Yale v. NoDak recap

Just the high points:

Yale looked really sharp early on and looked like they had a shot at winning the game.

They ran the following lines:
Deschenes-Higgins-Jensen
Hellemeyer-Steeves-Wax
Klema-Hristovski-Nam

D pairs were:

Bauman-Freeman
Dwyer-Callahan

Watching Deschenes back in the lineup, I'm so happy he was out of action for the playoffs last year at Lynah. That kid is good. The freshman Jensen and Hristovski both impressed me a lot. Yale seemed to win most of the faceoffs in the 1st.

The fight was long and complicated. It seemed to start after Yale player hit Jones really hard, knocking his helmet off. Pushing ensued at which point Callahan kicked the helmet down the ice. Then it turned into a barroom brawl.

Deschenes, Higgins, Wax and Bauman got game DQs. They also happen to be 4 of the 5 biggest guys on the team. (Callahan being the other at 6-3 215)

In the 2nd, after the fight, NoDak just opened up. However, in the 3rd, Yale was able to adjust a bit with Nam scoring a sweet PPG. Nam really stepped up his game in the 3rd and had a couple of other great scoring chances. Finally, Steeves had a very pretty top shelf penalty shot goal after being raped by Greene on a breakaway.

Overall, Yale passing looked very crisp w.r.t passing and positional defense seemed good. Trowbridge didn't impress me the way he did last year but he didn't really see much time on the 4th line.

Anywho, off to bed.

so b4 i sleep...
what are the chances that yale is going to try to protest the dqs --> the guys not sitting out friday?
dont know if they can do it in ncaa but i thought of it so i figured i would ask

Well, I don't know the rule for sure, but I know I've never herad of anyone doing that, so chances are they can't... cool... no Higgins.

They can protest....but its unlikely, based on past cases, that they have a chance of it being changed.

Why all the joy that Higgins is out? I'd think you'd all want the chance to see this very talented kid play....no? After all, cornell should be a huge favorite with or without Higgins. As a fan, I'd be bummed that I don't get to see my opponent's best player.

Personally, I'm bummed that Higgins is out for two reasons:

1) I'd like to see him play - could be the only chance I get this year, and maybe the only chance I get before he jumps to the pros.

2) Beating a severely crippled opponent is much less satisfying than beating a team that's at full speed.

OTOH, beating a crippled opponent is better than losing, hence the joy. But don't be too joyful - it often happens that a team missing it's top player/players will step up and pull off a win in their absence. I doubt this will happen with Yale - 4 DQs to top players is an awful lot to overcome for a one-line team.

I'd say many of us are upset that what had been an intense, tight hockey game was ruined by an utterly unnecessary brawl. According to The New Haven Register, video replays show that the UND guy went down when he got tangled in his own skates. Then Spiewak jumped Higgins in "retaliation."

Interesting that Yale held UND without a shot on goal for the first 11:30 of the second period, and had a 20-18 edge in SOG when the brawl broke out. With the four game-DQs and an injury to Klema in the second period, Yale played with eight forwards after the brawl. Only the mid-50s Harkness RPI teams could get away with that.

Thanks for the info, John.