ALBANY, N.Y. — Seeing the Yale Bulldogs carry themselves throughout their pre-game routines and from shift-to-shift paints a picture of a group that goes about its business with the unbridled joy and passion of assembly-line robots piecing together machines one piece at a time, hour after hour, day after day. Even their goal celebrations lack the pizzazz and joy seen by many of the nation’s collegiate players when the red lamp lights up.

It’s a part of their make-up. Ask anyone what’s made them successful and terms like work ethic and determination will be among the first you hear when answers come forth.

As the seconds ticked down on their 5-0 ECAC Hockey championship victory over Cornell at Albany’s Times-Union Center the dogged, determined Bulldogs started to break from their mold. Excited hopping was the behavior on the bench as players, coaches and support staff kept an eye on the ice and an eye on the scoreboard. Three-goal scorer and tournament Most Outstanding Player Sean Backman straddled the boards in the penalty box and anxiously awaited the exact second his foot could hit the ice and he could rush toward goalie Alec Richards.

Helmets, gloves and sticks flew into the air as the players huddled in the corner of the rink. It’s a typical scene following any hockey championship, but it was far from a certainty with this group of Bulldogs.

As it turns out, their work is the key to their success, but their fun is the key to the work. This team takes time to enjoy the process.

“I think one of the big things of our team is not only do we work really hard but we love playing every day,” Yale captain Matt Nelson said. “We’re a happy go-lucky bunch of kids that want to work hard, and with every ounce of hard work we put in, we have our ounce of fun.”

It was evident earlier this week, as Thursday’s team practice in Albany came to a close. The practice times for each team are displayed on the scoreboard. Yale finishes each of its practices with a small game and they’ve been known to get pretty competitive. As the seconds ticked down on the scoreboard, Denny Kearney scored to give his team the victory. The reported celebration of that goal was almost as great as the one that followed Yale’s playoff title on Saturday.

“These guys are driven, but they have so much fun in practice,” Yale coach Keith Allain said.

And it was one of those fun practices that helped turn Yale’s season around from one of its few low points. The Bulldogs had a four-game win streak halted by a loss and tie on home ice to Clarkson and St. Lawrence.

A mid-January outdoor practice is credited with turning around the season for league-champion Yale

They needed a jump, and Allain accepted a suggestion from a close confidant in college athletics - his daughter Josefine, a senior captain on the women’s soccer team at Wagner College. She suggested that they head outside for a practice. The winter weather cooperated and there was plenty of natural ice in mid-January in southern Connecticut. They cleared a suitable patch of ice on one of the frozen ponds at Yale’s championship golf course and practiced and scrimmaged outdoors.

“Throughout the course of the season teams get into a routine that can get kind of boring, whether it’s your schedule or the drills you run in practice,” Nelson said. “When you can switch it up and go play outside for a day it mixes up the routine. It’s something new for guys. It was awesome just to switch things up and it definitely led us into the next weekend with a fresh mind and fresh enthusiasm for the game and we went on a big roll from there.”

The Bulldogs responded with eight consecutive wins, all in league play, that were a huge part of their ECAC Hockey and Ivy League regular-season title. And it all started with having fun on the job.

HARD TO DO BACK-TO-BACK

We’ll save the repeat demands on Yale and allow them to savor in their recently-earned title, but ECAC Hockey was assured of an eighth-straight season that a team did not repeat as league playoff champion when Cornell defeated Princeton in Friday night’s semifinal. St. Lawrence last skated the Whitelaw Cup around the Olympic Arena in back-to-back years in Lake Placid in March of 2000 and 2001.

Two men who can appreciate just how difficult a task it is were matched in Saturday’s third-place game and brought some perspective. Joe Marsh coached the Saints to those back-to-back titles, and Guy Gadowsky led the latest champions that had their repeat hopes thwarted.

Gadowsky cited the closeness of the league as a whole and how evenly-matched everyone is from top-to-bottom. He’s experienced it from the favorite and underdog positions and most recently in a hard-fought quarterfinal series against Union.

“It’s because it’s so hard to get here. The ECAC, you look at it, like I said - what other league is going to have the 11 and 12 seeds sweep on to the next round? That doesn’t happen. And this league is so tight. I know people talk about their leagues, and I’ve been in other leagues. This league is so tight, it’s so difficult to get out of the first round because you’re going to play somebody close,” Gadowsky said. “For us, with Union, that was as good a series as I’ve ever been a part of.”

Marsh noted some of the logistics that are involved, and the difficulty in attracting consecutive outstanding recruiting classes. Inevitably, when a championship is won, you’re going to lose some key parts of that team to graduation or the professional ranks.

SEEN AND HEARD AT TIMES UNION CENTER

Shootout Chatter: Every hockey fan’s favorite talking point, the shootout, once again came into discussion when it was used to decide third place following the tie between St. Lawrence and Princeton in Saturday’s early game. I am on the record many times in stating that I’m against it for use in the regular season and in any playoff games, but the exception to the rule is when a consolation game ends in a tie. Why the heck not have a shootout? The 2,500 fans in the arena certainly noticed and a hearty cheer rose from the St. Lawrence contingent when the Saints won the tie-breaker. For entertainment purposes, and distinguishing between third and fourth place couldn’t be a better time to put on the exhibition for those in attendance.

