Box Score

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Rensselaer freshman Patrick Cullen (Washington, DC/Indiana Ice) scored twice but it was not enough as the Yale Bulldogs tallied the game's final six goals on their way to a 7-3 win over the Engineers in an ECAC Hockey contest at Ingalls Rink.

Yale's Mark Arcobello and Kevin Peel had two goals each and Broc Little had a goal and two assists as the Bulldogs (7-2, 4-1 ECAC), who outshot the Engineers (2-11-1, 1-5) 41 to 27, won for the third straight time and the fifth in the last six games.

Senior goalie Alec Richards earned the win in net with 24 saves. He did not allow an RPI goal after giving up a third tally late in the first period and had 13 saves in the final frame. Mathias Lange (Klagenfurt, Austria/New York Apple Core) finished with 28 stops through 43 minutes of action. Both goalies gave up a pair of power-play goals. 

Things started well for the Blue but quickly turned sour. Peel notched his first collegiate goal with a rising blast from the point while Yale had the last eight ticks on a 5-on-3 advantage in the first period. Charles Brockett won the draw in the right circle and tapped it over to Little, who immediately sent it high to Peel. 

The visitors evened things 64 seconds later with a power play of their own. Senior captain Matt Angers-Goulet (St. Augustin, PQ/Notre Dame Hounds) skated low into the left circle and sent a perfect crossing pass to Cullen, who was low in the right circle. Cullen one-timed the shot into the open side of the net at 14:19 for his team-leading fourth goal of the season.

The Engineers made it two in a row with a bang-bang goal with 3:50 left in the first. Chase Polacek's (Edina, MN/Academy of Holy Angels) shot from the point hit the post and bounced to the right just as Cullen was skating in alone from the right corner. Cullen quickly sent it inside the near post at 16:10 for a 2-1 lead.

Yale could not end the bleeding in the opening frame. RPI jumped all over a late 5-on-4 advantage to make it a two-goal lead at the intermission. Senior Andrei Uryadov (St. Petersburg, Russia/South Kent ) banged home a rebound on the edge of the crease with a low shot that found the five hole with 15.3 seconds left.

“They deserved to be ahead,” said Keith Allain '80, Yale's Malcolm G. Chace Head Coach of Hockey. “We were not as quick as we should have been and they are a strong-skating team. When they have the puck, you better watch out.”

The home team used some momentum from a penalty kill to close the gap to 3-2 at 7:14 of the second. Sean Backman was behind the net with the puck and sent a pass to the low slot that a teammate fanned on. The puck bounced around until Brian O'Neill flicked it past Lange.

The Elis evened things at 3-3 on Peel's second tally. Michael Karwoski tapped a loose puck to Brockett who skated out from behind the net and fed the high slot for Peel. The rookie defenseman waited a second before snapping off a shot that sailed over Lange's left shoulder at 9:30.

Arcobello got in the scoring act at 14:50 to give the Blue its first lead since 14:19 of the first. The junior forward got a rebound off Tom Dignard's shot from the point and quickly sent it into an open near side to make it 4-3.

Arcobello was back at it to pad the lead with Yale on the man-advantage early in the third. His lead pass to the low slot bounced off a defender's skate and hit the net 55 seconds into the period.

Karwoski, playing his third game of the year, made it five straight for the Elis with his first tally of the season on a solo effort. The senior winger took the puck from behind the net, made the wheel route through the left circle and sent a low wrister inside the left post that chased Lange from the net in favor of freshman Allen York (Wetaskiwin, AB/Camrose Kodiaks) a little more than three minutes in.

The Bulldogs' special teams got working again to increase the lead to four goals at 13:25. Killing off a penalty, Little and Denny Kearney combined on a give and go that resulted in a goal. Little stole the puck at mid-ice and fed Kearney over the blueline. Kearney gave it back to Little in the right circle heading toward the net and the sophomore winger snapped off a shot that eluded York's glove.