Yale Beats Tigers 6-2, Moves Closer to Bye

PRINCETON, NJ – A three-point road weekend culminated by a 6-2 win at Princeton tonight has moved the Yale hockey team closer to a potential ECAC Playoff bye. The Bulldogs, alone in third place by three points with one weekend left, got a pair of goals each from Frankie DiChiara and Cody Learned and 17 saves from Alex Lyon.

The Elis, who improved to 16-7-4 (11-6-3 ECAC), got their season-high in goals on their final regular-season road game. They can clinch a playoff bye with two points and the No. 3 spot with three points.

The Tigers, starting a senior goalie in net on senior night and then pulling him after five minutes and a couple of saves, got on the board first at 13:52.

The Blue answered nearly three minutes later 33 seconds apart to grab the lead for good. DiChiara re-directed a shot on the power play before Learned banged home a rebound late in the period.

Repensky set up DiChiara's goal by taking a crossing pass from Rob O'Gara, skating into the right circle and then unleashing a low slap shot. The sophomore forward, looking for a goal in his third straight contest, got his stick on it as he cruised past the crease.

Learned's sixth goal of the year followed an Adam Larkin shot from the point while skating at even strength.

The Elis, two points behind second-place St. Lawrence, had a 17-7 shots advantage in the first and kept pouring on the rubber in the second.

Yale made it three straight while using two great passes on the scoring play. Trent Ruffolo, who took a lead pass from Stu Wilson, carried over the blueline on the right side and headed for the right circle before sending a feed to John Hayden at the far post. The sophomore one-timed it past Colton Phinney at 7:50 for his seventh goal.

The home team cut the margin to one midway through the frame, but a freshman Bulldog Jersey boy got his third of the year to make it 4-2 a minute later. John Biaocco's blast from the high slot went top shelf.

Yale, which allowed Princeton just three shots on target in the middle period, upped the lead to three early in the third on DiChiara's second of the night. The Ronkonkoma, N.Y., native zoomed in on the fore-check in the Princeton end and helped cause a turnover in the right circle. O'Gara got a stick on the puck just before DiChiara pulled it away and shielded the puck from the Tiger defenseman with his body. DiChiara held until the goalie committed and then flicked it into the open side of the cage.

The Tigers pulled Phinney with more than two minutes left but all that did was get Learned his second of the night.

The visitors limited Princeton to just 19 shots, which was made possible by staying out of the box. Yale, the nation's least penalized team in the country, hit a milestone tonight by not taking a single penalty.

BULLDOG BITES

Yale moved into first place in the Ivy standings with one game left. The Bulldogs have a one-point lead over Dartmouth, which faces Princeton next weekend. Yale takes on Cornell Saturday… The Elis are home next weekend to close out the regular season with Colgate and Cornell coming to the Whale. Friday's game with the Raiders airs live on both ESPN3 and the Ivy Digital Network… Saturday is senior night for seven members of the Class of 2015… Yale went with the same lineup as Friday at Quinnipiac.

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

DiChiara image by Jack Warhola