Trio leads Yale's bid for home playoff berth

When head coach Tim Taylor blows his whistle to end the nightly practice at Ingalls Rink, most of his players file off the ice towards the locker room to get ready for their trek back to central campus. But three Bulldogs--the forward line of Jeff Hamilton, SM '00, Jeff Brow, SM '00, and Jay Quenville, SY '00--usually lag behind. "After practice," Brow said, "we try to stay on the ice and just throw the puck around a little bit. A lot of times, there's not even a goalie out there. The three of us just work on passing it around. I think that's helped each of us get to know where the other two are going to be. A lot of times, we'll know where the other person is without even looking."

Such skillful teamwork has turned the threesome into Yale's top scoring line and turned them, collectively, into one of the most dangerous offensive weapons in the ECAC. "Once we get going," Brow said, "we're pretty hard to stop." The line has scored in 17 of 23 contests this season, accounting for 34 of the Bulldogs' 67 goals on the year.

Though they work well together, the three players vary greatly in size and style. An All-American candidate with superb skating ability and a wicked slapshot, Hamilton leads the league with 17 goals and 37 points. But his 5'10", 175-pound frame is dwarfed by that of linemate Brow, whose 6'2", 205-pound size is one of his best assets. "He's a big guy with unbelievable skills and unbelievable potential," captain Keith McCullough, BR'99, said. "He's got the stuff of a pro." Currently, Brow is 14th in the conference in scoring, with 11 goals and six assists. Quenville, who joined the first line this season following the departure of Matt Cumming, JE '98, has netted six goals and 14 assists. "Quenny is amazing in front of the net," Brow said. "Some of the stuff he does with the puck is incredible."

Mostly what this line does with the puck is put it in the opponent's net. "There aren't too many games in which the Hamilton line has been shut out," Taylor said. "They work very well together. We need them to produce in order to be successful." When the line is neutralized, as it was in a 3-2 loss to Harvard on Fri., Feb. 12, the Elis usually fall. However, when the trio is firing on all cylinders, as it was in the 4-3 victory over Brown on Sat., Feb. 13, the Blue is tough to beat.

"That line was very ineffective against Harvard," Taylor admitted. "But the next night, they got a goal on their very first shift and all of a sudden, a line that had been shut out the night before was helping us to a 3-1 lead at the end of the first period on the road."

As a result of the win at Brown, the Bulldogs moved into sole possession of fifth place in the league and, with six games remaining in the regular season, are currently in position to host a first-round ECAC playoff series. But remaining in such an enviable spot in the standings may prove difficult. After two straight weeks on the road, the Bulldogs finally return home to Ingalls Rink to battle the league's top two teams: Clarkson, on Fri., Feb. 19, and St. Lawrence, on Sat., Feb. 20.

Ranked tenth in the country by U.S. College Hockey Online, Clark-son (16-9-1, 13-3-0) enters Friday's contest riding the nation's longest winning streak with nine straight victories. The Golden Knights are led by sophomore forward Erik Cole (14-10-24) and two of the league's best two-way blueliners, sophomore Willie Mitchell and junior Philippe Roy.

The Saints (17-9-2, 12-2-2), who are ranked 11th in this week's national poll, have gone 5-0-1 in their last six games. They boast three of the league's top scorers in Bob Prier '99 (12-21-33), Erik Anderson '01 (8-21-29) and Jason Poapst '99 (10-18-28) and one of the conference's best netminders in Eric Heffler '99, who has won goaltender of the week honors six times this season and owns a stellar .931 save percentage.

"This will probably be the most difficult and challenging weekend for us all season," Taylor said. "These two teams are excellent. Everyone who comes out to the games this weekend will see two real, Division I hockey outfits in Clarkson and St. Lawrence."

But the Bulldogs remain confident. "We're very capable of beating them," McCullough said. "These are two full-scholarship teams, and so they are loaded with talent. We've been working on picking up the pace. We will have to skate quicker, pass crisper, and forecheck more aggressively."

The Bulldogs will also have to hope that their top-scoring line is its usual self.

Photo of Jeff Brow, SM '00, by Julia Tiernan.

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