In a week-long tune-up to its final stretch of pivotal conference games, the Dartmouth men's ice hockey team will enter next weekend riding a three-game win streak after beating Canisius by a score of 6-3 on Friday and Sacred Heart in a closely contested 4-3 victory on Saturday at Thompson Arena.
Despite playing a rare mid-week game last Tuesday against Holy Cross, the Big Green (9-8-2, 5-5-2 ECACHL) seldom showed signs of fatigue as the team controlled the tempo throughout the majority of each non-conference game.
This resolve and focus could be critical in the coming weeks for a Big Green squad that will almost certainly need to win the ECACHL tournament in order to secure a NCAA postseason tournament bid.
Dartmouth entered the weekend second in the conference standings, but on Sunday the Big Green had moved down to sixth place, as other teams had played conference games during the weekend.
Following the contest against Sacred Heart, head coach Bob Gaudet said that the team will need to focus on executing basic plays if the Big Green want to succeed in the coming week.
"We just need to tighten up some of the systems we play--momentum on the power play, killing penalties and just having a good solid team concept both offensively and defensively," Gaudet said.
"The stretch drive is coming up," he added. "It seems early to talk about it, but we have to finish really strong. We have some tough games coming up."
Against the Canisius Griffs (6-17-2), several Big Green players had memorable nights. In addition to the career-high four-point game of Rob Pritchard '09, freshman goalie Joe Grossman '10 earned his first collegiate victory in between the pipes and forward Joey Gaudet '10 scored his first collegiate goal.
When asked how he felt after getting his first win in goal for Dartmouth, Grossman said, "Anytime you win--it's what you set out to do. It feels good to win, it always feels good to win."
Gaudet capped the scoring for the Big Green when he stuffed a rebound past Griff goalie Andrew Loewen with 12:22 to play in the game.
"I didn't really see it," Bob Gaudet said when asked about his reaction to his son's first goal in college play. "Sometimes as the coach, you get the worst seat in the house. But I'm proud of him."
A balanced offense and a high shot total were the keys for Dartmouth on Friday evening, as six different goal scorers contributed to the eventual rout of the Griffs. On the night, the Big Green outshot Canisius 44-20.
The line of Pritchard, Connor Shields '09 and Jon Grecu '08 provided all the scoring in the first period to give the Big Green a two-goal edge at the first intermission, and the trio combined for nine points overall. Shields scored his first goal of the season with 8:11 left in the frame.
Canisius mounted a comeback in the latter part of the second period and evened the score going into the second break. After David Jones '08 tipped a shot from the blue line out of midair for a power play goal to put Dartmouth ahead 3-1, the Griffs' Jason Weeks notched two goals in a 4:01 span to even the score at 3-3.
Despite this setback, Grossman said he was able to stay cool and collected.
"I wasn't nervous at all," he said. "When you get scored on, it's the worst feeling a goalie can have. But coach let me battle through it and things worked out."
The Big Green rebounded from this lull and whipped Canisius in the third. J.T. Wyman '08 scored the game winner 4:09 in with a shorthanded strike past on a one-timer from the top left circle, and Ben Lovejoy '06 added a tally of his own with a top-shelf shot less than two minutes later.
When asked what was the difference between Dartmouth's play in the second and third period, Grecu said, "Desperation. We knew we couldn't lose that game. We just had to finish those guys off."
Despite the final 4-3 score, the Big Green was in control almost the entire game the following evening against Sacred Heart (13-7-4).
Up 1-0 after Nick Johnson '08 scored a power play goal in the middle of the first period, Jones and T.J. Galiardi '10 scored goals 13 seconds apart in the opening moments of the second to push the Big Green ahead with a comfortable 3-0 lead. Jones notched his 12th goal of the season just 21 seconds into the frame.
The Pioneers, however, would not go away quietly in the waning moments of the contest. Sacred Heart seemed to get new life after a power play goal with 7:37 remaining in the second period cut Dartmouth's lead to 3-1, and started playing more physically.
Pritchard netted his second goal of the weekend and the game winner by cutting into the slot and one-timing the puck past sliding Pioneer netminder Jason Smith to put the Big Green up 4-1 with 5:26 to play.
But just five seconds later, Eric Giosa came down off the face-off at center ice and beat Mike Devine '08. The momentum stayed with Pioneers, as Sacred Heart's risk of pulling its goalie in the final minute paid off with a goal from sophomore Bear Trapp with 43.1 seconds on clock.
After the goal, the Big Green defense was able to clear its defensive zone and thwart Sacred Heart's chances of a tie.
Devine earned his eighth win and finished the night with 35 saves on 38 shots, which included three saves during a five-on-three penalty kill midway into the second period and several stops with under two minutes to play in the third. He also earned an assist on Galiardi's goal in the second period.
Dartmouth travels to New York for league contests against Clarkson on Friday, Jan. 27 and St. Lawrence on Saturday, Jan. 28. Both games are slated for 7 p.m.
