This weekend the Dartmouth club hockey team earned a pair of impressive victories over Colby Sawyer College and Castleton State College. By no means an event to be taken lightly, the two wins, combined with last weekend's triumph over the New Hampshire Community Technical College, resulted in the first-ever three-game winning streak in club team history. This organizational landmark also indicates a clear sign that the Clubbers are at last developing a sense of unprecedented team cohesiveness that certainly bodes well for future games. "With two solid victories under our belts this weekend, the team is on its way to a solid finish to the season," commented team captain Peter Hanbury '03.
The weekend began with the brutal 10-4 shellacking of Colby-Sawyer College on Saturday at Colby-Sawyer's home rink. The game was dominated by Dartmouth from the opening faceoff and the goals came quickly. Hanbury was first, second and third to score for Dartmouth and finished the game with a total of five goals and two assists. Chris Grieco '03 also harassed Colby Sawyer's goaltender with a hat trick while Josh Navikonis '04 and Teddy Plumlee '06 each contributed a goal of their own.
Despite being a primarily offensive game, a few big checks were delivered. In a hit to be remembered forever by all those who witnessed it, Stephen Joseph '05, gracefully demolished the lone female opponent. Joseph consequently spent the following two minutes sitting in the penalty box.
This weekend also marked the premiere of the Club Team's new assistant coach, Jacque Gerbille. Already with a 2-0 coaching record, Coach Gerbille is a very welcome addition to the Club Team's current management. Grieco expressed the sentiments of the entire squad when he said, "Our new coach has really made a remarkable difference on our team. We have a three game win streak going now thanks to his pregame singing. It's the first such win streak in club history, and I really think it's getting everyone on the team on the same page."
Sunday marked Gerbille's first Thompson Arena appearance, and unsurprisingly, the fanfare for this event was overwhelming. Castleton State College was visibly intimidated from the outset, despite the noticeable absence of Dartmouth bruiser Anthony Balsamo '04, who was a late scratch due to what was thought to be a knee injury, but later was determined to be a "nasty" cough and a 98.6 degree fever.
In spite of their numerous shortcomings, Castleton came out tough and gained the first period's only two goals. Midway through the second period Hanbury scored Dartmouth's first point in a scramble in front of Castleton's net, and the floodgate for the Clubbers opened thereafter. Before the end of the period, Hanbury had scored again, as had Grieco and Scott Darci '05.
Throughout the third period Castleton showed various signs of fatigue and desperation as they watched the game slip through their fingers. Their checks became dirtier with echoes of frustration and the realization that before long, they would suffer a defeat to Dartmouth, not an easy loss for a team that will make the transition to NCAA Division III play next year. Despite the cheap play of their opponents, Dartmouth remained strong and gained four more goals, with Darci adding a second goal, while Navikonis, Bart Van Veghel '06 and John Landsberg '06 each contributing one of their own. Navikonis complemented his goals with three assists while Landsberg and Van Veghel each added a single assist.
While already on the penalty kill and with only one minute remaining on the clock, Navikonis delivered an efficient, yet illegal, football style tackle, resulting in a two-man disadvantage for the Clubbers. During this time, Castleton was only able to slip a single shot past team goaltender Charles Rossenwasser '06, but it was not nearly enough to put them back in the game, as they lost 8-4.
With the two victory weekend, the Dartmouth Club Hockey Team will take a break next weekend during Winter Carnival before returning to play Babson College and New England College the following weekend. The New England College game marks the return of the team to Thompson and will be played Sunday, February 16th, at 5:15 p.m.
Roy Small is a junior forward on the Dartmouth Club Hockey Team.
