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The Bulldogs (1–3–0, 1–3–0 ECAC) struggled to succeed in their two away games this weekend, falling to Dartmouth College (1–2–1, 1–1–1) on Friday night and Harvard University (4–0–0, 4–0–0) on Saturday. 

In their first game, the Elis lost 6–0 to Dartmouth at the Thompson Arena in Hanover, and the following day, they were unable to secure a win against Harvard, falling 4–0 at the Bright-Landry Hockey Center in Cambridge. 

“After 5 periods of disappointing play, I thought the team hung together, competed with a purpose and fought to the very end,” Head Coach Keith Allain told the News. “That was an encouraging sign from our men.”

In their first game of the weekend against Dartmouth, neither team managed to score in the first period. However, the Blue and White gave up three goals in both the second and third periods, granting the Big Green their first win of the season. 

The scoring started after Dartmouth defenseman Tanner Palocsik poked the puck away from the Bulldogs, and forward Tyler Campbell passed it down center ice to forward Luke Haymes. Haymes skated around Yale goalkeeper Connor Hopkins ’23 and slotted it in to give Dartmouth the lead. 

“We’re very frustrated with the outcomes this weekend, but we’re letting them fuel us going forward,” goalkeeper Nathan Reid ’24 said. 

The score was raised to 3–0 later in the second period when Big Green defenseman John Fusco took a shot on goal, which was saved by Hopkins but caused a loose rebound in the front of the net. Forward Braiden Dorfman then knocked the puck into the net. 

The next goal came 3:16 into the third period, when Dartmouth forward Matt Hubbarde moved the puck across the front of the goal so that forward Joey Musa could launch it into the net. 

Just over 10 minutes later, Hopkins saved a shot by forward Steven Townley, launching the puck into the air for forward Trym Løkkeberg to hit down into the net.

The final goal of the game came from Haymes on the power play, where Pierce shot towards the goal and Haymes deflected the puck off his stick to sneak it past Hopkins. 

Over the course of the game, Hopkins made 20 saves in the goal. Yale also dominated in shots taken, leading 28–26, but couldn’t manage to find the back of the net.

Niklas Allain ’24 and Teddy Wooding ’24 were each 50 percent in the faceoff circle. The Yale men’s ice hockey team also had a slight advantage in faceoffs won, winning 30 of their 59 total faceoffs. 

Defenseman Ryan Carmichael ’23 led the team with two blocks, and defenseman Dylan Herzog ’25, forward Henry Wagner ’24, forward Will Dineen ’25 and defenseman Kieran O’Hearn ’25 each tallied one. Game leaders on the offense included Dineen, Herzog and Wagner. Dineen totaled six shots, followed by Herzog and Wagner with three each.

“There’s work to be done but we are focusing on one day at a time,” Reid said. “We’re getting better every day which we plan on translating to six points this upcoming weekend.”

The Blue and White’s struggles continued in their game against No. 15 Harvard the next day, although the deficit was smaller.

The Crimson found success early in the contest, establishing a 2–0 lead by the end of the first period and adding two more in the second period.

Almost four minutes into the first period, Harvard forward Alex Laferriere rushed down the middle of the ice to find forward Alex Gaffney on the left wing, who beat Reid between the pads for Harvard’s first goal of the night. 

In the middle of the first period, Laferriere skated behind the net with the puck and fired a blind backhand to Gaffney, who fired off the pad of forward Zakary Karpa into the net. 

“Last year, I think we had 13 or 14 players playing college hockey for the first time,” Harvard head coach Ted Donato told the Harvard Crimson after Harvard defeated Dartmouth on Oct. 28. “So now we’re a veteran group of one year with a lot of guys and some new guys.”

After 13 scoreless minutes in the second frame, forward Marek Hejduk found a loose puck and broke away along the left side, where he then beat Reid under the bar for a shorthanded goal.

The final goal of the weekend was scored by Laferriere on a power play, where he skated into the middle of the slot and used his backhand to deliver the puck to the top corner, 19:13 into the second period. 

Yale totaled 10 shots on Harvard, while Harvard totaled 30. However, Reid made an impressive 26 saves in goal. Forward Briggs Gammill ’25 won 61 percent of the faceoffs he took. The Bulldogs dominated the game in faceoffs, winning 19 of the 30.

Allain led the team in shots with four and Dineen, defenseman Connor Sullivan ’25 and forward Ian Carpentier ’24 each had three shots. Captain and defenseman Michael Young ’23 and forward Kalen Szeto ’26 both had two shots on goal. 

“The thing we will continue to work on as we look toward next weekend is building sustained offense in our game,” said Coach Allain. “It starts with winning one on one battles, protecting the puck and having an attack mentality once we get even a little bit of space.”

While the Bulldogs had a tough weekend with difficult opponents, the team is ready to face Princeton (0–3–0, 0–3–0) back at the Whale this Friday for some more ECAC competition. 

The Blue and White will take on Princeton on Friday and Quinnipiac (5–1–2, 2–0–0) on Saturday at Ingalls Rink. Both pucks are slated to drop at 7 p.m.