UPDATED March 19, 11:30 p.m.
ALBANY, N.Y. -- If familiarity breeds contempt, the Big Green men's hockey team is in an extremely foul mood.
After coming out with a 1-0 win their 14th game against RPI in the last four years to advance to the ECAC semifinals, Dartmouth fell to Harvard 2-1 in the 10th meeting between the Big Green and the Crimson. The loss will send Harvard to its third straight ECAC championship game. Dartmouth, meanwhile, will meet Colgate in the consolation game Saturday, the 14th game against the Raiders for the Dartmouth seniors.
"I thought we played a great hockey game," said Big Green head coach Bob Gaudet '81. "A couple of errors ended up in the back of the net. I thought we played real well."
Gaudet added, "We've got a very young team with outstanding leadership. Older guys on our team came up big for us, and the other team played very well. Harvard's a very good team."
The first period was a back-and-forth affair. Dartmouth took the first five shots of the game before the Crimson rebounded to outshoot the Big Green 11-7 over the remainder of the opening frame. When the period ended, Dan Yacey '05 had 11 saves, and Harvard's Dov Grumet-Morris had 12, but neither team had a goal.
The second period saw more back and forth play, with both goalies making all the necessary stops. However, with 8:40 to play in the second, Harvard senior defenseman Dave McCullough took advantage of a loose puck in the Dartmouth zone, roofing it over Yacey to put the Crimson on the board. The goal ended Yacey's shutout streak at an ECAC tournament-record 181 minutes and 21 seconds, and put pressure on Dartmouth to respond.
The response came with 41.8 seconds to play in the period. Lee Stempniak '05, Dartmouth's assistant captain and scoring leader, snaked his way through the Harvard defense, skated across the crease, and backhanded the puck over Gromet-Morris' stick to tie the score and give the Big Green momentum, as the teams headed to the second intermission tied at one goal apiece.
The Crimson retook the momentum and the lead 33 seconds into the third period, as Brendan Bernakevitch took advantage of a loose rebound and poked it up the net to put Dartmouth back under the gun.
Dartmouth made numerous attempts to pull the trigger on said gun, but the closest Dartmouth could come was a Hugh Jessiman '06 shot that hit the crossbar. With 1:05 to go, Yacey headed to the bench, but Dartmouth was unable to take advantage of the extra attacker, and the Crimson held on for the victory.
"We came in as a young team, and we played really well throughout the year" said team captain Brian Van Abel '04 as he reflected on the season, which will likely end Saturday. "We grew as a team, and all the young guys on defense really stepped up and played hard down the stretch."
The Big Green will play for third place in the ECAC tomorrow at 5 p.m., as Dartmouth takes on the Cleary Cup champion Raiders. The game will be broadcast on 99Rock, as well as online through the Dartmouth Sports Network.
