When Brown’s Alena Polenska scored on a power play goal 9:37 into the first period, it seemed like yet another bad omen for the Bulldogs.
However, the talk of Yale playing a complete game proved to be more than just talk, and two second- period goals from forward Jamie Haddad ’16 lifted the Elis to a 3-2 victory over Brown at Ingalls Rink.
“I think we came as close to playing a full 60 minutes [tonight] as we have since I arrived,” goaltender Jaimie Leonoff ’15 said.
In the first period, power plays were again Yale’s Achilles heel. The Bulldogs (3—14—1, 2—8—1 ECAC) came into the game second-to-last in the country in penalty killing, allowing goals on 21 of 70 opportunities. Brown (3—12—1, 2—9—0 ECAC) had the nation’s worst power play unit, but the first penalty on Yale proved to be costly when Polenska scored off a deflection.
Then forward Stephanie Mock ’15 had a crucial game-tying goal just 6:06 later.
“It changed the momentum of the game and it played a huge role [in our victory],” Haddad said.
Haddad struck twice in the second period, once just 2:26 into the frame and another at the 9:03 mark when a slap shot from defender Tara Tomimoto ’14 ricocheted off Haddad’s foot.
After Brown’s Laurie Jolin scored on a rebound with 16:03 remaining in the third and final period, the Bulldogs buckled down and prevented the Bears from scoring again.
The 25 shots aggregated by Brown was the fewest Yale has allowed all season in a regular season match.
“We spent a lot of time in the offensive zone. When you control the game like that, you give fewer shots on net,” Leonoff said.
Playing a complete game was one of the biggest team goals for this week, but despite the win, Haddad was not completely satisfied.
“We had maybe 40 minutes where we really executed what we wanted to do and another 20 where we were a little lost. We want to turn that 40 minutes into 60,” Haddad said.
The Bulldogs have a day off today before they travel up to Providence for a rematch with the Bears in an unusual back-to-back scheduling oddity.
“I don’t think we’ll adjust much. Hopefully we’ll continue to play the way the way we did today and I don’t think they’ll be in the game,” Leonoff said.
Haddad agreed, saying that the team was going to come out with the same attitude as today’s game.
Yale now sits in ninth place in the ECAC, one point behind Princeton.
The Elis play 7p.m. on Saturday at Brown.