Picking up its first wins of the season, the men’s hockey team had a busy break, playing seven games including an exciting Ledyard National Bank Classic hosted by the team in Hanover. The team came away from the action with two wins, three losses and a pair of ties.
After dropping its first six games in ECAC play, the Big Green (2-11-2, 2-8-0 ECAC) finally captured its first victory on the last day of November, defeating Harvard University 2-1 at home. Despite going down 1-0 to the Crimson (5-7-2, 2-6-2 ECAC) in the middle of the second period, Dartmouth rallied with the equalizer just three minutes later and Eric Neiley ’15 netted the game-winner with less than three minutes remaining in the third period.
“We had played well enough to win other nights, so it was good to finally see it come together,” head coach Bob Gaudet said in an interview with Dartmouth Sports.
Neiley has helped fill the void created by the departure of forward Matt Lindblad ’14, who left the team to sign with the Boston Bruins last spring. Neiley currently leads the team with 13 points from nine goals and four assists.
One week later, the team continued its success, defeating defending national champions Yale University 4-1 at Ingalls Rink in New Haven. The Big Green was in control for most of the action, tallying three goals in the first period and with goaltender Charles Grant ’16 making 40 saves to stifle the Bulldogs’ (7-3-4, 3-2-3 ECAC) attack.
The next night featured another great game, this time at Brown University, where Dartmouth fell 3-2 in overtime. The Big Green jumped out to a two-goal lead in the first but surrendered a pair in the third period before giving up the game-winner to the Bears (6-6-2, 3-4-1 ECAC) three minutes into the extra period.Its last tilt before an 18-day break came at Union College where the Big Green fell 3-2, again on the strength of two third-period goals from the Dutchmen (12-3-3, 8-1-0 ECAC).
“It came down to a few bounces of the up at the end, and unfortunately for us, they just didn’t happen to go our way,” Gaudet told Dartmouth Sports.
Despite the loss, Gaudet remained upbeat about his squad and noted its positive uptick. Earlier in the season, the Dartmouth men fell to the Dutchmen 7-2.
The team returned to action for the Ledyard National Bank Classic hosted at Thompson Arena featuring Providence College, Northeastern University and the United States Air Force Academy.
In its first round game, the Big Green matched up against No. 5 Providence College (13-3-4, 6-2-1 ECAC) and fell 3-2 in a thrilling back-and-forth game. Grant made a spectacular save on a Friars penalty shot in the third period to keep the Big Green in the game, but a late power play goal eventually downed Dartmouth.
The consolation game the next day against Northeastern University provided one of the wildest games of the season. The 8-8 tie saw 14 Dartmouth players record points as the team let a four-goal advantage slip away in the third period, including a pair of goals for the Huskies (11-6-3, 4-4-1 ECAC) with an extra attacker.
The team’s final contest of the break involved a trip across the Connecticut River to the University of Vermont (10-6-3, 4-5-0 ECAC) where the team recorded its second straight tie, ending up knotted at 1 with the Catamounts after 65 minutes. Forward Grant Opperman ’17 was the lone Dartmouth player to light the lamp in the game, which was Gaudet’s 800th career game as coach.
The team visits Hockey East powerhouse Boston University on Wednesday night.
