Garnet Hockey Report: DiPauli sparks Dutchmen in win (with 5 videos)

Box Score

by Ryan Fay

With Union trailing Yale 2-1 early in the second period, the Dutchmen needed to find the equalizer.

It ended up coming from an unlikely source.

Sophomore winger Theo DiPauli, playing in just his 13th career game, scored his first collegiate goal four minutes into the second to even the score at 2-2.

It proved to be the first of four consecutive goals for the fourth-ranked Dutchmen, who went on to top 13th-ranked Yale 5-3 in front of a standing-room-only crowd of 2,205 Saturday at Messa Rink.

The win gave Union (13-3-0 ECAC Hockey, 19-6-3 overall) a three point lead over second place Quinnipiac with six games left in the regular season. Quinnipiac was clipped by St. Lawrence, 3-2, on Saturday.

DiPauli was stationed in front of the Yale net when he cashed in on rebound off a shot from defenseman Sebastien Gingras, who finished with a career-high three assists.

“Coach sent our line out to get in, bang some bodies and get in front of the net and tip pucks,” said DiPauli, who skated with center David Roy and winger Sam Coatta. “Me, Coatta and Roy were going tonight, so it was easy to feed off of them and to bang it in.”

"It really lifted our bench," added Union acting head coach Joe Dumais, who finished 3-1 during head coach Rick Bennett's four-game suspension. "Our whole team pulls for Theo. He's a great kid and he works hard every single day. When he got that goal, our bench just erupted."

DiPauli played in two of Union's first three games this season, but three and a half months would pass until he got into another one. That came on February 1 at Clarkson when injuries and lineup changes gave him a chance. He has now played in three consecutive games and has made a case to stick in the lineup.

"He just does everything that is asked of him," Dumais said. "He’s waited for his opportunity, and he got it. He’s running with it right now.”

Wingers Daniel Carr and Daniel Ciampini, who teamed up to give Union a 1-0 lead early in the first, also worked together to put Union ahead 3-2 at 6:25 of the third.

After center Mike Vecchione won a battle along the wall, Carr gained control of the puck. He sent a pass across the slot to Ciampini, who then made a return pass to Carr for the score.

“I tried to give it right back to Carr,” Ciampini said. “He made a great play. I think I made a bad pass. I think it caught him in his foot a bit. But he’s a good enough player. I trust him enough to take it and put it in the hole.”

Carr credited Vecchione for setting up the goal.

“He won a big battle along the boards,” said Carr, who has a team-best 13 goals this season. “He made that two-on-one possible. And then, obviously, ‘Champer’ made a great pass back to me there. Those were the two important factors there. I was just lucky to be there.”

Matt Hatch provided the eventual game-winner at 8:29. Gingras drove to the Yale net and his attempt had just enough juice to find Hatch at the right of the net. Hatch capitalized and sent it past Bulldogs goaltender Alex Lyon to give Union a 4-2 lead.

"I just came down the wing, and I was going to dump it originally, but I saw that they over-committed a little bit and I just reacted," Gingras said. "It turned out to look pretty good. Then I cut, and I was trying to shoot. I hit [Hatch] backdoor. It was a big goal for us.”

Matt Wilkins secured the win when he knocked home a rebound off a Gingras breakaway at 16:48 to give the Dutchmen a 5-2 advantage.

Yale's Matthew Beattie added a harmless tally at 19:47.

Postgame Video

Union acting head coach Joe Dumais

Union's Daniel Ciampini, Theo DiPauli, Daniel Carr and Sebastien Gingras

Yale head coach Keith Allain

Highlights

Union goaltender Colin Stevens robs Yale's John Hayden at the end of the first period