Dartmouth Men's Hockey Drops Game to Yale

Friday, January 9

Hanover, N.H.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

YALE

Jody O'Neill Featured in the New England Hockey Journal

1/9/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey

By: Dartmouth

HANOVER, N.H. - Rookie goalie Jody O'Neill (Nepean, Ont.) notched a career-high 53 saves but it was not enough as Yale took a very tight, 2-1 ECAC and Ivy victory over the Dartmouth men's hockey team on Friday night in Thompson Arena.

The Bulldogs used goals in the first and second period to improve to 10-4 overall, 5-2 in the league. Andrew Owsiak (Moose Jaw, Sask.) potted the lone goal for the Big Green who falls to 9-6 overall, 6-4 in the ECAC.

Doug Jones (Marietta, Ga.) had the first chance to get the home team on the board midway through the first period but netminder Alec Richards snagged the puck out of mid-air to prevent the score.

The Bulldogs recorded the first goal of the game with less than two minutes to play in the stanza. A scrum in front of the net had O'Neill falling on the puck, appearing to stop play but after standing up Broc Little was able to shove the puck behind O'Neill for the score.

Yale potted another one on a wraparound goal by Brian O'Neill at 12:13 as the Bulldogs took a 2-0 lead.

Owsiak cut into the lead at 13:47 off a beautiful pass by Jones. Jones set up the play by passing down to Evan Stephens (Bessemer, Mich.) who had his back to the net. He wrapped the puck around to Owsiak who was waiting to the right of the cage as the sophomore potted his third goal in two games.

Rob Pritchard (Burnaby, B.C.) and Jones early in the third almost had the score tied on a breakaway but Richards made the save.

The Big Green penalty killers had to make some great plays midway through the final stanza as two penalties gave the Bulldogs a 5-on-3 opportunity. Immediately after killing off both power plays, Matt Reber (Edina, Minn.) had a chance with a semi-open net but the Yale defense was up to the challenge.

WIth under 3:00 to play, Owsiak took a shot that rebounded out to Jones but Richards again was able to stop the puck. Dartmouth had its own 5-on-3 chance late in the game but the Bulldogs stopped every chance.

O'Neill's (9-5) 53 saves mark the fifth time this season the freshman netminder has made more than 40 saves in a game. Richards (7-1) finished with 29 saves.

Dartmouth is back in action tomorrow night with a 7:00 pm game against Brown.