Young but talented

Bulldogs have holes to patch ahead of first exhibition

NEW HAVEN — Prior to last winter, the only time Keith Allain coached a Yale hockey team that finished with a losing record was his first season, a full decade earlier.

That didn’t sit well with Allain, his coaching staff or the players in the offseason.

“We were really disappointed,” Allain said. “13-15-5. Those numbers just ring in my head.”

A program accustomed to winning — Yale averaged 20.5 wins over the previous eight seasons, including two ECAC Hockey regular season titles, two league tournament titles and the 2013 national championship — was suddenly a middleof-the-pack team.

Still, it was hardly a lost season.

The Bulldogs struggled to adjust to life without four cornerstone defensemen, including first-team All-American Rob O’Gara, and Alex Lyon, arguably the best goaltender in the country.

By March, Yale was giving the opposition fits. It swept Dartmouth in the opening round of the league playoffs and in the quarterfinals, with top forwards Frankie DiChiara and Ryan Hitchcock out with injury, went to toe-totoe with Harvard — an eventual Frozen Four team before losing.

“By the end of the year we were playing our best hockey,” Allain said. “I really liked the way we were playing.”

There’ll be holes to patch up once again for Yale, which gets the new season started Friday with an exhibition against Western Ontario (7 p.m., Ingalls Rink.)

John Hayden, an influ-

ential captain and Yale’s best goal-scorer, is now with the Chicago Blackhawks. Forwards DiChiara, like Hayden a big, physical forward, has graduated. So has Mike Doherty, who found his scoring touch in the second half last season.

The Bulldogs roster consists of 16 underclassmen and only four seniors.

“I thought of us as a young team last year,” Allain said. “But we’re no older this year.”

Junior forward Joe Snively had 14 goals and 25 assists last season, and is one of the league’s top playmakers. Hitchcock, back from a broken leg, and junior Ted Hart are also proven scorers with speed and vision.

Freshmen Dante Palecco, Kevin O’Neil, Brett Jewell and Tyler Welsh join the mix. Palecco scored 20 goals for Green Bay of the USHL last season. O’Neil was a top scorer at Albany Academy before moving to the USHL last year. Welsh and Jewell were among their team’s top scorers in British Columbia.

More scoring depth is needed, and the key to Yale’s success could lie in the development of the nine-man sophomore class.

Luke Stevens, Robbie DeMontis and identical twins Mitchell and Evan Smith saw regular ice time as freshmen, and are expected to be improved this winter. The same goes for defensemen Billy Sweezey and Matt Foley, both of whom started every game last season.

Yale’s defensive core is experienced. Adam Larkin, Charlie Curti and Anthony Walsh are upperclassmen who, like Sweezey and Foley, started since their freshmen seasons.

Phil Kemp, a freshman from Greenwich, is expected to make an immediate impact. He was a seventhround pick of Edmonton in the June NHL Entry Draft and brings extensive international experience. Brian Matthews will also challenge for playing time right away.

Sam Tucker, a junior from Wilton, won the starting goaltender’s job midway through last season and begins atop the depth chart this fall. He’ll share equal time in net with Corbin Kaczperski and freshman Nicholas McNab Friday.

“This is a meritocracy,” Allain said. “So they’ll have a chance to earn playing time.”

One area Yale made a point of emphasis to improve was training. Allain believed the program needed to do a better job in the weight room. He said the team began a new program two weeks after last season ended, and as a group has “taken fitness to another level,” which he believes will pay immediate dividends.

While the rest of the country began practicing two weeks ago, Yale, bound by Ivy League rules, had its first practice last Friday. They’ll play Friday and then have another full week of practice before a scrimmage with Brown and Princeton next weekend. The season opens in two weeks with a home-andaway series against Brown.

“It’s a nice setup in terms of preparation,” Allain said. “This is a time to build ourselves up. We’ll be ready when they drop the puck.”

Catherine Avalone / Yale sophomore left wing Joe Snively makes an attempt for a third goal in the third period as RPI freshman defenseman Will Reilly defends in a 7-3 win for the Bulldogs, Friday, December 9, 2016, at Ingalls Rink in New Haven.

Peter Hvizdak / New Haven Register Yale University hockey coach Keith Allain says that he was really disappointed with Yale’s 13-15-5 record from last season.