Elis Begin Title Quest at Harvard

Feb. 27, 2007

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NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- The oldest rivalry in collegiate sports takes the ice for the first round of the 2007 ECACHL Playoffs as the Yale men's hockey team travels to Harvard for a best-of-three first-round series at Bright Hockey Center on March 2-4. The No. 10 seeded Bulldogs (11-15-3, 8-13-1 ECACHL), who split their last four games, take on the No. 7 Crimson, who finished the season with a 2-0-1 run. Friday night's game can be heard live on Teamline (link from schedule on yalebulldogs.com), while the Saturday contest airs live on WYBC (AM-1340) and on wybc.com. If the series goes to a third game, it can be heard on WYBC radio.

Y-H THIS SEASON

Michael Karwoski had a goal and two assists and Alec Richards stopped 32 shots in Yale's 5-2 win on Nov. 18 at Cambridge. Chris Cahill had two goals and a helper and Richards stopped 28 shots in the Elis' 5-1 win on Feb. 16 at New Haven. Harvard combined for an overall edge in shots (63-61) but the Bulldogs had the best of the special teams (5-15 PP vs. 2-18). Yale faced Crimson goalie Kyle Richter (8 GA) in both games but also saw this week's conference goalie of the week, Justin Tobe (1), as a backup in the second meeting.

DRAGONS TO SLAY

Yale improved to just 2-25-3 at Bright with a win last November (it slayed most of that dragon) and the Bulldogs are 0-4 vs. Harvard in conference playoffs. The last time Yale met Harvard in the ECACHL playoffs was 2000-01 at Cambridge. The Cantabs lead the 106-year-old series 133-72-17.

FROM NHL TO ALMA MATER

First-year Yale coach Keith Allain '80, who grew up near Harvard in Worcester, Mass., came back to New Haven after serving as the goalie coach for the St. Louis Blues and a long and successful stint behind the bench in the NHL. The 2007 Ivy title is his first as a Bulldog. Ted Donato (Harvard `91) took over at Cambridge three years ago after scoring 150 goals in 796 NHL games. Allain coached Donato on the 1992 U.S. Olympic Team.

IVY CHAMPS

Yale's 6-3-1 record vs. Ancient Eight foes meant a share of the season title with Dartmouth. The Blue, winners of 10 Ivy titles, had not won since 2001.

CAPITALIZING IN CAPITOL DISTRICT

Yale gained momentum last weekend by beating Rensselear 4-3 on Feb. 24 behind 24 saves by Matt Modelski and three PPG.. The Blue, who blanked the Engineers on all nine of their man-advantages, got goals from Sean Backman, Robert Page, Bill LeClerc and Patrick Brosnihan. The night before at Union, the Elis were shutout for the first time this year, 3-0.

CAHILL ON FIRE

Chris Cahill is the latest freshman to find the hot hand with the puck. The rookie recorded just six points in the first 21 games of the season, but has recently turned it on with 4-5-9 in the last eight games.

FROSH CRUISE TO LEAD

The Yale newcomers lead the team in scoring with 42 goals (56% of team total) and 91 points (48%). A pair of frosh leads the team in points, but Yale has not had a rookie lead the team since Chris Higgins in 2001-02. The Blue has not had a freshman named team MVP since Paul Castraberti in 1977-78. The juniors (13-26-39), seniors (12-24-36) and sophomores (9-11-20) are far behind in scoring. The frosh had an amazing 8-7-15 over the Feb. 2-3 weekend and added 1-4-5 against RPI last Saturday.

BACKMAN CLOSE TO FROSH GOALS RECORD

Freshman forward Sean Backman, the son of a former New York Ranger and New Haven (AHL) Nighthawk Mike Backman, leads Yale with 18-13-31 and is one goal shy of the Yale freshman record for goals in a season (19 by Tom Walsh, 1984-85). Backman, the Feb. 4 ECACHL Player of the Week, was conference rookie of the week on Jan. 8. His 18 goals (in 29 GP) rank 20th nationally and are the third most by a rookie (most players have at least five more GP). He is second in the conference and trails only fellow rookie Brandon Wong (24 goals, 34 GP) of Quinnipiac. Backman is second in conference points per game for frosh (7th overall). He has two SHG and one penalty shot goal (Dartmouth) and has a point in 19 of the 29 games including three multiple-goal outings and a hat trick at Quinnipiac.

THE MATCHUP

Here's how Yale matches up on paper against Harvard in conference play.

Conference Stat: Yale... Harvard

Offense: 9th (2.55)... 6th (3.05)

Defense: 10th (3.27)... 8th (2.95)

PP: 8th (15.4)...1st (23.4)

PK: 6th (83.0)...9th (80.7)

PIM: 1st (23.7)... 10th (16.5)

BULLDOGS IN THE NHL THIS WINTER

Two ex-Bulldogs are having their best pro seasons ever in the NHL. Chris Higgins '05, Yale's highest draft pick ever, has 17-10-27 in 45 games with Montreal. Jeff Hamilton '01, Yale's all-time leading scorer, has 13-11-24 (50 gp) with Chicago. He had his first NHL hat trick on Dec. 2 during a four-point night.

A YEAR AGO

Yale swept Union in the first round of the conference tournament at Schenectady in a pair of OT games, including the longest game in the history of NCAA men's hockey on the second night. Yale captain Matt Cohen won the first game with a 25-foot wrist shot, while rookie David Meckler notched the winner in the clincher after more than 141 minutes (Meckler decided to leave school and play for the London Knights of the OHL and has 34 goals in 60 GP). A very busy Alec Richards made 97 saves over two contests.

BULLDOG BITES

Mark Arcobello ranks fourth among frosh (0.86) in points per game... Bill LeClerc is fifth among defensemen with 0.62 points per game... The last time Yale faced a playoff opponent it had swept during the regular season was in 2003-04 when hosting St. Lawrence. SLU swept the playoff with two OT wins... Harvard is the first team to be swept by Yale and then hosted the Elis for the playoffs... The Elis are 3-0 in games where they tally 3 PPG and 5-1-1 when getting two or more... Goalie Matt Modelski has 3 starts and 2 wins... Yale has three more regular season wins than it had in 2005-06 despite 14 fewer goals. The most significant difference might be that the 2005-06 Elis were outshot by 217 compared to 14 this winter... For updated ECAC standings and playoff matchups, go to ecachockeyleague.com.