Box Score Elis Beat Clarkson 3-1
NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The nation's longest win streak increased to seven games because No. 8 Yale, for a second straight night, scored late in the third period to win a come-from-behind ECAC Hockey contest. Senior Stu Wilson put the finishing touches on senior night by finding the net with 2:29 left for the winner to help the Bulldogs take a 3-1 decision over No. 20 Clarkson before a packed Ingalls Rink.
Last night against St. Lawrence, senior Ryan Obuchowski scored the winner with just over a minute to play. What a senior weekend. Tonight it was a classmate's turn to help the Elis move to within four points of first place with a sixth straight win over a ranked team.
With the score 1-1, John Hayden sent a backhander from the slot on net that was stopped by the Clarkson goalie. The puck came out to the left and Wilson was in the right place at the perfect time. He took it, pushed it forward and to the left of the net as the goalie went down trying to extend his coverage. The Eli forward held until the last minute and then slid the puck through a small opening inside the left post. It was like the elevator door about to close completely just before a hand passes through to re-open it.
"I lost the face-off to start the play," said Wilson, who is now second on the team with a career-best 23 points. "I kept trying to lift a player's stick to get the puck. I was able to whack it to Hayden. I just tried to get around him [Clarkson goalie], and I almost missed the net."
That goal was obviously huge, but the equalizer was the most significant tally of the night. After trailing most of the game 1-0, the Bulldogs (18-5-4, 13-4-3 ECAC) broke through a little more than five minutes into the third.
Hayden tried to dump the puck from just outside the blueline and the puck hit a Clarkson skate and went to Wilson, who had a two-point night. Wilson moved it from the top of the left circle over to Joe Snively. The freshman forward skated through the left circle as Lewis came to cover the near post. That's when Snively put on the jets and buzzed around the net. When he got the angle, he flicked a wrap-around fore-hander on the ice for his 10th goal of the year.
"Snives [Snively] was so quick. He wrapped the net so fast that the goalie couldn't get back in time," said Wilson.
The Blue outshot the Golden Knights 39-21, but the teams went a combined 0-for-9 on the power play with nine total shots on target. Essentially, all the action came at even strength, other than a great penalty-kill save by Alex Lyon (20 saves) and a Yale shorthanded opportunity.
"We played a 60-minute game and stuck with it the entire way. It was great to finally be rewarded for it," said Keith Allain '80, Yale's Malcolm G. Chace Head Coach. "Having all the adversity has made us stronger. They believe [they can get it done]… we are grateful for those opportunities."
The Yale fore-check was on for extended spans of the first period, and it absolutely smothered the Golden Knights' break-out at times. Most of that aggressive play came after an early Clarkson goal that woke up the Bulldogs.
Still, the 1-0 deficit came within inches of being two. Lyon stuck out his right leg and made a late pad save on Pat Megannetyu during a power-play, 2-on-1 rush midway through the frame.
The Elis came close to getting a goal a few times – including one advantage - later in the opening frame but couldn't finish the deal.
The home team turned up the pressure a notch in the second period and managed to out shoot the Knights 14-5 despite having to kill off three power plays. Yale's best scoring chance even came during one of those kills when Stu Wilson and Joe Snively came in on a 2-on-1 and Wilson kept it before attempting to go five-hole on Lewis.
He won't get any credit in the box score for his shot, but rookie blueliner Anthony Walsh fired a shot from the point with 5:36 left that hit Lewis near his neck and may have shaken him up enough to allow his teammates to break through shortly after. The officials had to stop play for a minute and check on the goalie to see if he was ok to proceed.
Walsh and the Bulldogs helped send the class of 2016 out with a classic victory in its last home regular season contest.
"This group [the team] plays at the highest level most nights, so it's hard to raise that level," said Allain, who saw Ryan Hitchcock add an empty-netter with .5 seconds left. "It was satisfying to send the seniors out with a win."
BULLDOG BITES
The Elis got goals from a freshman, a sophomore and a senior… After missing five straight games, junior Chris Izmirlian came back this weekend with two points… Yale will host a best-of-three quarterfinal series on March 11-13… The Bulldogs honored their eight seniors during a brief ceremonial PA read in lieu of the starting lineup… This was Yale's third straight game against a ranked team and the sixth in the last seven outings… Yale is alone in seventh in the Pairwise Rankings.
By Steve Conn, Yale Associate AD & Sports Publicity Director – steven.conn@yale.edu
GWG image by Jack Warhola
