Backman Gets Hat Trick in Loss to Bobcats
Feb. 2, 2007
HAMDEN, Conn. - Sean Backman notched his first career hat trick but it wasn't enough to hold off the high-scoring Quinnipiac men's hockey team in a 6-4 ECACHL game before a sellout crowd at the TD Banknorth Sports Center.
Backman, who now has 14 goals and 22 points, tallied Yale's first hat trick of the season but the Elis were outshot 41-16 and could not stay out of the penalty box enough to stay in the game.
The Bobcats (13-8-5, 9-3-4 ECACHL), the conference's top scoring team, peppered the Yale net at every opportunity.
Bulldog netminder Alec Richards made so many impressive stops on the way to a 35-save night but couldn't hold off a strong Bobcat power play that tallied four times in a dozen attempts.
"We were undisciplined tonight and I thought it was our worst performance of the season," said Keith Allain '80, Yale's Malcolm G. Chace Head Coach of Hockey. "It just caught up with us in the third period. Alec [Richards] played very well and kept us in the game early."
Less than two minutes into the game the Bulldogs (8-11-3, 5-9-1) had a two-man advantage for 1:37 but could not get anything on target despite numerous attempts.
That was not the case on Yale's next power-play chance with Backman and Blair Yaworski working the give-and-go to perfection. Skating in from the point, Backman left the puck for Yaworski who quickly led the freshman forward into the right circle. Backman, Yale's leading scorer with 12 goals, carried to the bottom of the circle before firing a rising bottle-knocker over Bud Fisher's shoulder at 7:04 for the 1-0 lead.
The Bobcats, while outshooting Yale 16-3 in the opening frame, played most of the last three minutes of the first period with an advantage, including a long 5-on-3 where they only put one shot on Richards.
Quinnipiac evened the score at 8:58 of the second in a 4-on-4. Reid Cashman sent a pass out to the high slot that was one-timed by defenseman Matt Sorteberg (14th). The puck sailed off the left post and into the back of the net and Richards never had a chance.
The home team finally cashed in on a man-advantage to take its first lead at 2-1. Greg Holt (6th) flipped a fluttering shot toward the goal that squeezed between a few players and went inside the post on the stick side at 14:34.
Despite being outshot 8-6 and losing the lead in the middle frame the Blue managed to head into intermission even and take some of the momentum away from the Cats with a late goal. Backman one-timed a crossing feed from Chris Cahill with 1:21 left to make it 2-2. Backman's 13th goal of the year caught Fisher, who finished with just 12 saves, coming across to cover too late on the near post.
Richards had two huge saves in the first half of the third period before he was victimized by a great individual effort that put Quinnipiac back in the lead at 3-2. David Marshall (13th), on the power play, walked in from the right circle and wrested a 15-footer from the slot that escaped the Bulldog goalie's glove at 7:09.
A few minutes later the Cats were licking their chops with a two-man advantage that turned into a two-goal lead. Ben Nelson (7th) took a feed from the point in the left circle, turned and fired a wrister inside the near post at 10:01.
Instead of reeling from the sudden home surge, the Bulldogs got back to within a goal with a shorthanded score by Backman (14th) at 10:53. Backman, playing shorthanded, took a feed heading up the right side and blasted a shot that Fisher saved but the puck came right to the Bulldog winger. Backman rifled a riser that went inside the far post to make it 4-3.
However, the Bobcats still managed the power-play goal when Marshall (14th) got his second tally of the night unassisted at 12:27 and the lead was back to a pair.
The Elis pulled Richards with a minute left and with the visitors on the power play. Yale could not get a shot on goal before Andrew Meyer hit an empty net with 40 seconds left to put it away, though Cahill banged home a rebound with less than a second left to make it 6-4.
The Bulldogs are home Saturday night at 7:30 to face Princeton on Alumni Day.
Report filed by Steve Conn, Yale Sports Publicity Director
