Bulldogs Beat UConn 2-1

NEWARK, N.J. – Tournament titles are special no matter what time of year they happen. That's why the Bulldogs were celebrating on their drive up interstate 95. Alex Lyon stopped 32 of 33 shots as the Yale men's hockey team earned a 2-1 win over Connecticut in the championship game of the Liberty Hockey Invitational at the Prudential Center.

Lyon, who stopped 17 shots in the final frame and earned tournament MVP honors, helped the Bulldogs get their first victory of the season and are now 1-0-1 heading into ECAC play next week.

"It's great to win a tournament," said Keith Allain '80, Yale's Malcolm G. Chace Head Coach. "It's important to be in a tournament setting and we don't get enough of it. Hopefully, we'll use it later in the year."

The Bulldogs opened the scoring at 4:27 of the first with a pretty passing play and finish. Ryan Hitchcock got it started by hitting John Hayden on a crossing lead pass over the blueline. Hayden carried through the right circle with a defenseman on him who was going down to poke the puck away. He spun and sent the puck across the slot to Frankie DiChiara as the goalie slid across on his stomach. The sophomore winger held for a moment and the flicked a tough-angle wrist shot into the top, far corner.

UConn had some solid chances to get on the board in the first but Lyon stood tall in the net. The best opportunity came with David Hallisey skating through the left circle and coming in alone on the cage. Lyon moved quickly to his right and used his blocker to stop the grade-A chance with eight minutes left in the period.

"I thought we played ok. It was a really competitive game and hard fought. There were some things that I'd like to clean up, but our guys played really hard and deserved to win," said Allain.

The Blue made it 2-0 on a rebound and net crashing play. Henry Hart moved the puck to Nicholas Weberg moving over the Husky blue line. The senior winger held with a defender in front of him and then fired a wrister that was saved by Rob Nichols. The puck bounced out as Cody Learned was crashing the net. He would not have literally crashed the net if not for a UConn player pushing him into the goalie. The puck bounced off Learned and into the back of the net as the Eli skater knocked Nichols over.

The Elis had a two-shot edge in the first but had one less than UConn in the second. They also had one less goal. The Huskies found the net midway through the frame to make it 2-1. Yale's best chance to answer came in the closing seconds of second. Two or three close-range shots bounced off Nichols as his teammates scrambled to clear the puck.

The Bulldogs held on through the third as both sides had chances to make something happen. The two goalies would have none of that and brought the decision to the wire. Nichols was pulled with just under two minutes left and his Huskies put two or three excellent shots on Lyon.

"Alex played well. He made a number of really good saves and he moved to the puck really well when they dumped it," said Allain.

During one flurry, Lyon had his stick knocked away and he had to use a teammate's stick before the puck could be cleared out of the zone.

"I tried to scramble back to the net and got tied up with a UConn player. I just lost my stick. We collapsed on them really well and didn't give up any great opportunities," said Lyon.

DiChiara made a great play to clinch the game in his own end during the flurry. He fought with a UConn player near the blue line and dove to poke the puck out of the zone just before he drew a penalty that helped Yale run out the rest of the clock for the victory.

"We came in with high expectations. We were pleased with the outcome but by no means completely satisfied," said Lyon.

Filed by Steve Conn, Yale Sports Publicity Director

Image by Kurm