Dartmouth captain Rob Pritchard '09 was awarded a penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct 17:21 into the third period with Adam Estoclet '11 already in the penalty box for hooking at 17:02. Union (12-12-2, 5-8-1 ECAC Hockey), down 2-0, pulled its goalie to create a six-on-three offensive advantage, allowing Dutchman defenseman Lane Caffaro to score at 17:36.
The penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct proved to be controversial, as the game was halted so Big Green Coach Bob Gaudet '79 and Pritchard could speak to the referees who refused to reverse or explain their call.
Coach Gaudet, after the game, said he still does not know the cause of the penalty call.
"What's really tough is that I'm an educator. That's my profession, and all I really want to know is how to educate my guys and what exactly happened -- I think that's only fair," he said. "I don't know exactly what happened. I have no real information on it. All I have is a sheet of paper."
Relations between the Dartmouth coaching staff and the referees did not improve as Gaudet tried to call a time out to adjust to the strengthened Union offensive force after the two penalties.
This timeout was not awarded, and Dartmouth quickly lost its lead.
"I guess they looked the other way on that," Gaudet said. "It would be nice if they were a little bit closer so they could see. A lot of times in other sports, the referee likes to look at the coach."
Less than a minute after the Dutchmen's first goal, Union scored again to tie the game up 2-2 and force an overtime period.
Both teams took three shots in the overtime period, though neither was able to find the back of the net.
Union almost doubled Dartmouth's shot count on the night. Dartmouth goaltender Jody O'Neill '12 had 48 saves, while Union goalie Corey Milan had 25.
O'Neill now has a save percentage of 0.931 and is ranked fourth in the ECAC Hockey League in that statistic.
"He played great -- I honestly thought it could have been a shutout for him," Gaudet said.
Dartmouth's two goals of the night were scored by Peter Boldt '10 in the first period and Pritchard at the beginning of the third.
The victory against RPI (6-18-2, 5-8-1 ECAC Hockey) on Friday night was a better offensive showing for Dartmouth, as the Big Green took 30 shots and scored on five of them.
Dartmouth's third goal of the night, scored by Scott Fleming '11 5:30 into the third period of play, allowed Dartmouth to secure the win.
Fleming scored two goals against RPI when the two teams met in early November, helping Dartmouth beat RPI by the same 5-2 score. He has scored three of his eight goals this season against RPI.
"I couldn't tell you," Fleming said, when asked about his trend in scoring against RPI. "I really don't have a reason for that. I just know that I like playing them. [Connor] Goggin stepped up, we had a two on one and split the defense -- I was patient and put it in the top corner."
Dartmouth's fifth goal of the night was scored by Kyle Reeds '11 during a penalty kill in the third period to put the last nail in the Engineers' coffin. Reeds' only other two goals of the season were also scored short-handed -- both against Army last December.
"There were some big goals -- the play that Kyle Reeds ['11] had on the penalty kill was great," Gaudet said. "We battled hard and did a great job defensively. Obviously, the backbreaker was the shorthanded goal we got. We played with a lot of energy and emotion."
Joe Gaudet '10 put Dartmouth on the scoreboard just 28 seconds into the first period, assisted by Doug Jones '12 and Andrew Owsiak '11.
Gaudet then took a hard hit and sat out for the rest of the weekend as a precaution.
The win against RPI allowed Dartmouth to rebound from earlier ties against Holy Cross and Harvard.
After the games against RPI and Union, Dartmouth is now tied with Princeton for third in the ECAC Hockey League, trailing Cornell (14-3-4, 9-2-3 ECAC Hockey) and Yale (15-5-1, 10-3-1 ECAC Hockey).
"We're proving that we're not an 11th place team," Coach Gaudet said. "There's a lot of passion and a lot of buzz -- we're getting better."
Dartmouth was picked to finish 11th out of 12 in the ECAC Hockey League by pre-season polls.
The Big Green will return to the ice this weekend against Brown at 7 p.m. on Friday in Providence, R.I., and Yale at 7 p.m. on Saturday in New Haven, Conn.
