BRIDGEPORT, Conn. – Shots on a goal don't win games, but they make it easier to reach victory. The Yale Men's Hockey Team didn't win the easy way today. It was outshot 44-24, but the Bulldogs got goals from three players and a season-high 42 saves from Corbin Kaczperski in a 3-2 win over UConn in the consolation game of CT Ice at Webster Bank Arena.
The Elis overcame a 17-4 shots advantage in the first and then a 1-0 deficit to earn their ninth win of the season.
Almost three minutes after UConn opened the scoring in the second period, Curtis Hall put the Bulldogs on the board. The sophomore forward, who took a pass from Tyler Welsh, followed up his own shot off the goalie and banged it home for his team-high 13th of the year.
The Elis weren't done in the middle frame. Luke Stevens, who has been so effective in traffic in front of opposing goalies this season, did it again on a re-direction tally. Jack St. Ivany, who picked up an assist on the Hall goal, moved the puck across the point to Kevin O'Neil, who fired a shot from the point that Stevens got his long stick on to get it past Thomas Vomacka.
Justin Pearson made it 3-1 midway through the third when he grabbed a rebound from a Matt Foley shot and tucked it into the back of the net.
Kaczperski made 17 saves in the first period and got stronger as the game wore on. Yale tilted the ice its own way a bit more in the second and had a 14-10 edge, but the Eli netminder still needed some big saves to allow his team to grab the momentum. The senior, who made some quality stops on point-blank chances in the third period, even had to face a 6-on-4 for the last 91 seconds because UConn pulled Vomacka and then Yale took a penalty.
Kaczperski proceeded to make four saves and run out the clock with the help of his penalty-kill unit.
"I really wanted to bounce back," said Kaczperski, who was pulled after 15 minutes last night against Sacred Heart. "I was not happy with last night. My job is to give our team a chance to win, and I think I did that today. Our defense did a great job of keeping their guys on the perimeter."
The Bulldogs are back in action this coming weekend with ECAC hockey games at Clarkson and St. Lawrence that air on ESPN+.
