YALE STYMIES SAINTS, 3-2

Home has been anything but sweet for the Saint men’s hockey team as Yale freshman forward Broc Little snapped a 2-2 tie with a power play goal with under a minute to play in the second period and sophomore goaltender Billy Blase made it stand up as the game winner in a 3-2 Eli win at Appleton Arena Saturday night.

Yale improved to 3-3-2 overall and 2-2-2 in the ECAC with the victory, while the Saints had a three-game unbeaten streak snapped and are now 4-6-2 overall and 1-4-2 in league play.

The Saints are now 0-3-1 in their first four ECAC Hockey games at Appleton heading into a non-league series with Wayne State Friday and Saturday.

Yale twice came from behind against the Saints to tie and Little scored the game winner as he picked up a rebound, walked into the short slot and slid the puck past diving Saint goalie John Hallas for the game winner at 19:09.8 of the second period.

The Elis then protected the lead, keeping the Saints away from the front of the net and blocking several shots in the third period. The Saints pulled Hallas for an extra attacker in the final minute of the game, but while they got some shots through to Blase, he did not allow any to get past him.

“Yale did an outstanding job playing with the lead,” said Saint coach Joe Marsh. “They really clamped down on us and limited our chances. We were able to get a little something going at the end with the goalie pulled, but couldn’t cash in.”

The Saints wasted little time in taking a lead as they won the opening draw of the game and sophomore center Jeremiah Cunningham set up senior wing Jordan Hack, who backhanded the puck into the open side of the net from right in front just 29 seconds into the game. Yale, which was outshot 12-7 in the first period, tied it at the 15:27 mark when sophomore Sean Backman snapped a shot from the short slot which hit the post and deflected into the net off the back of Hallas.

The Saints regained the lead at 6:27 of the second when rookie Nick Pitsikoulis scored his second of th season on a backhand wraparound shot, but Yale came back again, tying it at 2-2 on Chris Cahill’s rebound goal at 13:31 and taking their first lead of the night on Broc Little’s power play goal with 50.2 seconds to play in the second period.

“We want to just keep working hard and battling as a team, and I think things will turn for us,” said Marsh. “We’re in a bit of a hole standings-wise right now, but there are a lot of games left to be played.