For the second straight night, Yale goaltender Josh Gartner put forward an outstanding effort. Saturday, the Bulldogs were able to enjoy the fruits of his labors.<\/p>\n
Gartner — the son of NHL great Mike Gartner — made 44 saves to lead the Bulldogs to a much-needed 5-1 victory over Bowling Green in the consolation game of the Dodge Holiday Classic.<\/p>\n
“I know Bowling Green’s been struggling a little bit,” said Yale coach Tim Taylor, “but it’s important for us to measure ourselves against other conferences. The victory was the Bulldogs’ first in three games outside the ECAC.<\/p>\n
The rookie’s performance came one night after an impressive debut in relief, in which he stopped 17 shots while allowing just one goal.<\/p>\n
“My first college [start] is a big thing,” said Gartner, who was informed he would be in net two hours before game time. “I just wanted to give the team a chance to win.”<\/p>\n
Yale’s top two lines scored its first four goals and totaled eight points in the contest, which saw Bowling Green outshoot the Bulldogs 45-28.<\/p>\n
“I thought we won this game in a strange way,” said Taylor, who earned his 300th career victory as a collegiate coach, all with Yale. “It was a strange two-game set for us.”<\/p>\n
There weren’t many in attendance for the third-place game, and even fewer arrived in time to see Yale (8-5-0, 7-3-0 ECAC) take a two-goal advantage.<\/p>\n
Off a two-on-one break, Vin Hellemeyer put back the rebound of Nick Deschenes’ shot to give the Bulldogs the lead at 3:44 of the first period. Thirteen seconds later, Ryan Steeves buried Christian Jensen’s pass from behind the net past Tyler Masters to put the Falcons down 2-0.<\/p>\n
Bowling Green (3-12-1, 1-9-1 CCHA), meanwhile, had few quality chances in the early going, getting just three grade-A scoring chances in the first period.<\/p>\n
Yale extended its lead to three at 18:46, with leading scorer Evan Wax tallying his 11th goal of the season off assists from Deschenes and Hellemeyer.<\/p>\n
The Falcons were stronger in the second period, outshooting Yale 17-10, peppering the net from close range and forcing Gartner to make several quality stops.<\/p>\n
Those efforts paid off as Bowling Green finally got on the board at 14:50. Gartner blocked down captain D’Arcy McConvey’s shot from the slot, but Steve Brudzewski cleaned up the loose puck to make it 3-1.<\/p>\n
A relatively clean and quick game got a little nastier in the third, with Bowling Green’s Roger Leonard picking up a game misconduct amidst some harder and later hits by both sides.<\/p>\n
But despite continued BGSU pressure and a mounting Falcon shot count, Yale put the game away midway through the third with two more goals.<\/p>\n
A dead-on outlet pass by Greg Boucher found Steeves at the blue line, and the Rockland, Ont., native beat Masters one-on-one with a twisting wrist shot for his second goal of the game and ninth of the year.<\/p>\n
The Bulldogs’ Jeff Hristovski added the fifth goal, taking a pass from Mike Klema and wristing it high glove-side from between the circles at 13:28 to produce the 5-1 final.<\/p>\n
Gartner’s weekend may have altered Yale’s goaltending plans for the rest of the season.<\/p>\n
“I think Josh has clearly jumped into the mix, where he wasn’t there before,” said Taylor. “He’s certainly earned the right to play — whether that will be against New Hampshire [Thursday], I don’t know.”<\/p>\n
“I came in with no expectations,” said Gartner. “Obviously we graduated our starting goaltender last year, so I just wanted to work hard and wait for an opportunity.”<\/p>\n
Yale hosts UNH in a nonconference tilt Thursday, while Bowling Green returns to CCHA action by entertaining Alaska-Fairbanks Friday and Saturday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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