Yale Beats UMass 6-1 in Title Game

TRENTON, NJ – The No. 13/15 Yale hockey team is now 2-0 after taking the championship game of the 2015 Capital City Classic. Five different Elis hit the net and Alex Lyon stopped 25 shots as Yale handed UMass its first loss of the year, 6-1, at the Sun Center.

The guys wearing white jerseys outscored their opposition 9-2 in capturing a second straight opening weekend tournament in New Jersey. Last night, the Bulldogs scored three goals on 44 shots. They hit the net six times on just 31 shots in the title game.

The Blue came out flying in the opening frame and put two quick ones on the scoreboard to set the tone.

With Yale on the advantage, Mike Doherty, who notched Yale's first tally last night, got things started again. He fed Charlie Curti in the high slot and the freshman blueliner got off a low shot that bounced off the goalie's pads. Doherty, the junior forward who had three shots on target in the first, swooped in to the right circle and banged it back into the net at 4:51.

John Hayden (in photo) gave the Blue a 2-0 lead against the Hockey East team it will face in Amherst at the Mullins Center next month. The junior forward took the puck away from a defenseman near the blueline and skated to the middle of the slot before snapping off a wrister glove side at 9:08 for his second goal of the season.

Meanwhile, Lyon was steady between the pipes in stopping all nine shots in the period from the Minutemen.

"It was a great team effort in a tournament setting," said Keith Allain '80, Yale's Malcolm G. Chace Head Coach. "We had timely scoring and stretches of great defensive play against a dynamic offensive team."

Last night in the season opener, the Blue looked like it had been playing for weeks in the 3-1 win over Princeton, also playing its first contest. Tonight, however, the Elis were facing an unbeaten playing its sixth game. It didn't seem to matter.

The shots were 10-9 in the first, but the Elis amped it up a few levels in the second. The result was an 11-2 shots advantage and two more tallies.

"I'm very proud of our team effort over the weekend. We did a lot of good things that we will build off of going forward," said captain Mitch Witek. "Primarily, we showed a willingness to work, which will define our team identity."

Ryan Hitchcock notched another point on the weekend when he chipped the puck off the boards to himself near center ice and then went to the slot and fired a shot on target. The puck bounced off the netminder and came out to the sophomore, who quickly buried it in the net at 6:06. That score sent the UMass goalie to the bench for his backup.

Freshman Joe Snively, who assisted on Friday's game-winner late in the third period, made it 4-0 a little more than eight minutes later. Snively won the puck in a scramble outside the UMass crease and slipped it past the pile for his first collegiate goal.

Yale kept its foot on the gas pedal in the third and produced another set of goals – both on the power play - to go up 6-0 before the Minutemen finally got one past Lyon. Ryan Obuchowski's slap shot from the point and Snively's quick wrist shot off a Mitch Witek feed put the game away.

"We played Yale hockey from start to finish and it certainly payed off. We maintained discipline and excelled at the details of the game, which ultimately led to a victory," said Hayden.

The Bulldogs are back in action with a Boston/Hanover trip on Nov. 6/7 to begin ECAC play. "We are looking forward to league play next weekend," said Allain.

BULLDOG BITES

John Hayden, Mike Doherty and Joe Snively all had two goals this weekend… Doherty, Ryan Obuchowski and Rob O'Gara made the Capital City Classic All-Tournament Team... Yale had five newcomers in the lineup on Friday and six tonight, including the line of Ted Hart, JM Piotrowski and Andrew Gaus… Stu Wilson was back in the lineup after being a late scratch on Friday… The Bulldogs are at Harvard Friday night at 7 in a game that airs live on NESN plus.

Filed by Steve Conn, Yale Associate AD & Sports Publicity Director

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