While every Ivy League team entered this season with a lot of uncertainty, Yale likely had the most questions of any of the six teams who were resuming play after a year-long layoff.
The Bulldogs entered the season with 24 players on their roster, yet only nine of those players had played in a college hockey game.
Yale coach Keith Allain said it was the first time in his career that he had that many players without any collegiate hockey experience.
In addition to all of those new players, Yale added two new assistant coaches in Joe Howe and Rob O’Gara, the latter a defenseman on the 2013 Bulldogs national title team.
With all the new faces, it’s safe to say that there was a lot of getting to know each other in during Yale’s preseason practices in the fall.
Then again, with all the turnover, it’s not surprising that the Bulldogs struggled out of the gate. Yale began the season 0-6-0 and was shut out four times during that stretch.
But the Bulldogs enter their final game of the first half against Brown Friday winners of two of their last three games. There’s still bound to be plenty of bumps though the season, but Yale can at least head into the break with a little bit of momentum as it tries to right itself for the second half.
“If we keep building off each other and play with heart, we can keep winning,” said freshman Ian Carpentier, who’s first collegiate goal was the overtime winner against Dartmouth last Friday.
That game was especially encouraging for Allain, as the Bulldogs never led until the final goal, but still held in there and were able to pull out the win.
“Hopefully it builds confidence,” Allain said. “That’s what’s most pleasing. Usually with young kids, they get away from the plan when they aren’t having success early on. But the guys were determined to come out on top [Friday].”
Unlike in this past, this year’s Yale’s team doesn’t have a dominant scorer in the form of a Joe Snively or Curtis Hall. The Bulldogs have scored seven goals in their two wins this season, and all seven of those have been scored by different players. Allain said the Bulldogs are going to have to rely on its depth for scoring this season.
“It’s nice to see the scoring spread out,” Allain said. “I think that’s how we’re going to have to be as a hockey team.”
That depth has been tested with several injuries early. That’s made it a challenge for the coaching staff to field a full lineup and find the best role for each player. It doesn’t help that Yale has its smallest roster in at least 20 years.
“I think we’re getting to that spot,” Allain said of finding the best fit for each player. “We’ve also had a number of guys hurt which, has kind of made it hard to determine who can play where…I think that’s coming; I wouldn’t say we are completely there yet, but we are moving in the right direction.”
After hosting Brown this weekend, Yale will resume the second half of the season Dec. 28 when it plays Wisconsin as part of the Holiday Faceoff in Milwaukee.
“I think we’re looking forward to it,” Carpentier said of the second half. “Right now, we’re taking it one day at a time.”
