The Dartmouth Club Hockey Team lost 10-9 Sunday to the Berlin Jr. Kings at Thompson Arena. In a highly offensive game punctuated by many big hits, the team fell behind early on three quick goals. The clubbers responded with a power play goal by Josh Clause '05 and an even strength goal by Roy Small '04 to pull within one, but late in the first period, another flurry of goals found the Club Team down 6-2.
As the crowd began to disperse after the first period, captain Peter Hanbury '03 delivered a highly motivational speech to the Dartmouth players, which resulted in a strong comeback for the Club Team during the second period.
Josh Navikonis '04 led the way with the period's first goal and was quickly followed by even strength goals from Jon Webster '04, Chris Grieco '03 and Hanbury, as well as a power play goal from Hanbury. At the close of the second period, the Club Team had battled back from a large early deficit and pulled within one goal, trailing only 8-7.
Both teams emerged rested and ready to play for the third period. The Clubbers quickly tied the game on a sneaky power play goal from Navikonis, who took advantage of a screen to place a backhand shot through the goalies five-hole. Berlin soon answered with another goal and once again took the lead.
With 10 minutes left to play, Hanbury evened the score with a breakaway goal assisted by Christa Teplicky '03 and Clause. Tragically, six minutes later, the Berlin Jr. Kings slipped another past Club goaltender Jerry Wang '04 and regained the lead. With one minute left in the game, coach Scott Stewart '03 pulled Wang from the net and sent Webster into the fray in hopes of again evening the score.
Unfortunately, despite a flurry of last second shots and opportunities, Berlin managed to maintain the lead and end the game with a win. A rematch scheduled to take place next weekend in Berlin, NH will give the Dartmouth Club Hockey Team a chance at revenge. The Club Team returns to Thompson Arena Feb. 2nd at 2:15 p.m. for a highly anticipated rematch with Castleton State College.
Roy Small is a junior forward on the Dartmouth Club Hockey Team.
