The men's hockey team seems to have Yale's number at Meehan Auditorium. Last season, the Bears shocked the then-No. 1 ranked Bulldogs 3-2 on a last-minute goal at home. This Saturday, the Bears (4-6-1, 3-3-0 ECAC) downed No. 14 Yale (6-4-1, 4-2-0) 6-4, again thanks to some late third-period heroics, this time courtesy of captain Jack Maclellan '12. But the Bulldogs got the better of Brown on their end of the home-and-home matchup Thursday.
"When you play a home-and-home, it's really intense," said assistant captain Bobby Farnham '12, who scored two goals in the win. "It really builds the rivalry."
Brown 3, Yale 5
The Bears traveled to New Haven having dropped three of their last four — a stretch during which the offense only scored one goal. But Bruno came out strong when rookie Kyle Quick '15 registered his first career goal only 43 seconds after the drop of the puck. Later in the period, Maclellan doubled the Bears' lead with a fantastic individual effort.
"I thought our intensity level was there," Farnham said. "After a couple of tough non-league games, we really came back and worked hard and played like the team we should be."
But the Bulldogs evened the score on power-play goals from Brian O'Neill and Antoine Laganiere. The Bears reclaimed a one-goal advantage with just over two minutes remaining in the second period on another first-career goal, this one by Matt Harlow '15 on a redirection in front of net.
"Every freshman has been playing a bigger role," Farnham said. "We're a young team, and we're going to need those guys to step up and do exactly what they did."
In the third period, Yale scored three unanswered goals to post the victory. Two goals in a three-minute span midway through the third period put the Bulldogs in front, and O'Neill's second score of the day with 1:54 remaining sealed the deal.
"I thought we played really well in the first game, but it was just a couple of lapses late in the game that cost us," Farnham said.
Yale 4, Brown 6
Two days later, Bruno again leapt out to a 2-0 lead. The opening score came on a counter-attack with just under three minutes left in the first period. Ryan Jacobson '15 skated the puck into the Yale zone before picking out his classmate Joey de Concilys '15, who one-timed the finish for his first career goal.
Only 40 seconds later, the Bears caught Yale off guard, and a shorthanded, unassisted goal from Farnham made the score 2-0. Farnham collected an errant pass around center ice, then took the puck up the left side and fired a bullet past Yale goaltender Jeff Malcolm.
But as they did in New Haven, Yale overcame the opening two-goal deficit with a pair of tallies early in the second period.
Though the momentum had shifted, the Bears answered right back on a goal from Jacobson less than a minute later. On a hustle play, Matt Lorito '15 won the puck from two Yale defensemen behind the Yale net and found the crashing Jacobson, who slotted the goal home as he fell to the ice just outside the crease.
After Matt Wahl's '14 slapshot from just inside the blue line gave Brown a 4-2 lead, the Bulldogs again crawled out of the two-goal hole. Yale capitalized on the power play to cut the deficit to one, and another goal only four-and-a-half minutes into the third period evened the score.
But unlike Thursday, the Bears closed out the game to take home the two points. Though the finish was not as dramatic as Harry Zolnierczyk's '11 breakaway game-winning goal over Yale with a minute to play last January, Maclellan provided the fireworks with just under three minutes to play.
After a wraparound shot from Jacobson was blocked by Malcolm, Maclellan controlled the puck in the left faceoff circle. He then faked out a defender to put the puck on his forehand side and wristed the game-winner off the far post and in. Farnham put the icing on the cake with an empty-net finish for his second score of the game.
"I thought we played well throughout the whole game," Farnham said. "We outshot them, we outhustled them, and I thought we outworked them. And the hard work finally paid off."
The Bears will have to wait nearly a month until they get the chance to build off the big win, as the season now enters a respite for exam period and the winter holidays. They will return to the ice for a pair of tough non-conference battles with University of New Hampshire Dec. 30 and No. 20 Providence College New Year's Day before resuming ECAC play against Princeton Jan. 6.
"We've got a couple of weeks until we take on UNH, and to come into that with a win, our attitude and everything is just upbeat and positive," Farnham said. "Going in on a win really means a lot."
