3-Point North Country Weekend

CANTON, N.Y. – Yale's unbeaten streak is now at eight after the Bulldogs took three points on the always difficult North Country trip. Two of those points came in tonight's 3-2 win over St. Lawrence at Appleton Arena.

The No. 12 Elis got goals from Ryan Obuchowski, Joe Snively and Ted Hart to improve to 11-4-4 overall and 6-3-3 in ECAC Hockey.

The battle of Richter Award candidates may not have been a complete defensive struggle, but All-American Alex Lyon, who performed some late-game heroics during a 6-on-5, stopped 25 of 27 shots to earn the win. He outdueled Kyle Hayton as the Elis outshot the Saints 36-27.

Keith Allain '80, Yale's Malcolm G. Chace Head Coach, was very happy with the way his team played against a team coming off a 6-2 win on Friday night.

"We competed on pucks and did a good job creating turnovers with pressure and turning those into scoring chances."

Both teams had one chance on the power play in a first period that had Yale with a 13-5 advantage in accurate shots. The Saints, who scored two quick advantage goals last night in a win over Brown, had the first opportunity tonight and came up empty with one shot that made it through to Lyon.

The Blue jumped on its power play with an Obuchowski tally at 7:43. Nate Repensky sent a pass across the point to the senior blueliner, who held for a moment and noticed more space in front of him before taking a few strides and releasing a low slapshot. The puck broke a defender's stick in the slot and then jumped past Hayton for Obuchowski's third of the year.

The visitors had another golden opportunity to score later in the frame when Mike Doherty went in alone on the SLU net. He shot early, looking to go five-hole, but the door was closed.

At the other end, Lyon only needed five saves, though they were not all easy. One hit him in the face and another had to be made while being pushed into the net by an errant Saint.

The Elis hit the net 11 seconds into the second period both nights this weekend. Yes, you are reading that right, and they did it the same way. The puck went into the home end in the right circle before Stu Wilson won the race to it. He circled around and flicked a lead pass to Snively, who was heading for the slot. The freshman diagonally through the slot gathered and released in one motion directing the puck under Hayton for a 2-0 lead.

Snively's seventh of the year was the only score of a middle frame filled with Yale shots from all directions and plenty of Bulldog penalty-kill time. The shots rang out from everywhere because of a ferocious Eli fore-check, but they actually were listed for one less than SLU in the period. The Saints got three of them on three advantages and went into the second intermission with time left on another after a very physical frame.

The Blue did not get to use its power-play unit in the second; that appeared to be an officiating oversight on a number of hits along the boards that got the visiting bench extremely animated. One of those hits shortened the bench.

Rarely do you see a power-play score on a penalty that carries over to another period. It happened to Yale to start the third. After Lyon made some tough stops on a flurry of attempts from the slot, a shot from the point hit a stick and bounced over his shoulder to make it 2-1. For the second night in a row, the Elis had a 2-1 lead in the third frame.

Yale's king of the jungle made the save of the game on Alex Hagen's one-timer alone in the slot, a nifty pad save to preserve the lead. At the other end, Hayton swiped a Snively shot out of the air with 10:28 left.

The Blue made it a two-goal lead again in the third on a dump-in from Doherty that bounced in favor of his team. The puck hit the boards and bounced out to the low slot with Hart coming fast. The Bulldog rookie won the race and smacked it into the back of the net.

"Mike [Doherty] dumped it in and I saw it take a bounce to the middle. I skated hard and beat the defenseman and tried to throw one over the goalie's glove," said Hart, who scored the OT game-winner at Brown a week ago. "I heard it hit the post but didn't know it went in until I saw my linemates celebrating."

The multiple-goal cushion did not last long. The Saints cut the lead to 3-2 with under three minutes left and shot from the high slot that zipped through traffic.

The home team pulled Hayton twice for an extra skater and it almost made a difference. Lyon and the Elis were diving all over the ice blocking shots as the final seconds ticked off the clock and the puck bounced around the slot.

"They were playing desperate at the end, but our guys were just as desperate defensively. We did a heck of a job securing the victory," said Allain.

BULLDOG BITES

Both teams had four freshmen in the lineup… On Friday night, Alex Lyon passed Dan Lombard '02 to take sixth place on the Yale career saves list. Lyon finished the weekend with 56 and now has 2,035 for his career. Next on the list at No. 5 is Mike O'Neill '89 at 2,324… Youth Day at the Whale is next Saturday night when RPI comes to town. Kids will receive team photos to have players and coaches sign after the game… The Yale alumni game is Feb. 6 at 3 p.m., prior to the Harvard game…

Filed by Steve Conn, Yale Associate AD & Sports Publicity Director – steven.conn@yale.edu