This weekend Big Green hockey players reached deep down into their collective pockets and pulled out one word: character.
The battered team showed character by rebounding from a heartbreaking 5-4 overtime loss to Harvard University Friday evening to defeat Brown University by the same margin Saturday.
The team showed character by doing something which it has not been able to do all season: prove it can play 60 solid minutes of hockey two nights in a row.
"I was really proud of how we played," said Dion Del Monte '95, who had his best weekend of the year. "The guys seemed to really pull together," he said.
Del Monte was everywhere, scoring key goals on both nights. Scott Fraser '94 also helped pilot the team to victory on Saturday, with a four-point night, including the game-winning goal.
The weekend split leaves the final spot for the Eastern College Athletic Conference playoffs within reach for a team suddenly equipped with fresh skating legs.
"Our focus is to take it game by game, but if we play the kind of hockey we played this weekend, we should do all right," Coach Roger Demment said.
The Big Green (4-18-1 overall, 2-14-1 ECAC) must win all four remaining regular season games in order to supplant Princeton from its tenth place berth.
Harvard 5 Dartmouth 4
The team went in against first place Harvard without right-winger Darren Wercinski '97, who was serving a one-game suspension for brawling in the last minute of last week's game against Union College.
Two other players - Yannick Roussin '95 and Patrick Turcotte '95 - sat out with injuries. Turcotte broke his hand in last Friday's game against Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
But, despite missing so many key team members, the team displayed a cohesion which has been sadly lacking from its outings this year.
"We should've beat Harvard," Del Monte said.
Having held Harvard off all game, Del Monte provided the team with the go-ahead goal at 14:57 in the third period. But Harvard displayed the form that has kept it atop the standings by tying up the game 43 seconds later.
Two minutes into overtime, the Crimson's Jason Karmanos scored the winning goal, sullying what had been a sterling night for goalie Mike Bracco '94. Bracco stopped an incredible 30 shots before letting the last one by him.
"I think Mike Bracco did an outstanding job in the goal," Demment said.
Dartmouth 5 Brown 4
After a game like that, it seems natural to expect the team to give up. It seems natural for the Big Green to fall mortally wounded to the ice and just lie there.
But no, the team knew that its playoff dreams were not unfounded, that it had proven that by pushing Harvard to the limit.
"We kind of got excited that we were capable of playing as well as we did," Del Monte said.
They brought that excitement to the game, bounding onto the ice en route to victory against the second-place Bears.
The Big Green's effort paid off, as they skated off the ice at the end of the first period tied 2-2. Brown fought back in the second period, gaining a 4-3 lead.
But Del Monte came through again, scoring at 4:20 in the third period before Fraser (assisted by Del Monte and Mike Stacchi '95) snuck the winning goal past Brown goalie Mike Parsons with 7:12 remaining.
After that, it was simply a matter of keeping the Bears in check with a tight defensive game until the end-game sirens went off.
Ben Heller '97 also put in a solid night in net, making 23 saves.
