With the win over the Big Red (14-11-4, 10-8-4 ECACHL) on Friday and coupled with Cornell's 3-1 loss to Harvard on Saturday, Dartmouth (16-10-3, 12-7-3 ECACHL) split the Ivy crown with Yale with a final league record of 6-3-1. The last time the Big Green won at least of share of the Ivy League title came when head coach Bob Gaudet '81 was playing goalie as an undergraduate.
Captain Tanner Glass '07 said the Ivy League crown ranked high in his list of achievements.
"I think it's the best thing I've ever won. It's something that no one can take away from us now," Glass said. "It's pretty special."
T.J. Galiardi '10, who scored the game-winner against Colgate to help push the Big Green up into the top four spots of the ECACHL standings to ensure a first-round bye, weighed in on the title.
"Guys talk about it all the time. It's one of our goals at the start of the year. So to get it even freshman year, it's unbelievable," he said.
In addition to the historic Ivy accomplishment, the Big Green finished in third place in the ECACHL to grab a coveted first-round bye in the league playoffs. Dartmouth needed just one point, or a tie, to guarantee the bye, but the win and losses by Cornell and Quinnipiac on Saturday bumped the Big Green to third place.
"It's a good thing for our team to get into the top four. It's a great start for us. I was proud of the way the guys played. It was kind of a fitting end for the regular season," Gaudet said after the game against Colgate. "It's just been a battle; it's been so hard all season long to win games. To find a way to win it like that against a good team was well-deserved for our guys."
Not only will the extra week off alleviate some of the scheduling conflicts with the women's hockey team's home playoff games next weekend, but the bye also gives the players a chance to focus on academics during finals.
"It's awesome for the rest factor," goalie Mike Devine '08 said. "Usually our finals fall in that period. I remember freshman year we were on the road for finals, and guys were taking finals in the hotel room."
Against the nationally ranked Big Red, Dartmouth overcame five penalties in the first period and scored three power play goals on eight extra-man opportunities. In all, five different players scored goals in the contest and David Jones '08 had a team-high three points on three assists.
Overall, the referees called 21 penalties in the game, with 12 to Dartmouth and nine to Cornell. The Big Green killed off all of Cornell's power play chances.
Glass said that the high number of calls did not drastically alter the team's game plan.
"We didn't change anything, [we were] a little more conscious of it, maybe," he said. "Everyone was trying to play clean, keep our hands down, our sticks down and play through every check. We don't have control of that, so we just have to try to play our game."
"The penalties that were called were the type that weren't really undisciplined penalties ... I did talk to the guys about being smart, but not try to back them off in terms of being aggressive," Gaudet added.
Galiardi kicked off the scoring with 13:44 left in the second period. He received a pass from Jones at the blue line, and with the Big Red defense sucked down low, Galiardi took a rocket wrist shot that found the high part of the net.
With just over three minutes left in the frame, J.T. Wyman '08 connected on another untouched shot from the point on a power play following a penalty to Tony Romano for tripping. The goal was initially credited to Kevin Swallow '09, but replay showed that the shot was not tipped in front of Cornell netminder Troy Davenport.
Up 3-0 off a goal by Glass just seconds into the third period, Glass received a centering pass with space at the blue line on the power play and took a shot from the left side. Davenport made the save, but the rebound careened out to the right side and Nick Johnson '08 shot the puck into the open right side of the net for the Big Green's fourth goal with 11:34 remaining.
Rob Pritchard '09 capped the scoring midway through the period after Cornell's Byron Bitz scored the Big Red's lone goal with 8:43 left. On the play, Devine lost his goalie stick and was forced to grab a defender's stick, leaving one Big Green player without a stick on the ice.
On Senior Night honoring Dartmouth's five seniors, the Big Green's gritty play paid off in a two-goal third period.
Off a faceoff with 2:24 left in the game, Galiardi got a pass from linemate Swallow at the right faceoff dot in the Raider zone. Galiardi was patient, drawing out goalie Mark Dekanich off the right post, and then buried a top-shelf shot for the game-winning goal.
"He [Dekanich] got beat by an unbelievable shot by a young player," Gaudet said.
Johnson scored on an empty net goal to ice the contest with less than a minute left.
Dartmouth jumped out to a 1-0 lead midway through the first on Johnson's first goal of the game on a power play.
However, the Raiders scored 14 seconds into a five-on-three advantage with 3:13 left in the stanza to tie the score at 1-1. The puck deflected off David McIntyre's face mask and fell into the left side of the net past Devine. Devine tried to argue for a high-stick call but admitted after the game that he knew the appeal would never work.
Devine made several great diving saves in the second period, denying Colgate's chance to play spoiler in the Big Green's attempt at a playoff bye.
"He was just phenomenal for a stretch of time now. I thought last weekend he was spectacular, and he topped it this weekend. He's been our backbone. I thought Colgate played a real good game and I thought deserved to be up 3-1 after the second period," Gaudet said.
After the game, the seniors -- Ben Lovejoy '07, Mike Hartwick '07, Grant Lewis '07, Glass and Dan Shribman '07 -- were honored on the ice with their families.
"They've just been great. All the guys have been a huge part of the team in terms of leadership, in terms of on-ice ability, in terms of off-ice character," Gaudet said. "They've carried the torch from last year's graduating class to this season. The leadership of this team has been outstanding."
When asked if he will miss the three senior defenders next season, Devine said, "Yeah, to say the least. It's going to be sad without Benny, Lewi and Harty, considering how good they are and how many minutes they played."
The crowd at both games was especially raucous, with students showing up in force to support the Big Green.
"The fans are like a seventh man out there for us," Galiardi said. "We can't say enough about them. They're here every game. When we have that many guys out there, you get pumped up."
The Big Green return to action in the second round of the ECACHL playoffs in a best-of-three series starting Friday, March 9 in Hanover against the winner of the Princeton-Brown first round series.