St. Lawrence coach Joe Marsh didn’t hold any of his opinions back when asked about of the shootout.

“It would have probably been just as meaningful to have Guy and I go out and have a quick round of canasta at center ice,” he said. “I think it’s preposterous. It gives me an opportunity, nothing against the decisions of the league, but it isn’t hockey. The thing that will always stick out in my mind was that the Olympic Games were decided in a shootout with Sweden beating Canada (in the 1994 gold medal game in Lillehammer, Norway). Now who wouldn’t want to see that go into overtime, and instead they ended it in a shootout. I think the Lillehammer Industrial League rented the ice and they had to get off. It’s not hockey.

“Imagine Tiger Woods and Chris DiMarco ending in a playoff in The Masters and deciding it with a putting contest at the miniature golf course down the street. It’s bull—-, pardon my French. That’s how I feel about shootouts. I guess the fans liked it, so I guess we have to be diplomatic, but let’s not forget that the fans also like the integrity of the game.”

Check out the Selection Sunday INCH Podcast for more on this matter.

Cornell Routine: Nobody would expect the Big Red to use Friday night’s extended overtime period and short rest as an excuse in the finals, but those circumstances couldn’t be ignored. The team returned to the hotel just blocks away from the arena around midnight. Captain Colin Greening admitted that it was difficult to get to sleep right away after an exciting win and that today’s pre-game routine wasn’t altered too much. Things were just shortened up.

The biggest adjustment that Cornell wanted to make was to get an early goal and try to play from in front. If fatigue did set in, it would have been easier to protect an advantage with chips off the glass and short shifts than to try to chase down goals from behind. Yale scored with 5:48 remaining in the first, doubled the lead on a slick goal by Denny Kearney with 6:16 left in the second and a rebound goal from Brian O’Neill in the late stages of the second period gave the Bulldogs a seemingly insurmountable lead.

Tiger Season A Success: Princeton was the preseason pick by both the coaches and the media to win the league championship. A third-place regular season and fourth-place tournament finish have not made this a disappointing campaign from Princeton’s standpoint.

“One thing is that we’ve set a record for wins for our program last year. We’ve eclipsed that this year. We would have loved to have win an ECAC championship obviously, we really would, but I consider it a tremendous accolade to go to the (NCAA) tournament. So, I’d like to answer that question in the future,” Gadowsky said.

How about in three weeks?

No-goal is OK: Yale had a goal disallowed in the third period under unusual circumstances. The puck was ruled to have been intentionally played with a kicking motion. It didn’t matter at that point, as it was an empty-net goal, kicked from just inside the blue line and would’ve made the score 6-0 at that time. The Bulldogs were just fine with a 5-0 championship game win.

PLUS/MINUS

Princeton’s band members fashioned a homemade sign that read “MAKE HOBEY PROUD” in front of their upper-deck location all weekend, a sign of respect to the greatest player in Princeton history and a similar sign that hangs in the Tigers’ home rink, which is named for Baker.

Cornell showed they won’t give up by pulling goalie Ben Scrivens when trailing 4-0 with 8:32 left in the third period and the Big Red starting a power play …

… know when to say when. Yanking Scrivens again with six minutes left after Backman’s empty-netter made it 5-0 in favor of the Bulldogs was a little too much.

INCH’s THREE STARS OF THE NIGHT

3. Third-Place Game Coaches and Competitors: Both teams knew what was at stake and played in a manner that gave themselves the best chance to get a result that best-suited their NCAA tournament hopes.

2. Alec Richards, Yale: A 27-save shutout in the championship game has never gone less-noticed than Richards’ on Saturday night - other than by Cornell coach Mike Schafer, who lauded Richards for making big saves at key times and keeping Yale in front.

1. Brian O’Neill - Sean Backman - Mark Arcobello, Yale: Simply put, this line is the best in the league at generating chances and proved it all weekend long. They combined for seven points on Saturday night and Arcobello had the game-tying goal late in the semifinal win over St. Lawrence.

ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
G - Alec Richards, Yale
D - Ryan Donald, Yale
D - Jared Seminoff, Cornell
F - Broc Little, Yale
F - Dan Bartlett, Princeton
F - Sean Backman, Yale

Most Outstanding Player: Sean Backman, Yale

WHAT’S NEXT

Yale, Cornell and Princeton are all likely headed to the NCAA Tournament and folks from throughout ECAC Hockey are confident that all three will be tough outs in the national tournament.

Yale, winners of both league championships, will stay close to home and are assured of a spot in the regional in Bridgeport, Conn., as the host school. Destinations, opponents and seedings will officially be announced on the selection show at 11:30 a.m. Sunday on ESPN2.

St. Lawrence and a stellar senior class have seen their season come to an end, but the Saint coaching staff is excited about an impact recruiting class to help replace the players that have finished their careers in Canton, N.Y.