NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Six Bulldogs are in National Hockey League pre-season camps this fall hoping to land spots for the 2021-22 season.
 
John Hayden '17 (Buffalo), Alex Lyon '17 (Carolina), Joe Snively '19 (Washington), Billy Sweezey '20 (Columbus), Phil Kemp '21 (Edmonton) and Curtis Hall '22 (Boston) are all trying to make 23-man rosters before the regular season commences on Oct. 12.
 
Hayden, a former Yale captain and All-ECAC Hockey pick who was drafted and played for the Chicago Blackhawks, also skated for the Devils and Coyotes before heading to Buffalo. As a Bulldog, Hayden converted a lot of great Snively feeds as one of ECAC Hockey's best offensive duos at the time.
 
Snively, recently playing his first pre-season game for the Capitals, scored a goal against Hall and the Bruins. An All-ECAC Hockey forward, Snively spent last season with AHL Hershey, which had former Yale goalie and 11-year pro Alex Westlund '99 as an assistant coach.
 
Hall, who is finishing his degree at Yale, had two solid seasons with the Bulldogs and then decided to sign with the team that drafted him when the pandemic canceled the 2020-21 Yale campaign. He played 13 games for the 2020-21 Providence Bruins while battling an injury.
 
Lyon, signed by the Flyers after his junior season at New Haven, has been tending nets in Lehigh Valley and Philadelphia the last five winters. He was with the NHL team in the Stanley Cup Playoff bubble last year and then signed with the Hurricane over the summer. The two-time All-American at Yale is one of five goalies – and the only American – on Carolina's pre-season roster. The Minnesota native and fourth generation Yalie plans to return to New Haven to finish his degree.
 
Kemp, a blueliner elected as captain of the 2020-21 Bulldogs, signed with Edmonton and headed to Sweden to play last winter while working on his degree. He returned to the states last spring and played for AHL Bakersfield in the Calder Cup Playoffs.
 
Another Yale defenseman, Sweezey, signed with Pittsburgh after his final collegiate campaign and then played in the AHL for Scranton last winter.
 
There are other Bulldogs skating professionally in and outside of North America.
 
Kenny Agostino '14, a proven scorer at every level of hockey he has played, recently had a hat trick for the KHL Nizhny Novgorod Torpedo, where he has 10 points in 11 games. The forward who helped Yale win the 2013 national championship spent most of the last two seasons with the AHL Toronto Marlies and had 71 points over 75 contests. Agostino was drafted by Pittsburgh but signed with Calgary after his Yale career.
 
They were teammates in New Haven, but Agostino and Brian O'Neill '12 will be skating against each other in Russia this season. O'Neill, who has averaged 45 points in his first five KHL seasons, has 11 in as many contests for Jokerit Helsinki this fall.
 
Marc Arcobello '10 has eight points in nine games this season for Lugano of the Swiss A League. Since playing for five different NHL teams early in his pro career, the former Yale forward has averaged over 50 points the last five seasons in the Swiss league.
 
One of his former teammates at Yale and with the U.S. Olympic Team in 2018, Broc Little '11, also has a decorated international career. Little has been one of Sweden's most prolific scorers skating for Linkopings HC. He has averaged 18 goals over the last seven seasons in Europe and this fall became the most prolific North American goal scorer in the history of the SHL/Elite Series..