The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Yale’s Snively signs two-way deal with Capitals
Yale senior forward Joe Snively idolized the Washington Capitals as a kid in Northern Virginia. His family owned season tickets and often drove to public meet-and-greet sessions with Caps’ players at local community rinks.
But when he saw Alex Ovechkin unexpectedly stroll into the lobby of his dentist’s office one day, Snively, who says he was about 12 at the time, was so excited he nearly jumped out of his seat.
“I was waiting for my annual cleaning and Ovechkin came in,” Snively said. “We had the same dentist. My hockey bag was in the car because I was going to practice afterward, so I ran out to the parking lot to get my gloves.”
Ovechkin autographed the gloves, which immediately became a prized possession. On Monday, Snively fulfilled another childhood dream, signing a two-year entry-level contract with the Capitals.
Snively, 23, was considered one of the top undrafted free agents in college hockey. Several teams scouted him regularly this winter and he’d attended NHL development camps of the Sabres and Rangers the previous two summers.
Signing with Washington was a chance he couldn’t pass up.
“It was the best move and a good opportunity for me,” Snively said. “I love the Capitals. They’re my favorite team and it was special to watch them win the Stanley Cup last spring. I’ve been following them since they wore the old black-and-gold uniforms.”
Snively has been an impact player from the moment he arrived in New Haven. He set up the game-winning goal against Princeton in his Yale debut and had two goals the next night against UMass. A week later, playing at Harvard, he scored both Bulldog goals in a 2-2 tie.
Four years later, he leaves as the program’s ninth-leading scorer with 139 career points. At just 5-foot-9 and 165 pounds, he was always one of smaller players on the ice. Rarely did he run into someone faster or more skilled with the puck.
Though there was some NHL interest last spring, Snively said leaving early was never something he ever considered.
“There were times during my four years at Yale when I felt like I’d been here forever,” Snively said. “Then my senior year seemed to end in a flash. I’m grateful to be a Yale hockey player and could wear the jersey four years. College hockey is a good opportunity to get stronger, especially in the offseason as a smaller guy. We had a special group of guys on and off the ice that will stay connected for a long time.”
The immediate future was still being sorted out Monday afternoon. Washington would like to send him to its AHL affiliate in Hershey, Pennsylvania right away. Snively said he was still determining the logistics of finishing classes at Yale while simultaneously skating in Hershey.
Worst case scenario would likely mean attending the team’s developmental camp over the summer and training camp in the fall.
Making the NHL roster may take time. But given the influx of smaller, skilled players in the league, it may not be too long before he’s skating alongside Ovechkin.
“You grow up watching the Capitals, naturally you dream of playing for them,” Snively said. “My goal is to play in an NHL game. There’s still a lot of work to do for that.”
Q-PAC STREAK ENDS
Quinnipiac’s stunning ECAC Hockey quarterfinal loss to eighth-seeded Brown ended an impressive streak of 13 straight seasons winning at least one playoff series. It not only dates back to the Bobcats inaugural season in the ECAC, but was the longest such streak in the history of the 58-year old league.
Fact is, it was the first time since Quinnipiac elevated to Division I 21 years ago that it failed to advance in the conference playoffs. The old MAAC and Atlantic Hockey were single-elimination as opposed to bestof-3 series, but a remarkable feat nonetheless.
BRACKETOLOGY
By this time next week the field of 16 will have been announced, so consider this the final edition of bracketology. Good thing. This week gave us fits.
As the PairWise sits today, three ECAC teams would be No. 3 seeds. Since the committee deems intraleague matchups in the first round most unfair, Arizona State is Quinnipiac’s only acceptable opponent. So the Sun Devils and Harvard, originally placed in geographically convenient locations, were flipped. At least they’ll get good frequent-flier mileage.
We made lots of other moves to help attendance, shuffling two seeds Denver, Ohio State and Northeastern to make travel easier for them. Penn State is the host in Allentown and by rule must be placed there, which allows us to send Providence to play in Providence (even though Brown is the host institution) and pushing Bowling Green to the Manchester regional.
Confused? Then just check out the brackets.
Providence regional: 4. Minnesota-Duluth vs. 14. Providence; 5. Quinnipiac vs. 10. Arizona State.
Manchester regional: 2. UMass vs. 13. Bowling Green; 8. Northeastern vs. 9. Clarkson.
Allentown regional: 3. Minnesota State vs. 13. Penn State; 7. Ohio State vs. 11. Cornell.
Fargo regional: 1. St. Cloud State vs. 16. AIC; 6. Denver vs. 12. Harvard.
ALL-ECAC PICKS
Yale’s Snively, along with Quinnipiac goaltender Andrew Shortridge and defenseman Chase Priskie were named first-team all-ECAC selections. Quinnipiac forward Odeen Tufton was named to the second team.
Other first-team picks were Harvard defenseman Adam Fox, Clarkson forward Nico Sturm, Cornell defenseman Morgan Barron and Princeton forward Ryan Kuffner.
Quinnipiac defenseman Peter Diliberatore and forward Wyatt Bongiovanni were named to the ECAC allrookie team.