Just hours before football fans settled in for the Super Bowl, Brown’s men’s ice hockey team (11-10-2, 7-8-1 ECAC) crushed Yale (5-16-2, 4-10-2) with five goals to one — beating the Bulldogs for the second time in one week and securing the season sweep.
After a rough start to Sunday’s game, Bruno found their rhythm and cruised to victory in a fiery rival matchup. The victory means the Bears have won seven of their last eight games and now sit in eighth place in Eastern College Athletic Conference rankings.
After defeating Yale on Thursday in New Haven, Bruno looked to carry some of that momentum onto their home turf three days later. But a poor start from the Bears’ defense made a second win over the Bulldogs look unlikely.
Only 21 seconds into the game, Yale’s David Chen latched onto a pass and skated past two defenders to find himself through on goal. His shot beat goalie Lawton Zacher ’27 at his far post, and the Bulldogs were off to a storming start in Bruno’s home territory.
From then on, the period settled into a nice rhythm. Throughout the first, both teams traded the momentum back-and-forth, with Bruno holding more of the puck and Yale looking to beat them on the break. But the Bears slowly grew into the game — and from then on, they dominated.
Brown found the equalizing goal with 11 seconds left in the first period. With both teams at even strength — and Bruno looking like the more threatening team — Brendan Clark ’25 took advantage of the chaos in front of the net and scuffed the puck over the line for the Bears’ opening goal. Both Max Scott ’27 and Ryan St. Louis ’26 were credited with the assist.
St. Louis and Zacher were recently selected as semifinalists for the Walter Brown award — an annual prize awarded to the top American-born Division I player in New England. Either St. Louis or Tyler Kopff ’27 was involved in every Bruno goal that night, leading the offense against Yale with seven points between them.
The second quarter was all about the Bears. Outshooting Yale 17-7 and scoring four goals, Bruno looked unstoppable.
Kopff got his first score of the day on the power play. Five minutes into the period, Yale’s Zach Wagnon was called for a hooking penalty, giving the Bears a one-man advantage. Working the puck around the Yale goal, the Bulldog defense remained stalwart. Kopff picked the puck up and fired a shot from distance, which found its way into the top right corner and gave Bruno the lead.
Only four minutes later, the Bears then found themselves with a two-man advantage after two Yale players were called for slashing penalties. After nine minutes of constant Bruno pressure, it was clear that Bulldog tempers were starting to boil over.
Kopff took advantage of the power play once again. Just as Yale restored the game to a one-man advantage and thought they could breathe again, Kopff stunned them. Assisted by Brian Nicholas ’28 and Scott, Kopff slammed a close-range shot home.
Now, Bruno started to run away with the game.
With 13:14 on the clock, the Bulldogs’ frustration got the better of them again. Bruno was back on the power play, and St. Louis and Kopff passed the puck to Alex Pineau ’27 — who stretched the Bears’ advantage to three.
But Bruno had time for just a little more magic in the second period. At 16:21, Kopff gave Ethan Mistry ’27 a chance to score his first career goal for the Bears. He took it brilliantly, and the game was all but over.
This dominant second-period showing by Bruno was a breath of fresh air following struggles the weekend before. In Brown’s loss against Union on Feb. 1, Bruno was unable to convert any of its eight power play opportunities into a goal. But in Sunday’s game against Yale, the Bears were clinical on the advantage — scoring on three of their five opportunities.
In the third period, Bruno defended resiliently. They were outshot 12-4, but the Bulldog’s late firing came to nothing. The Bears stuffed them and killed three power plays to complete the double over their Ivy League rivals.
Bruno will attempt to continue their climb in the ECAC with games against Cornell and Colgate at home over the holiday weekend. Those games will also be streamed live on ESPN+.
Dennis Carey is a Sports editor who enjoys playing volleyball, listening to and collecting vinyl records and poorly playing the guitar in his spare time.
