Box Score 4-Point Weekend For Bulldogs
NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Last night, special teams were the difference in the 1-0 opener of the home-and-home series with its travel partner. Tonight it was even-strength dominance and a lot more finishing in Yale's 5-1 ECAC victory over Brown before a sold out Ingalls Rink.
The Bulldogs (11-4-2, 6-3-1 ECAC) completed their four-point weekend with five different players hitting the net and John Hayden, Rob O'Gara and Cody Learned each notching two points. That, along with Alex Lyon stopping 17 of 18 shots, led to the Elis winning their fifth in the last six.
"It was a great team win. All 12 forwards and six defensemen were skating hard, shift to shift," said Keith Allain '80, Yale's Malcom G. Chace Head Coach. "The results of that work created a lot of opportunities."
The Bulldogs, 10th in the Pairwise Rankings entering the game, jumped onto the scoreboard four minutes into the game on a fantastic sophomore connection. John Hayden picked off a pass along the right boards and sent a perfect pass for Mike Doherty in the low slot. Doherty, who has a team-high seven goals, one-timed it between Tyler Steel's legs for his fifth of the season.
Despite being outshot 16-7 in the first, the Bears got one back late in the period and went into intermission tied.
Yale got that back early in the second on another Hayden scoring play, this time off a face-off. Ryan Hitchcock won the draw in the right circle and it went to his left for Hayden. The right wing immediately snapped off a wrister that whizzed over the goalie's left shoulder to make it 2-1. Hayden's fourth of the year at 7:10 opened the flood gates for four straight by the Blue in the second frame.
"I think we surprised them [Brown] with the face-off. Hitch [Ryan Hitchcock] did an amazing job of getting it [face-off] to me," said Hayden, who now has 12 points. "It was as clean as it gets. I got a good screen from Dots [Mike Doherty]."
Nate Repensky notched his first collegiate goal on a slap shot from the top of the circle after taking a Cody Learned pass at 13:51. Learned was in on the next tally as well, a Rob O'Gara shot from the point at 16:54.
The Bulldogs capped the scoring with Matt Killian's nasty snap shot from the top of the circle with under two minutes left. He got the opportunity because O'Gara caused a turnover at center ice and allowed the senior forward to skate over the blueline with space.
Not to be overlooked in the great performance was Lyon's showing in net. The sophomore had a number of tough tests and came up big almost every time. The finest save of the night by either goalie was his kick save on a 2-on-1 rush that he seemed to have no chance on. Lyon, coming off a shutout Friday night, stuck out his pad at the last second and stole one from the Bears.
"Alex [Lyon] was solid tonight. The work ethic and intensity of the entire team was excellent," said Allain.
BULLDOG BITES
The Bulldogs head to the North Country next week for games at SLU and Clarkson… Craig Ferguson '92, who played for Tim Taylor and then had a long pro hockey career that included multiple NHL stops, was interviewed tonight on the Ivy Digital Network (Yale All-Access) broadcast during the first intermission… Brian O'Neill '12, a Manchester forward, leads the AHL with 43 points in 37 games for the first-place Monarchs… Andrew Miller '13 has 30 points in 36 games for AHL Oklahoma City.
Filed by Steve Conn, Yale Sports Publicity Director
