With 1:02 left in the five-minute extra frame on Saturday, Tanner Glass '07 slapped a perfect pass from David Jones '08 past Tiger goalie Eric Leroux for the win. As the puck slid by Leroux, the towel-waving crowd was sent into a frenzy, and Glass sprinted over to the boards, jumping up towards the cheering fans.
After the game, holding the team's "good luck ball of sock tape" -- a 25-pound mammoth creation of extra tape from the socks of Dartmouth icers collected over the past two seasons -- a visibly ecstatic Glass attributed most of the credit for his goal to his line mate, Jones.
"Jones just put the puck on my stick with a great pass. All I had to do was bang it home," said the Saskatchewan native.
Including his first period goal on Saturday, Jones has recorded 12 points in the last six games, including this past weekend's five-point effort. He leads the team with 13 goals and is second in points with 28. Team captain Mike Ouellette '06, who, like Jones, had two points in Saturday's victory, sits atop the stat-book with 30 points on the year.
A 5-4 comeback victory the previous night versus Quinnipiac, paired with the team's overtime triumph on Saturday, gave the surging Big Green four valuable points on the weekend. Dartmouth has been riding a six-game unbeaten streak since a heartbreaking loss to Holy Cross and now finds itself in a tie for second place in the ECACHL with Colgate. The Big Green trails perennial league power Cornell by a single point heading into an all-important weekend of competition against both the Raiders and Big Red. Before winter break, Dartmouth could not even classify such games as significant. Plagued by a slow start, the Big Green did not crack the .500 plateau until two weeks ago. However, Dartmouth seems to be in the process of repeating last year's late-season drive toward the top of its division.
With four regular season games remaining, the Big Green has hit a hot streak at precisely the right time. Dartmouth is, impressively enough, perfect for 2006 in league action which, combined with key losses from division leaders, has created a possible worst-to-first scenario and given the Big Green complete control over its own destiny.
But first the Big Green had to get by Princeton's defense on Saturday.
"Princeton is a big defensive team down low and they played tough the whole game," Glass said.
Ouellette agreed, adding, "They made us battle for every inch of ice."
Head Coach Bob Gaudet also lauded Princeton's effort, calling it a great game between two strong squads. "Princeton played a fabulous game on the road," said the coach.
The most pronounced theme in all post-game interviews was the excitement derived by the players from the game's sell-out crowd. Bumped from 7 p.m. to a 4:30 p.m. start to fit ESPNU's television schedule, the game still sold-out all non-student tickets more than two weeks in advance. There were even a number of late-coming students who were turned away at the door.
Big Green enthusiasts overwhelmingly complied with e-mails sent out by members of the Dartmouth team throughout the past week asking students to come to the Princeton game dressed in white in order to "white-out" the stands. And with the addition of 3,000 white towels with the Dartmouth hockey logo printed on them, the stands were truly washed over in whiteness. Safety and Security officials joined ticket-takers at the doors of Thompson to frisk students for tennis balls, among other things, in an attempt to thwart the annual tradition of flinging the balls onto the Princeton side of the ice after Dartmouth's first goal. Nevertheless, traditions are just that, and upon Jones' first period score, countless tennis balls were hurled in the direction of the Princeton goal. S&S officers, realizing the general futility of their frisk-attempts, could be seen with resigned smiles on their faces.
Dartmouth was penalized with a two-minute bench minor for the actions of their fans, which was served by Ryan Bellows '09. The game was delayed while Thompson workers cleared the ice. During the first period intermission, Glass addressed the crowd, asking that no more objects be thrown onto the ice.
The crowd was riled from the start when Princeton forward Kevin Westgarth tripped up Eric Przepiorka '06 before the opening face-off. Just a few minutes later, junior Darroll Powe committed the same unsportsmanlike conduct, slashing Jarrett Sampson '06.
"The fans were just super," said Gaudet. "We had a packed house and it created a great atmosphere for our guys and made the game a lot of fun."
Glass, who thanked the crowd for its enthusiasm during his plea for no more tennis balls, agreed with his coach, saying, "The fans really did give us a spark tonight."
On Friday night, Dartmouth played catch-up after falling down 3-1 in the second period to Quinnipiac (15-15, 6-12 ECACHL). The Big Green would get one back before the close of the frame when enforcer Mike Hartwick '07 found Dan Shribman '07 wide open for the goal. It would be the first of Hartwick's three assists on the night.
After Ouellette tied the game early in the third, the Bobcats pulled ahead once again with a score by sophomore Mark Van Vliet. However, Dartmouth was not to be outdone. The next night's star, Glass, would tie the game one more time, capitalizing on a scramble in front of the Quinnipiac goal. Nick Johnson '08 tallied the game-winner three minutes later off a gorgeous feed from Przepiorka.
Dartmouth travels to Cornell on Friday and Colgate on Saturday for undoubtedly its toughest contests of the season.
