Dartmouth (0-2-0, 0-1-0 ECAC Hockey) came back from Boston after its tough opener and overcame an early 2-0 deficit to force overtime against Vermont (3-2-1, 0-2-0 Hockey East), who is currently ranked No. 14 nationally.
Defenseman Joe Stejskal '11 scored the equalizer with 2:28 left to go in the third period, as the Big Green took advantage of its fifth power play of the game. Stejskal took a pass from Josh Gillam '10 and stuffed the puck past Vermont goalie Rob Madore.
As a freshman last season, Stejskal scored one goal and had four assists, while Gillam had seven goals and eight assists in his sophomore campaign.
"It was exciting at the time," Stejskal said. "Then, we went from a complete high to a low."
The Big Green couldn't pull through with a win, however, as Justin Milo scored the game-winning goal for Vermont 2:12 into the overtime period. Milo took advantage of a scramble for the puck in front of the Dartmouth goal, taking the puck and tucking it under the crossbar for the game-winner.
"We battled right down to the final goal in overtime -- it was a shot away," head coach Bob Gaudet said.
The Big Green spent nearly the entire game fighting from behind as the Catamounts jumped out to an early lead. Vermont freshman winger Matt Marshall scored the first goal 8:07 into the first period when he received a pass in the low slot and beat Dartmouth goalie Dan Goulding '09.
Then Vermont senior assistant captain Corey Carlson scored two minutes later when junior Colin Vock found him open in front of the net. The goal gave the Catamounts the early two-goal lead, despite being out-shot in the period, 12-10.
Adam Estoclet '11 scored Dartmouth's first goal with 20 seconds to go in the first period to narrow the margin to one at the first intermission. He buried the putback after Connor Goggin '12's shot bounced directly to him. Goggin and Doug Jones '12 were both credited with assists on the play, their first collegiate points.
Estoclet had three goals and four assists as a freshman last season.
The second period was played evenly as Vermont had the slight advantage in shots, 10-8, but no goals were scored in the period.
Dartmouth applied more pressure in the third period, searching for the equalizer. The team found it on the powerplay with Stejskal's goal that sent the game into overtime.
The Big Green out-shot the Catamounts, 33-28, due largely to a 13-6 advantage in the third period. Dartmouth, howerver, fired no shots during the overtime period. Vermont, on the other hand, took four shots during overtime before scoring.
Dan Goulding '09 was in the net for the Big Green and had 25 saves in the loss.
"We played a really good game against a team that has played a lot of hockey games and has beaten some really good teams," Gaudet said. "They have an edge on us in game experience."
Vermont started its season earlier than Dartmouth since the Ivy League squads start play late. Vermont has had more time to develop its underclassmen and its game strategy.
Dartmouth opened its season against No. 20 Harvard (1-0-0. 1-0-0 ECAC Hockey) on Friday in Boston with a third-period meltdown. The teams were tied, 1-1, going into the final stanza when Harvard netted two goals against goalie Jody O'Neill '12 and an empty-net goal with four seconds to go to finish off the Big Green.
The Crimson opened the scoring just after the halfway point of the first period when Harvard sophomore Pier-Olivier Michaud took the puck out of a scramble in front of Dartmouth's goal and stuffed it past O'Neill.
The only goal for the Big Green was scored by Scott Fleming '11 just a few minutes later. The puck came off of a rebound from a shot taken by Estoclet, and Fleming was able to hit it home.
His goal was scored with 5:06 remaining in the first period as the Big Green scored on its third power play chance of the game.
The second period was again a cagey, evenly matched affair as neither team was able to knock in a goal.
Harvard's goals during the third period were scored on the power play.
The last Crimson goal took advantage of the Big Green open net as Gaudet pulled O'Neill with two minutes to go as the team tried to eliminate the two-goal deficit. O'Neill had 27 saves during the game.
Harvard freshman Matt Hoyle played in the goal for Harvard and made 30 saves. On Monday he was named the Eastern College Athletic Conference Hockey Goaltender of the Week after his performance.
The team will now look to the weekend where it hopes its luck will change against ECAC Hockey competition.
"We have two losses, but we've been working really hard and have a lot of potential," O'Neill said. "Things are going to start clicking soon."
Coach Gaudet has switched up the goalie during each game and is still unsure of who will be in the net this weekend. James Mello '12, the other goalie on the team, has not played yet in a regular season game but split time with Goulding and O'Neill in preseason. Despite these season-opening losses, the team still has high expectations for the next games.
"We'll be playing hard, and we'll prepare during the week," Goulding said. "The only expectation is to get two points -- to get a win."
The puck will drop again this weekend as Dartmouth plays Union College (3-1-1, 0-0-0 ECAC Hockey) at 7 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 7 in Albany, N.Y. The Big Green will then stay in Albany to play Rensselaer (1-4-1, 0-0-0 ECAC Hockey) at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 8.
