It was a classic hockey game between two bitter rivals that had everything one could ask for -- an electric atmosphere from the standing-room only crowd at Thompson Arena, great goaltending, excitement on both ends of the ice and a thrilling overtime period.
In the end, the Dartmouth men's hockey team on Saturday night was able to claw its way back from a 3-1 third period deficit and earn a 3-3 tie with the high-flying Vermont Catamounts, who were tied for first place in the Eastern College Athletic Conference and ranked nationally in the top ten coming into the contest.
Down 3-1 with under six minutes to go in the final stanza, the Big Green got goals from Alex Dumas '97 at 14:44 of the third and Tom Ruzzo '97 at 16:43 of the third to knot the contest at 3-3.
Each team had a solid chance to score in the closing seconds of the overtime period, and the Big Green might have picked up the win had there been just a little more time left on the clock at the end of overtime.
First, with about 20 seconds left in overtime, a Vermont shot deflected in front and dribbled toward the Dartmouth goal, coming to rest on the goal line before an alert Dax Burkhart '96 swept the puck out of harm's way.
Then, with less than five seconds left, Dumas intercepted a Vermont clearing pass attempt and walked in to take a last-second shot, only to have his attempt blocked by a Vermont defenseman.
Dumas, however, picked up the puck, walked in alone on Vermont goalie Tim Thomas, and deked the netminder, tucking the puck into the net. Unfortunately for the Big Green, time had expired and the buzzer had sounded just moments before Dumas put the puck in the net, prompting an exasperated -- and lucky -- Thomas to start signalling "no goal" in the faces of all the Big Green players.
"That's what overtime is all about," Dartmouth Coach Roger Demment said. "It got a little hectic in our zone a couple of times there in the overtime and the same thing at the other end."
Despite not picking up the win, Demment seemed satisfied with the result of the contest.
"I thought it was a hard-fought game up and down the ice and I was proud of the way our guys came back after being down 3-1 against a team like Vermont," Demment said.
"It's a big point for us ... You'd like to get the two points out of the night, but it's a big point for us," Demment said.
The tie gives the Big Green (3-8-1 ECAC, 4-13-2 overall) sole possession of ninth place in the conference with seven points, while the Catamounts (9-1-2 ECAC, 15-4-3 overall) dropped into second place in the ECAC with 20 points, one point behind St. Lawrence.
With two members of the first line nursing hand injuries -- Ryan Chaytors '99 and Bill Kelleher '96 -- the Big Green had to look for offense from elsewhere, and they found it from the most unlikely of sources.
The Big Green goalscorers -- Scott Peach '99, Dumas and Ruzzo -- had combined for just one goal among them this season before Saturday night's game, but each of their goals against Vermont was huge.
Dumas started the Big Green comeback with 5:16 remaining with a shot from the left-side blueline that somehow found its way through a pile of bodies in front of the net and squirted through the legs of Thomas, who was screened on the play.
The goal -- Dumas' first of the season and the first of his collegiate career -- was huge because the Catamounts had extended their lead to 3-1 just 28 seconds earlier, and Dumas' goal cut the deficit back to one goal for the Big Green.
Then, with 3:17 to go, Ruzzo, playing in just his second game this season and sixth in the last two seasons, notched his first goal of the year to tie the game at 3-3.
An aggressive forecheck by Jon Sturgis '98 forced a turnover in the right corner, and Ruzzo picked the puck up and threw it in front, trying to hit a Big Green forward streaking at the goal. Ruzzo's centering pass turned into a goal when it deflected off the skate of Vermont's Pavel Navrat, through the legs of a stunned Thomas and into the net.
The Big Green opened the scoring just 5:39 into the first period with Peach's powerplay tally. David Whitworth '98 took the puck at the right point and threw it over to Dumas on the left point. Dumas then one-touched it to Peach, standing at the right of the net, and the freshman buried it top-shelf for his second goal of the year.
But Vermont struck back just 1:18 later on a sparkling goal by Hobey Baker candidate Martin St. Louis. St. Louis crisscrossed with his linemate Eric Perrin -- the two Laval, Quebec natives are known as the "French Connection" -- and took a Perrin pass before skating in alone on Big Green goalie Scott Baker '97 and flipping the puck over the prone goaltender.
Vermont went up 2-1 11:00 into the first on a breakaway score by Phil Eboli. The speedy Eboli blew by the Dartmouth defense and flipped the puck past Baker into the top-right corner of the net.
Matt Stelljes put Vermont up 3-1 14:16 into the third on a breakaway goal before the Big Green mounted their furious comeback.
The Big Green remain at home to face the St. Lawrence Saints and the Clarkson Golden Knights at Thompson this weekend. Dartmouth will be looking for revenge against both of these clubs -- two weekends ago Dartmouth lost 7-3 to St. Lawrence and 7-2 against Clarkson on the road.
