Courtesy of Yale Athletics

The Yale men’s ice hockey team (5–14–4, 4–10–2 ECAC) added two wins to their record this weekend in dominant fashion.

On Friday, the Blue and White welcomed Clarkson University (12–13–3, 6–8–2 ECAC) to Ingalls Rink, where they shut out the Golden Knights 4–0. The next day, they hosted St. Lawrence University (14–14–0, 9–7–0 ECAC) and posted a second consecutive 4–0 victory.

The Elis last took on Clarkson in Potsdam, New York on Dec. 10, 2022, where they eked out an overtime shootout win. This weekend, the Bulldogs ensured the past result was never in doubt.

“The most exciting part about the weekend was that we didn’t let up a goal all weekend,” said Briggs Gammill ’25, “and a lot of that is credited to Luke Pearson [’25] who stood on his head in both games.”

After the Bulldogs failed to capitalize on an early power play opportunity, forward Reilly Connors ’24 found the back of the net on a shot from near the goal line. Several other Yale players kept the pressure on Golden Knight goalkeeper Brady Parker throughout the first frame, as the Blue and White fired nine shots on goal.

Following a tripping call on Clarkson’s Ayrton Martino, the Elis found themselves on the power play again. This time, they took advantage, as Brandon Tabakin ’23 and William Dineen ’25 set up Ian Carpentier ’24 at 10:37 in the second period. The trio was three of 10 different Bulldogs to register points during the game.

“I thought all four lines were going, and it showed on the scoreboard,” Gammill said. 

A penalty on Bulldog defenseman Ryan Conroy ’24 with less than two minutes remaining on the clock in the second frame gave Clarkson a chance to get back in the game, but the Eli defense held strong.

Just 2:47 into the third frame, Yale defenseman Connor Sullivan ’25 received a penalty for hooking, giving the Golden Knights another power play opportunity. However, on that chance and on two more later in the period, Clarkson could not manage to get anything by Pearson and his defenders.

The Blue and White found their last two points in the last five minutes of the third period, with forward Niklas Allain ’24 tallying the first at 15:46. With the outcome already decided, forward Teddy Wooding ’24 set forward Kalen Szeto ’26 up at 18:59 for the final score of the game.

Pearson’s 27 saves highlighted a stout overall defensive performance and marked the first career shutout for the sophomore netminder.

Offensively, Dineen’s assist marked his third consecutive game setting up a goal, and Carpentier stretched his point-streak to three games.

“It was truly a team effort with solid goaltending, excellent special teams play, good defense and scoring throughout our lineup,” said head coach Keith Allain.

In the St. Lawrence game on Saturday, the Bulldogs fired three shots on goal within the first two minutes and broke through on their next attempt just three minutes into the period. After Dineen won an offensive-zone faceoff, Carpentier and Sullivan passed the puck around before it found its way back to Dineen for a goal.

The Blue and White tallied 14 more shots on goal throughout the period, although they failed to expand their lead.

At the 7:44 mark of the second period, Kieran O’Hearn ’25 assisted Carpentier on the team’s second point of the game.

“My personal highlight was seeing the team come together, play for each other and compete in a way that made it difficult for our opposition to muster a counterattack,” Coach Allain said.

Yale’s third goal came at 16:37 in the period, when Allain notched a power play goal off of assists by David Chen ’26 and Gammill. The Blue and White’s fourth and final goal landed at only 1:14 in the third period by Szeto, assisted by Teddy Wooding ’24.

Pearson made 25 saves in goal, marking his second shutout in a row, as the Bulldogs controlled the flow of the game and limited St. Lawrence’s opportunities.

“It was a great team weekend,” said O’Hearn. “The double shutout really shows how hard we have been working as a team on our defensive zone structure.”

The Bulldogs will look to extend their winning streak to four next weekend as they face off against two more teams with losing records — Union College (11–15–2, 5–10–1 ECAC) on Friday in Schenectady, New York, and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (11–16–1, 6–10–0 ECAC) on Saturday in Troy, New York.

“As we look forward to next weekend, we will be facing two tough teams on the road. Our focus will be to game plan a little for our opponents but mostly continuing to improve individually and as a team,” Coach Allain said. “We have lots of room for growth.”

Both pucks are slated to drop at 7:00 p.m.