A win over Harvard during the most exhilarating game in recent memory and debatably the most thrilling match of the 2005 NCAA hockey season, as well as a rout of Brown the next night, was still not enough to push Dartmouth ahead of Vermont for the fourth spot in the ECACHL and a first-round bye. Dartmouth's 17-10-2 overall record and 13-8 league mark will not be enough to provide the Big Green with a week off, as the team will face twelfth-seeded Yale next weekend for a best of three play-in round. The winner will take on the Catamounts.
The Big Green came into Friday's match-up with 11th-ranked Harvard needing a victory to keep their hopes for a first-round bye alive. The game's beginning was highlighted by the comeback of Dartmouth star forward Hugh Jessiman '06, who returned to action after a three-and --half-month hiatus due to an ankle injury. Although Jessiman would be kept scoreless throughout the weekend, his mere presence on the ice noticeably lifted the spirits -- and aggressive enthusiasm -- of his teammates.
The teams continued establishing a new tradition of parity, playing a tight game similar to their previous get-together in Cambridge three weeks earlier. In fact, both squads went 56 minutes without scoring -- not that they didn't have their chances. Time and time again, Harvard's senior goaltender Dov Grumet-Morris and Dartmouth's Dan Yacey '05 found ways to stone charging opponents, mixing in elements of grace, flexibility and a little luck.
As the game progressed late into the second period, still knotted at 0-0, the intensity level raised significantly. In a five minute span, there were three scuffles, resulting in more than four penalties and the very rare and somewhat humorous site of 3-on-3 hockey. The capacity crowd, which swelled towards the boundaries of Thompson arena, was energized, realizing that any mistake, any blunder could spell devastation for the men in Green. As the second frame came to a close, heavy chants of "Let's go Dartmouth" rained down on the ice.
The third period saw more of the back-and-forth style of play to which fans had become accustomed. With 8:30 left in regulation, a Dartmouth shot got wedged between the net and the bottom of the post, making it hard to decipher whether or not the puck had gone into the goal. As the crowd erroneously jumped to their feet, anticipating the score, head referee Alex Dell signaled "no goal." As the game clock approached four minutes, the fans in attendance simultaneously began to stand.
They were finally rewarded with 3:33 left.
After an initial slapper by Nick Johnson '08, Mike Ouellette seized a golden opportunity in front of the Harvard net, driving the puck into the goal. The cheers of the frenzied crowd were deafening, as Dartmouth players jumped up and down on the bench. The sweet irony of a go-ahead goal created by the team's three leading scorers (goal by Ouellette, assisted by Lee Stempniak '05 and Johnson) was short lived. Immediately following a Harvard timeout with 1:18 left, senior Brendan Bernakevitch won the face-off, sending the puck over to Ryan Maki, who beat a shielded Yacey with a quick wrister. An instant classic became even more memorable, as the game headed to overtime.
In the five-minute extra frame, both goalies were at their agile best for four and a half minutes. But as a tie looked imminent, Stempniak dished a marvelous cross-pass over to a streaking Ouellette who found the sliver of open goal behind Grumet-Morris, sending the packed house into an absolute frenzy. Ouellette was subsequently mobbed by his euphoric cohorts. The crowd remained standing, in an oblivion of shock and amazement, for five more minutes, as the teams paid each other their utmost respect, shaking hands at center ice.
Coach Bob Gaudet described the victory as simply "great, old-fashioned hockey."
"We really battled through what I thought was a playoff atmosphere," continued the coach. "We beat a great goalie tonight."
Ouellete, who accounted for all of the team's offense on the night, explained that "one opportunity was all it took. I called for the puck; Stempniak put it on my stick perfectly." Paying homage to his senior captain, Ouellette called Stempniak "the most talented player I have ever played with."
Nevertheless, a last minute goal by Vermont gave the Catamounts a Friday night win of their own and a hold on the coveted fourth-place position going into the regular season's final night. Dartmouth icers and their fans were relegated to scoreboard-watching throughout the Big Green's pivotal game with Brown on Saturday night.
The Bears provided the more than 4,000 people in attendance with a scare three minutes into the opening period, when senior Mike Meech capitalized on a power play and Dartmouth defensive disorganization to suddenly put Brown up 1-0. However, it was just that -- a scare. Big Green forward Eric Przepiorka '06 quickly tied the game at one after slapping a trickling puck past Brown's freshman goalie, Adam D'Alba. From then on, it was all Dartmouth.
The Big Green would add another score later in the first and then two more in the second period. Johnson, J.T. Wyman '08 and Tanner Glass '07 all accounted for the offensive surge. Brown got one back on another fluke goal, after the puck deflected off a Dartmouth defensemen and went past Yacey.
Everything seemed to be going Dartmouth's way as the game entered its final frame. After David Jones '08 made the lead 5-2, and Wyman added his second of the night to finalize a 6-2 romping with 14 minutes to go, the crowd received word that Vermont was losing to Harvard 2-1 late in the third period. They would not find out until after Dartmouth had completed its victory that the Vermont game ended in tie, and the Catamounts had clinched the last spot for a first-round bye.
But Dartmouth players and their coach alike, still reeling from an exciting weekend sweep, downplayed the true advantage of a week off. "It's a good thing to be playing hockey," said Gaudet. "We are getting really good production all around, and with Jessiman starting to come around with his conditioning and game-experience, another game next weekend won't hurt us."
Yacey agreed that it is important to keep going when the team is "playing its best hockey" but also made it clear that home-ice after the first round would have been nice to have.
The Big Green will faceoff against ECACHL basement dweller Yale for a best of three series next weekend. Dartmouth has handled Yale twice thus far, beating the Bulldogs 5-2 and 5-3. Exact dates and times of the games have yet to be announced. Stay informed with the Dartmouth athletics website.
