Four days after defeating No. 6 New Hampshire in college hockey's highest scoring affair in almost five years, the Big Green dominated Vermont Saturday night in the rubber match of this season's three game series.
Dartmouth's victory gave the team its fourth win in five games and put them at 8-7-2 for the season, 5-5 in the ECAC. It was the last time the two schools would meet in league play, as Vermont willl move from the ECAC to the Hockey East conference next season.
The match opened with a torrent of physicality. Both teams played with an intense aggression that would eventually backfire on Vermont.
9:40 into a scoreless first period, Vermont freshman Torrey Mitchell slammed into Dartmouth netminder Sean Samuel '07 after a stopped shot. Eric Przepiorka '06 jumped to Samuel's defense, and the two players began exchanging punches. The rest of the players on the ice then joined in the clash.
The ugliness desisted only after referee John Murphy handed out 44 minutes of penalty time, including game-ejections for both Przepiorka and Mitchell. There would be 82 minutes in penalties disseminated throughout the game.
With the score still tied at zero to zero, Mike Ouellette '06 put Dartmouth up by a goal after a give-and-go orchestrated by his line-mates Lee Stempniak '05 and Nick Johnson '08.
Towards the end of the period, Vermont began playing carelessly, picking up one costly penalty after another. At 16:25, Dartmouth capitalized on a two-man advantage when Ouellette found Grant Lewis '07 in the right circle. The sophomore defensemen put Dartmouth up 2-0 with a quick slapshot, beating Catamount freshman goalie Joe Fallon.
Barely one minute later, Vermont put itself in yet another hole, as Vermont junior Jeff Corey drew his second hooking penalty in five minutes. Johnson made the Catamounts pay, deflecting a shot off a UVM defender and into the net.
The onslaught continued with 32 seconds remaining in the frame. After a Vermont turnover, Garret Overlock '06 and Stempniak combined to assist Johnson on his second goal of the night and team-leading ninth of the season. The rookie has taken injured Hugh Jessiman's spot on the Ouellette-Stempniak line and has held his own brilliantly.
After Ouellette extended Dartmouth's lead to five at the beginning of the third period, Vermont senior forwards Scott Misfud and Tim Plant scored consecutive goals only 82 seconds apart.
However, a three-goal disadvantage was as close as the Catamounts would come on Saturday night, as Samuel made seven saves in the final period to secure the victory. It was Samuel's fifth win of the season. With the loss, Vermont fell out of first place in the ECAC.
The seemingly revived Big Green icers will continue the most difficult stretch of their season next weekend when they are scheduled to play back-to-back road games against 11th-ranked Cornell and 10th-ranked Colgate.
