Although Dartmouth carried the momentum in the opening period against Quinnipiac, it was unable to find an answer to Bobcats' sophomore goaltender Eric Hartzell, who kept Dartmouth scoreless in the first period.
Alex Goodship '13 put the Big Green on the board first, scoring a short-handed goal less than three minutes into the second period. Goodship picked off a Quinnipiac pass deep in the Dartmouth zone and skated in alone, putting the puck between Hartzell's legs for the goal.
"I was not really trying to score, I was trying to put the puck off his pads and pick up a rebound, and I kind of botched it a little bit," Goodship said. "He thought I was going far post and I just put it between his pads."
Nick Walsh '12 picked up the second Dartmouth goal later in the period, tipping a Joe Stejskal '11 shot in front of the net to give the Big Green a two-goal advantage heading into the second intermission.
The Bobcats refused to surrender, however, and picked up a goal with less than six minutes remaining in the contest. Freshman forward Connor Jones was able to slip a shot by James Mello '12 to bring the score to 2-1.
The Big Green held on with a solid defensive performance and secured the victory with just over a minute left in the contest, when Paul Lee '12 picked up an empty-net goal to cap the scoring.
"I think we played a great game," head coach Bob Gaudet said. "We kept it simple and played very disciplined tonight. We also got some very timely goals, especially from guys like Goodship."
With the victory, the Big Green moved into third place in the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference standings.
Dartmouth then prepared to face Princeton on Saturday in front of a sellout crowd at Thompson Arena.
Dartmouth thoroughly dominated the Tigers from the drop of the puck, carrying the momentum and channeling the crowd's energy throughout the contest.
The Big Green's first break came six minutes into the game, when assistant captain Adam Estoclet '11 picked up his ninth goal of the season after burying a pass from assistant captain Evan Stephens '11.
"It was just a great pass from Stephens, and I was in the right place to bury it," Estoclet said.
Following tradition, hundreds of students launched tennis balls from all angles at Princeton's freshman goalie Sean Bonar and the Princeton bench following the goal, although Gaudet made an announcement from the bench after the score asking students and fans to stop throwing the balls, as it would result in a delay of game penalty for the Big Green.
Dustin Walsh '13 notched another goal for the Big Green just 15 seconds later, increasing the score to 2-0. Again, students barraged the ice with tennis balls and Dartmouth was called for a two-minute bench minor penalty for delay of game.
Princeton senior Mike Kramer scored late in the first period to cut the lead in half, bringing the Tigers back into the game.
Dartmouth maintained a one-goal advantage until Matthew Lindblad '14 broke the game open for the Big Green, burying a loose puck in front of the net for his first goal of the contest. Tennis balls again came out and Dartmouth was forced to fend off another penalty, receiving another bench minor against a usually very successful Princeton power play.
The Big Green dominated the remainder of the game on both sides of the ice, but struggled to put the puck past Bonar.
Midway through the third period, however, Lindblad picked up his second goal of the game to give the Big Green a three-goal advantage.
"The atmosphere tonight was unbelievable," Lindblad said. "We loved the support from the school and the town. We are just trying to take things one shift at a time and working towards our goal."
With the win, the Big Green remains in third place in the ECAC and is in prime position for both conference playoff positioning and an NCAA tournament berth.
The Big Green will hit the road this weekend to take on Colgate University in Hamilton, N.Y., on Friday, and Ivy League-foe Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., on Saturday.
