Friday's game began well for the Big Green (1-2-1, 0-1-1 ECAC, 0-0 Ivy) offense, as the team outshot the Engineers 14-5 in the first period.
Despite the pressure, it was RPI that drew first blood. The Engineers' leading scorer, Chase Polacek, capitalized on a rebound in front of the net and gave RPI a 1-0 advantage.
The Big Green brought the score back to even, however, as Jason Bourgea '13 blistered the equalizing goal over the glove of RPI's goalie Allen York.
Bourgea, who did not tally a point in his rookie season for the Big Green, currently leads the team with two goals and one assist through four games. Bourgea accredits his newfound success to a boost in confidence.
"To play like I know I can, I think I need to play with some confidence in myself," Bourgea said. "That first assist against Princeton [University] and the goal against Yale [University] really helped me get some of that back and hopefully this will help me and the team in the future."
Head coach Bob Gaudet said he was more than satisfied with his team's play in the first period.
"Overall, I thought we played a pretty good first period of hockey, but we didn't take that into the second or the third," Gaudet said.
The second period opened quickly and an RPI goal just 58 seconds into the frame may have robbed the Big Green of any momentum it had heading into the period.
The rest of the period was very much back and forth, but the Big Green offensive firepower that was so prominent in the first period had dissipated, as the Engineers outshot the Big Green 11-3.
Things began to really look grim for Dartmouth early in the third period when RPI capitalized on a Dartmouth penalty with a goal, bringing the score to 3-1.
The final goal of the game came with almost 10 minutes left in the contest after an RPI penalty, when Polacek notched a short-handed goal, his second of the game.
Assistant captain Evan Stephens '11 said he was disappointed with the loss, but remained optimistic about the team and the prospects of the season.
"Obviously, it was not the start we had hoped for, but I think we have a pretty good team this year," Stephens said. "We as leaders have to step up a little bit more. Things just did not really bounce our way tonight."
The Big Green was back in action on Saturday night against Union College at Thompson Arena.
This time, it was Dartmouth's goaltender James Mello '12 who stole the show.
In the first period, Dartmouth had several opportunities that just missed, including shots by Stephens, captain Scott Fleming '11 and Jim Gaudet '12. Mello came up with 10 saves and the score remained even going into the second period.
Mello faced another barrage of shots in the second period, however, but he remained up to the challenge, logging 12 more saves and leaving the Dutchmen scoreless.
Mello's greatest challenge would come late in the third period, however, when Union forward Luke Cain had two consecutive shots on goal that drew Mello from his net. Luckily for the Big Green, defenseman Taylor Boldt '14 saved what would have been the game-winning goal, slapping a loose puck away from the net and allowing Mello to regain his positioning on the ice.
At the end of regulation, the score remained 0-0 and the game headed to overtime.
Mello recorded two more stops to bring the game to a 0-0 tie, only the third 0-0 tie in the school's 105-year hockey history.
Mello also recorded the first shutout of his Dartmouth career with 37 saves in the contest.
"It was fun to get out there and give the fans something to see," Mello said. "It was fun for me and I'm glad we were able to come away with a point."
Coach Gaudet continued to praise his team's ability to bounce back after a tough loss on Friday.
"Union is one of the better teams in the country and I thought our guys played a very consistent 65 minutes of hockey," Gaudet said. "We didn't give them a lot to work with and it was nice to salvage the point this weekend after losing last night. I thought we played very disciplined and we're learning more and more about our team after each game."
The Big Green will be back in action next weekend with a pair of road games against Clarkson University and St. Lawrence University.
