On Friday, however, the Dartmouth squad (7-17-1, 5-12-1 ECAC Hockey) played to its self-proclaimed Winter Carnival motto "We came, we saw, we collapsed" in a 5-4 meltdown to No. 16 Union College.
The Big Green remains in second-to-last place in the ECAC standings with 11 points after earning its first victory since beating Quinnipiac University, 4-3, on Jan. 29, while the Dutchmen (16-8-6, 10-4-4 ECAC Hockey) have fallen to second place with 24 points.
Gaudet on a two-on-two with Andrew Owsiak '11 drilled the puck into the net off the shoulder of freshman goaltender Bryce Merriam to finish the comeback effort.
Less than one minute earlier, Troy Mattila '12 tied the game at 3-3 after netting an unassisted goal, his first of the season.
Catalyzing the Big Green comeback effort, Paul Lee '12 swung the puck around the net to Nick Walsh '12, who notched his fourth goal of the season 2:22 into the third period.
Despite outshooting RPI by a 39-30 margin, the Big Green went 0-6 on the man-advantage, even wasting a five-minute power play opportunity.
Allen York started the game in net for RPI before coming out due to injury at the end of the first. Jody O'Neill '12 earned the start for Dartmouth, posting his 18th start and sixth win of the season.
Junior Chase Polacek potted a hat trick during the second frame to bury the Big Green, 3-1, after Kyle Reeds '11 put Dartmouth on the board with 48.6 seconds remaining in the first period.
"In the second period, the puck was really going my way," Polacek said. "I got a couple of really good looks that found the back of the net."
RPI's Polacek leads the ECAC with 41 points and is tied for first with 20 goals so far this season.
After jumping to an early 4-0 lead within the first 7:20 of Friday's loss to Union, the Big Green allowed five unanswered goals throughout the second and third frames to erase the lead.
Dutchman freshman Kyle Bodie notched Union's winning goal with 2:45 remaining in the game, as Dartmouth failed to crush the comeback effort.
"The third period becomes a battle a puck off the backboard comes in short side and it's a tough break," Big Green head coach Bob Gaudet said. "I don't think that we were picked apart, which is the frustrating thing for me as a coach."
Forced to kill off a holding penalty with 2:28 remaining in the third period, the Big Green could not recover from the wasted lead.
Outshot by a margin of 43-19 during the game, the Big Green only recorded two shots in the third frame, compared to the 16 taken by the Dutchmen.
Union's first two goals came in power-play situations in the second period, but the Dutchmen did not tie the game up until the third period, when sophomore Luke Cain notched a goal at 13:47.
With Adam Estoclet '11 potting Dartmouth's first goal on the power play just 53 seconds into the first frame, the Big Green notched four goals on its first five shots forcing a Union goalie change just over six minutes into the game.
Lee potted his second collegiate goal 5:37 into the first while Owsiak and assistant captain Scott Fleming '11 also added to the initial Dartmouth lead.
This was Owsiak's first goal of the season. He notched eight goals last year.
"We put them on their heels early in the first period, which we didn't really get a chance to do the first time [we faced them]," captain Peter Boldt '10 said. "It is tough when you go up on a team really early by a lot of goals because there is a tendency to be a little complacent."
James Mello '12 earned the start in net against Union, posting 38 saves. He now has a save percentage of .919.
Both teams capitalized on two power-play opportunities, as the Big Green went 2-4 and the Dutchmen went 2-6.
Earlier this season, Dartmouth defeated the Dutchmen, surprising them 3-1 in an upset win after falling to the Engineers, 2-1.
"We have beaten them before, and we know we can play them tough," Boldt said. "Confidence isn't really an issue going into games it's the confidence in our ability to pull a game off."
Dartmouth finishes its home stand this weekend, meeting Colgate University at 7 p.m. on Friday, and No. 8 Cornell University at 7 p.m. on Saturday.
Earlier this season, the Big Green fell to the Big Red, 5-1, and the Raiders, 3-2.
"They are both really good teams, but we played both of them pretty tight earlier," Joe Gaudet said. "We are feeling good and playing our best hockey now."
