The Big Green (1-1-0) split its first games of the season, with a 2-1 loss to Yale (1-0-1) on Saturday following its win over Brown (1-1-0) on Friday. Princeton (0-1-1) tied Yale on Friday afternoon, 2-2, before falling to Brown on Saturday, 3-2, to round out the four-game Shootout.
Dartmouth came out strong against Brown early in the matchup, scoring on a first period goal by captain Mike Keenan '13 four minutes into the game. Dartmouth held a 1-0 lead until the third period, when a goal by Brown senior Jarred Smith knotted the score at one.
With under four minutes left in the game, Tyler Sikura '15 scored his first career goal to put the Big Green ahead by one. Dartmouth held the lead for the rest of the game, winning its first contest of the season.
Gaudet became only the 14th active coach in Division I hockey to win 300 games, a fact that eluded even many of his own players.
"To be honest with you, he's a really humble guy," goaltender James Mello '12 said. "He didn't say anything so most of us didn't even know it was his 300th win, but we were pretty pumped. It was a cool thing to be a part of."
Following the team's game plan proved crucial to the Big Green's play on Friday, Mello said.
"We were going to come out hard and play physically and get a feel for hockey again," Mello said. "Do the little things first and build off of that."
Dartmouth failed to replicate its performance on Saturday, however, losing 2-1 to the ninth-ranked Bulldogs.
After a scoreless first period, Yale took a 1-0 lead on a power play goal by junior Antoine Laganiere. Eric Neiley '15 responded with his first career goal to tie the game, before Yale senior Chad Ziegler capped the scoring with a goal late in the second period.
Yale held on to win the game with a scoreless third period.
Mello said that unlike in the game against Brown, the Big Green struggled to execute its game plan against the Bulldogs.
"Saturday we strayed away from [our game plan]," Mello said. "We kind of sat back on our heels a little bit in the second period so we have to work on playing a full 60 minutes of hockey."
Despite the loss, Mello said strong play from new additions like Sikura and Neiley has made the Big Green optimistic about its prospects this season.
"The freshmen were fantastic," Mello said. "We expect a lot out of them because we lost a lot of big performers from last season and they played great all weekend, [scoring] two out of the three goals."
The team was also pleased with its ability to compete with some of the top teams in the nation even before hitting midseason form.
"It was the first time we've played teams of high caliber [this season]," Mello said. "I thought it was a good start for us. We have a few things to tweak and change up but we're excited to get back next weekend."
Dartmouth plays Quinnipiac University on Friday night before its traditional home matchup against Princeton University on Saturday.
"Don't forget your tennis balls," Mello said.
