Original Article: http://dartreview.com/archives/2006/03/03/indian_hockey_wins_conference_title.php
Friday, March 3, 2006
This year’s Dartmouth hockey team knows how to perform under pressure. The team’s first league win came four games into the regular season with a blistering 6–1 victory over Cornell, then ranked number three in the nation. After the early-season slide, Dartmouth rallied to win the next fourteen of its eighteen Eastern College Athletic Conference games, with only two ties and two losses. Captain Mike Ouellette feels that the early slide made the team hungry, saying that “I think a lot of people gave up on us earlier this year. We, however, were a determined and focused group that just kept pushing ourselves to improve. I think the adversity we faced earlier in the season has actually made us a better team in the long run and has made us more hungry.” Moments like Tanner Glass’s goal in the Princeton game with just over a minute left to play in sudden-death overtime certainly prove Ouellette’s point, and have come to define the way that the team plays hockey this year—when things need to get done, they get done. In all, it has been the most exciting season of hockey at Dartmouth in recent memory, and more is on the way. After two wins last weekend, the Dartmouth team took the number one seed in the upcoming ECAC playoffs and captured the William J. Cleary Cup as ECAC regular season co-champions with Colgate.
While this past weekend was the one that clinched the top seed for Dartmouth, the weekend before was the one that put them in a position to be number one. On February 17th and 18th, Dartmouth was slated to play Cornell and Colgate, then the number one and two teams in the league respectively. The team needed at least one win on the road trip to stay in the hunt.
The Friday game did not go as planned for Dartmouth, as penalties allowed the Big Red to go up by two scores after the first period—both goals were scored off of ricochets. The only Dartmouth score of the evening came in the second period when Nick Johnson ’08 stole a Cornell puck at center ice and fed it to freshman Rob Pritchard for the first shorthanded goal of his career. However, Cornell was able to revenge the score when they snuck one by Mike Devine late in the second period. While the Indians had ample opportunities to score in the final period, out-shooting Cornell 11–6, Dartmouth was unable to score further, leaving the final score at 3–1. At the moment, it seemed like the team was out of the running for the ECAC title and they needed a win the next evening to maintain a firm hold on third place.
Saturday the team rallied to put themselves into a tie for second in the ECAC with a spectacular 3–0 win over Colgate. Goaltender Mike Devine recorded the first shut-out of his career making 21 saves on the night. But the Dartmouth offense also deserves ample credit, as the team out-shot the Colgate Raiders 30–21 and scored a goal in every period of play. Nick Johnson, J.T. Wyman, and Kevin Swallow all posted goals on the evening and the flexing of offensive might and defensive prowess proved to be too much for Colgate to handle. The victory was doubly important because Cornell lost a close match to Harvard on the same evening, putting Dartmouth one point behind the Big Red for the title.
At this point Dartmouth was just one point out of first and with St. Lawrence and Harvard nipping at their heels, wins on the last weekend of the season were crucial. The team answered the call, never trailing in its final homestand against Clarkson or St. Lawrence. Friday’s 5–2 win over Clarkson saw sophomore David Jones come away with his first career hat trick, as three unanswered goals in the second half of the game overwhelmed the Golden Knights. As the match finished in Thompson Arena, Dartmouth fans were treated to the news that Cornell had suffered a 2–0 loss to Rensselaer, placing Dartmouth at the top of the ECAC standings along with Colgate. Saturday the Indians faced a hungry St. Lawrence squad playing for the fourth slot in the conference and the final first round bye in the ECAC playoffs. This game was a must-win for Dartmouth as a victory would guarantee the team a share of the ECAC title. The men in green opened the scoring midway through the second period and early in the third period Dartmouth opened up a solid 2–0 lead. Mike Devine earned his second shut-out of the season with 24 saves, while Eric Przepiorka ’06 earned his 100th career point with an empty net assist in the final minutes of the game.
After the match, the team was presented with William J. Cleary cup, giving Coach Bob Gaudet ’81 the first ECAC title of his coaching career. On winning the title, captain Mike Ouellette said, “the team is really excited about finishing with the number-one seed. It’s the first time Dartmouth has won the league in 26 years, so it’s a special accomplishment.” As the number-one seed in the tournament, Dartmouth will face the lowest-remaining seed in a best of three quarter-final series onMarch 10–12 at Thompson Arena. A win in the quarter-finals will put Dartmouth in the championship round on March 17-18 at the Pepsi Arena in Albany, NY. According to Ouellette, “we’ve put ourselves in a very good position to make it to Albany and to have a good shot at making the national tournament; there’s nothing we want more than winning the ECAC championship in Albany and securing a bid into the tournament.” Dartmouth hockey fans certainly have a lot to look forward to, as the team will showcase its talents first at home then on the regional and hopefully the national stage.