Box Score Bulldogs Win 5th Straight
ITHACA, N.Y. – Five straight victories, a four-point road weekend and a commanding win over a nationally ranked team in a place that's difficult for visiting teams. That's what the No. 10 Yale hockey team did in beating No. 15 Cornell 4-2 before a sellout crowd at Lynah Rink.
John Hayden hit the net twice while Carson Cooper and Cody Learned had the other goals that helped the Bulldogs (16-5-4, 11-4-3 ECAC) remain in second place and move to within five points of Quinnipiac.
The Blue outshot the Red 41-22 and never trailed while dominating puck possession and creating havoc for the home team with speed and aggressive play. Another outstanding effort by All-American goalie Alex Lyon (20 saves) was also crucial in the effort.
"We were opportunistic as much as anything else," said Keith Allain '80, Yale's Malcolm G. Chace Head Coach, who had another game with just 10 forwards but saw his special teams notch a pair of power-play goals. "Early goals really help us with a short bench."
The two Ivy rivals went scoreless for 65 minutes in New Haven earlier this season, but tonight was a different story. The Bulldogs jumped all over an early power play – drawn by Learned – to get on the board.
Joe Snively skated the puck out from the corner and then sent it out to Mitch Witek at the point. The Yale captain, who had two helpers in each game this weekend, skated toward the slot, deked a Big Red player and fired a low shot on net that bounced off Mitch Gillam and kicked out to the low slot. Hayden won the scramble to the biscuit like a hungry younger sibling with lots of brothers competing for dinner grub and smacked it into the back of the net.
The Blue, which outshot the white jerseys 19-6 in the first upped the advantage to two on a great shot by Carson Cooper. The scoring play began in the visitor's end with Dan O'Keefe moving the puck up to Frankie DiChiara, who skated over the blueline and left it for Cooper. The senior forward zipped in through the left circle and let go a wrister when he saw an opening.
Lyon made six saves in the opening frame, but things were much more challenging in the second. He and the Yale penalty-kill evaporated two advantages while the junior netminder stopped seven of eight shots.
The Elis got a huge opportunity to add to the lead when Cornell's John Knisley cross checked Adam Larkin in front of the Yale bench and took a major penalty late in the first. Nothing materialized for the last minute of the period, but the Blue broke through on the advantage in the second.
Snively did most of the carrying of the puck as he buzzed from the point around the left circle and found Hayden open in the slot. The junior forward, looking for his team-best 14th of the year, skated toward the net, moved the puck to his backhand and then flicked a low shot inside the near post 2:44 in.
"I can't say enough about Snively's skill," said Hayden. "He seems to find me in the slot all the time. I pulled the puck to my backhand and was fortunate it went in short side."
Gillam (18 saves), who had stopped all 30 shots in New Haven, was pulled after the Hayden tally in favor of Hayden Stewart, who needed 11 saves the rest of the middle frame to keep it close.
Lyon, who had blanked the Big Red the previous two meetings, increased his shutout streak against Cornell to 160:47, which took it to 8:45 of the second period tonight. That's when Knisley made up for his infraction by cutting the margin to 3-1. That was as close as Cornell would get, adding another goal with under a minute to play and the game out of hand.
The Bulldogs used the momentum of an early, excellent penalty-kill in the third to bump the lead back to three. This goal, which took the crowd out of the game, came from Learned, the hottest player in the conference.
The ferocious Eli fore-check was causing the Red to turn over pucks in the home end all night. This time it turned into a Yale tally. Cooper, who had two points tonight, grabbed a fumbled possession in the neutral zone and immediately got it to Learned, who was streaking down the middle.
"Cody is doing what we hope all our seniors are doing and that is getting better every year," said Allain, whose Bulldogs have four wins over nationally ranked teams during the five-game win streak. "He always seems to be in the right place at the right time."
The senior forward fired low on the backup Big Red goalie increasing his goal streak to five games with his sixth of the winter.
"I'm really proud of our guys," said Allain, who was without senior All-American defenseman Rob O'Gara (league suspension) for the second straight night. "We faced two tough opponents on the road and overcame some adversity. We have continued to grow as a team."
The full house at Lynah kept trying to help the home team battle back, but the Eli counterpunch was continuously painful.
"That's what college hockey is all about, the atmosphere was incredible," said Hayden. "Cornell is a great team, so it made it pretty fun tonight."
Lyon, who had the crowd all over him from the moment his skates touched the ice, was consistently solid through 60 minutes.
"It was an impressive defensive rally without Rob [O'Gara] this weekend. They [teammates] made my job easy," said Lyon. "The offensive display this weekend was nothing to scoff at either. Cornell always provides a great atmosphere. I thought that we were dominant, but the crowd really helped them build momentum when they didn't have much going."
BULLDOG BITES
Yale had two power play attempts in its last two games until getting four chances (2 goals) tonight… Cornell had six NHL draft picks dressed compared to one (John Hayden) for the Elis.. Tonight's game matched two head coaches leading their alma maters. Half of the ECAC teams have head coaches who played for their current teams; the others are Bob Gaudet (Dartmouth), Ted Donato (Harvard), Brendan Whittet (Brown) and Greg Carvel (St. Lawrence)… Lynah Rink, one of the "cathedrals" of college hockey, is one of two (Brown is the other) ECAC rinks without a suspended scoreboard at center ice… Yale's last two home regular-season games are next weekend with SLU and Clarkson coming to the Whale for senior weekend.
By Steve Conn, Yale Associate AD & Sports Publicity Director
