Dartmouth (7-5-1, 4-3-1 ECAC) found itself in an early hole, as the Catamounts (3-11-6, 2-6-2 Hockey East) clawed out a 1-0 lead. Dartmouth quickly found its feet, however, and proceeded to dominate the first period. They outshot, outhustled and outscored UVM 3-1, with two goals coming in the final three minutes of the period.
Sam Zeiss '15 notched her first collegiate goal off of a smooth backdoor pass from Abbie Lund '15, who also recorded her first collegiate point on the play.
The watershed moment of the first period came on a penalty kill for the Big Green, when Reagan Fischer '12 was sent to the box for tripping in the defensive zone. Dartmouth fought off all of the Catamounts' pressure and turned the tables on the visitors, taking the lead with a short-handed goal. Camille Dumais '13 was able to gather a loose puck at the red line and slide it to Ali Winkel '14, who was bolting down the middle of the ice. She deked, bringing the puck to her backhand, and sent it into the roof of the net to tally her fourth goal of the season.
Upon exiting the penalty box after the goal, Fischer almost instantly received a pass from Lisa Berreman '13 and darted toward the net, scoring to give the Big Green a two-goal lead.
The second period witnessed more of the same. Despite dominating play and numerous power play opportunities, the Big Green could only net one goal.
UVM grabbed a goal to put itself back in the game, but Dartmouth struck again toward the end of the period to restore its two-goal advantage. With just over a minute to go in the second, Dumais gathered the puck behind the net. She saw Jenna Hobeika '12 rushing hard and passed her the puck. Hobeika artfully one-timed the pass toward the far post and snuck it in to make it 4-2.
The first half of the third period was evenly matched, with both teams notching numerous scoring chances. Neither team was able to capitalize, however, with Dumais' empty-netter late in the period providing the only scoring. The key sequence came when Dartmouth fought off a five-on-three penalty kill and then earned a four-minute advantage. Although the Big Green was unable to capitalize on the extended power play, the momentum was squarely on its side.
After narrowly missing on its chances on the Catamounts' open net, the Big Green put the exclamation point on a big win when Dumais received a pass from Hobeika and wove through the sliding UVM defenders to pocket the puck in the empty net. It marked the second point of the night for Hobeika.
In its sole game over winter break, Dartmouth exploded for a season-high eight goals as it defeated the University of New Hampshire, 8-5, in Durham, N.H., on Dec. 11. The win avenged a Nov. 6 loss to the Wildcats (6-12-3, 0-6-2 Hockey East) and sent the players into the holiday break with high spirits.
UNH opened the scoring, but the Big Green quickly responded with a goal of its own, as Hobeika buried a rebound off a shot from Sasha Nanji '13 to capitalize on the power play and tie the game.
Dartmouth continued to capitalize on the power play, netting two more goals in the first period. Soon after Hobeika tied the game, Nanji intercepted a bad breakout pass at the offensive blue line and fired a pass to Erica Dobos '12, who was drifting across the hash marks and redirected the puck home.
After UNH had retaken the lead, Dobos again netted a power play goal off of an assist from Dumais with just under two minutes left in the first period. Dumais gathered a loose puck at the left circle and started towards the corner. She then dropped the puck for Dobos, who was able to bury the shot inside the near post.
Only 56 seconds later, Kelly Foley '12 picked off another bad UNH clearance and drifted to the high slot. Seeing that there was traffic in front of the net, she ripped off a shot and watched the puck sail into the net to give the Big Green a 4-3 lead to end a high-octane first period.Both teams settled down in the second period, and each only scored once.
The Wildcats scored first to tie the game on a penalty shot. After goalkeeper Lindsay Holdcroft '14 fought off a flurry of shots in a short period of time, Hobeika was penalized for covering the puck in the crease. UNH converted on the resulting penalty shot.
Three and a half minutes later, Nanji tallied a goal to put the Big Green back on top. Sally Komarek '13 and Dumais assisted on the goal to put the Big Green up 5-4, a lead that it held until the end of the period.
Four minutes into the third period, Brittany Mills '12 netted her first career goal to put the Big Green up by two. This goal, assisted by Dobos and Morgan Illikainen '15, proved to be decisive. With just over five and a half minutes remaining in the game, UNH cut the lead to one but was never able to tie the game.
Just over a minute later, Foley gained control of the puck and began a 3-on-1 rush up the ice. Foley drew the defender and slid the puck to Fischer who roofed the puck to re-establish the two-goal lead. Foley tallied her second goal to ice the game on an empty net with only 27 seconds left.
Foley said that the Big Green's eight-goal flurry put the Big Green in high spirits as it prepared for a lengthy break between games.
"It was a great way to start vacation," Foley said.
UNH plays on an Olympic-sized rink, which is larger than the Big Green's home ice in Thompson Arena. Foley said she believes the larger ice opened up the game and led to the 13 goals scored. She noted that the team needed to play tighter defensively and work on its shot-blocking to improve going forward.
"The D zone is always our focus," Foley said. "It was hard to control the game and the other team on the big ice."
According to Dobos, the team practiced every day except during exams until its final game of 2011 against UNH. Over the break, the team was given a six-day workout program by its trainers and was encouraged to get on the ice as much as possible to keep in shape.
Foley, who leads the Big Green in points and goals this season, was called up to the USA Hockey Women's Winter Training Camp from December 26-31 in Blaine, Minn. The camp served as a chance for the 41 invited players to impress the coaches in anticipation of the tryouts for the World Championships to be held this April in Burlington, Vt.
This was Foley's second time at a Team USA camp, having attended one this past August with teammate Holdcroft.
"It was awesome, especially in such an intimate group," Foley said. "It's really motivating to see myself among such talent. It's much different than college because the players are so quick and good."
Foley said that she improved during the camp, both as a hockey player and as a teammate. The physical workouts, two-hour practices and multiple games made her stronger and improved her hockey sense, she said, attributing this to the need to play better when matched against such talented athletes.
"Seeing better people interact with each other made me a better player," Foley said.
Dartmouth hits the road for games at Quinnipiac University and Princeton University this weekend before heading outdoors to battle Providence College at Fenway Park on Jan. 10.
