Bulldogs Open Conference Play

Nov. 5, 2008

Complete Release in PDF Format

NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- The official dropping of the puck on the 2008-09 Yale men's hockey conference season is this Friday night at St. Lawrence. The Bulldogs, who opened the season with a 6-3 win at Brown last Saturday, travel to Clarkson the following night. both 7 p.m. games can be heard live on WYBC (AM-1340) or on wybc.com. Live video streaming of both games can be seen on B2TV.com.

Series History

Yale swept last year's set with St. Lawrence but the Saints have won four of the last six meetings and have a 51-24-7 advantage in a series that began in 1951-52. Clarkson, which had won seven straight against Yale until the Bulldogs won 5-2 at Ingalls last winter, owns a 67-27-4 advantage in a series that began in 1929-30.

BulldogsBite Bears

Sean Backman scored twice and four other teammates found the net as Yale raced past Brown 6-3 at Meehan Auditorium in the season opener for the Bulldogs last Saturday. The Blue, which won for the fifth straight time against its Rhode Island rival, took advantage of its team speed and outshot the Bears 41-28 while scoring on two power plays. Senior goalie Alec Richards had a strong showing with 25 saves to earn the victory. Two of the three pucks that got past him came with Brown on the man-advantage. At the other end, Dan Rosen needed 35 stops to keep the Bears in the contest. Mark Arcobello had a goal and two assists for the Elis while Brian O'Neill chipped in a pair of assists. Other Yale goals came from Kevin Limbert, Nick Jaskowiak and Chris Cahill.

SLU News

The Saints, who have won three straight after falling to Michigan in a pair of close ones, are coming off a 4-1 win at home over New Hampshire. Senior defenseman Zach Miskovic scored two goals and goalie Alex Petizian won his third straight start at Appleton Arena last Sunday night.

Clarkson News

Clarkson (1-1-2) is ranked 15th in the latest USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine and USCHO.com/CBS College Sports national polls. The Knights opened the season with a 6-4 win at Rochester Institute of Technology on October 17. After a 5-4 loss at Niagara the following night, Clarkson began the home portion of its schedule at Cheel Arena by skating to a pair of ties (1-1, 2-2) against top-ranked Colorado College on October 24-25.

Roster Notes

Senior F Patrick Brosnihan and senior goalie Alec Richards are the tallest Elis at 6-foot-4... Brosnihan and junior D Ryan Donald are the heaviest (220) Bulldogs... Senior F and captain Matt Nelson is the oldest (turns 23 in early January) on the squad while freshman D Kevin Peel (19) is the youngest... The Blue has 15 forwards, eight defensemen and three goalies... Yale has seven players from both the USHL and prep schools, five from the BCJHL, two each from the AJHL, EJHL and public schools and one from the U.S. National Program.

First NCAA Hockey Regional in CT

Yale and Fairfield Universities are co-hosting the first-ever NCAA Hockey Regional Tournament in the Nutmeg State on March 27-28 at the Arena at Harbor Yard in Bridgeport. There are four regional events that weekend with the winners headed to Washington, D.C., for the 2009 Frozen Four. Yale hosted the 2004 NCAA Women's Frozen Four at the Dunkin Donuts Center in Providence, R.I., but has never hosted a men's NCAA hockey event.

Opponents in Polls

Six 2008-09 Yale opponents are listed among the top 20 in the latest USCHO.com national poll: Princeton (9), Minnesota State (13), Air Force (14), Clarkson (15), Cornell (17), and Harvard (18).

Schedule Notes

The Bulldogs have 16 home regular-season contests and all but two of them are at 7 p.m. The Jan. 4 Air Force game is 5 p.m. while the March 1 game with Colgate is on Sunday at 4 p.m. Yale has five home games in a row from Dec. 5 through Jan. 4 which is part of an eight of nine stretch at Ingalls.

Out of the League

The Elis have seven non-league games including two against Alabama-Huntsville and single faceoffs against Minnesota State, Air Force, Nebraska-Omaha, Connecticut and Brown.

