Yale Athletics

On Saturday night, the Yale men’s ice hockey team (2–8–0, 2–5–0 ECAC) suited up against the Long Island University Sharks (6–10–1, 0–0–0) at Ingalls Rink in the first matchup between the two schools in program history. Ultimately, after a tight back-and-forth game, the Bulldogs fell 3–1 after giving up an empty net goal late in the third period. 

Freshman Jack Stark ’27 got the nod in net and played tremendously all night. Head Coach Keith Allain said he could not have asked for a better performance in net from the young goalie.

In the first period, Long Island University, a team with several graduate student transfers, showed their physicality and experience. They were able to stifle much of the Elis transition offense with active sticks and physical play. Yale was also up to the task defensively, limiting LIU’s fast break opportunities.

It was clear right from the jump that the Bulldogs had good energy and that the team was determined to bounce back after a tough couple of games in Colorado, where they dropped two games to a top-ranked Denver University squad. 

Junior Will Dineen ’25 got off to a particularly impressive start in his season debut. He centered freshman David Andreychuk ’27 and senior Ian Carpentier ’24. This line proved to be Yale’s best group in the entire game. 

In a scoreless first period, Yale registered four shots on goal compared to LIU’s nine.

In the second period, Yale’s first line of Nik Allain ’24, David Chen ’26 and Briggs Gammill ’25 also found their stride and put together a string of good shifts. However, LIU was able to pot the first goal of the night after a fortuitous bounce. Sophomore forward Isaiah Fox rimmed the puck into Yale’s offensive zone, and it careened off of the end boards right in front of the Blue and White net. With Stark out of the crease, senior Shark Noah Kane was able to easily tap the bouncing puck in. 

Yet, as they have done so many times this season, Yale bounced right back. Just 25 seconds after LIU’s tally, Carpentier flew past an LIU defenseman on a transition play and fed a beautiful saucer pass to a streaking Andreychuk for a back-door goal. 

It was Andreychuk’s first collegiate goal, and it was certainly well deserved. He has been playing with confidence and poise since his debut in the first game of this year’s season against Brown. 

The second period was also filled with back-and-forth play between the two evenly matched teams. With two minutes left in the second period, Stark made the save of the game after darting across the crease to make a sprawling save to deny Kane. 

In the third period, the Bulldogs were able to carry the pace of play, and LIU’s goaltender had to bail his team out on a few separate occasions. Nevertheless, with a little under 12 minutes remaining in the third period, LIU took a 2–1 lead. A point shot by Peter Muzyka led to a rebound that popped right out for Zachary Nazzarett. The undersized LIU forward showed outstanding patience as he danced around Stark and put it behind him.

In the remaining half of the third period, the Bulldogs generated some good offensive opportunities but failed to capitalize. The Sharks registered a third goal with just over a minute remaining after the Bulldogs pulled Stark in a last-ditch effort to even up the score.

For LIU, this 3–1 victory not only capped off a three-game week on a high note, but it also came during their 100th game in program history. While the Bulldogs failed to pull out the result they wanted, their overall performance was positive, and they will need to carry that into the rest of this month’s games.

The Blue and White will be back in action this weekend with two home games at The Whale. They play Merrimack College (6–8–1, 2–6–1 Hockey East) on Friday night at 7:00 p.m. and LIU in a rematch on Sunday at 6:00 p.m.