With its playoff hopes sliding fast and its winless streak growing, the men's hockey team was looking for its first win of 1995 this past weekend, as it hosted Colgate and Cornell.
Unfortunately for the Big Green, the result of their efforts was a 5-1 loss to Colgate and a 6-5 defeat to Cornell, in what was another bitterly disappointing weekend for the team. The Big Green are stalled in last place in the ECAC, and are 0-9-1 in their last 10 games.
Last year the squad went 11 straight games without a win, a dubious streak that the Big Green will try to avoid matching this weekend.
Cornell 6, Dartmouth 5
Saturday night the Big Green put forth perhaps their best effort of 1995 in a 6-5 loss to the Cornell Big Red. Dartmouth stormed back from an early deficit only to fall behind 6-4 in the third, and was unable to tie after pulling within 6-5.
Cornell's red-hot freshman forward Ryan Smart broke a 4-4 tie 2:30 into the third period with his third goal of the night, on the powerplay. Smart came down the left wing and beat goalie Ben Heller '97 on beautiful shot that never left the surface of the ice and slid inside the right post.
A little more than a minute later, the Big Red scored a fluky goal to extend the lead to 6-4. Sophomore defenseman Ryan Kendall hammered a shot from the left slot that deflected off the skate of Trevor Dodman '95 in front and past a helpless Heller.
Owen Hughes '98 tallied with 7:04 left to cut the Dartmouth deficit to 6-5. Hughes' low slapshot from the point on a powerplay fluttered toward the Cornell net and beat Big Red goalie Eddy Skazyk through the legs.
The Big Green got another powerplay chance a short time later, but Skazyk made some key stops to preserve the 6-5 advantage. After Heller went to the bench for an extra attacker with one minute left, the Big Green had a few more chances to score, but they were unable to tie the game and ran out of time.
After spotting the Big Red a 2-0 lead in the first, Dartmouth scored three straight goals to earn at 3-2 lead after one. David Whitworth '98 put the Big Green on the board with a coast-to-coast rush. Whitworth brought the puck out of the Big Green end and went all the way up ice, eventually beating Skazyk top right corner with a wrist shot from the top of the slot.
After Cornell went up 4-3 with two goals in the second, Jon Sturgis '98 scored his third goal of the season, also in a shorthanded situation, to tie the contest at 4-4.
Demment said that despite the team's improved play in the Cornell game, they still took selfish penalties, which ended up costing them. "We still need to learn to play better team defense in our end of the ice and we've got to find a way to give our goaltender more support," he said.
Colgate 5, Dartmouth 1
Friday night the Big Green did not play nearly as well, in a 5-1 loss to the Colgate Red Raiders. Although the team had some good scoring chances in the second period, they were very close to being shut out by Red Raiders' goalie Dan Breznavich, who allowed only a goal by Dion Del Monte '95.
Darik Buchar '98, making his first career ECAC start, made some good stops for the Big Green, but many times was left all alone against Colgate forwards.
After a slow start for both teams, Colgate's Mike Harder opened the scoring 13:29 into the first with a powerplay goal. Red Raiders' defenseman Brad Dexter faked a shot from the point and instead passed down low to Harder. A confused Big Green defense couldn't get to Harder, who was standing all alone in front, before he lifted a shot over a helpless Buchar, who had gone down too early.
Colgate added goals by Earl Cronan and Harder in the second to build a 3-0 lead. After Colgate captain Mike Fogarty scored to give the Red Raiders a commanding 4-0 advantage, the only question was whether or not the Big Green would score.
With 9:57 left in the game, Del Monte spoiled Brenzavich's shutout bid. On the powerplay, Del Monte took a slow shot from the top of the right circle that found a hole between Brenzavich's pads and made it a 4-1 contest.
Chris Deprofio's goal 18 seconds later for Colgate closed out the scoring.
This weekend, the Big Green host Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Union.
With only eight games left, Dartmouth is beginning to look like a playoff longshot.
