Original Article: http://dartreview.com/archives/2006/04/07/indian_icers_fall_short_of_ncaa_bid.php
Friday, April 7, 2006
After roaring through the second half of the season and coming down the home stretch with a scorching 8-1-1 record in their final ten ECAC league games, the Dartmouth Men’s Hockey Team earned their first ever Cleary Cup, presented to the winner of the ECAC regular season title (see TDR 3/3/2006). After taking a weekend off thanks to a well-deserved first-round bye, the Indians took to the ice in Thompson Arena again on March 10, squaring off against Yale, a team which had served as a punching bag for Dartmouth’s nationally-ranked offense all year long, and had squeaked by Union the previous weekend in two marathon games.
In the first game of the best-of-three series, the Indians jumped out to an early lead and never looked back, supported largely by a career-best four point effort from Tanner Glass ’07, three points from captain Mike Oullette ’06, and the continued dominance of Mike Devine ’08 between the pipes. With barely five minutes elapsed in the opening frame, Dartmouth found themselves with a 2-0 lead. Just two minutes into the game, Glass tipped in a wrist shot by Ben Lovejoy ‘07 that came straight off a face off draw from Oullette. Three minutes later, Sean Offers ’06 notched the game winner when his lob from the point was mishandled by Yale goalie Alec Richards, who lost the puck behind him, only to find it in the net, with the Indians in the lead for good. Two minutes into the second period, Dartmouth’s impressive freshmen class flexed its muscles, as John Gibson ’09 collected a face-off win by classmate Connor Shields, and found the twine with the ensuing shot. Two power play goals, on one-timers by Glass and Oullette finished the scoring for the night and put the Indians up for good. Devine’s shut out bid was interrupted only a rebound goal by Yale’s David Meckler mid-way through the second. Devine finished the game with 35 saves in the 5-1 victory.
The following evening, Dartmouth took the next step towards ending their 26-year NCAA tournament drought, by downing the Elis once again, this time by a 3-1 tally. After an early Yale goal, the Indians took advantage of a 5-on-3 power play as Oullette buried a feed from Offers midway through the period. Freshman Ryan Bellows gave the Indians a 2-1 lead with three minutes remaining in the first, slipping the puck around Richards. The score remained the same through early in the third period, when Offers buried an insurance goal from the left point following a face off win by Eric Prezpiorka ’06. Devine was once again superb between the pipes, stopping 20 of 21 shots.
The following Friday, Dartmouth traveled to the Pepsi Center in Albany, New York, to face #12-ranked Harvard in the ECACHL semifinals for the third time in four years. In addition to a berth in the conference finals, a likely at-large bid, based on RPI, hung in the balance for the Indians. Dartmouth came out strong in the first period, but found themselves down 2-0 on account of numerous bad bounces. Harvard came out firing in the second, finding the twine three times, including once short-handed, before Dartmouth was able to stop the bleeding for nearly the balance of the period. The Crimson managed to slip in one more with eight seconds remaining in the frame, ending Devine’s night. Daniel Goulding ’09 replaced Devine in net, but the rookie’s inexperience manifested itself in the form of four more Harvard goals, interrupted only by a Nick Johnson backhander off a pass by Prezpiorka.
With the sting of a 10-1 thumping still fresh, the Indians nonetheless rallied to take the Saturday consolation game over Colgate 3-2. Dartmouth was ahead 3-0 halfway through the match, and, despite two subsequent Colgate goals, was never really threatened. Devine regained his form, stopping 21 of 23 shots, and freshman defenseman Chris Johnson saw the first action of his career when senior Garrett Overlock selflessly volunteered to sit out the game so that Johnson could dress in his place. John Gibson ’09 ended up remaining on the bench, insisting that the senior be able to play his final collegiate game.
Despite the crushing defeat by Harvard, the class of 2006 leaves as the winningest in the 100 year history of the program, and racked up a stunning number of individual accolades in the process. Captain Mike Oullette was tapped as the Best Defensive Forward in the conference and named as first time All-ECACHL. He was joined by Grant Lewis ’07 and David Jones ’08 on the second team. Coach Bob Gaudet received ECACHL Coach of the Year honors for the second time in his career, as is one of the 11 finalists for National Coach of the Year. In the Ivy League, Oullette added Player of the Year honors, and was the only unanimous first team All-Ivy selection. Jones and Lewis also received first team honors, while sophomores Nick Johnson and Mike Devine picked up honorable mentions. To cap off his tremendous season, Oullette will represent the East in the first ever NCAA Skills Challenge this Friday, April 7, at the Frozen Four in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.