Yale Athletics

The Bulldogs (9–13–1, 6–9–1 ECAC) are set to host Brown (8–12–2, 6–8–1 ECAC) on Friday at Ingalls Rink.

Last weekend, the Elis logged a decisive 3–0 win against Union and a shootout win after a 1–1 tie with RPI the following night. Yale men’s hockey hopes to extend its three-game winning streak this weekend with a singular contest against Brown.

“On Friday we had the lead and came out in the third and added another goal and completely shut them down with an aggressive defensive structure,” head coach Keith Allain told the News earlier this week. “On Saturday we were behind going into the third, again came out with an attack-mindset, scored the tying goal and had them on their heels for most of the period.”

The Elis have already faced Brown this season and look to tally an outright win rather than the overtime win that finished off the last weekend. 

Since 2004, the Bulldogs have met Brown 39 times, leading the series 26–13. The Elis have won three of the past four contests and, notably, seven of their 10 most recent matchups. 

In their last contest on Oct. 28 this season, the Yale men’s hockey team won in overtime, securing a 3–2 victory over Brown. Yale began its scoring in the second period, when forward David Chen ’26 scored his first goal of the season off an assist by forward Niklas Allain ’24 and defenseman Bayard Hall ’26. 

“I think it is always important to get off to a winning start,” Allain said after the game. “Beating a tough opponent on the road, having to come from behind then giving up a late lead to finally secure the victory in overtime are all valuable experiences as we begin to write the story of this team. Our men earned a hard-fought W.”

Chen then assisted forward Briggs Gammill ’25 at the start of the third period, which was eventually answered back by Brown forward Tyler Kopff later in the period. Beginning overtime on the penalty kill, Gammill passed to defenseman Rhys Bentham ’27, who made a backhand shot to earn Yale the win. 

Yale goalkeeper Nate Reid ’24 was in the net for the entire game and made 23 total saves. 

“Coach [Rob] O’Gara [’16] has done a great job with our kill, and the boys have taken a lot of pride in making sure our penalty kill is a strength of our team,” forward Will Dineen ’25 said. “Scoring shorthanded goals is a big team effort. It comes from all four guys doing their respective jobs well structurally and positionally. With that, it opens up opportunities to capitalize on the other team’s power play mistakes.”

Last weekend, Brown faced RPI and Union, tallying a 3–1 outright loss and a 4–4 loss in overtime after a 2–0 shootout, respectively. 

In their Friday contest, the Bears lost but had strong individual performances. Forward Thomas Manty and defenseman Brett Bliss both had career-highs of seven and six shots on goal, respectively. Forward Ryan Bottrill also made his 11th assist of the season. 

“It was not our night, no excuses but we have a lot of regulars that are out and sick and it doesn’t make it easy,” Brown head coach Brendan Whittet said to Brown Athletics after the RPI game. “That being said, we had 39 shots on net, a lot of Grade A’s and really good chances, we have to find a way to score. We have good enough players to score.”

On Saturday, Brown fell behind in shots on goal, trailing Union 46–25. Brown goalkeeper Lawton Zacher, however, made 42 saves over the course of the game. 

Brown started off scoring in the first period when defenseman Nick Traggio deflected a Bottrill rebound, and Brown added another point on the power play in the second period, when forward Mike Cataldo redirected a shot by defenseman Ethan Mistry. In the final period, both Bottrill and Kopff added points, but ultimately, it wasn’t enough to secure the Bears the outright win, as Union won the shootout for the extra ECAC point.

“We’re dealing with a lot of injuries to guys that play a lot of minutes for us so we were a little short,” Whittet said to Brown Athletics. “That being said, we need guys to step up and play the right way. We’re very young, there are going to be inconsistencies in what we do. We’re going to have to play better than we did tonight next weekend.”

The Bulldogs look forward to defending The Whale and defeating the Bears for the second time this season.

On Friday, the Bulldogs will face Brown at 7 p.m., and the game will be streamed live on ESPN+.