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BULLDOGS BACK TO ECAC WEEKEND SET AT HOME

NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- The No. 10 ranked Yale men's hockey team (5-3-2, 2-1-2 ECAC), winners of three of four, host one of ECAC Hockey's most challenging weekends with perennial powers No. 4 Quinnipiac (12-1-0, 7-0-0) and Princeton (4-5-1, 2-4-1) skating into the Whale. The Bulldogs and Bobcats faceoff at 7 pm Friday, while the Tigers roar into town for a 4 p.m. drop of the puck on Saturday. Both games can be seen live on yalebulldogs.com and heard on AM-1340 WYBC (wybc.com) with Michael Dunn and Rich Scudellari calling the action.

Tickets for This Weekend

All seats have been sold for Friday's game, but a limited number of standing-room tickets can still be purchased by calling (203) 432.1400. A small selection of tickets (reserved and GA) for Saturday afternoon's contest are available.  

Series vs. Bobcats, Tigers

Quinnipiac leads Yale 5-2-1 in a New Haven County rivalry that began in 2005-06 and has gone 1-1-1 over the last three. Yale owns a 122-99-8 lead on Princeton in a series that dates to 1899, but the Tigers have taken six of the last eight.

COMPARING STATS

Team Avg. (ECAC rank) Quinnipiac/ YALE/ Princeton

Scoring 4.31 (1)/ 4.10 (2)/ 2.33 (12)

Defense 2.31 (2)/ 3.00 (5)/ 3.33 (9)

Penalty Kill 88.7 (1)/ 78.7 (6)/ 81.4 (4)

Power Play 26.4 (2)/ 20.6 (5)/ 20.0 (7)

Penalty Minutes 15.2 (4)/ 10.4 (12)/ 10.9 (11)

Last Year

The Bulldogs beat Quinnipiac 3-0 with Alec Richards (31 saves) earning the SHO. They played to a 3-3 OT draw at TD Bank Sports Center with Quinnipiac erasing 2-0 and 3-2 Yale leads to send the game to overtime. Yale won the first meeting with its Ivy rival, 3-1, behind Sean Backman's two goals at Ingalls. Princeton prevailed 2-0 at Baker Rink in a game that Yale could have clinched the ECAC title. Zane Kalemba (31 saves) blanked the Blue for the third time in two seasons.

CATS EDGE DOGS

David Pacan ended Yale's three-game win streak in the re-match of the 2009 NCAA East Regional semifinal when he scored a controversial goal to lift No. 19 Vermont to a 1-0 win at Gutterson Field House on Nov. 30. The lone goal came after a second-period video review of a pileup in front of the Yale net with 4:25 left. Both teams were scoreless on six man-advantages, while Yale freshman goalie Jeff Malcolm stopped 26 shots.

Blue Powers Past Crusaders

Seven different Bulldogs hit the net, four on the power play, as Yale beat Holy Cross 7-3 in a non-league contest at Worcester on Nov. 28. The Elis broke open a 1-1 game in the second period with four straight goals. Kevin Peel had three assists while senior forward Mark Arcobello and rookie forward Andrew Miller each had a pair of helpers. Seniors Sean Backman and Tom Dignard had a goal and an assist. Freshman goalie Nick Maricic had 20 saves.

Booming Bobcats

The Bobcats, with their best ranking ever, won a 5-4 OT game against No. 10 UMass last weekend at the TD Bank Sports Center. Quinnipiac took a 3-0 lead after first-period goals by Jean-Marc Beaudoin, Mike Atkinson and Scott Zurevinski. Massachusetts responded with four unanswered to take the lead with under seven to play. With just over a minute left, Brandon Wong one-timed a pass to send the game to overtime. He scored the game-winner to keep the nation's longest win streak (8 games) alive. Wong leads the Bobcats with 19 points (8 G, 11 A). Senior F Eric Lampe leads Quinnipiac with nine goals.

Tigers Can Roar

The Tigers, who finished third last year in the ECAC and nearly won their first round NCAA game, started a seven-game road trip with three straight losses: No. 5 Cornell (5-2), Colgate (5-4 OT), and Quinnipiac (5-1). The Bobcats converted all four man-advantages in the second period to take a 5-0 lead over Princeton. Senior Dan Bartlett scored two goals in the overtime loss and Jody Pederson had a goal and an assist. Bartlett leads the team with 18 points (5 G, 3 A), while Matt Kramer has four goals and three assists.

