Dartmouth (3-2-1, 2-1-1 ECAC, 0-0 Ivy) entered Cheel Arena in Potsdam, N.Y., without a win on the road over Clarkson since 2005. This contest gave Dartmouth a much-needed win and proved to be head coach Bob Gaudet's biggest margin for victory over the Golden Knights since taking over the ice hockey program in 1988.
Dartmouth jumped to an early lead against the Golden Knights midway through the first period after Matt Lindblad '14 capitalized on a Golden Knight penalty to tally his second goal of the season.
"It was great to put one in there, but I was just glad we were scoring again," Lindblad said. "I mean, last weekend, we scored one goal. We scored as much in this game as we did in our four previous games combined."
Late in the period, Dustin Walsh '13 also caught the Golden Knights short-handed to bring the score at the end of the first period to 2-0.
The Big Green continued to flex its offensive muscle as Troy Mattila '12 picked up a loose puck in front of the net to give Dartmouth a 3-0 advantaged early in the second period.
Walsh tallied his second goal of the game midway through the second period, rifling a shot past Clarkson goalie Paul Karpowich to give Dartmouth a 4-0 lead.
Adam Estoclet '11 scored late in the second period after another rebound in front of the Clarkson net to give Dartmouth a 5-0 lead going into the third period.
The Dartmouth offensive machine continued into the third period as Nick Walsh '12 scored on another rebound and gave Dartmouth its sixth goal of the game.
Late in the game, defenseman Taylor Boldt '14 tallied his first collegiate goal for the Big Green. Boldt's goal brought the score to 7-0 in favor of the Big Green. Boldt said he was excited to score, but more excited about finally demonstrating some of the Dartmouth firepower on offense that has been missing in the past.
"Things were working for us tonight," Boldt said. "We finally played like we knew we could and we saw that on the scoreboard. I think things worked for us on offense, but what you might not see on a score sheet is how well we played on defense. We had an awesome game. James [Mello '12] played phenomenally again for us."
Mello allowed only one goal and stopped 34 of 35 shots, helping his team to its first ECAC win of the season.
Dartmouth was back in action on Saturday night as Saint Lawrence put pressure on Mello early in the contest and the Saints outshot Dartmouth in the first period.
It was the Big Green that would draw first blood as Fleming tallied the first goal of the night, giving Dartmouth a 1-0 lead.
The Big Green secured a 2-0 advantage late in the second period as Kyle Reeds '11 rebounded a loose puck into the back of the net.
The Saints finally capitalized on a power play early in the third period to bring the score to 2-1. Dartmouth responded less than two minutes later when Mike Keenan '13 slid the puck past St. Lawrence freshman goalie Matt Weninger's stick for his first collegiate goal for the Big Green.
"It was actually a really close game for the longest time," Lindblad said. "It was back and forth, but we ran away with it towards the end after Mike scored that third goal."
Keenan tallied his second goal of the game and collegiate career less than three minutes later to give Dartmouth a 4-1 advantage with just over 10 minutes to play in the game.
After Keenan's second goal, the Saints pulled Weninger in favor of sophomore back-up David Grilk. Grilk was greeted by Matt Reber '11, who scored on the first shot lobbied against the new goalie.
Rob Smith '10 scored a little over a minute later on Grilk's second shot of the game, bringing the score to 6-1.
Dartmouth held on to the win and capped the weekend with 13 goals, compared to only one notched in the two games played last weekend at Thompson Arena in Hanover. Lindblad said he was more than satisfied with his team's display of offensive and defensive might throughout the weekend.
"I think offensively, we played up to where we should be," Lindblad said. "We worked our systems and things went well, especially compared to last weekend when we scored one goal compared to thirteen this weekend. I also thought our defense played exceptional throughout the weekend and James was great back there."
The Big Green will be back in action next weekend with two road games at Quinnipiac University on Friday and Princeton University on Saturday.