Backman for Hobey

Junior forward Sean Backman, co-ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Year in 2007 and a third-team all-league pick in 2008, is Yale's Hobey Baker candidate. Backman, who began the season with two goals at Brown, led the Blue with 18 goals and 27 points last winter while earning the Murray Murdoch Award for team MVP the second year in a row. Backman ranked 14th in the NCAA with 0.56 goals per game, which was second best in ECAC Hockey. Yale has not had a Hobey finalist since Chris Higgins in 2003.

Bench Leaders

Keith Allain '80, in his third year as the Malcolm G. Chace Head Coach of Hockey, is 2-2 against St. Lawrence and 1-3 vs. Clarkson. Allain, a two-time Olympic coach, earned his first collegiate playoff wins as a coach or player last season. Joe Marsh, in his 23rd year behind the SLU bench, is a four-time ECAC Hockey Coach of the Year who has taken the Saints to eight NCAA tournaments. Marsh is 418-351-55 overall. Clarkson mentor George Roll is in his sixth season with a 97-81-22 overall mark at Potsdam. This is his 13th year as a collegiate head coach and is 215-155-38.

Coach Allain Says

"We are really looking forward to the challenge of playing these two quality opponents on the road this weekend. The trip to St Lawrence and Clarkson provides a great opportunity to test ourselves in a very challenging and exciting hockey environment. We will have to be on top of our game to be successful."

From Pro Hockey to Med School to Marines

Ben Stafford '01, a former Yale captain, played seven years of professional hockey before heading to medical school in Philadelphia last year. Stafford completed one year of med school and then joined the U.S. Marines. He is now deployed to Iraq. Stafford scored 65 goals and won a Calder Cup with the AHL Philadelphia Phantoms.

Bulldog Bites

Yale was picked seventh in both the ECAC Hockey coaches and media polls... The Bulldogs are 2-1 under Keith Allain in regular-season openers but had lost five of their last six overall... The Elis finished 16-14-4 last winter and were tied for sixth with a 9-9-4 ECAC Hockey mark... The above .500 finish was the first for Yale since 2002-03... The Elis don't play in a holiday tournament this winter, but the 2009-10 squad will be at the Badger Showdown in Madison, Wis., next December.

Bulldogs In Or Near the Show

Chris Higgins '05 enters his fifth season with the Montreal Canadiens and has 226 NHL games under his belt. Higgins has 72 goals, 57 assists and 129 points, including 4-5-9 in 18 playoff games. Jeff Hamilton '01, Yale's career scoring leader, is looking to get back to the NHL after 70 games with the Chicago Blackhawks last winter. He has 29-42-71 in 142 big-league games.

Whale Taking Shape

A $23.5 million renovation of historic David S. Ingalls Rink is in the second of three phases. The project includes the addition of approximately 14,000 square feet of varsity operational space as well as a complete renovation of the current facility. The expanded and enhanced home of Yale Hockey will include new men's and women's varsity locker rooms, training and strength and conditioning rooms, two new press boxes, a lower level hockey heritage area, offices for coaches of both programs, a student-athlete study area, new lights, as well as a sound system and de-humidification unit. The upper level interior will also be decorated with photos displaying the rich history of Yale Hockey.

Elis On The Air

Every home game can be seen and heard live on Yale's All Access (yalebulldogs.com) for free. All home games and select road contests can be heard live on WYBC (AM 1340) and wybc.com. Alex Jenson `09, Michael Dunn '10 and Paul Treadgold '10 provide the call for all broadcasts.

NHL Network

The NHL Network airs a Friday night college hockey package showcasing 19 contests beginning Oct. 31 and March 21. Three leagues (CCHA, WCHA and ECAC Hockey) are part of the package, which consists of games produced by network entities but provided to the NHL Network. ECAC Hockey has three league games and three post-season contests on the network.

Yale On TV

The Elis are on TV at least three times this winter, including two games at Ingalls Rink. Both Quinnipiac games are live TV broadcasts. The game at Ingalls on Jan. 31 is on NESN while the Feb. 20 tilt at TD Banknorth Arena airs live on My9. The last game of the regular season is a stand-alone ESPNU game for Yale and Colgate on Sunday, March 1 at the Whale.

release filed by Steve Conn, Yale Sports Publicity Director