With a potential home playoff series at stake, Dartmouth played its final homestand of the season this weekend. Dartmouth (7-16-4, 6-12-2 ECAC) won 2-1 versus Brown University Friday night before sending the Class of 2014 off with a 3-3 tie in one of the season’s most exciting match-ups against No. 14 Yale University.
Thanks to the three point weekend, the Big Green sits in 10th place, just three points out of eighth. The team hits the road to play No. 13 Cornell University and No. 19 Colgate University in a tough slate of games. The team needs a weekend sweep to have a chance of hosting a playoff series at Thompson Arena.
Grant Opperman ’17 commended the seniors’ performance, saying he was glad that Eric Robinson ’14 will return next season. After suffering a shoulder injury in November, Robinson has received a medical waiver granting him a fifth-year of eligibility.
Coming off its first weekend sweep of the season, Dartmouth hoped to continue building momentum. Dartmouth, then 11th in the ECAC, was the only team in the conference that earned four points last week.
Tyler Sikura ’15, in his first home game back from injury, was the hero of Friday’s game. His second goal of the year could not have come at a more important time, as it won the showdown with Brown (11-13-3, 8-11-1 ECAC) just 51 seconds into overtime.
Brown, who has won just three of 14 games in a hostile arena, suffered from poor puck control and an inability to capitalize on scoring opportunities.
For much of the first period, both teams had scoring opportunities but could not put the puck in the net. Dartmouth dominated play for the first two periods before Brown fought back in the third.
Nick Bligh ’16 almost put Dartmouth on top five minutes into the game, getting the puck into the crease and beating senior goalie Marco De Filippo, but senior defenseman Jake Goldberg made the save just before the puck crossed the line. Tim O’Brien ’16 hit the post eight minutes left in the opening frame.
Dartmouth struck first with 13:44 left in the second when Brad Schierhorn ’16 redirected a point shot from Andy Simpson ’15 into the net for his seventh goal of the season.
Dartmouth was in the lead until junior Matt Lorito scored the equalizer 8:17 into the third. Lorito corralled the loose puck and shot it above the shoulder of Charles Grant ’16.
Neither team scored before regulation ended, sending the game into overtime. Just 51 seconds into the extra period, Sikura unleashed a slap shot from the point on a power play that flew past De Filippo into the net.
O’Brien dropped the puck to Opperman, who sent it across the ice to the captain, who unloaded the shot and sent the Big Green home winners.
Grant, who was named ECAC goaltender of the week, turned aside 24 shots, including nine in the third.
Brown has now dropped five of its last seven games, and sits eighth in the ECAC.
Dartmouth got off to a fast start Saturday night against Yale. From the beginning, Dartmouth outskated the visitors, playing the more physical game and taking more shots in the early going.
“It was a fun game from start to finish. The pace was good,” head coach Bob Gaudet said. “Both teams really played fundamental hockey.”
Dartmouth took a two-goal lead into the second, but Yale scored the next three goals. Simpson scored with just over 1:30 to play in the game. Neither team scored in the five minute overtime, leading to a 3-3 tie.
“It’s a little bittersweet,” Opperman said. “We took some penalties, but our kill did a good job all night. I don’t want to say that’s an excuse for a tie. It’s nice to get that late goal and get a point but you always want to win.”
Brandon McNally ’15 returned from his one game suspension on Saturday, joining Eric Neiley ’15 and Opperman on the first line. The trio dominated the early minutes of the game and nearly scored on the first shot.
Almost four minutes into the game, Neiley passed the puck to McNally, who sprinted down the ice for the potential breakaway. Instead of taking the shot, however, McNally passed the puck to Opperman, who flicked it into a wide-open net to put the Big Green up 1-0.
O’Brien scored, increasing Dartmouth’s lead to two, just 3:03 into the second.
Yale then mounted a furious comeback as senior Jesse Root scored and just over a minute later, sophomore Cody Learned netted the equalizer.
Yale took the lead at the midway point of the third and the teams traded opportunities until Simpson saved the game with an equalizer with 1:26 remaining in the game. His shot flew through a screen and buried itself in the back of the net, sending the game into overtime and the crowd at Thompson into a massive uproar.
Yale dominated the extra period, taking five shots, but Grant turned away each one. Yale threw 42 shots at Grant, who made 39 saves. By comparison, Dartmouth took 27.
Following the game, Dartmouth honored its seniors with a small ceremony on the ice.
“I thought we had a great weekend,” defenseman Taylor Boldt ’14 said. “but there’s also a sad feeling that there’s a chance I’ll never play here again.”
