The Big Green (8-11-2, 3-10-1 ECAC) is now in last place in the ECAC. Yale (10-7-4, 6-4-4 ECAC) is currently in sixth place, while Brown (3-14-4, 3-8-3 ECAC) has escapes the cellar of the ECAC by virtue of its win over the Big Green. It was their first weekend sweep on the season for the Bears.
On Friday, the Bulldogs got off to a quick start and completely dominated the first period of play. Yale outshot Dartmouth 8-18 in the period. Senior Matthew Thomey delivered a power play goal on the second shot of the game to put Yale up immediately and sophomore Sean Backman followed for Yale just two minutes later with another power play goal which gave the Bulldogs a 2-0 lead just eight minutes into play.
With a little over a minute left in the first, Bulldog junior Matt Nelson tacked on another to bring the score to 3-0 at the end of the period.
Down 3-0, Dartmouth came out with a sense of urgency in the second period and controlled the pace of play. Just 26 seconds into the period, Kyle Reeds '11 slid the puck past Yale goaltender Billy Blas.
The Big Green almost came up with a second goal when J.T. Wyman '08 fired the puck in on Blas but Blas covered the puck up immediately.
Yale responded with a shorthanded goal when freshman Denny Kearney came up with a short-handed goal for Yale.
Dartmouth showed its resiliency when it responded just 11 seconds later with a quick power play goal off the face-off by Josh Gillam '10. The goal was Gillam's fourth of the season.
After a medley of Dartmouth shots, co-captain Nick Johnson '08 scored another goal for the Big Green, narrowing the deficit to one. This would be the closest that Dartmouth would get to Yale in the contest.
While the Big Green played effectively for the remainder of the game, the Bulldogs tacked on two more goals to reach the final score of 6-3.
Penalties doomed the Big Green on Friday. Dartmouth allowed three goals for Yale's four power play opportunities.
Head coach Bob Gaudet '81 was disappointed with his team's lack of discipline.
"We just took a couple penalties that hurt us," Gaudet said, "and we've got to get better at that."
Gaudet was hopeful, however, that Friday's loss would help the team going forward.
"I think this is a game," Gaudet said, "that despite losing, I think is going to help us."
The following afternoon the Big Green fell to a Brown squad that had just snapped a 15-game winless streak with an upset over Harvard (7-10-3, 6-7-2 ECAC).
Though Dartmouth outshot the Bears 39-29, the Big Green defense was shaky throughout the contest, which allowed the Bears to score at critical junctures in the game.
Gaudet moved around a few lines during Saturday's game in an attempt to find the right formula. Johnson and Wyman, two of the team's most consistent scorers, were put on the same line in an attempt to create more offense
"I had to shuffle some lines a little bit to try to create a little momentum," Gaudet said.
Dartmouth got off to a promising start when Wyman delivered for the Big Green just minutes into the game with a power play goal on a hard shot from the point. Wyman almost delivered another goal when he took a quick shot in from the glove side of Bears goaltender Dan Rosen but Rosen was alert and collected the shot.
Brown's first goal came midway through the first period, when senior Jeff Prough tied the contest for the Bears when he redirected a shot from freshman David Robinson.
The Bears picked up the lead early in the second period with a nice backhand shot by sophomore Sean McMonagle that hit the top shelf.
Just when the tides began to turn in favor of Brown, junior Mike Stuart gave Dartmouth the opportunity of a five-minute power play. The power play was a result of Stuart's dangerous hit from behind on Adam Estoclet '11. As a result of the hit, Estoclet was knocked out of the game while Stuart was ejected.
Johnson capitalized on the power play opportunity to tie up the game 2-2, when he slid the puck past Rosen on the right side.
Brown responded again, however, when junior Eric Slais picked up a goal off a rebounded shot to send the Bears into the locker room with a 3-2 lead.
The final period saw little in the way of opportunities but Brown picked up a crucial insurance goal when junior Ryan Garbutt scored to give his team a two-score advantage.
Andrew Owsiak '11 responded by scoring his first goal of the season but it was too little too late for the Big Green. The Bears defense stayed strong for the rest of the third and managed to keep Dartmouth off the scoreboard.
Goalkeeper Mike Devine '08 made 33 saves Friday night and 25 saves Saturday afternoon but delivered some inconsistent play.
The Big Green will attempt to rescue itself from the bottom of the ECAC on Friday, Feb. 8 at Rensselaer.
