Friday, December 30, 2011
Yale Beats Red Stars, 6-4
Via yalebulldogs.com
The No. 19 Yale men’s hockey team dusted off the rust from a 22-day break between games to register a 6-4 exhibition victory over the Russian Red Stars before 3,319 at Ingalls Rink.
Kenny Agostino scored twice while Brian O’Neill had three assists and Andrew Miller handed out a pair in the Bulldogs’ second straight win over the all-star team from the Russian professional league known as the MHL.
Yale, which used a different goalie each period, outshot the Red Stars 40-34 and never trailed. Both squads scored a pair of power-play goals.
“It (the game) was very encouraging,” Yale coach Keith Allain said. “We created some offense and the game had tempo to it. We also had some physical play while hanging on to win a hockey game. It was a real good night for us. We approached it like we wanted to win a game.”
The Bulldogs waited an extra hour to get on the ice after bus troubles for the Red Stars delayed the start, but didn’t wait long to find the net. Yale scored the game’s first three goals, two off the stick of Agostino.
Yale’s sophomore winger, coming off last week’s tryout with the U.S. Junior National Team, crashed the net on both tallies. The first came just 1:47 in with a pretty feed from Miller with the Elis up a man. Agostino set up the advantage by getting tripped near mid ice. Miller skated around the defense and then sent the puck to the low slot for a one-timer into an open side of the net.
A bench minor led to Agostino’s second at 9:29. Russian Eugeny Ivannikov stopped shots by O’Neill and then Miller, but the goalie couldn’t control the rebounds. Agostino was standing on the goal line extended and had a relatively easy put-back.
“We came out flying tonight. I had good legs tonight. Andrew (Miller) gave me a good pass on the first one, and O’Neill (Brian) had a great shot that I was able to be in the right spot to put it in for the second,” said Agostino, who was a little surprised that he didn’t make the U.S. roster but said he would learn from the experience.
Freshman defenseman Matt Killian used an odd-man rush to increase the lead to three. He came in on the right side and held through the circle. He was trying to connect with a teammate when his pass bounced off a defender’s skate and into the back of the net.
Titov Alexander took advantage of a 4-on-3 with the first period winding down to get the visitors on the board with a snap shot from the top of the right circle. Bulldog netminder Jeff Malcolm, who stopped eight of nine shots in his 20-minute stint, saw the long shot bounce off the post and go in with 7.9 seconds left.
The Blue pushed the lead to three again in the second when Nick Jaskowiak’s shot from the top of the left circle zipped past Ivannikov. However, the triple cushion didn’t last very long. The Red Stars cashed in a power play late in the second to cut the margin in half. Gareev Artem slipped through the Yale defense and tucked a shot stick side on Connor Wilson, who was making his collegiate debut. The rookie had 11 saves in the middle period including a few top-notch stops.
The margin became one when Ilya Zelenko blasted a low shot from point that went glove side on Nick Maricic (11 saves), Yale’s third goalie of the night, early in third to make it 4-3.
Once again the home team responded, this time with two straight tallies to put the contest away. Jesse Root redirected a pass from O’Neill that found the net at 9:29 to give the Elis a two-goal lead before Charles Brockett deposited a rebound off of Colin Dueck’s shot from the point with 3:10 left.
The Red Stars, coming off a 6-1 win at the University of Vermont, converted two of five advantages but spent too much time in their own penalty box to avoid an early deficit that spelled their demise. Their next stop is a Friday night game at Northern Michigan.