The Golden Age of Dartmouth club hockey stumbled, fell on its face and broke its nose Friday night as the longest winning streak in team history came to a heartbreaking end at the hands of the Babson Beaver club team. The 9-3 defeat also marked Jacques Gerbille's first loss as Dartmouth club hockey head coach. Gerbille visibly lost his temper long before the game ended, leaving the bench halfway through the first period and never returning.
It was evident from the outset that, despite the moral support provided by Julian Saltman '04 and his broken foot, the Dartmouth players' minds just weren't in the game. The guys just couldn't get it up and stick it to the Beavers the way they had done against opponents in recent weeks. Babson scored six goals in the first period alone, and thus sealed Dartmouth's fate for the remainder of the game.
Teddy Plumlee '06 eloquently expressed the feelings of the team as a whole when he said, "You smell that? Smells like we got our butts handed to us on a silver platter."
As the game progressed, an inkling of teamwork did develop among the clubbers and Dartmouth finally appeared on the scoreboard. Eric "Chenner" Chen '06 led the way late in the first period with a spectacular leisurely paced breakaway goal that left Babson's defense trailing slowly after him. Peter Hanbury '03 followed with two goals of his own in the second and third periods, but to no avail. Babson could not be matched.
The only positive for Dartmouth was the much-anticipated return of team bruiser, Anthony Balsamo '04, who seems to have finally recovered from his fever and "nasty cough."
"I thought we had brought our backpacks of doom to Babson College on Friday night, but like putting a penny in a Coke machine, our doom was outright rejected, and the penny was lost," Balsamo said. Perhaps the bruiser hasn't fully recovered yet.
Friday's loss gave the clubbers a lot to contemplate, and consequently, they fared much better Sunday evening against New England College, devastating the Pilgrims 14-2. Like all good things in life, this turnaround can be attributed to Coach Gerbille.
"He really tore into us after we lost to Babson," Hanbury said, "and we really took it out on New England College. Jacques really knows how to inspire us."
Because of an assist rivalry with fellow teammate Josh Navikonis '04, Hanbury passed the puck throughout the game, and early in the first period Jon Webster '04 capitalized on this newfound selflessness. Navikonis, Hanbury and Jamil Batcha '06 soon followed with goals of their own while self-proclaimed MVP Charles Rosenwasser '06 shut out NEC during the first period.
Rosenwasser, who also gave up nine goals the previous game, was later heard saying, "I'm sick of being associated with these no talent losers. My shoulders are tired from carrying this team. We played terrible. If not for me and that mechanical gerbil, we would've been blown out that game."
It remains uncertain to which game Rosenwasser was referring.
The second period saw another abundance of Dartmouth goals and complete absence of NEC goals. Webster, Jon Landsberg '06, Hanbury and "the bruiser" each contributed a goal to set NEC back by a staggering 8-0 score. NEC only came close to scoring once, but that wasted effort was blocked point blank by Russell Daiber '06, who in the process suffered a fractured rib. After a bout of tears, Russell continued to annihilate NEC's offensive opportunities for the remainder of the game.
Midway through the second period back-up goalie Chris Rubinate '03 replaced Rosenwasser, who, despite having blocked 22 shots, had fallen asleep in goal and become a liability. NEC continued not to score and whimpered off the ice as the period came to a close.
The third period was full of doom for NEC as Dartmouth stacked up five more goals, contributed by Navikonis, Webster, Batcha, Chris Grieco '03 and Small. The only flaw in the game came with three minutes remaining when a lone NEC forward beat defensemen Balsamo and Webster and slipped one behind Rubinate. This defensive collapse, the result of a six-minute shift, so infuriated Hanbury that he unleashed his anger by lunging at Balsamo once everyone had returned to the bench.
Coach Gerbille only laughed because he encourages such behavior from his players. "It shows that they really do care," he said.
NEC scored another goal after the buzzer had sounded, but the officials took pity on them and granted the goal. Dartmouth players did not take much heed; they were too busy watching Gerbille's victory dance. The Dartmouth hockey club returns to action next Sunday at 2:45 p.m. for a highly anticipated rematch with Colby-Sawyer.