RARE PRODUCTION

The eight goals against SHU were the most since a 9-1 win over UConn in 2007... Yale's 15 goals between the SHU and Holy Cross games are the most in consecutive games since the 1990-91 Elis scored 16 times at home during weekend wins over Clarkson and St. Lawrence. The Elis had a player (Sean Backman, Kevin Peel) with three assists in the last two wins, while there was a period in both games where the Blue had at least four goals.

Bulldog Bites

Yale is 6-0-1 when getting 37 or more shots on goal this season... Brian O'Neill has points in six of the last seven and is tied for the team lead with 13 points... Nineteen different Bulldogs, including goalie Nick Maricic (2 assists), have a point this season... Yale has outscored opponents 41-29... The Blue has 94 more shots on goal than opponents and are averaging 38 per game... The Elis have been outscored in the second period but have an advantage on opponents in the first (16-11) and third (15-6) periods... Twelve different players covering all four classes have scored for Yale this season... UVM was the first team to shut out the Elis since Princeton in late February 2009.

Powering Play

Two weeks ago, the Blue power play was operating at just over 11 percent. After notching seven (season-high 4 at Holy Cross) over the last two games, Yale now has a .206 mark with 13 goals. Sophomore Brian O'Neill leads the team with three. The Elis' power play operated at a 17.7 clip last season.

Lots of Little

Junior F Broc Little (15-20-35 last year) leads the Elis with nine goals and 13 points. He has a point in all but one game and four multiple-point outings this season. Little's .90 goals per game average is third in Division I, while his 1.30 points per game are 21st.

Kearney Lends Helping Hand

Junior F Denny Kearney, who has 10 points in as many games, has recorded a point in all but one game. He is second on the team with eight helpers this season. Kearney is second to Mark Arcobello (51) in active career assists with 44.

ROTATION BETWEEN PIPES

Four different Bulldogs have played in goal this season. A year after Alec Richards '09 brought the team and his own game to a new level, the Elis have two freshmen, a junior and senior battling for the top job. Newcomers Nick Maricic (2.89, 889, 2-1-1) and Jeff Malcolm (1.51, .929, 1-1-0), junior Ryan Rondeau (3.84, .880, 1-1-1) and senior Billy Blase (3 saves, 1-0-0) have been in net. Rondeau has the top save night with 40 at Princeton, while Malcolm gave up the fewest (1) goals in a 1-0 loss at UVM. Maricic has the most (248) minutes played, Blase the fewest (12).

Backman Hits Century Scoring Mark

F Sean Backman's three assists last Tuesday against SHU put him over 100 career points (now 101 in 102 GP). He added a goal at Holy Cross and now has 62 for his career (school's 6th best), Yale's active career leader. Backman was named to the College Hockey News (CHN) 2008-09 Pre-Season All-America squad. Backman, who has two multiple-point outings, has a point in all but three games. He was second-team All-ECAC last year after leading his team with 20 goals. Backman tallied the team's lone hat trick of the year 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 seven points in 10 outings. Arcobello, a second-team All-America pick last winter (17-18-35), has 36 goals and 87 points in three-plus seasons. He is second to Backman among active career leaders in goals and assists. Arcobello had three goals combined in the four games against Princeton/Quinnipiac last winter.

Century Mark

Senior F Mark Arcobello has 107 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 (103) and D Ryan Donald (99), 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.

In the Polls

The Bulldogs, ranked 10th in both major polls, face their second highest ranked opponent (Cornell was No. 3) this year when the No. 4 Bobcats come to Ingalls. Quinnipiac is No. 4 in the USCHO.com poll and sixth in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Poll. The Elis are 2-2 against ranked teams and 1-2 against teams currently ranked in the USCHO poll.

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.

Allain Available for Questions on newhavenregister.com

Keith Allain will take part in a Thursday, 2:30 to 3 p.m. chat with hockey fans on newhavenregister.com. Click here to take part in that chat.

Allain After VERMONT

"It's tough to pitch a shutout and lose. Jeff [Malcolm] looked confident, he came out on top of the crease. This was a great test for a young goalie and I thought he came through with flying colors. It was a heck of a hockey game. We played really well. We didn't execute as well as I'd like on offense."

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 Elis have added 13,000 square feet of varsity operational space. It includes locker rooms, a strength and conditioning center, student-athlete study area, training room, officials room, video room, coaches' offices, equipment room and more. There is a new Schley Room (reception area), historical displays, a concessions stand and bathrooms.

report filed by Steve Conn, Yale Sports Publicity Director