The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Bulldogs finish off weekend sweep of Brown
NEW HAVEN >> It wasn’t the most aesthetically pleasing weekend for the Yale men’s hockey team, but four points is four points. And sometimes the ugly wins, when a team isn’t at its best and yet still finds a way to pull a game out, are the ones that help most in the long run.
Brown once again posed problems with its size, speed and physicality on Saturday night at Ingalls Rink.
Yale, like it did a night earlier in Providence, overcame choppy play to win the game in the third period, scoring three unanswered goals in a 4-1 ECAC Hockey victory before a sellout crowd of 3,500. Freshman Evan Smith scored twice in the period while sophomore goaltender Sam Tucker made 24 saves.
“It took us a while to find some ice out there,” Yale coach Keith Allain said. “Once we did, we gradually took more control of the game.”
The sweep represents the first four-point weekend of the season for Yale (10-7-4, 6-5-3), which jumped past Clarkson into sixth place in the league standings. The Bulldogs have lost only two of nine games since returning from the holiday break, allowing two goals or fewer six times.
Learning to pull out games like these is an acquired skill, especially for a team that uses only seven upperclassmen.
“I think with younger teams it takes time,” Allain said. “And I think it’s like anything else. When you do it, now you have a memory; an experience to look back on and hopefully you build on those experiences. Until you do it, it’s just talk.”
Tucker, a Wilton resident, is the first goaltender from Connecticut to start and win a game for Yale since Guilford’s Trevor Hanger won six games during the 1999-2000 season. Brown is actually Tucker’s second win — he beat UConn at the XL Center on Jan. 7 — but Patrick Spano started six successive games leading into Saturday.
Brown got to Tucker early, scoring its second short-handed goal against the Bulldogs in two nights. Charlie Corcoran stole a puck at the Yale blue line and converted a wrist shot from 15 feet with 2:15 left in the first period.
Tucker, a 6-foot-2 Choate product, was otherwise flawless. He’s started only five of 21 games, an irregular game routine that offers some benefits.
“You’re rested and have a lot of time to work on your game in practice,” Tucker said. “I find that really helps. I’m trying to get better every week and waiting for the opportunity and making the most of it.”
Yale also got a lift from sophomore defenseman Anthony Walsh, who missed the previous 15 games after a concussion suffered at Cornell on Nov. 12. He was cleared to resume practicing two weeks ago, and immediately strengthens the Bulldogs’ defensive core.
“Walsh was fantastic,” Allain said. “I think he was immediately our best defenseman out there. He was competitive, smart and provided good energy from the bench. He was very, very good.”
Yale, which dug itself out of a 3-1 deficit in Friday’s 4-3 victory, wasted little time evening the score after the Bears’ shorthander. Still on the power-play, senior Frankie DiChiara missed wide on a shot from 20 feet out, but the puck bounded around the boards to Ted Hart. He took a couple of strides toward the net and buried a wrister just 40 seconds after Brown’s goal.
The game remained tied at 1-1 into the third period. Smith, once again skating on a line with his twin brother, Mitchell, buried a long slap shot that came via defenseman Billy Sweezey’s assist, just 90 seconds into the period.
DiChiara padded the lead with 4:51 remaining after heavy Yale pressure on Brown goalie Gavin Nieto. Joe Snively, from behind the Bears’ cage, found DiChiara on the right circle for the goal.
Evan Smith’s empty-net goal with 1:20 to go traveled the length of the ice after he shoveled the puck backhanded from a few steps in front of Yale’s net.
“Everyone loved that, it was our first sweep of the year in a two-game weekend,” Evan Smith said. “Everyone’s pretty fired up. It means a lot going forward. Hopefully we can continue that. Everyone’s a little more comfortable from the back end all the way to the forwards. We’re getting our systems down better, executing our breakout and forecheck and coming together as a team. It’s showing on the ice now.”