Box Score Blue Moves Into 3rd Place
NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Yale and Cornell have developed a special rivalry over the last quarter century, one that draws sellout crowds at both Ithaca and New Haven. Tonight's packed house at Ingalls Rink saw the rivalry at its best as the Bulldogs knocked off No. 8 Cornell 5-2 and moved into third place with two weekends left in the regular season.
The Elis, who earned four points this weekend by outscoring Colgate and Cornell by a combined 8-2, improved to 13-9-3 and 11-6-1 in the ECAC. Tonight's output was the most against the first-place Big Red (15-7-3, 11-4-3) this year. Yale now trails Cornell by two points.
Curtis Hall scored twice, Robbie DeMontis handed out three assists and Sam Tucker stopped 27 of 29 shots to earn the win in net. The other Yale tallies came from Phil Kemp, Matt Foley and Ted Hart.
Both teams had quality offensive chances in the first, but only the home team broke through with just 17 seconds left. Kemp won a battle along the boards to keep the puck low and it went to DeMontis in the lower left circle. The junior center one-timed it across to Hall in the slot, and the rookie winger, with a very tight window, snapped off a low shot that went through the legs of both the defenseman and the Cornell goalie.
The Blue added a pair early in the second to go up 3-0. Kemp's shot from the right circle found the net and then another blueliner, Foley, beat Matthew Galajda from the same spot, which brought a change in the net for the visitors.
Cornell charged back with a pair midway through the second and looked to seize all the momentum until Hart came up with a crucial play for Yale. The right wing skated behind the Big Red net and tucked a wrap-around shot inside the far post. That brought Cornell's third goalie of the night.
Tucker made a dozen saves in the third, including two great ones. The first was on a penalty kill breakaway with his blocker; later he gloved a sniper shot headed for the upper corner.
The prettiest goal of the night was the second for Hall and it gave us the final score. The tic-tac-toe tally went from DeMontis to Snively and then to the rookie, who flicked it past Austin McGrath. It was Hall's second two-goal game of the season.
"Those [Hall] goals were the result of some great plays by his linemates," said Keith Allain '80, Yale's Malcolm G. Chace Head Coach. "That line was very effective offensively and Curtis was the beneficiary of that. He played well tonight. He is a big, strong kid with a lot of talent,"
Contact: Steve Conn, Yale Associate AD/Sports Publicity – steven.conn@yale.edu
