Lyon Roars Again in 2-1 Win

NEW HAVEN, Conn.  – A great goalie can win huge rivalry games against high-ranked teams with highly rated offenses. All-American Alex Lyon stopped all 19 shots in the third period, including five on a three-minute power play, and finished with 25 as his No. 11 Yale hockey team registered a 2-1 win over No. 7 Harvard before a jam-packed Ingalls Rink in ECAC Hockey play.  

Lyon, who made just six saves over the first 40 minutes because his teammates formed a protective shield around the Yale net, wasn't the only reason his team improved to 14-5-4 and 9-4-3 in ECAC play. John Hayden and Cody Learned scored goals and the Bulldog special teams came up with two huge kills as the Blue moved into a second-place tie with the Crimson at 21 points.

The weekend sweep (5-1 win over Dartmouth) – even more impressive knowing they did it with just 17 healthy skaters - moved the Elis into the No. 9 slot in the Pairwise Rankings.

"It was another epic college hockey game," said Keith Allain '80, Yale's Malcolm G. Chace Head Coach. "Both teams were playing their 'A' games."

Harvard (13-6-3, 9-4-3), which entered the game No. 6 in Division I offense but had trouble getting shots through Yale sticks and bodies which accounted for 16 blocked attempts, had a 26-22 edge in shots.

The Elis, who had a 10-4 edge in shots over the first 20 minutes, erased a 1-0 deficit less than two minutes after the visitors got on the board midway through the first period.

The scoring play developed deep in the Yale end with a perfectly placed clearing attempt by Ryan Obuchowski. The linesmen waved off icing as the puck went into the corner behind the Harvard net with Hayden and Stu Wilson chasing. A Crimson blueliner won the race and started up ice before Hayden caught him from behind to strip the puck. Wilson took it back to the corner and Hayden circled back toward the net as his linemate fired an off-angle shot toward the goalie. The puck hit Merrick Madsen's pad and bounced out to Hayden, who one-timed it inside the right post at 11:39 for his team-high 12^th of the season.

Yale's most consistent goal scorer in recent games has been Learned. He made it three games in a row to give the Blue a 2-1 lead, the eventual game-winner. The Eli fore-check was at its best preventing Harvard from getting the puck out of its end. The cycling of the biscuit included Charles Orzetti picking a clearing attempt out of the air along the boards shortly before Crimson forward Jimmy Vesey lost his stick and caused his squad to play five sticks vs. four for an extended period of time.

The puck eventually got to Mike Doherty, who moved it over to Dan O'Keefe at the point. O'Keefe hit Learned as he circled in from the top of the left circle and the senior forward skated into the high slot between defenders and flicked a wrister that hit the right post, bounced off Madsen and bounced into the back of the net at 9:51. Vesey never was able to retrieve his twig.

"I think they [Harvard] knocked it away from me, and it might have hit someone's skate. It happened pretty fast," said Learned, who now has four goals.

His coach was impressed with the overall effort of his team, but took time to highlight Learned.

"Cody has been fantastic. He has taken his game to a new level," said Allain. "It's good to see a senior stepping up like that and making a huge contribution."

The Bulldogs did a masterful job of changing the momentum in the early part of the second. Harvard made it very tough for Yale to break out for almost five minutes, but the home team had a 9-3 advantage in shots when the second buzzer sounded. Nobody watching this contest could have imagined the Bulldogs would have six more shots than the visitors after seeing what the red shirts were doing at the start of the period.

There was only three total power plays and nine penalties combined, but the hitting was still ferocious at times. Things got even more physical in the third period. Simultaneous penalties on both sides midway through produced a Crimson minor and a Yale major (Rob O'Gara, game DQ), which meant a three-minute Harvard power play. Five Lyon saves later, the Blue survived the first major obstacle.

The home team would have to play the rest of the way without its All-American blueliner, who got the major when he retaliated on an ugly and illegal Crimson hit.

The best save of the night came on a Ryan Donato wrap-around attempt late in the third. Lyon, lying flat on his back, got something up in the air at the last second to knock the shot away.

Harvard pulled its goalie with 1:31 left and the Elis responded with two quick blocked shots and a few clears. The second-to-last clear was an icing call that put the puck on the dot in the Yale end with 25.3 seconds left. Both teams used timeouts and then the roof nearly lifted off the Whale as the noise level reached an all-time high.

Colin Blackwell fired two shots on target that Lyon stopped, then it was Vesey's turn. Lyon's teammate on the U.S. National Team at last spring's world championships, was on the doorstep twice in the closing seconds. The first attempt, just a few feet from the edge of the crease on the right side, went wide. The second was knocked away by the junior goalie and then Carson Cooper made the final clear, which really brought the house down.

All the Yale players were amazed by the feeling in the rink tonight.

"The atmosphere in the building contributed a lot [to the win], the crowd was really a momentum builder for us," said Lyon, who is second in the nation for goals against and save percentage.

And there were other aspects of the weekend that made this a special win.

"We had a lot of injuries and the team really came together," said Learned. "We played one of our most complete games of the year. It's extra nice that our opponent was Harvard."

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

Steve Musco image