Last year, Clarkson (6-2-0, 3-0-0 ECACHL) won the ECAC postseason tournament while St. Lawrence (3-5-0, 0-3-0 ECACHL) had the best record during the regular season. The two teams were picked by the coaches of the ECACHL to finish first and third respectively this year.
Dartmouth (2-1-0, 1-1-0 ECACHL) started its challenging weekend in Canton, N.Y., on Friday night, as it pulled out a 2-1 win over St. Lawrence on the backs of senior captain Nick Johnson '08 and assistant captain JT Wyman '08.
The game began with an evenly played first period as the teams rushed up and down the ice, with neither gaining a clear advantage until the midpoint of the period. After Dartmouth failed to convert on two consecutive powerplays, St. Lawrence converted its first powerplay opportunity, with Charlie Griffin scoring his fourth goal of the year to give the Saints the early lead, 1-0.
Dartmouth fought back in the second period behind the leadership of its senior forwards. Just over a minute into the first period Johnson evened the game on the powerplay, corralling the rebound off a shot from Wyman and putting it past St. Lawrence's overextended goalkeeper, Kain Tisi.
The rest of the second period was a back-and-forth affair, yet the score remained level until, with a minute left in the period, Wyman took a pass from Kyle Reeds '11 at the blue line, beat the last defender and scored on the ensuing breakaway to put the Big Green up for good, 2-1.
"I just came through and went wide on the defenseman and caught the goalie sliding early and put the puck short side over his pad," Wyman said. "Obviously I was pretty excited when it went in but there was still a lot of time left in the game."
The Big Green then held on in the third period relying on goalie Mike Devine '08, who turned away 29 of 30 shots, and a strong defensive performance to record its second victory of the season so far.
"Our defense was great on Friday," Devine said. "They cleared out the front of the net so I could see the puck and anytime that happens, it makes my job much easier."
On Saturday night, the Big Green faced a solid Clarkson squad, who proved to be too tough at home, defeating the Big Green 4-3.
While the Big Green played well, the Knights had almost double the number of shots, with 40 versus Dartmouth's 21. Early on however, despite the lopsided shot totals, all the scoring was from the Big Green.
The forward line of Johnson, Wyman, and Reeds again performed well, with two first period goals, one from Johnson and one from Reeds, both assisted by Wyman. Reeds' goal was the first of his career and gave the Big Green a 2-0 lead midway through the first.
"Nick Johnson really stepped up this weekend with a goal both nights," Wyman said. "We are also starting to see a lot of production from our younger players which we will undoubtedly need as the season stretches on."
However, over the next 20 minutes of hockey, Clarkson showed why they were picked to finish first in the ECACHL this year, as the team scored four goals in that time frame, one from David Cayer and a hat-trick from Tim Marks, who now has five goals on the season.
In the third period, the Big Green got one back four minutes in, as Rob Smith '10 scored his first collegiate goal. It proved too little too late as Clarkson held on for the 4-3 win.
"Friday night, we played a whole 60 minutes," Devine said. "Saturday, we took some shifts off and only played about 50 minutes of our type of hockey, myself included. Unfortunately, during those 10 minutes we took off, they scored three goals and that won the game for them."
Despite the loss, the team feels it can build from its experience this weekend.
"We just need to stay sharp for next weekend," assistant captain Rob Pritchard '09 said. "I think we did a lot of things right this weekend, we just need to continue to improve."
Head Coach Bob Gaudet added that continued work in practice would certainly help in the team's improvement.
"We need to work on continuing to refine our systems particularly our special teams and our forechecking," Gaudet said. "Offense will come with added experience and maturity. If we keep practice up-tempo and fast-paced, we'll be able to rely on games to develop as a team."
The Dartmouth men's hockey team returns to Thompson Arena this coming weekend for its home-opener Friday night against Union, and another game on Saturday night against Rensselaer. Both contests are set to begin at 7 p.m.
