On the fly
Friday, January 21
Clarkson 2 at Yale 5
Clarkson tested Yale all night, but the Bulldogs broke through with three third-period goals to vanquish the Knights. Freshman Kenny Agostino, junior Brian O’Neill, and seniors Denny Kearney and Chris Cahill (twice) scored for the Elis, who fought through 1-1 and 2-2 ties to get back on the winning track. Senior Ryan Rondeau stopped 21 of 23 shots, besting visiting junior Paul Karpowich (28 stops). Juniors Nick Tremblay and Julien Cayer scored for ‘Tech, which dropped consecutive ECAC games for the second time this season.
Cornell 1 at Colgate 1 (ot)
Sophomore defenseman Jeremy Price scored with only 1:35 remaining to draw Colgate even with the visiting Big Red, ending a team-record nine-game losing skid. The teams combined for 0/5 on the power play, as Raiders freshman Eric Mihalik (18 saves) and Big Red junior Mike Garman (24 saves) took charge. Junior Locke Jillson scored Cornell’s lone goal.
Dartmouth 4 at Union 1
Sophomore Mike Keenan and senior Scott Fleming each scored power-play goals in the game’s first eight minutes to boost the Big Green to a 2-0 lead, and senior Rob Smith’s score two minutes later put Dartmouth in the driver’s seat en route to a 4-1 win. Dartmouth kept Union’s vaunted power play off the board in five advantages, and Dutchmen sophomore Kyle Bodie accounted for Union’s only tally of the night. Sophomore Keith Kinkaid made 29 saves for Union, while junior James Mello countered with 39 in an outstanding performance for the Ivy. Fleming added an empty-net goal with 1:25 to play to give Union its first home loss of the season (10-1-1).
Harvard 2 at Rensselaer 3
The Crimson failed to find the equalizer on either of two late power plays, as RPI escaped with a win despite a single power play (0/1), eight penalty kills (7/8 killed) and 38 shots surrendered. Junior Allen York stood his ground with 36 saves for the Engineers, bolstered by a goal from junior Patrick Cullen and two by senior Chase Polacek. Harvard senior Kyle Richter (13 saves) was supported by the first goals of the season from seniors Michael Del Mauro and Pier-Olivier Michaud, but it wasn’t enough for the frustrated Crimson.
St. Lawrence 1 at Brown 2
Freshman Garnet Hathaway’s fourth goal of the year in the game’s 42nd minute was all junior Mike Clemente (25 saves) needed to boost Brown to its second home win of the year. Junior Jack Maclellan scored his 13th of the year on a first-period penalty shot, after beating freshman d-man Justin Baker, forcing the rookie into a trip. Rookie Matt Weninger stopped 27 of 29, but one goal by sophomore George Hughes wasn’t enough as each team went 0/5 on the power play.
Saturday, January 22
Clarkson 3 at Brown 1
Freshman Matt Wahl scored a power-play goal in the game’s 26th minute, but Clarkson replied with three straight strikes to down Brown. Frosh Jarrett Burton and juniors Mark Borowiecki and Nick Tremblay did the damage for the Golden Knights, who improved to 6-4-1 in league play. Karpowich (30 saves) and Clemente (34 saves, 36 shots) were each stellar in net.
Dartmouth 1 at Rensselaer 5
The Engineers earned a four-point weekend by going 2/6 on the power play, blanking the Big Green on its own five advantages, and holding Dartmouth to 19 shots on goal. Freshman Brock Higgs, sophomore Marty O’Grady, junior Alex Angers-Goulet, and seniors Polacek and Joel Malchuk scored for the ‘Tute, which has rolled off three straight W’s and four of five (4-1-0). York (18 saves) defeated the tandem of Mello (21 saves) and junior Jody O’Neill (five saves), as Dartmouth got its only goal off the blade of freshman Eric Robinson. The loss snapped a four-game winning streak for the Big Green.
Colgate 2 at Cornell 5
Cornell’s special teams ruled the day against Colgate on Saturday, as the Big Red scored power-play (1/6) and shorthanded goals, and smothered the ‘Gate power play (0/8) to take three of four points from its travel partner. Senior Tyler Roeszler scored a hat trick in the win, sophomore Erik Axell notched his first NCAA goal, and junior Sean Collins chipped in as well to win rookie Andy Iles (20 saves) his fourth game of the season. Mihalik stopped 18 of 22, and junior Austin Smith scored each of the Raiders’ goals in the loss. Colgate fell to 0-10-1 in its last 11 games, and 1-17-2 in its last 20.
Harvard 1 at Union 2
Union rookie Mat Bodie broke a 1-1 stalemate with 2:17 remaining to lift Union past Harvard. Crimson senior Michael Biega’s late-first-period power-play goal stood as the only score of the game until nearly midway through the third period, when Union sophomore Jeremy Welsh tied it; Kinkaid made 25 saves in the victory, while Harvard senior Ryan Carroll (40 saves) did all he could as Harvard lost its seventh straight… for the second time this year.
St. Lawrence 1 at Yale 4
The Bulldogs blanked the SLU power play (0/4) and scored on one of their seven advantages, as Rondeau (28 saves) won for the 16th time in 17 games (16-1-0). Agostino scored twice for the Blue, O’Neill potted an empty-netter, and senior blue-liner Mike Matczak tallied the game-winner, while soph Kyle Flanagan’s eighth of the year was all she wrote for the Saints. Weninger saved 32, but got little help in SLU’s lowest-scoring weekend since its mid-October road sweep at the hands of Ferris State.
In retrospect…
Unlike last week, this week’s matchup won’t come down to the final game: I win; I win at last!
Prediction precision: Me: 8-1-1 this week, 99-47-16 (.660) overall. So far, this is my best season yet, accuracy-wise.
Benjamin Davis: 5-4-1
Guest guessers: 75-49-13 (.595)
Head to head: Sullivan 7, Guests 4*, 1 tie.
I tend to sprinkle brief, not-quite-blog-worthy updates and facts on my Twitter feed throughout the week, so you should check it out.
