Although it was charged with three delay-of-game penalties due to a continuous flood of tennis balls from Big Green fans, the Dartmouth men's hockey team handily defeated Princeton University, 5-3, in front of almost 4,000 spectators on Saturday. The win capped a weekend sweep for the Big Green (3-2, 2-0 ECAC), which defeated Quinnipiac University, 5-4, with a late comeback effort on Friday.
Alex Goodship '13 notched Dartmouth's first goal just three minutes into the first period against Princeton (1-3-1, 1-2 ECAC), ushering the night's initial flurry of tennis balls onto the ice. The Tigers had scored within the first 44 seconds of Saturday's game.
Dustin Walsh '13 scored just a few minutes later to secure the Big Green's lead, and the Tigers never recovered. Eric Robinson '14 scored early in the second period to increase the score margin to 3-1.
After Princeton narrowed the score to 3-2 late in the second period, Tyler Sikura '15 put Dartmouth up 4-2 with just over six minutes remaining in the game. Walsh artfully skated around multiple defenders before delivering the puck to Sikura for the score.
"It was a lot of fun," Sikura said. "But it doesn't really matter who scores [the game-winning goal] though, as long as we got the win."
Ironically enough, Sikura's game-winning shot was the only Big Green goal of the evening that did not provoke an outpouring of tennis balls.
The Tigers threatened to mount a comeback by exploiting a two-man advantage at the end of the third period. Princeton almost scored with 4:30 left, but the play was reviewed and deemed a no-goal due to high-sticking.
The Tigers continued to fight with the two-man advantage, as a goal by Princeton junior Rob Kleebaum brought the score to 4-3 with 4:16 remaining in the game. The goal was Princeton's second power-play goal of the night.
Brandon McNally '15 sealed the 5-3 win for the Big Green after redirecting the puck into the net off an assist from Walsh with 16.7 seconds remaining in the game. The score marked McNally's first collegiate goal.
Princeton outshot Dartmouth over the course of the game, 39-30. Big Green goalie James Mello '12 stopped 36 shots, elevating his save percentage to .920 after the season's first four games.
Dartmouth killed off seven of the Tigers' nine powerplays, and did not give up any goals during the delay-of-game penalties.
"I thought we battled really hard killing those penalties," Big Green head coach Bob Gaudet said. "It's tough it takes a lot out of us. I was proud of the guys."
Dartmouth is 0-15 this season on its own powerplay, however, and failed to take advantage of three opportunities against Princeton.
"We need to continue to work on it," Gaudet said. "Powerplay-wise, I would like to think Matt Lindblad ['14] is one of the best guys in the League, and so is Doug Jones ['12]. If those guys were healthy, it would help."
In another close game on Friday night, Connor Goggin '12 led the Big Green to a 5-4 victory over Quinnipiac (7-3-1, 1-1-1 ECAC).
The Bobcats drilled two goals passed Mello before Dartmouth's offense orchestrated a goal late in the first period.
Nick Walsh '12 tied the game at four with less than two minutes remaining in the third period, and Goggin scored the go-ahead goal 28 seconds later.
Dartmouth has proved itself in the latter halves of games this season, as the team scored three of its five goals against the Bobcats in the third period and notched two third-period goals against the Tigers on Saturday.
"They were both very good early-season games for our team," Gaudet said. "We found a way to have really good third periods. Even the weekend before [against Brown University and Yale University], I thought we were really good in the third period. They were good character wins."
Registering a goal and an assist against Quinnipiac, Walsh added another goal and two assists against Princeton. He now leads the Big Green squad in scoring with two goals and five assists.
Several underclassmen are tied for second in scoring, with Sikura, Robinson and McNally each tallying four points so far this season.
"They are very quick teams, both of them, but very different teams," Gaudet said.
Dartmouth faces Colgate University and Cornell University at home next weekend in a pair of ECAC matchups.
"It's always a tough weekend," Gaudet said. "Cornell is a very disciplined, hard-working, typically a physically strong team and Colgate is a very good all-around team and offensive team. We got a couple of good wins for our team in the League this weekend so we go into next weekend and we're just going to continue to progress."
The Big Green faces off against the Raiders (5-3-1, 1-1 ECAC) on Friday at 7 p.m., before confronting the Big Red (1-2, 1-1 ECAC) at 7 p.m. on Saturday.
