4 Players Score, Lyon Gets Shutout

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The Bulldogs sent their seniors out in style. Four different players scored goals and Alex Lyon registered a shutout in net as Yale captured an Ivy League Championship and finished third in the ECAC after a 4-0 win over Cornell on Senior Night before a sold-out Ingalls Rink.

The Elis (17-7-5, 12-6-4), who entered the night a point behind first in the race for the Ancient Eight title, came out flying and put 31 shots on goal while completely blanketing the Big Red offense.

Yale limited Cornell to 16 shots on goal, its best overall defensive effort of the season.

"The basis of this win was our defensive effort," said Keith Allain '80, Yale's Malcolm G. Chace Head Coach, whose squad moved up to No. 12 in the Pairwise. "We did a great job identifying their switches and didn't allow them to get to the net much."

Lyon, who earned his school-best ninth career shutout while equaling the Yale mark (6) for shutouts in a season, is now tied for the national lead this year.

"He [Lyon] was focused in all weekend and ultra-sharp tonight," said Allain. "He is a quality… quality goaltender."

The Bulldogs got the only tally of the opening frame just 87 seconds in. It was a result of excellent connectivity between Chris Izmirlian and Mike Doherty, who got things started by skating in over the blueline and unleashing a blast from the high slot. The puck bounced off the Cornell goalie and out to the side, where Izmirlian grabbed it and sent it up the right boards for Doherty. Then Doherty sent it quickly back to his center in the right circle and Izmirlian turned and fired inside the near post.

The Yale defense, ranked No. 1 in the nation, held the Red to four shots in the period despite having to kill off two Cornell advantages.

Trent Ruffolo was one of eight Yale seniors honored before the game for their last home regular season game. He and the class of 2015 got a nice round of applause, but it was nothing compared to the sound the Florida native brought when he scored to make it 2-0. Ruffolo jumped off the bench, zipped around the net to chase after Cornell defenseman Joakim Ryan, who had the puck heading into his own right circle. The Eli forward stole it from behind and in a continuing motion flicked it backhand inside the near post, catching Mitch Gilliam completely off guard.

"I got a piece of his stick and took the puck away," said Ruffolo while he was surrounded by his family on the ice after the game. "I tried to get it over the goalie's pads and somehow it went in."

The Elis, who clinched a bye in the first round of the conference playoffs last night, made it 3-0 late in the second while crashing the net for a rebound. Carson Cooper took the puck out of his end and sent it up to Frankie DiChiara, who carried all the way to the left circle before firing a rocket that handcuffed Gilliam and bounced to his right. Cooper swooped in with a defender all over him and reached out with his stick to pop it into the net for his fifth of the year.

Cornell's best opportunity of the night came with just under seven minutes left when the Elis mistakenly passed the puck out of the Big Red end and Dwyer Tschantz went in alone on the Yale net. Before he could attempt to deke Lyon, the sophomore goalie dove at him and poked the puck free with his stick.

The visitors pulled Gilliam with 3:44 left for an extra skater as a 4-on-4 turned into a Cornell power play and then a two-man advantage. Lyon made three stops including a sprawling glove save and then Doherty fired a long shot into an empty net with 55 seconds left to put the game away.

Lyon, who was much more thrilled for the seniors and the team then for himself, lowered his season goals against to 1.57.

"This may have been our most outstanding defensive night, and that's big considering how well our defense has played this year," said Lyon.

BULLDOG BITES

Yale has next weekend off and will face a first-round winner in a quarterfinal series on March 13-15 at the Whale… Carson Cooper and Mike Doherty each had a goal and an assist tonight… Doherty finished the regular season with a team-high 12 goals and 20 points… Yale won its second Ivy title in the last three years…

Filed by Steve Conn, Yale Sports Publicity Director

Ruffolo image by Steve Musco