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The Dartmouth
March 29, 2024 | Latest Issue
The Dartmouth

Men’s hockey taken down twice at home

11.4.13.sports.mhockey
11.4.13.sports.mhockey

Dartmouth opened its home season against Union College on Friday before squaring off against No. 10 Rensselaer (5-2-1, 1-1-1 ECAC) on Saturday. Dartmouth (0-4-0, 0-2-0 ECAC) was completely routed in both games, 7-2 and 7-1, respectively.

Dartmouth and Union (2-2-2, 1-0-0 ECAC) met for their first conference game. Union dominated Dartmouth all night, scoring five times in the first 36 minutes. Union’s seven goals are its most since an 8-0 win over American International last October.

“It was a very good effort by the guys,” Union coach Rick Bennett said. “I thought we had some puck luck tonight. Our shots were finding the back of the net, which was nice to see, and our guys were going hard to the net.”

The only category Dartmouth fared better in was scoring on the power play. Union had six power plays but failed to score on any of them, while Dartmouth scored on two of its five opportunities, including one goal during five-on-three play.

“That was a very good team,” head coach Bob Gaudet said. “We are a much better team than what we showed tonight, but that doesn’t take away from how well Union played. You get down like we did and you start pressing, looking for the chances and sometimes it can lead to more for the other team.”

Five minutes into the game, Gaudet pulled Dartmouth’s goalie, Charles Grant ’16, to put an extra skater on the ice as Dartmouth tried to play aggressively. Grant stayed off the ice for just 30 seconds as freshman Matt Krug was penalized for hooking, giving Dartmouth a power play and prompting Gaudet to put Grant back in the net.

Union struck first with 3:07 left in the first period after junior Sam Coatta’s shot entered the net, owing to a drop pass assist from junior Mark Bennett.

“The key in practice this week was get to the crease and get in the goalie’s eyes,” Coatta said. “We did that a few times.”

Union effectively iced the game with a stellar second period, outshooting Dartmouth 14 to three and scoring four goals. Coatta scored two minutes into the third with the assist from Bennett and junior Shayne Gostisbehere, followed two minutes later by senior Matt Hatch’s goal after Dartmouth turned over the puck in the slot.

Freshman Jeff Taylor and senior Daniel Carr also put the puck into the net with less than five minutes remaining in the second, building Union’s lead to 5-0 heading into the final 20 minutes of play. Carr’s goal tied him for the school’s all-time Division I leader in career goals at 59.

Making his first start in the net of the season, Grant surrendered five goals and made 17 save in 36 minutes, forcing Gaudet to pull Grant for Cab Morris ’14, who would make seven saves while allowing two goals.

Andy Simpson ’15 scored his first goal of the season after his shot hit the inside post and went into the net during Dartmouth’s five-on-three power play.

Any momentum from Simpson’s goal didn’t last long after junior Max Novak and freshman Mike Vecchione both scored goals and increased Union’s lead to 7-1.

Gostisbehere finished with three assists on the night after setting up Novak’s slapshot. Vecchione pushed the puck into the net after following up his own rebound with a shot inside the left circle.

Eric Neiley ’15 notched Dartmouth’s final goal, with less than four minutes in the game.

Union finished the game with a 31-17 advantage in shots on goal and put pressure on Dartmouth’s defense throughout.

Dartmouth looked to rebound against RPI on Saturday evening, after RPI lost to Harvard 2-0 Friday night, but fell 7-1.

RPI opened the scoring 6:57 into the first with junior Ryan Haggerty’s 10th goal of the season. Haggerty finished with another two assists.

Thirteen seconds later, senior Brock Higgs netted his first of three goals. Higgs scored his second goal late in the first and his final late in the second.

“It’s early in the season and we are experiencing some growing pains right now,” Gaudet said. “I know if we continue to work hard we will be a good team. I really believe in the guys we have in that locker room and we will be a better team than what we’ve shown moving forward.”

RPI led 3-0 at the end of the first and 5-0 at the start of the third.

Juniors Matt Neal and Jacob Laliberte also netted goals for RPI.

Three of RPI’s goals came on power plays, including junior Luke Curadi’s goal with 2:45 left in the game that put RPI up 7-1.

Dartmouth’s only goal came with 5:17 left in the game when Troy Crema ’17 scored his second goal of his Dartmouth career on a redirected show below the right circle during a power play. Josh Hartley ’17 made his Dartmouth debut and was credited the assist along with Connor Dempsey ’16, who also picked up his first assist of the season.

Dartmouth’s offense was unable to penetrate the RPI net as junior Scott Diebald who made 31 saves in the game. Dartmouth outshot RPI 32-23 but was unable to match RPI’s scoring efficiency.

Morris played all 60 minutes in Dartmouth’s net, finishing Saturday with 16 saves.

Next weekend, Dartmouth remains home with games against Clarkson University and the University of St. Lawrence.