Dartmouth knew what had to be done this weekend.
Going into this weekend with a four game winless streak, the Big Green realized they had to come away with some points to stay in the hunt for a playoff berth.
After dropping a hard-fought 5-3 game to Cornell on Friday, Saturday's game became even more imperative for Dartmouth. The Big Green dug deep and got the job done as they capped off a season sweep of Colgate with a 5-3 victory.
The Big Green relied on tight forechecking, and their best team defensive effort in weeks for Saturday night's win. With the victory, Dartmouth (5-10-1 ECAC, 10-12-2) moved up to ninth place in the conference after St. Lawrence fell to Union, 2-1.
Cornell striking all cylinders
The Big Red came into Hanover on a tear. Holding onto a share of first place in the ECAC, Cornell boasted a well-balanced attack and the nation's leading goaltender in save percentage, sophomore Jean-Marc Pelletier.
To deal with Cornell's potent attack, Dartmouth put seven defensemen on the ice, and double-shifted forwards Bill Kelleher '96 and David Whitworth '98.
But the strategy couldn't compensate for two major defensive slip-ups that resulted in two short-handed goals for Cornell. The Big Green's second period performance put them in an early hole, and a third period comeback attempt couldn't make up the three goal deficit.
Cornell put the first lights on the scoreboard at 12:26 courtesy of a Chad Wilson wrap-around that Eric Almon '00 couldn't handle. The Big Green knotted the score at one just under four minutes later. Scott Peach '99 received a Charlie Retter '98 pass at the top of the left circle, and the offensively minded Peach sent a dart into the crease where Matt Giedt '99 managed to deflect the puck past Pelletier.
With 24 seconds to go in the period, Cornell netted its first of two short-handed goals. Peach mishandled the puck at the blue line, and Cornell's Darren Tymchyshyn took the puck and fed Jeff Burgoyne for the two-on-one goal.
At 3:21 in the second, Owen Hughes '97 mishandled the puck at the blue-line, and Cornell once again took advantage of the opportunity, as Doug Stienstra raced in on Almon. Alex Dumas '97 desperately tried to stop the play from behind, but sent everyone careening into the net, and Cornell had a 3-1 advantage.
The Big Green made a valiant effort in the third, with two goals from Whitworth, but couldn't manage to send the game into overtime. The highlight of the period came after Whitworth netted Bill Kelleher's rebound at 12:48. The assist gave Kelleher his 100th career point, making him only the 27th Dartmouth hockey player to achieve this milestone. Cornell added an empty-netter in the last minute to seal the 5-3 win.
Colgate can't find the net
After their solid third period Friday night, Dartmouth came out in stride and rode a 3-1 first period advantage to a 5-3 victory over the Red Raiders.
With Jason Wong '00 in goal, the Big Green's "five-man defensive unit" gave up 19 shots on goal, and the freshman's 16 saves were enough for the crucial two-point win.
Jon Sturgis '98 reversed the Big Green's woes on special teams at 1:38 when he converted on the power-play, blasting the puck past Dan Brenzavich.
Colgate answered quickly on a power-play of their own, for the 1-1 tie.
However, Dartmouth was not thrown off their game plan of tight defense, as they continued to cut off passing angles, and refused to let the Red Raider's raid Wong with shots.
The game plan paid off at 5:27, when Kelleher and Giedt came racing down the ice on the two-on-one, and Giedt found the back of the net for his second goal of the weekend.
Dartmouth's "checking line" engineered the third goal of the period, when Darren Wercinski '97 intercepted a Raider pass, and rifled a screen shot from between the circles for the short-handed goal. The fiery senior gave the Thompson crowd an air guitar solo as he celebrated the Big Green's first period success.
Colgate got one goal, and a lot of hits back in the second, while the third period started with the dangerous Raider attack just one goal back, at 3-2.
Ryan Chaytors '99, the "red line's" nucleus, ended his own offensive slump as of late, netting the eventual game winner 1:29 into the third.
Peach ended his weekend on a positive note when the blue-liner sniped one from the left point that backup goalie Shep Harder couldn't handle.
