MuscoSportsPhotos.com

The Yale men’s ice hockey team (3–12–4, 2–10–2 ECAC) did battle this weekend at the Winter Wonderland Weekend at Ingalls Rink in their first Ivy competition of 2023.

The Elis dropped two games, fighting No. 9 Harvard University (13–5–1, 11–3–0 ECAC) into overtime and then falling to Dartmouth College (4–15–1, 3–9–1 ECAC) the next day.

“The atmosphere at Ingalls was electric on Friday and it certainly gave our guys energy,” head coach Keith Allain ’80 said. “We went toe to toe with one of the top teams in the country in a game that could have easily gone either way.”

The Blue and White were the first to put away the puck in their Friday game against the Crimson. Forward Ian Carpentier ’24 collected the puck when entering the offensive zone and passed it to Teddy Wooding ’24, who shot it past Crimson goalkeeper Mitchell Gibson.

Harvard then responded 44 seconds into the second period. Crimson forward Joe Miller stole the puck off a Yale stick at the blue line and shot to even the score. Less than two minutes later, defenseman Mason Langenbrunner launched the puck through traffic to secure Harvard’s second goal of the night. 

“I think we did a good job of managing the game on Friday against Harvard,” defenseman Kieran O’Hearn ’25 said. “We had a hot start but after they scored two quick ones at the start of the second, we [stayed] in the game mentally and ended up tying the game.”

With less than six minutes left in the second period, forward Reilly Connors ’24 gained possession from a Harvard defender and passed to forward Wooding, who then passed to Carpentier, who netted the equalizer. 

In the third frame, forward Cole Donhauser ’23 made a close attempt at goal off a rebound, but Gibson extended his glove to stop the puck and deny Yale of another point. Carpentier shot off a breakaway, which was also denied by Gibson. 

Neither team scored in the remainder of the game, leading to overtime play. With only 19.4 seconds remaining in the competition, Crimson forward Matthew Coronato received and shot a pass from defenseman Henry Thrun to secure the win for Harvard.

Bulldog goalkeeper Luke Pearson continued his strong play from earlier in the month, making a total of 29 saves for Yale over the course of the game. 

“A highlight was Luke Pearson’s play against Harvard,” defenseman Mike Young ’23 said. “He made some terrific saves and gave us a chance in that game.”

Defenseman Ryan Carmichael ‘23 and forwards Wooding and Donhauser led the team with three shots on goal each, followed by forwards Niklas Allain ’24, Kalen Szeto ’26, William Dineen ’25, David Chen ’26 and Carpentier, who each tallied two shots on goal during the contest. 

“For the first game, I would say that our team did well with managing our five-on-five play,” defenseman Ryan Conroy ’24 said. “Our best stints in both games came when we were working together as a unit on both ends of the ice.”

The Blue and White continued their play in Winter Wonderland Weekend against Dartmouth on Saturday night. Pointplay began early in the game, with Dartmouth forward Luke Haymes putting away the puck, assisted by defenseman John Fusco and forward Matt Hubbarde. 

Defensemen Brandon Tabakin ’23, Bayard Hall ’26 and Dylan Herzog ’25 attempted to score on the Big Green, but Dartmouth goalkeeper Cooper Black blocked the puck from the net.

On the power play 7:44 into the first frame, Yale saw a series of offensive shots by Tabakin, Chen, Connor Sullivan, Young and O’Hearn.Dartmouth forward Joey Musa and Hubbarde collected the second and third goals for the Big Green at 8:12 and 11:51, respectively. Both shots were on the Dartmouth power play. The Big Green clinched their fourth and final point with 1:34 left in the third frame, and Yale remained scoreless.

Pearson tallied 16 more saves, bringing his total to 45 saves for the weekend.

The Elis will face UConn (15–7–3, 10–6–2 ECAC), Quinnipiac (18–3–3, 12–2–0 ECAC) and Sacred Heart (12–9–2, 11–4–2 ECAC) this weekend in a battle of Connecticut Collegiate Hockey.

“For practice I think a large focus will be on special teams,” Conroy said. “Being able to solidify our penalty kill and having our power play clicking going into the weekend will be important to set ourselves up to win.”

Quinnipiac is currently ranked No. 1 in ECAC standings.