The Big Green (7-4-1, 11-6-2 ECAC) opened play on Friday night in Schenectady, N.Y., with its matchup against Union (16-7-3, 8-3-1 ECAC). The Dutchmen entered the game perched above the Big Green in both the U.S. College Hockey Online coaches' rankings and the ECAC standings.
Dartmouth struck early in the first period, after a penalty by Union's sophomore defenseman Ryan Forgaard offered a power play opportunity. Connor Goggin '12 stopped the puck on the offensive blue line and passed to Dustin Walsh '13, who shoveled the puck to his brother, Nick Walsh '12. Nick Walsh then passed to Mike Keenan '13, who shot and picked up his own rebound to give the Big Green a one-goal advantage in the game's third minute.
The Big Green went on the power play again four minutes later, when Forgaard committed another penalty.
Dartmouth again capitalized on the man-advantage, this time through a goal by captain Scott Fleming '11. Dutchmen sophomore goalie Keith Kinkaid pushed aside a shot by assistant captain Adam Estoclet '11, but Fleming was in position to put the rebound into the net and give the Big Green a two-goal advantage.
Dartmouth's offense converted again less than three minutes later, when Paul Lee '12 and Rob Smith '10 teamed up for another Big Green goal. The goal was Smith's third goal in the last four games.
The Big Green held the Dutchmen scoreless through the first period, but Union finally found an answer to Dartmouth's defense midway through the second period. Sophomore forward Kyle Bodie scored past goalie James Mello '12, cutting the Big Green advantage to 3-1 heading into the third period.
Although the final frame was a back and forth battle between the two teams, the Big Green kept Union off the scoreboard for the rest of the game. Fleming capped the victory with an empty net goal late in the period, completing the victory. It was Fleming's tenth goal of the season and his second of the game.
In upsetting the Dutchmen, the Big Green also snapped Union's four-game winning streak and dealt the Dutchmen their first home loss of the season, with Mello saving a season-high 39 saves in the victory.
The Big Green was back in action on Saturday in Troy, N.Y., facing the 14th-ranked Engineers (15-6-3, 7-5-0 ECAC) in another ECAC matchup.
After enjoying success on both ends of the ice the previous night, the Big Green quickly fell behind RPI. The Engineers' senior forward Joel Malchuk was able to slip a rebound past Mello, giving RPI a one-goal advantage.
Despite Dartmouth's success against the Dutchmen on Friday, the Big Green's power play unit was unable to capitalize on three RPI penalties in the first period.
RPI senior forward Chase Polacek made the Big Green pay on the power play, knocking the puck past Mello deep in the Dartmouth defensive zone to double the Engineers' lead.
Freshman forward Brock Higgs and junior forward Alex Angers-Goulet also added two more goals for RPI later in the period, putting Dartmouth in a deep 4-0 hole.
Although the Big Green continued to fight, they could not find an answer to RPI junior goalie Allen York and went into the second intermission scoreless.
The Big Green finally got on the scoreboard early in the third period. Assistant captain Evan Stephens '11 passed to Doug Jones '12, who pushed the puck forward to an open Eric Robinson '14. Robinson slid the puck past York, scored and cut RPI's advantage to three.
"I scored three minutes into the period, and we know we are a team that could score quickly, but I think RPI just weathered the storm," Robinson said. "We won the next three of four shifts and we had them on their heels. But we made one mental mistake and they took the wind out of our sails."
That mistake led to another RPI goal later in the period and the Engineers held onto win, 5-1, snapping a four-game Big Green win streak.
"I think it's one of those things where people ask, What have you done lately?'" Robinson said. "You can't say, Well, we lost Saturday, but we played well Friday.' We know that every game counts no matter when or who we play."
Dartmouth will return to Thompson Arena next weekend to play two important games. The Big Green will face Ivy League and ECAC foe Cornell University on Friday at 7 p.m. and ECAC rival Colgate University on Saturday at 7 p.m.
