Box Score | Game Highlights | Post-Game Comments

TROY, N.Y. – Junior netminder Corbin Kaczperski made 30 saves to help the 20th-ranked Yale University men's hockey team to a 3-2 victory over Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), in front of 4,179 at the 42nd Annual Big Red Freakout! on Saturday night. With win, the Bulldogs improve to 10-7-3 overall (8-4-1 ECAC Hockey), while the Engineers drop to 7-17-0 (4-9-0 ECAC Hockey).

Yale opened the scoring, late in the first period, on a one-timer on the doorstep by sophomore Dante Palecco (Whippany, NJ/Green Bay Gamblers). Junior Mitchell Smith (Stouffville, ON/Dubuque Fighting Saints) collected a loose puck behind the net and sent it in front to classmate Will D'Orsi (Sudbury, MA/Lincoln Stars), who redirected it across the face of goal to Palecco for the easy tap-in.

Freshman Ottoville Leppanen (Espoo, Finland/Espoo Blues U20) pulled the Engineers even (1-1) at 5:00 of the second period, when he crashed the left side of net for his third goal of the season. Classmate Ture Linden (Great Falls, VA/Lone Star Brahmas) threw the puck towards the net from the right wing and Leppanen was there to finish it off from close range. Fellow rookie Jakub Lacka (Bratislava, Slavakia/Centra Illinois Flying Aces) picked up the secondary assist on the play.

The Bulldogs took a 2-1 lead at 10:19 of the frame, thanks to junior Robbie DeMontis' (Kleinburg, ON/Muskegon Lumberjacks) sixth goal of the season and third in two nights. Senior Joe Snively (Herndon, VA/Sioux City Musketeers) fired a shot wide from the left that caromed to sophomore Tyler Welsh (Whistler, BC/Victoria Grizzlies) in the right circle. His shot found the right post, before winding up in the path of DeMontis, who slid the puck into an open cage.

Freshman Justin Pearson (Nashua, NH/PAL Jr. Islanders) pushed the visitors' advantage to 3-1 at 12:06 of the third, flipping a shot over the right shoulder of RPI freshman goaltender Owen Savory (Cambridge, ON/St. Catharines Falcons) from just outside the crease. A wrap-around try by Welsh was stopped, but the rebound fell to Pearson, who got just enough of the puck to lift it into the top left corner of the net.

RPI once again drew to within a goal, as junior Chase Zieky (Avon, CT/Salmon Arm Silverbacks) punched home his fourth goal of the season at 15:31. Lacka's initial shot was stopped by Kaczperski, but the Engineers were persistent in going after the rebound and were rewarded, when Zieky poked it home to make it 3-2.

The Engineers lifted Savory for an extra attacker with two minutes to play, but could not find an equalizing tally, despite spending much of the remainder of the game in the Bulldogs end.

Yale finished 0 for 2 on the power play, while the Engineers were 0 for 3, including a five-minute major opportunity, late in the second period. Kaczperski (5-2-2) made 12 saves in the second and 11 in the third to help preserve the victory, while Savory (2-9-0) ended up with 19 at the other end of the ice. The Engineers are now 21-16-5 all-time at the Big Red Freakout!

Rensselaer returns to action on Tuesday, when it takes on No. 16 Union College in the Seventh Annual Mayor's Cup at the Times Union Center in Albany. Yale hosts Brown Univeristy on Saturday (7pm).