Lyon Stops 28 Shots in 1-0 Win

PROVIDENCE, RI – Special teams won round one of the battle of travel partners at Meehan Auditorium, a 1-0 Yale win over Brown. Rob O'Gara scored a second-period power-play goal and the Yale penalty-kill did not allow a shot on the Bears' only two advantages in the first of the home-and-home ECAC series.

Alex Lyon recorded his fifth career shutout with 28 stops, helping his Elis taste victory in Providence for the first time since 2009.

The Bulldogs (10-4-2, 5-3-1 ECAC), winners of four of their last five and seven of nine, used a ferocious fore-check and a blanketing defense to earn two important conference points. Round two is Saturday night at the Whale.

Cody Learned had the best opportunity to find the net in the scoreless opening period. He stick handled off the edge of the crease without a defender within reach and flicked a shot off the Brown goalie as time ran out in the power-play free frame that ended with 19 shots on goal combined.

The Elis got the first advantage of the night early in the second and nearly broke the bubble with a flurry of shots as bodies fell to the ice around the cage. Those chances were nothing compared to the turnover/shot created by a standout Yale rookie.

Ryan Hitchcock, who was winning battles all over the ice, stole a puck at the Brown blueline midway through the second. He came in alone on the net and Tyler Steel managed to knock it aside. Moments later, the visitors got a second power play and finally cashed it in.

The Blue, doing excellent work to keep the puck in the Brown zone, finished off a pretty, tic-tack-toe connection to get the lone tally at 11:02. Nate Repensky sent the puck from the left point to the right circle for Stu Wilson. The junior center caught the toss and then saw O'Gara open in the opposite circle. O'Gara, a defenseman looking for his third goal of the year, one-timed the perfect pass inside the near post.

"It started with great work by the forwards to retrieve a loose puck and set up the power play," said O'Gara. "Then we worked it around and Stu made an awesome pass across. All I had to do was make sure I didn't miss the net."

The Bears had plenty of good scoring chances and outshot the Bulldogs 14-13 in the period. Lyon was there each time, including a breakaway by Massimo Lamacchia late in the frame that the sophomore goalie thwarted with an outstanding glove save.

The home team's first advantage came early in the third but did not produce any shots, on or off target. The Bulldogs did not allow the power-play unit to set up on the Yale zone. In fact, Yale got a pair of scoring chances because of the PK unit's ability to win battles behind the Brown net.

The Bears, outshot 13-5 in the third and lacking shooting space, pulled their goalie with two minutes left. All that did was produce looks at the open net as Yale ran out the clock.

"We did a good job of pressuring as a unit and taking away their opportunities," said Keith Allain '80, Yale's Malcolm G. Chace Head Coach. "They are reacting instinctively."

BULLDOG BITES

The Blue is now tied for 10th in the Pairwise Rankings with BU... Yale's last win at Meehan was in November of 2009, a 6-5 OT game… Both teams had three NHL draft picks in the lineup… Yale suited up the same group that skated at MSG on Saturday… A limited number of tickets are available for Saturday's 7 pm game at Ingalls.

Filed by Steve Conn, Yale Sports Publicity Director

O'Gara image by dspics.com