In a dash to the playoffs, men’s hockey took on two nationally ranked teams to close out the season, taking down No. 11 Cornell 1-0 but losing to No. 16 Colgate 2-1. Consequently, Dartmouth will travel to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute as the 10th seed for the first round of the ECAC Hockey Championship Tournament.
“I think the weekend went pretty well,” captain Tyler Sikura ’15 said. “We went to Cornell on Friday into a tough situation and [Charles Grant ’16] was amazing, making all the stops he needed to. Then on Saturday, we played a sloppy game but we were able to fight back to within a goal.”
Before a huge crowd, Friday’s game was a tale of two goalies. Senior Andy Iles broke Cornell’s all-time career saves record, but his night was bittersweet — Grant tallied his second career shutout. The last time Dartmouth shut out Cornell was Jan. 23, 1960.
Cornell (15-8-5, 11-7-4 ECAC) and Dartmouth (8-17-4, 7-13-2 ECAC) entered Friday night with a lot at stake. Cornell needed to win both weekend games to guarantee a first-round bye in the ECAC tournament, but Dartmouth dealt a serious blow. The Big Green also needed to win and have several other chips fall in place to earn the eighth seed and the right to host a playoff series next weekend.
“I treated this weekend like the playoffs,” Grant said. “If we won both games, we had a chance at winning home ice. I was just trying to perform playoff hockey and forget everything else I had coming up this week in school. I just focused on saving every puck and trying to get the win.”
Ultimately, the difference was Sikura, who scored the game’s only goal 1:54 into the second, netting a rebound from the slot. The goal proved to be Sikura’s second game-winner in three games, becoming the only Dartmouth player with more than one game-winning goal on the season.
“Against Cornell, you’re not going to get very many chances to score,” he said. “My line-mates did a great job of setting up the play, allowing me to push the puck past the goalie.”
After Sikura’s goal, Cornell’s offense kicked into action, taking 30 shots in the final two periods. Grant made impressive saves all game, deflecting wraparounds, putback attempts and close-range shots. Grant even stopped to a Cornell breakaway opportunity with an impressive save late in the second.
Neither team scored on the power play, as Dartmouth went 0-of-4 and Cornell finished 0-of-3.
Cornell has gone 8-1-1 against the Ivy League this season, with the only loss and tie coming against Dartmouth. Historically, Cornell has held the upper hand, going 7-0-3 in the last 10 meetings dating back to 2010. Friday’s game was Dartmouth’s first win at Cornell since 2008.
With the eighth seed on the line Saturday night, Dartmouth needed a win, a loss by Brown and a St. Lawrence University loss or tie to capture a home playoff series. Unfortunately, though Brown lost in the afternoon, St. Lawrence routed Princeton University 5-0, which meant Dartmouth would be traveling regardless of Saturday’s result.
Although Colgate had the superior record and looked stronger on paper, Dartmouth matched up well against Colgate all night. Neither team scored through the first 41 minutes.
Colgate struck in the third period with a shot from sophomore Tylor Spink before junior Joe Wilson netted the puck with over six minutes remaining to increase Dartmouth’s deficit to two.
Eric Neiley ’15 responded to Wilson’s goal with one of his own just 20 seconds later, cutting the deficit in half with 6:05 remaining. Dartmouth’s offense mounted a frantic comeback bid as time ticked down but could not score the equalizer against Raider’s senior Eric Mihalik.
Dartmouth’s loss snapped a five-game unbeaten streak, ultimately done in by a power play that went scoreless on six opportunities and Mihalik’s 34 saves. By comparison, Grant stopped 26 shots, and Colgate failed to capitalize on five power plays.
The team will head to RPI next weekend for a best-of-three series against the Engineers in the first round of the ECAC tournament.
