Fate of Bulldog season rests on 60 minutes

It has been a long and wild season for the Bulldogs, a fight for their hockey lives filled with highs and lows. When the team opened the season with two victories over national powerhouses New Hampshire and Boston College, experts predicted great things. These early forecasts proved premature, however. During the period from late November to early January, the club lost six of seven games. At that point, many wrote the team off, virtually declaring its demise.

JULIA TIERNAN/YH

The players, however, were not as quick to sign their own death notice. On the brink of disaster, they refused to go down quietly, winning four games in a row in January. Although the Bulldogs lost the second of their two games against Notre Dame last weekend, they now stand a much more confident bunch, poised and ready to do battle on ECAC turf. With 10 games remaining, all within their conference, the Bulldogs recognize the importance of every matchup. In order to be at its best for the playoffs, the team must rely more heavily on those players and those strategies that have brought them this far. At the same time, they must fix a few of the problems that have continued to plague them. This, they fully understand, is the challenge of the remainder of the season, the very thing that will decide the team's fate.

On the rebound

Four weeks ago, after the team dropped two games against number-one Michigan State (on Fri., Jan. 5, and Sat., Jan. 6), confidence dropped to new lows. Now, with four victories in its last five games, the team seems a great deal more confident, having bounced back from its mid-season slide. "There are 10 games left," forward Spencer Rodgers, CC '02, explained. "We feel we can win most of those games. We feel we can finish right on top."

JULIA TIERNAN/YH

For a team not long removed from its awful 1-6 run, such confidence might appear misplaced. But in the wide-open ECAC, the eighth-place Bulldogs stand only a few points from the top half of the conference, and only five from first place. Forward Lee Jelenic, TD '01, said, "There is only a small amount of points separating the teams in the conference. There is no reason why we can't be in the top two, three spots in the league." Forward Evan Wax, DC '03, agreed. "Our record isn't really indicative of what our team can do," he said. "We all believe in each other. We have proven we can play. It's just a matter of doing it at the right time."

For star forward and captain Ben Stafford, BR '01, this is a matter of taking it one game at a time. Of the upcoming games, he said, "It'll be a pretty good challenge. But I'm not looking that far ahead." Added forward Jason Noe, CC '02, "We're trying to get to the NCAAs. It comes down to these last few games. We just have to bear down and win them."

Banging around the net

When players look back on the first 19 games, they are not without fond memories. Although much went wrong in the squad's 10-9 start, a few things went right. The star line of Jeff Hamilton, SM '01, Ben Stafford, BR '01, and Nick Deschenes, MC '03, combined with the play of goalie Dan Lombard, SM '02, provided the club with much-needed leadership. More importantly, in a number of games, the entire team showed flashes of greatness and proved it can play dominant hockey.

First, the Hamilton-Stafford-Deschenes line may well be the best in the ECAC. Defender Jeff Dwyer, TC '04, said, "They dictate how the game is going to go." Added Noe, "We definitely rally behind the Hamilton line."

Hamilton, who has 13 goals and 22 assists on the season, leads the team in scoring and the ECAC in points per game (1.84). In his senior season, he now is closing in on the school's all-time leading scoring record. More importantly, he has given the team a leader on and off the ice. Wax explained, "He's a little more vocal than other guys. He's encouraging and not afraid to say something to get you going."

Stafford, on the other hand, has brought a different brand of leadership to the team. "He's done a great job as captain," Wax said. "He's a quiet but forceful leader, with a strong desire to win." Always looking to improve his game, Stafford has not disappointed. "He's one of the best players in the league," Rodgers said, "and he's getting that much better."

Meanwhile, Deschenes, like his linemates, has left an indelible mark on the squad's offense. Third on the team in points with 24, he has proven himself a big and physical presence around the net, a difficult player for opponents to take off the puck. "He's got good hands, and he bangs around the net," forward Luke Earl, JE '02, said. "People forget that he can finish."

Second, in addition to the splendid offensive play of the Hamilton-Stafford-Deschenes line, Lombard has offered the team its last line of defense. "He has been pretty consistent," Jelenic explained. "Some games, we have left him out to dry. But he's shown us he's going to give us a chance to win every game."

Third, weekends like the one three weeks ago, when Yale defeated both Brown and Harvard, constantly remind the Bulldogs of just how good they can be. "Some games," Earl said, "we have played 60 minutes of hockey, and we've shown that we're a team that can do that." Those games, most players agree, have offered them a few bright spots in their up-and-down season.

Checking weaknesses

Of course, those occasions have occurred less often than the squad would like. Special teams and team defense have hurt the team badly for most of the season. "We have to keep improving on special teams and on our overall defensive structure," Earl explained. In large measure, these weaknesses underscore the team's overall inconsistent play.

On special teams, the club ranks 11th in the ECAC on the penalty kill and fifth on the power play. Unfortunately, standing 11th in penalty minutes, the team has spent far too much time on the ice shorthanded. Stafford remarked, "There are a lot of penalties throughout the league, and in college hockey in general. Special teams are crucial."

Combining bad special teams with poor team defense, the team has struggled for long stretches of the season. "Coach Taylor preaches a team-wide defensive effort," Jelenic explained. "It's obvious that we, as a team, weren't playing to our fullest defensively. We weren't back-checking." Added Wax, "We have to work on defensive consistency."

Wax is right: the team has not shown much consistency from game to game—or from period to period, for that matter—all season long. "All the big wins," Dwyer said, "have come when the team has played 60 minutes. When we do that, we're as good as anybody." Unfortunately, the team has not done that much all season. And even when it has in some games, it has not shown the ability—outside of the recent four-game winning streak—to carry that success into successive games.

Last weekend's 4-3 loss to Notre Dame on Sun., Jan. 28, on the heels of an 8-2 victory over the Fighting Irish the day before, seems a perfect example. Deschenes scored a few seconds into the game, giving Yale a 1-0 lead. It would be the last time the club would lead all game. "Consistency isn't there yet," Noe said. "When Nick Deschenes scored two minutes into the game, we though we would cruise to another win. That was the worst thing for us."

The challenge of the next 10

Facing ECAC opponents in each of its next 10 games, the team recognizes the difficult road ahead. The challenge, it feels, is to improve every game, gearing up for a playoff run. "With every game, we want to refine something," Stafford said. "We want to learn a lesson and learn it once. Saturday [Jan. 27], for instance, we learned how to put a team away. We still have to learn how to come from behind in the third [period], or how to never put ourselves into that position. We want to be at our best for the playoffs."

The hard work begins this weekend, with road trips to Clarkson and St. Lawrence. "It's going to be a tough road trip," Earl said. "The last couple years, we have lost both games up there." The team expects two tight, close games. And while it hopes to win both, it may be happy to simply settle for a split.

With renewed confidence, the team refuses to settle. According to Earl, "If we could put everything together, we have a chance to be in the top three in the conference, or to win the whole thing. We just have to keep getting better. It's all a matter of how you're playing once you reach the playoffs." For now, no one knows how good the team will be then. But, over the next few weeks, we may start to receive some answers.

Photos of Dan Lombard, SM '02, and Jason Noe, CC '02, by Julia Tiernan.

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