at Ingalls, so fans wearing a hockey jersey Tuesday night will be admitted free.

SHU Pioneers

Sacred Heart, led by former Yale assistant CJ Marottolo, makes its first trip to New Haven after falling twice to RIT at Rochester last weekend. Matt Gingera lit the lamp twice in a 55 second span of the first period but RIT upended Sacred Heart 5-3 on Nov. 21 to complete a sweep. Sacred Heart and RIT were even after two periods but the Tigers scored twice in the final frame and killed off nine minutes of SHU power play time. Tommy Castonguay gave Sacred Heart a 3-2 lead in the second period with his first collegiate goal.

Bulldogs Bite Bears in OT

Broc Little helped the No. 9 Yale men's hockey team avoid a late-game disaster by scoring in overtime in a 6-5 win over winless Brown at Meehan Auditorium in ECAC Hockey action. The Blue started junior Ryan Rondeau between the pipes. He played 50 minutes and stopped 14 of 19 shots. Senior Billy Blase, the third Bulldog to play goalie this season, stopped all three shots he saw to earn the victory. The Bears (0-6-1, 0-4-1), who erased a three-goal deficit midway through the second period, got 13 saves (on 17 shots) from Mike Clemente over the first 20 minutes before Anthony Borelli came on to stop 23 shots. Yale outshot Brown 42-22 and scored two power-play goals to move into a four-way tie for fourth place in the ECAC.

UMASS Takes OT Game

James Marcou's goal with 61 seconds left in overtime gave No. 11 UMass a 4-3 win over No. 9 Yale before 2,359 at Ingalls Rink on Nov. 19. Marcou fired a shot from the inside of the right circle that likely would have been saved if not for the action in front of Yale goalie Nick Maricic, who finished with 32 saves. Marcou's brother, Michael, was on the doorstep with a defenseman causing a distraction for the freshman netminder. UMass (8-2), which already had wins over defending national champion Boston University and New Hampshire, outshot Yale 36-31. The Bulldogs, who gave up a 1-0 lead before coming back from a goal deficit to take the lead back, had all they could handle in speedy Minutemen. Dan Meyers made 28 saves, including 11 in the third period, to earn the win for the Minutemen. He needed to stop six of seven power plays to get the victory.

OT Games

Yale has played three straight OT games and four overall this season. The Elis are 1-1-2 in extra session games and have at least three goals in each. The most goals in an OT game this year was six in a win last Saturday at Brown. Two of the OT games this season have been 3-3 finals.

First Time

This is the first meeting of the Yale and Sacred Heart hockey teams. The Elis will also have a first-ever meeting with Ferris State next month at the Badger Hockey Showdown in Madision, Wis.

Bulldog Bites

Six different Elis have tallied one PPG each... The Elis have been outscored in the second period but have an advantage on opponents in the first (10-9) and third (11-5) periods... Twelve different players covering all four classes have scored for Yale this season... Yale, averaging 37 shots per game, has outshot opponents by 51 overall... The Blue is 6-for-42 (14.3%) on the power play this year and has a 78.8 percent success rate on the penalty kill.

Lots of Little

Junior F Broc Little leads the Elis with seven goals and 11 points. He has a point in every game and four multiple-point outings this season. Little's 1.57 points per game are third in Division I. He and Blake Gallagher of Cornell are the only two players in the country to have a goal for every game played this season.

Kearney Lends Helping Hand

Junior F Denny Kearney, who has eight points in seven games, has recorded a point in all but one game. He is tied with sophomore F Brian O'Neill for the team lead with seven helpers this season. gh seven assists. Kearney is second to Mark Arcobello (49) in active career assists with 43.

Goalie Du Jour

Three different Bulldogs have started in goal this season, and Yale has not settled on one as the leading man. A year after Alec Richards '09 brought the team and his own game to a new level, the Elis have a freshman, junior and senior battling for the top job. Newcomer Nick Maricic (2.86, 894, 1-1-1), junior Ryan Rondeau (3.84, .880, 1-1-1) and senior Billy Blase (3 saves, 1-0-0) have been in net.

Backman Close to Century Scoring Mark

F Sean Backman has 97 career points in 100 games, including 61 goals. Yale's active career goals leader was named to the College Hockey News (CHN) 2008-09 Pre-Season All-America squad. He was second-team All-ECAC last year after leading his team with 20 goals. Backman tallied the team's lone hat trick in a 5-0 win over Cornell that gave the Blue the ECAC Hockey Tournament Title and made him tournament MVP.

Arcobello Making Point 

Senior F Mark Arcobello has four points in seven outings. Arcobello, a second-team All-America pick last winter, has 35 goals and 84 points in three-plus seasons. He is second on the active career goals and points list to Backman.

Century Mark

Senior F Mark Arcobello has 104 career games played. Most Eli seniors don't get a glimpse of triple digits until late in their final campaigns. Two of his teammates, F Sean Backman (100) and D Ryan Donald (96), should follow Arcobello. All three could break the record of 125 games shared by Jeff Hamilton '01 and Jeff Hristovski '06.

Captain Ryan Donald

Ryan Donald (St. Albert, ALB), a class of 2010 defenseman, is the captain of the 2009-10 Bulldogs. The 6-foot-3, 220-pound Bulldog skater is one of 20 NCAA hockey candidates for the 2009-10 Lowe's Senior CLASS Award. To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence - classroom, character, community and competition. Donald has compiled a 2.93 grade point average as a political science major at one of the nation's top universities. He was recognized as a member of the ECAC All-Academic team in 2009.

On the Bench

Keith Allain '80, Yale's Malcolm G. Chace Head Coach of Hockey, has helped establish the Bulldogs on the national scene since he joined the program three years ago. In 2008-09 he led Yale 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 backs up that statement. The Elis' second ECAC regular-season title, a third NCAA Tournament appearance and an Ivy League crown confirm the status of the 2008-09 squad. He was honored by ECAC coaches as conference coach of the year (Tim Taylor Award) and College Hockey News named him national coach of the year.

Ingalls Renovations

Dedication night for the renovated Ingalls Rink is Jan. 16 when the Yale men host Brown after the women play RPI. That is also alumni day for both squads. The underground addition, which includes approximately 13,000 square feet of varsity operational space, is located on the Mansfield Street side of the rink. It includes locker rooms for both varsity teams. There is also a strength and conditioning center, student-athlete study area, training room, officials room, video room, coaches' offices, equipment room and more. The rest of Ingalls has also received a major upgrade, with a new Schley Room reception area on the other side of the rink. A Yale Hockey Heritage area, highlighting more than 120 years of Yale hockey history, will be located right outside the Schley Room. There will also be a new concessions stand and bathrooms in the area where the visiting varsity team locker room used to be; the visitors will now use the locker room that the Yale women's team used to use.