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Brown University
3-5-0, 2-3-0
Yale
2-4-0, 2-3-0
Men's Hockey Grinds Out 4-2 Home Win Over Yale
11/21/2025 10:55:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The Brown Bears (3-5-0, 2-3-0 ECAC) opened the first game of the season series with a 4-2 home win over the Yale Bulldogs (2-4-0, 2-3-0 ECAC) Friday night at Meehan Auditorium.
That was a battle tonight, there were ebbs and flows to it, and we had to kill off a ton of penalties, the Class of 1975 Head Coach for Men's Hockey Brendan Whittet '94 said. We did a great job on the penalty kill, Halyk made a few huge saves and gave us a chance. By and large, I thought we battled and played pretty hard.
Good things happen when you focus on playing hard, playing with grit, and playing with a little emotion and energy; and we did. Yale's a rival for us; they have been since I've been here. These games are a little extra special.
Brian Nicholas found the back of the net 2:39 into the game off a feed from Michael Salandra, but a video review determined the play was offside to negate the goal.
The Bears killed off three consecutive minor penalties against with Fred Halyk (29 saves) turning aside six shots during the Yale man-advantages. Halyk made a strong save against Thomas Molson halfway through the frame.
Brown then had a pair of power play chances later in the period, including a lengthy 5-on-3 advantage, but was unable to beat Yale goaltender Noah Pak (28 saves).
Yale's Will Richter broke the deadlock 2:52 into the second period with his first goal of the season. The junior fought through a Brown defenseman and beat Halyk with a quick shot for the goal.
Salandra tied the game at 1-1 five minutes later with his second goal of the season. Salandra found Alex Pineau's rebound and wired a shot to beat Pak. Ryan St. Louis picked up the secondary assist on the goal.
Matthew Cataldo gave Brown a 2-1 lead 1:52 into the final period with his first career goal. Brown won the offensive zone faceoff and Jack Hewitt found Ryan Shostak with a quick pass. Shostak centered the puck off of Ben Poitras before Cataldo collected the loose puck and beat Pak blocker-side for the goal.
After a major penalty was assessed to St. Louis, Yale tied the game 5:11 into the period as Micah Berger tallied his first goal of the season. Hughie Hooker and James Shannon picked up the assists on the power play goal.
Cataldo tallied his second of the game less than a minute later, beating Pak on a shorthanded breakaway for a 3-2 lead. Matt Desiderio broke up a Yale zone entry and moved the puck to Mike Cataldo, who found his brother racing through the neutral zone for the breakaway.
Tanner Hartman doubled Brown's lead with 3:39 remaining in the game with his second goal of the season. Ivan Zadernyuk won an offensive zone draw back to Hartman, who wired a quick shot past Pak for the insurance tally.
Yale pulled Pak for the final 3:11 of the game looking for two goals, but were unable to beat Halyk.
GAME NOTES
- Matthew Cataldo recorded his first collegiate goal and his first career multi-point game in the win.
- The Bears finished the night with a 32-31 edge in shots on goal and an eye-popping 25-6 edge in blocked shots.
- Brown also went 39-for-72 (54.2%) at the faceoff dot. Nicholas went 15-for-21 (71.4%) and Zadvernyuk went 9-for-11 (81.8%).
- Yale went 1-for-7 on the power play with seven penalties assessed to Brown. The Bears went 0-for-3 on the man-advantage with three penalties assessed to Yale.
The Bears and Bulldogs close out the season series tomorrow night at Ingalls Rink in New Haven, Connecticut. Saturday night's game is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. and will stream on ESPN+.
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