Thompson Arena played host to the Dartmouth men's hockey team on Saturday night as they bettered Cornell, 3-2 in the process, completing its first weekend sweep of the season.The Big Green ended a three-game losing streak with a 5-2 victory over Colgate on Friday night.
Saturday night, Michael Byrne '01 collected the first game-winning goal of his Dartmouth career at 10:48 of the third period to put a capper on a physical, well-played game for the Big Green. Meanwhile, on Friday, Dartmouth raced out to an insurmountable 4-0 lead over an offensively-minded Colgate squad. The Red Raiders threatened in the Dartmouth zone late in the third period after cutting the lead to two, but Mike Maturo '02 collected an empty-netter to seal the victory for the Big Green.
"We just knew we were going to come out this weekend and put it all together," said '99 team captain David Risk. "We had confidence coming into the weekend, and now we have the points to show for it. Certainly two Ws against quality teams raises that confidence level as we look to keep gaining on the league."
In its three one-goal losses, the Big Green consistently outshot UVM, Clarkson and St. Lawrence but the effort could not make up for last-second heroics by the opposition.
This weekend, the Big Green once again pummeled the oppositions' goalies, outshooting Colgate and Cornell a combined 63 to 50.
Shots translated into more goals, this weekend, however, as the team capitalized on its opportunities en route to four ECAC points. With the two wins, Dartmouth moved into the final conference playoff spot, ahead of Brown, and sits just one point behind Harvard and UVM with six games remaining.
"We always outshoot teams, and this weekend it showed on the scoreboard," Byrne said. "We're consistently a harder working team than our opponents and it was great to reap the dividends of that effort this weekend."
The Big Green came out clicking on all cylinders on Friday night and cruised down the stretch, knocking off a Red Raider team that did not seem to know what hit them.
The early assault on Colgate's Shep Harper led by the white line [Curtis Wilgosh '99, Craig Lund '02, and Gary Hunter '02] was a sign of things to come as Wilgosh would finish the night with two goals and an assist.
Jamie Herrington '02 struck first for the Big Green, creating a break-away situation off a well-timed pass from Risk seven minutes into the game.
"There was a turnover in the neutral zone, and I heard Jamie yelling for the puck up the ice," said Risk. "I fired it up to him, hit him on the tape, and sprung him in. He just beat the defensemen, got to the cage, and put it away."
Shortly after Dartmouth gained the 1-0 advantage, Colgate won back some momentum when Ryan Chaytors '99 was whistled for a questionable tripping call. The Big Green's special teams units stepped it up, however, and the Red Raider power play was denied on their second opportunity.
Back and forth play characterized the remainder of the period before Zach Hafer '99 drove down the ice all the way to the net, riding off Colgate defensemen, and jamming home the puck a split second before Matt Giedt '99 came crashing in to create havoc.
Wilgosh was the star of the second period, collecting the eventual game-winner at 7:49 off a pretty one-timer from blueliner Ryan Burkart '99. Herder was pulled for the second period, but his backup Jason Lefevre fared no better as Wilgosh collected his second goal at 14:49 to give Dartmouth a secure 4-0 advantage.
The Red Raiders finally spoiled Eric Almon's '00 shutout bid at 16:52 of the second when Cory Murphy drilled a shot past Almon.
Herder was reinserted for the third period, and did stop all Big Green shots thrown at him but the effort was futile. Almon made some big saves down the stretch as Colgate could get no closer before pulling Herder in desperation.
Dartmouth demonstrated its superior team strength in brutal fashion the following night against the Big Red in a very physical game that saw Cornell skaters being bounced around Thompson Arena like rag dolls by the third period.
"Cornell has big defensemen but some small forwards," said Ryan Chaytors '99. "If we came out banging them we knew we could wear them down for the third period. They started stretching their passes out, but nothing worked. They were definitely struggling by the end of the night."
Coming off a 3-2 win over Vermont on Friday night, Cornell looked to improve upon its fifth place conference standing in Hanover. In a well-played game for both sides, Dartmouth's speed and strength ultimately created more opportunities that translated into the one goal victory.
At 10:31 in the first period, Cornell's David Kozier snapped a rebound past Almon for the 1-0 lead. This came after Dartmouth had peppered Big Red netminder Matt Underhill for the first half of the period to no avail. The Cornell goalie would finish the period with 16 saves.
Three minutes after Kozier's goal, Mike Maturo '02, the teams leading scorer, opened things up with fellow freshmen Herrington following off-setting minors. The 4-on-4 situation created more space for the pair to operate on the breakaway situation as Herrington dished to Maturo who beat Underhill to tie the game 1-1.
Dartmouth came out firing once again in the third period, but managed only one goal at 6:16 when Chaytors sniped a backhanded effort past Underhill.
"Going to the net, I saw Burny picking up the puck on the boards and figured he was going to shoot," said Chaytors. "I just got in position and he hit me right on the tape so I turned and fired as quickly as I could."
The result gave Dartmouth a 2-1 lead, and while they continued to position themselves for more goals, the fan reaction was clearly centered on the big hits being delivered. Freshmen defensemen Alex Gregory took center stage mid-way through the period when Giedt came knocking.
Cornell's game plan was steam-rolled by the Dartmouth attack, as the Big Red resorted to dump-and-chase hockey that proved ineffective against the Big Green's strength advantage in the corners. Ryan Moynihan knotted the score at two just two minutes into the third, but Almon's solid goaltending and the Big Green's overall team defense shut down the Cornell attack for the rest of the way.
At 10:48, Byrne collected the game-winning goal, stuffing home a rebound off a shot from Risk that caromed out in front of the net.
Cornell went to 6-on-5 hockey late in the game, but the Big Red band was ultimately silenced as Dartmouth achieved its first four point weekend since downing Princeton and Yale in 1996.
The Big Green have a very winnable road trip ahead of them in upstate New York. Dartmouth faces lowly Union on Friday night, and RPI, a team the Big Green seem to play very well, on Saturday.
