Men's hockey drops two home games
There is an old adage in sports that says the first win of the season is the hardest one to get. The men's hockey team -- still winless through six regular season games -- will attest to this, having lost games to Colgate and Cornell over the weekend despite playing possibly its best hockey of the season.
The Big Green dropped a tough 3-2 decision to the Colgate Red Raiders Friday night at Thompson Arena, and fell to the Cornell Big Red 4-3 in overtime on Saturday night.
The losses dropped the Big Green to 0-5-1 overall on the season and 0-4-0 in the Eastern College Athletic Conference.
Still, Coach Roger Demment asserted no one on the team is panicking.
"It's still early in the season," he said. "Yes, we would like to get a win under our belts, but our play is improving."
Colgate 3, Dartmouth 2
Dartmouth played well on Friday night, clawing back from a 2-0 deficit in the third period, only to lose a tough 3-2 decision to the Colgate Red Raiders.
Colgate's sophomore goalie Dan Brenzavich was sparkling in net, stonewalling a Big Green blitz in the third period to preserve the 3-2 win for the Red Raiders.
Aside from two third period powerplay goals, Brenzavich was impenetrable. Overall, Brenzavich made 31 saves, including a whopping 17 in the third period.
Colgate and Dartmouth played even through the first two periods, but the Red Raiders got a tally from Chris DeProfio in each of the first two stanzas to carry a 2-0 lead into the third period.
Dartmouth goalie Scott Baker '97 was virtually helpless on both goals, with Dartmouth being caught on odd-man rushes each time.
It looked like Brenzavich might cruise to a shutout, the way he was playing after two periods, but in the third the Big Green finally got on the board.
Thanks in part to referee Michael St. Louis -- who went penalty crazy in the third, and called four consecutive penalties on Colgate -- Dartmouth found themselves with a lot of powerplay time, including a lengthy five-on-three advantage.
With the two man advantage, Dartmouth converted. Bill Kelleher '96 slid the puck from the right of the net to Jon Sturgis '98 in front, who buried it for a powerplay goal to cut the Colgate lead to 2-1 at 5:58 of the third.
About a minute-and-a-half later, David Whitworth '98 threw a beautiful pass from behind the net to Bobby Cancelli '98, who was all alone in front. Cancelli lit the lamp at 7:13 of the third to tie the game at 2-2.
But then the Big Green found themselves shorthanded, and Colgate retook the lead at 11:39 of the third with a powerplay score of its own. Off a scramble in front, Dave Debusschere grabbed the puck at the left of the net and punched it into the top-left corner, past the lunging Baker, who was out of position at the other side of the net.
The loss dropped Dartmouth to 0-4-1 overall, 0-3-0 in the ECAC. Colgate rose to 2-3-2 overall with the win, 1-0-2 in the ECAC.
Cornell 4, Dartmouth 3 (OT)
Saturday night, the Big Green played a gutty game against a red-hot Cornell team, hanging tough before succumbing to the Big Red in overtime.
Ben Heller '97 -- who got the call in net for the Big Green instead of Baker -- was sharp, as was Cornell's Jason Elliott.
Cornell's senior forward Brian Chartrand scored the game-winner in overtime, when Dartmouth got caught by a two-on-one odd-man rush. Chartrand took a feed from Matt Cooney and flipped the puck past Heller at 1:57 of overtime to give the Big Red the victory.
The game had been tied in the third period by Whitworth, who scored the only goal of the third when he took an outlet pass from Dax Burkhart '96, raced up the right side of the ice and beat Elliott to the upper-left corner. Whitworth's goal, at 10:57 of the third, tied the game at 3-3.
Both teams had good chances to win it late in the third, but the game went into overtime.
Cornell jumped out to a 1-0 lead at 13:05 of the first period on a goal by Ryan Smart, scored on a five-on-three powerplay advantage. But Sturgis tied the game two minutes later when the Big Green had a five-on-three advantage of their own.
Vince Auger made it 2-1 Cornell at 7:52 of the second period, walking out from behind the net and blasting the puck past Heller for a powerplay goal. Bill Holowatior made it 3-1 at 15:01 of the second, redirecting a shot from the right point past Heller.
But Kelleher narrowed the Cornell lead to 3-2 with another powerplay score. Kelleher's goal, at 17:40 of the second, actually banked off Elliott and into the net.
The game featured a total of 21 penalties, giving each team plenty of practice on the powerplay. Dartmouth went two for nine with the man advantage, while Cornell was two of seven.
The loss dropped Dartmouth to 0-5-1 overall, 0-4-0 in the ECAC. Cornell, meanwhile, rises to 3-1-1 overall, with a still-undefeated 3-0-1 mark in the ECAC.
Dartmouth will take the Thanksgiving holiday off before hitting the road to play the University of Vermont on Nov. 29. The team then has two weeks off before hosting nationally ranked Boston University on Dec. 12.
