The Dartmouth men's hockey team, riding a three-game winning streak, was hoping to carry the momentum into two extremely tough road games this past weekend.
But as the old cliche goes, all good things must come to an end, and the Big Green's roll came to a screeching halt with bitter defeats in both contests, a 7-2 loss at Clarkson on Friday night and a 7-3 defeat at the hands of St. Lawrence on Saturday night.
On the surface, the Big Green's two weekend opponents, the Clarkson Golden Knights and the St. Lawrence Saints, seem to have nothing in common, for Clarkson is a speedy, finesse-oriented team while St. Lawrence prefers a more bruising, physical style of play.
So it is extremely ironic that the two games against such seemingly different opponents were played out in such a similar fashion: in both contests, the Big Green were still in the game after the first period, but saw the momentum shift dramatically to their opponent in the second stanza.
The Big Green played with a lot of heart both nights, and even when trailing by as many as five goals, the Dartmouth skaters maintained a high level of intensity.
But in both games the Big Green found themselves constantly shorthanded -- thanks mostly to penalty-happy referee Alex Dell -- and the Dartmouth penalty killing unit, which had been so reliable for the past several games, could not stop the powerplay onslaughts of either Clarkson or St. Lawrence.
Quite simply, on both Friday and Saturday night, Dartmouth was outgunned.
Clarkson 7, Dartmouth 2
POTSDAM, N.Y. -- If ever there was a turning point in a hockey game this season for the Big Green, it came at 10:01 of the second period of Friday night's game against Clarkson at Cheel Arena, when Golden Knights forward Steve Palmer scored a breakaway goal to give Clarkson a 3-1 lead.
Just 2:36 earlier, Darren Wercinski '97 had scored, off assists from Dave Risk '99 and Jon Sturgis '98, to cut Clarkson's lead to 2-1.
The Big Green, after falling behind 2-0 after the first period, were turning the game around, and before long they were looking for the tying goal, putting intense pressure on Clarkson goalie Dan Murphy.
But Palmer's goal completely shifted the momentum back to Clarkson's side and started a landslide of Golden Knights offense that would last for the rest of the game.
Later in the second period, the Golden Knights blew the game open with two powerplay goals. At 18:12 of the period, Palmer scored a five-on-three goal, his second goal of the night, to the shortside of Big Green goalie Scott Baker '97.
Then, just 37 seconds later, Matt Pagnutti scored on a five-on-four man advantage to extend the Golden Knights lead to 5-1.
After another Clarkson goal 6:17 into the third period, Jeremiah Buckley '98 gave the Big Green a bit of a boost with a nice goal, cutting the Clarkson lead to 6-2. Owen Hughes '97 pushed the puck up the left side to Dan Bloom '96, who ripped a shot on goal. Murphy made a kick save, but the rebound bounced out to Buckley, who deposited it in the lower-right corner of the net.
But Palmer made it 7-2 less than a minute later with a slapshot that trickled through Baker's legs.
On the night, the Golden Knights scored four powerplay goals, including two goals with a five-on-three man advantage.
Despite being blitzed for seven goals, Baker still made several good saves on the night, and he stopped 31 of the 38 shots he faced.
St. Lawrence 7, Dartmouth 3
CANTON, N.Y. -- Like the Big Green's contest against Clarkson a night earlier, the outcome of Saturday night's game against the St. Lawrence Saints at Appleton Arena was clearly determined in the second period.
Of course, a five goal explosion from SLU's Burke Murphy, arguably one of the best players in the country, did not hurt the Saints' cause. Murphy's five-goal effort on Saturday night matched the Big Green's entire offensive production for the weekend.
But two important events in the second period of Saturday night's game, aside from Murphy's heroics, seemed to suck the life out of the Dartmouth squad -- an apparent goal by Matt Giedt '99 that was waved off by Dell, the referee, and the Big Green's inability to score on a four-minute powerplay shortly thereafter.
Giedt's apparent goal would have tied the game at 2-2 in the second period, but Dell immediately called it off, saying Charlie Retter '98 had batted the puck out of the air and into the net with a high stick.
The "goal" was set up by a nice play from Curtis Wilgosh '99, who dished a pretty pass from the left of the net across the crease to Giedt. Giedt tipped the puck toward the net, but did not get good wood on it, and the puck flipped high into the air toward the goal.
St. Lawrence goalie Jon Bracco could not find it, and as the puck came down, Retter took a swipe at it, trying to knock it into the net. However, Retter appeared to miss, the puck finally dropped just over the goal line, and the red light came on signifying a goal had been scored.
Dell, however, said Retter had knocked it in with a high stick and waved the goal off, prompting an angry explosion from the Dartmouth coaching staff, including Head Coach Roger Demment who scowled at the ref, "He didn't touch it!"
After the waved-off goal, the Big Green could not capitalize on a four-minute powerplay advantage. Bracco was huge, stopping at least six golden Dartmouth opportunities to cut into the St. Lawrence lead. Two of the best chances that Bracco stonewalled came from Bill Kelleher '96 and Wilgosh.
Following this frustrating sequence of events, St. Lawrence scored three straight goals -- a Matt Oikawa one-timer at 9:21, a Murphy powerplay tally at 11:31, and a deflected point-shot goal on the powerplay by Derek McLaughlin at 14:18 -- to take a commanding 5-1 lead.
At 16:37 of the second, the Big Green narrowed the gap to 5-2 on a goal by Bloom, who rifled a quick shot into the lower-right corner of the net off a faceoff win by Buckley.
Murphy made it 6-2 just 3:12 into the third with his fourth goal of the night, and then after Giedt made it 6-3 with 6:42 left in the game, Murphy capped off his amazing performance with his fifth score of the game, a rocket that beat Baker to the shortside.
The Big Green struck first on Saturday night, jumping out to a 1-0 lead at 6:51 of the first on a wicked slapshot by David Whitworth '98 that Bracco slowed but could not stop from trickling into the net.
But St. Lawrence tied it at 10:09 of the first on a breakaway goal by Murphy, and then the Saints went up 2-1 early in the second period when Murphy, stationed at the right of the net, deposited a rebound into the top-right corner of the goal.
The Big Green will have a week of practice to regroup as they prepare for a match-up against the University of Vermont Saturday at home in Thompson Arena. Face off is at 7:30 p.m.
