4 Bulldogs Score, Lyon Has Big Night

NEW YORK, N.Y. – You don't always get rewarded for having a big advantage in shots on goal in a game, but that wasn't the case tonight at the world's most famous arena. Four different Bulldogs found the net and Alex Lyon stopped 20 of 21 shots in No. 19 Yale's 4-1 win over No. 3 ranked Harvard before 12,774 at Madison Square Garden in the second edition of Rivalry On Ice.

The Elis (9-4-2) hung a season-high four goals allowed on the Crimson (10-2-2), which came into the game on top of the Pairwise rankings and has now lost both of its games this season to Yale. The shot total was 42-21.

The Blue assaulted the Harvard net to the tune of 16-5 shots in the opening period, and loosened a few screws on the flood gates with a pair of scores.

A Harvard defenseman tried to clear the puck along the right boards and Adam Larkin was there to pick it off. The freshman blueliner quickly put it toward the net but the puck bounced off a player in the slot and came down near Chris Izmirlian, who had two defenders around him. With a tight space to work, the sophomore center fired a snap shot inside the far post on the glove side of Steve Michalek.

"It was a pretty cool feeling scoring the first goal. It was a great job by [Adam] Larkin getting the puck. I was in the right spot at the right time and just shot it as hard as I could," said Izmirlian.

The Blue made it 2-0 by continuing to pour on the shots, including a three-shot flurry that resulted in a goal by Charles Orzetti with 3:01 left in the frame. Carson Cooper put one on target from the slot and Cody Learned followed up with a rebound just off the left side of the crease. Michalek made the kick save but the puck stayed in the low slot where the big junior left wing was standing. Orzetti, who was named game MVP, held with composure for a second and then flipped the biscuit over the fallen goalie.

"I thought we had a really good start. We had four lines jumping tonight and everyone was ready to play. I also thought we had stifling defense," said Keith Allain '80, Yale's Malcolm G. Chace Head Coach.

Lyon had to make a couple of huge saves in the first to keep the Cantabs off the scoreboard. One came off a shot from the middle of a pile of players that squirted out of the pack at point-blank range on the Yale sophomore. He also had to make an important poke check on a forward dancing with the puck in the low slot.

A 2-0 lead on Tuesday night was not enough, so the Elis were sure to keep their foot on the pedal.

Yale upped the lead early in the second when Matt Killian followed up his own shot with a rebound, put-back. The converted defenseman took a slap shot from the high slot that sailed wide left of the cage. It bounced off the top of the boards and slid out along the crease. Killian won the race to it and flicked a backhander over Michalek at 2:32.

"We came out hard and did what we had to do," said Killian. "We play a team game. We play as a unit and I think that showed."

Harvard had great opportunities to get a few back in the middle frame. The Crimson had two power plays and some even-strength grade-A chances. Lyon stopped all but one of those (5-on-5 goal by Jimmy Vesey), needing a nifty, left pad stop on Jake Horton, who was skating through the low slot.

They continued pelting rubber on the Harvard net in the third. Mitch Witek got his name on the stats sheet with a shot from the point that went through traffic and found the cage to make it 4-1 just three minutes in to complete the night's scoring.

Yale, now 3-0 against ranked teams, skated with confidence and won most of the battles for pucks against a team leading the nation in multiple categories. Izmirlian answered the question in the press conference about facing the top team in the pairwise rankings.

"We don't really focus on pair-wise or any of the rankings, we just want to play a team game. We care about what's in our locker room."

The Bulldogs improved their record in the Rivalry on Ice to 2-0 and have now outscored Harvard 9-2 combined at MSG in this event.

"College hockey is about experiences and moments, and playing a team like Harvard in a venue like Madison Square Garden is a special moment, so I want the guys to enjoy it," said Allain, who improved his coaching record against Harvard to 17-7-1.

BULLDOG BITES

A minute after Yale scored its second goal, the officials ruled that the video replay showed the Bulldogs were off-sides and waved it off. After Keith Allain pointed out that a Harvard player touched the puck and they were wrong, the officials re-gathered and changed their minds… The Bulldogs, who wore white jerseys with a big "Y" on the front and a blue stripe going through it horizontally, dressed in the New York Rangers locker room and entered the ice through the Delta Club…   The one change in the lineup from Tuesday night was Charles Orzetti in at forward for John Baiocco… Yale has a road and a home game with Brown next weekend.

Filed by Steve Conn, Yale Sports Publicity Director

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