The Big Green men's hockey team earned its first two victories of the season in a weekend that saw the team amass 10 goals over two games. The Big Green dispatched both Union College and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute by identical scores of 5-2 in a road trip to New York state.
Dartmouth (2-2-0, 2-1-0 ECACHL) started out strong against Union College (3-2-0, 0-1-0 ECACHL) Friday night, scoring its first three goals in the first period of play.
Scott Fleming '11 scored the first goal for Dartmouth just 54 seconds into the first period, drilling the puck into the net after receiving a pass from Jim Gaudet '12, who earned an assist.
Andrew Owsiak '11 scored the Big Green's second goal during a two-on-one rush with seven minutes remaining in the first period. He took the shot after connecting on a pass from Adam Estoclet '11.
With 1:11 remaining in the first period, Fleming scored again during a Dartmouth power play. This was his first multiple-goal game of the season.
Fleming was Dartmouth's leading scorer this weekend with four goals. With five goals after only four games, Fleming is tops for the Big Green. He is off to a strong start and has improved from the 2007-08 season, in which he scored six goals during the entire season.
The Union squad came back after its first period defensive failure, scoring two goals during the second period of play. The goals were scored by Adam Presizniuk and Lane Caffaro, enabling Union to enter the third period trailing by only one.
Despite out-shooting Dartmouth, 49-37, Union failed to score during the third period against Dartmouth goalie Jody O'Neill '12. O'Neill now has a save percentage of .935 for the season.
Dartmouth finished Union off with two crowd-silencing goals during the third period.
Stejskal scored the first goal eight minutes in. Captain Rob Pritchard '09 then scored with under three minutes left in the game to seal the victory for the Big Green and end Union's three-game winning streak. It was Pritchard's first goal of the season.
Defenseman Stejskal has four goals so far this season, after scoring only one goal during the 2007-08 season of play.
Friday's win was crucial for the team after two early losses against Harvard and the University of Vermont last weekend.
"It's good to get things turned back around in the right direction," O'Neill said. "We learned some lessons and applied them in the games this weekend. It puts us right back in the swing of things."
This could mark a turnaround for Dartmouth's season, as the Big Green went on to win Saturday's contest against RPI. Dartmouth came into the weekend on the heels of two straight defeats.
"We have a lot of young players in the lineup, so getting that first game enabled us to be more confident for the second," Fleming said.
Dartmouth defeated RPI (2-6-1, 1-2-0 ECACHL) on Saturday, capitalizing on power-play opportunities to win, 5-2.
Fleming scored the first goal for Dartmouth five minutes into the first period. He was assisted by Jim Gaudet '12 and Joe Gaudet '10.
RPI then came back to tie up the game with less than four minutes remaining in the period, as the puck slipped by goalkeeper O'Neill.
The intermission between periods allowed the Big Green to regroup and adjust. After the break, Stejskal scored two goals in the second period during power play opportunities.
Though RPI was able to score once more during the frame on a penalty-kill situation for Dartmouth, the Big Green maintained a one-goal lead going into the third period.
Dartmouth took advantage of a power play again with 13 minutes left in the third period, as defenseman Evan Stephens '11 drilled a top-shelf shot into the net. Fleming then scored again on an empty net to finish off RPI and secure the win.
O'Neill continued to inspire confidence in the net, making 26 saves against RPI. It will be interesting to see if head coach Bob Gaudet will continue to rotate through net-minders, or if Dartmouth is ready to settle on a starting goalie.
The Big Green scored first in both games this weekend, which enabled Dartmouth to establish its offensive presence early and put pressure on the opponent to come back from a deficit.
"It is really important to set the tone early," Stejskal said. "We also don't want to have a good start and then taper off. We want to stay consistent throughout the game, and we have done that."
Dartmouth hopes to continue its consistent play as the squad heads into games against St. Lawrence University at 7 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 14 and Clarkson University at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 15 in Hanover.
