Led By Its Freshman Goalie, Yale is Starting to Look Like Its Old Self Again
by Jane McNally/CHN Reporter
They’re 10th-best out of 12 ECAC teams. They won’t get a home playoff game.
Yet despite all of that, Yale is –– almost –– back.
But not quite.
One week prior to its first –– and only –– national championship in 2013, the Bulldogs transcended their underdog title and edged out Minnesota in the Regional semifinals, the number-two seed in the entire tournament.
It’s been nearly 11 years since the Bulldogs reached the pinnacle of college hockey, hoisting the hardware after a 4-0 defeat of its formidable Connecticut rival, Quinnipiac.
Unbeknownst to head coach Keith Allain, his future No. 1 goaltender was watching that game — the one who will probably go a long way in helping Yale get back into national prominence.
Hailing from Chaska, Minnesota, Jack Stark was just 10 years old at the time. The Bulldogs had caught his eye when they downed the largely favored Golden Gophers, and he couldn’t look away.
“I’ve wanted to come here since they won the national championship,” Stark said.
That 2013 Yale squad hustled. It grinded. It played at twice the speed of its opponents, and it wouldn’t back down.
As Allain explains, “I like to play fast. I like to play an aggressive forechecking style. I like to have a team that applies pressure all over the ice offensively [and] defensively.”
Yale’s 2024 squad has shown fleeting glimpses of what that national championship team resembled all those years ago. Though offensive starpower is largely lacking, the Bulldogs’ philosophy has remained unchanged, and you can see old patterns starting to re-emerge.
Speed. Forechecking. Being a pest.
“That’s something that’s been [a] part of my coaching philosophy for 30 years,” Allain said.
Yale finished its 2023-24 season with a 10-17-2 record, going 7-13-2 in ECAC play. A late skid down the stretch was ultimately the difference in the Bulldogs failing to finish between fifth and eighth, a slot that could’ve solidified the first ECAC Tournament game at Ingalls Rink since 2020, days before the pandemic shut down college hockey –– and changed the course of Ivy League hockey.
“We weren’t able to practice or lift or compete [for] my senior class’s…
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