Lyon's 39 Saves Not Enough For Elis

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – It took 96 minutes and 46 seconds to figure out who would come out alive in the decisive game of the ECAC Quarterfinal Series at Ingalls Rink. Harvard's Jimmy Vesey hit the net with 3:14 left in the second overtime to give his squad a 3-2 win over Yale and a trip to the conference championship weekend.

Alex Lyon, the sophomore goalie, put a lot of Bulldogs on his shoulders while registering 39 saves and coming up with a number of highlight stops. It just wasn't enough.

The Elis (18-9-5) came so close to grabbing the victory more than a few times in each overtime, but it wasn't meant to be.

"It's an incredibly tough loss, it's indescribable," said Keith Allain '80, Yale's Malcolm G. Chace Head Coach. "Harvard's a very good hockey team and we went toe-to-toe with them."  

Goals were hard to come by over the first six periods of this series, so two in 21 seconds during the middle of the opening frame seemed strange.

The Crimson, who had a 10-7 edge in shots over the first period, got the first one at 10:01, but Cody Learned answered with a put-back.

Frankie DiChiara began the scoring sequence by passing the puck low to Carson Cooper, who re-directed if off the Harvard goalie and then followed up with the rebound. That's when Learned slipped through to knock it home for his ninth of the year.

The ice tilted a bit for the home team in the second and it helped produce the only goal in the 20 minutes. For the second night in a row, Chris Izmirlian drew a penalty hustling to the net that led to a goal.

The Elis immediately moved the puck into the Harvard end and got the power play movement in sync. The end of the advantage was Cooper in the right circle passing up to Nate Repensky at the point and the freshman defenseman skating backwards across the blueline looking for an open white jersey. Repensky found DiChiara open at the top of the right circle ready to shoot. DiChiara took the feed and unleashed a low wrister with enough velocity to zip inside the near post at 11:58 and give the Blue a 2-1 lead.

Yale did a great job of limiting the visitors' chances in the third period, clinging to a one-goal lead. The defensive effort forced Harvard to the perimeter and the Elis continually got sticks in the passing and shooting lanes. That all worked well until a little space opened up at the point for a shot.

With 3:34 left, Patrick McNally sent a low shot through traffic that evened things. The Elis, who had their most shots in a period this weekend during the third, responded with a few great scoring opportunities that fell short before the game went to overtime.

The first extra frame was full of close calls and great saves, but most of the stops came from Lyon, who racked up 15 alone. He had to make six of those during one of the most amazing Yale special teams efforts in recent times. The Bulldogs, who watched in amazement as the officials called Matt Killian for a major, hitting from behind penalty (in the Harvard end) and disqualification, had five minutes of penalty kill.

Lyon stood on his head a few times during the successful kill, which covered almost exactly the last five minutes of the first OT. During the 20 minutes he stopped seven shots around the slot.

"That's Alex being Alex," said the Yale head coach. "He is one of the best in college hockey and tonight he played like it."

The Blue, which had not lost a game it led after two periods until tonight, came very close to ending the game early in the fifth period when DiChiara re-directed a pass in the slot that missed the net.

Harvard had one power play in the second OT and Yale had two. The three advantages produced a combined four shots on goal. Overall, the Elis had eight in the partial frame compared to five from the Crimson. But only one really mattered.

"It was a face-off loss, a shot and a rebound. It was a bang-bang play by their most dangerous player," said Allain.

The Elis still hold a hope that they can be invited to the NCAA Tournament, but they will need a lot of help.

"There's not much I can say to them [after the game]," said Allain. "I'm incredibly proud of this group. With what we faced this year to only have nine losses. They should be proud of themselves."

Filed by Steve Conn, Yale Sports Publicity Director