After going 4-1 over the break, and splitting their weekend stand at Thompson with a 6-4 victory over Brown and a heartbreaking 3-2 overtime loss to Harvard, the Big Green men's hockey team stands at 8-5. With those eight victories, Dartmouth has already surpassed last year's total of seven.
The Big Green are off to their best start in eighteen seasons, but are still trying to get the bad taste out of their mouths from Saturday night's poor performance.
Brown
The Brown Bears came to Hanover with a disappointing two victories, trying to turn their early season woes around.
While the Big Green outplayed the Bears for the first two periods, they only had a Ryan Chaytors '99 breakaway goal to show for their efforts. The action picked up quickly for both squads as they combined for eight goals in a period filled with big hits and momentum changes.
Brown struck first after a costly turnover behind Dartmouth's net by Bobby Cancelli '98 resulted in a hard slapper to the top right corner that got by Jason Wong '00, and gave Brown a temporary 2-1 lead.
The Big Green bounced right back less than twenty seconds later as leading scorer David Whitworth '98 tied the game off assists from linesmate Bill Kelleher '96 and Brian Fleming '98.
At 6:02, Dartmouth went on top, when Curtis Wilgosh '99 sent a slapper from the top of the right circle glove side of the Brown goalie off the assist from Matt Giedt '99.
Keeping up the quick strike pace of the period, Brown tied the score at three just twenty-seven seconds later with a slapper of their own from the right circle, glove side.
Dartmouth's next goal was perhaps the prettiest of the game, as Dave Risk '99 fed the puck down low in front of the goal where Brian Fleming '98 backhanded the puck home as he sped across the crease at 8:33.
At 10:15, the Big Green gave Wong a little insurance as Sturgis pounded home a rebound down low in the crease with assists going to linesmates Kelleher and Whitworth.
That score proved crucial, as the Big Green had a defensive lapse at center ice, and allowed Brown to move within one goal as the Bears scored on a breakaway rebound at 4:11.
After Wilgosh was sent to the box with forty-six seconds remaining, the Brown coaching staff made a questionable call by pulling their goalie for a six on four advantage. After Dartmouth controlled the face-off in their own zone, Jeremiah Buckley '98 knotted the empty-netter at 19:15 to ensure the Dartmouth victory.
Harvard
Playing their fourth game of the week on Saturday night, the Big Green looked tired and out of sync. They couldn't get anything going on offense after the first period, and saw their 2-0 first period lead slowly drip away like an icicle during a spring thaw. The Crimson managed to send the game into sudden death, where they won it 3:11 into the five minute frame.
Broken sticks, big hits, and sloppy play characterized this game from the outset for both sides as the refs earned their paychecks, breaking up extra-curricular activity after almost every whistle.
Buckley was the only spark for a Dartmouth offense that was held to only fourteen shots on goal for the game.
The Big Green had routinely been peppering opposing goaltenders with forty or more shots per game before the Crimson stymied the Big Green offensive attack at center ice, disallowing Dartmouth to get into any kind of offensive rhythm.
Buckley struck first at 4:18 from the slot with a top-shelf poke from the slot. Buckley appeared to be looking to set up one of his linesmates, but found an open lane, and caught Harvard's J.R. Prestifilippo off guard in the net.
The big hits continued as both sides played all out, holding nothing back as bodies went slamming into the boards, and sticks snapped like toothpicks.
Working on the power play, Buckley fired a beautiful pass to Charlie Retter '98 from the left circle across the crease, where little Retter gave a big "Bonjour" to Prestifilippo as he easily one-timed the puck home for a 2-0 Big Green advantage.
the third time in overtime to escape Hanover with a win. The Big Green had beaten the Crimson in their last three meetings, but couldn't put together enough offense to continue the streak.
Over the break
Over the break, Dartmouth amassed a 4-1 record, with two victories over Merrimack, and wins over Umass-Lowell and Umass-Amherst.
Their only loss came at the hands of a tough St. Lawrence squad in the championship game of the Big Green's Auld Lang Syne Holiday Tournament, 3-2. Dartmouth is now 5-0 outside of the ECAC, but stands at 3-4 in their particularly tough conference. In fact, ECAC teams are a combined 28-10-2 versus the Hockey East.
Dartmouth takes to the road next weekend to face Yale and Princeton. The Tigers are off to a hot start, and should offer the Big Green a good test to see where they are as ECAC play heats up.
