Bulldogs Home For RPI, Union

Jan. 23, 2007

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NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- Only four points separate the two teams at the bottom of the conference standings from the middle of the pack as a pair of Capitol District squads invade the Whale. The seventh-place Yale men's hockey team (8-8-3, 5-6-1 ECACHL), which came away with one point from its Cornell/Colgate road trip last weekend, skates at Ingalls Rink this weekend against 11th place squads Rensselaer (6-11-7, 2-6-4) and Union (11-11-2, 4-8-0) on Youth Day Weekend. Friday's game can be heard live on Teamline.com, which is available free of charge by clicking on the contest from the schedule on Yalebulldogs.com. A video feed of Saturday's game will be available live on yalebulldogs.com and will also be archived shortly after the game.

BLUE GETS 2ND STRAIGHT 2-2 TIE AT CORNELL

A funny bounce of the puck at a critical time went in favor of Yale as it came back to grab a point on the road in a 2-2 overtime tie at No. 15 Cornell at Lynah Rink on Jan. 19. The Big Red, nursing a 2-1 lead and trying to kill of a penalty in the final minutes of regulation, was victimized by a bad bounce that allowed the Bulldogs to even things with 1:22 left. Cornell goalie Troy Davenport, who made 15 saves, fanned on a pass that bounced off a defenseman's skate and into the net. Blueliner Tom Dignard, the last Bulldog to touch the puck, was awarded his third goal of the year. Matt Cohen had the other Bulldog goal. Alec Richards made 23 saves for the visitors.

RAIDERS TOO TOUGH AT HOME

Four different players lit the lamp as Colgate got past Yale 4-1 on Jan. 20 at Starr Rink. The Raiders erased a 1-0 deficit with four straight goals while outshooting the Blue just 22-21. The two squads combined for 43 shots on target, which may be one of the lowest totals in college hockey this winter. In addition, neither team managed a power-play goal with a combined 12 chances. Bill LeClerc notched the Bulldog goal in the first period, while Alec Richards (13 saves) and Matt Modelski (5) combined their efforts in goal.

THE SERIES

Rensselaer is 47-31-5 against Yale since 1908-09, including wins in four of the last five games. The Blue blanked the Engineers, 5-0, at Ingalls last year but fell at Troy. Union and Yale began playing in 1991-92 and the Elis have a 18-10-2 edge, inlcuding three out of four (sweep in ECACHL playoffs) last winter.

BEHIND THE BENCH

First-year Yale head coach Keith Allain '80, the former Bulldog star goalie and NHL assistant coach, is second at Yale with 31 goaltending wins and third in saves (2,337). Here's what he had to say about last weekend. "All we got was a tie, but we did do some great things as hockey team. Our defensive play at Cornell was fantastic. We moved the puck well against Colgate, but were too selective in the offensive zone. We must have been looking for something better. One area we clearly need to improve is our power play. We are not generating enough scoring chances and that is working against us in the win column."

SKATING IN THE CAPITOL DISTRICT

Rensselaer, which owns wins over Denver, Colgate and Princeton, is 2-6-1 over the last nine games after falling to Clarkson and tying St. Lawrence last weekend at Troy. The Engineers have four players tied for the team lead with seven goals while Jake Luthi leads the team with 22 points (3-19). Mathias Lange (.882, 3.49, 2-7-5) and Jordan Alford (.894, 3.08, 4-4-2) have shared most of the goaltending duties. T.J. Fox and Mario Valery-Trabucco each have 11 goals for a Union squad that has beaten UMass, Dartmouth and Clarkson and is 4-3 over its last seven dates. Justin Mrazek (.899, 3.11, 4-8) has had most of the goaltending work for the Dutchmen.

YOUTH DAY

Saturday at Ingalls is Yale Hockey Youth Day. All kids under 14 years-old are admitted free of charge and can take part in raffles and face painting during the game followed by an autograph session with the entire Yale team after the contest.

BLUE IN CONFERENCE

The Blue leads the league in PIM (26.2) with a number that has been decreasing, is sixth in PP (15.8), eighth in penalty kill (83.2) and 10th in offense (2.50) and defense (3.25) for conference games.

FROSH AHEAD OF CLASSES

The Yale newcomers lead the team in scoring with 25 goals (by six players) and 55 points. A pair of frosh leads the team in points, but Yale has not had a rookie lead the team in points since Chris Higgins in 2001-02. The Blue has not had a freshman named team MVP since Paul Castraberti in 1977-78. The juniors (8-19-27), seniors (8-18-26) and sophomores (7-9-16) are far behind in scoring. The frosh had three goals and six points at Princeton on Jan. 12 while the seniors had 1-3-4 last weekend.

BACKMAN LEADS BLUE

Freshman forward Sean Backman, the son of a former New York Ranger and New Haven (AHL) Nighthawk Mike Backman, was Yale's first ECACHL Rookie of the Week awardee after getting two points in the Jan. 6 win over Brown. He leads Yale with 10-8-18 and is third in conference points per game for frosh (13th overall). Backman has a point in 13 of the 19 games including a pair of goals against UConn.

ARCOBELLO ONE OF TOP ECACHL ROOKIES

Rookie forward Mark Arcobello has points in seven of the last 10 outings. After going pointless in the first four games this season, Arcobello has turned it on with 7-9-16, including a pair of two-goal outings. He is the only Eli with two multiple-goal games and is third in the ECACHL among frosh with .92 PPG in conference play (13th overall).

TENDING BULLDOG GOAL

Sophomore goalie Alec Richards (3.13, .890, 8-8-2) has started all but one (Billy Blase vs. UNO) game this year. He had a season-high 41 saves in the win over Brown, three shy of his career-best (44 at Minnesota State, Dartmouth). Richards earned ECACHL Goalie of the Week on Nov. 20 after wins at Dartmouth/Harvard. He is 12th in conference goals against (3.30) and 11th in save percentage (.888) for league games. Matt Modelski saw his first action of the year with five saves in relief at Colgate on Jan. 20.

OFFENSIVE ON DEFENSE

Senior Bill LeClerc (5-10-15), third in goals and points on the team, ranks fourth among conference defensemen with 1.0 points per game in league play.

BULLDOG BITES

Joe Zappala '06 was named ECHL Rookie of the Month for December after having 9-6-15, including four game-winners... Three different blueliners accounted for all three Yale goals last weekend... Yale is 1-2-1 vs. teams that were ranked; the win came at No. 8 New Hampshire (now No. 2)... The Blue is 1-5-1 vs. teams currently in the USCHO national rankings.

ALUMNI DAY

Yale Hockey Alumni Day is Feb. 3 at Ingalls Rink with an 11 a.m. game for old Blue followed by a 1 p.m. reception and a 7 p.m. Princeton-Yale contest.