Hockey Turns Around with 3 in a Row

By A. S. Erickson | Thursday, January 25, 2007

After a tough stretch on the ice over the last few weeks, including a hard loss to the University of North Dakota on home ice, the sons of Dartmouth have rebounded with three straight wins. With the three non-conference wins on in less than a week, the Dartmouth Big Green improved to 9-8-3 on the season.

Dartmouth started things off with shutting out Holy Cross in Thompson Arena. Goalie Mike Devine ‘08 stopped 31 shots for his second shutout this season and the fourth of his career as the Indians beat the Crusaders 4-0.

It was a much-anticipated game for the Dartmouth squad. The Crusaders walked away from their game in Hanover last year with a 3-2 victory. Overcoming a 2-0 deficit, things looked good for the boys in green, only for Holy Cross player James Sixsmith (their captain this year) to score with a mere 28 seconds remaining in the third period.

Ben Lovejoy ’07, whose pass had been intercepted by Sixsmith last year, was particularly motivated to “get back at them.” Saying, “This is one of the games I had highlighted on my schedule.”

Lovejoy was able to contribute in a big way to the win this time around. He put away the second goal of the night, with 5:17 left in the third period. He was assisted by Jon Grecu ’08 and Kevin Swallow ’09.

Swallow also had the first goal of the evening, breaking the scoreless deadlock that had lasted for over 30 minutes. Swallow one-timed the puck into the net off of a pass from Nick Johnson ’08. Also receiving an assist on the play was T.J. Galiardi ’10.

Two insurance goals were tallied in the final five minutes of the game. The first going to David Jones ’08, helping him were Lovejoy and J.T. Wyman ’08. Rob Pritchard ’09 rounded out the scoring for the night with just sixteen seconds left in the final period. Racking up more points were Swallow and Johnson with assists on the final goal.

The Green found themselves going to the box eight times during the course of the game, while the Crusaders made the trip seven times. Dartmouth had trouble pressuring Holy Cross during their power plays early in the game, but was able to generate more man-up chances as the game went on.

Swallow ended his night with three points: one goal and two assists. After the game he remarked, “I’ve been having trouble scoring goals lately, so it’s nice to get those bounces.” When questioned as to what changes had been made after the scoreless third period, Swallow said, “Coach told us to get more jump in our step. We started working harder and we were getting our chances.”

The Crusaders were frustrated all night by the stellar net minding of Devine. He faced odd-man rushes the whole game and was able to keep the sanctity of the net intact.

Dartmouth was out-shot on the night 31-26, but in the end they proved that the only number that matters at the end of the night is the one under the goal header. “As much as it’s nice to outshoot a team, you can’t base the game on how many shots you get,” Lovejoy was quick to add after the game. “It matters how many shots go in. We buckled down and were able to finish our chances.”

Buoyed by their success earlier in the week, the hockey team went into their game against the Canisius Golden Griffens with a newfound confidence. The confidence was well placed as the Green went on to demolish the Griffins 6-3 on home ice at Thompson Arena.

Dartmouth’s third line had an impressive night, combining for nine points. Rob Pritchard ‘09, who had a career best four points on the evening, led the onslaught.

The Green jumped to an early lead in the first period off a goal by Connor Shields ’09—assisted by Jon Grecu ’08. Shortly thereafter Dartmouth jumped to a two goal lead when Pritchard skated across the Griffins’ zone; faking a shot to the left, he put the puck into the top right corner of the net, the goal was his third of the season.

Canisius answered with a goal early in the second period, pulling them within one. David Jones ’08 stretched the lead back out to two when he tipped in a T.J. Galiardi ’10 shot, but the Golden Griffins roared back with two goals of their own sending the game into the third period tied at three all.

Freshman Joe Grossman was making his first career start as Mike Devine ’08 was given the night off for the first time all seasons. Grossman chalked up his first win as a collegiate hockey player. When asked about the Canisius’ surge in the second period, he replied, “I wasn’t nervous at all; when you get scored on, it’s the worst feeling a goalie can have. But coach let me battle through it and things worked out.” “Anytime you win—it’s what you set out to do. It feels good to win, it always feels good to win,” Grossman said after the game.

Dartmouth rose to the occasion in the third period, rifling off three goals in less than four minutes. Among the scorers was Joey Gaudet ’10 with his first collegiate goal. The Green pummeled the Canisius goal, taking 44 shots on the night to just 20 for the Griffins.

Despite the loss, the Griffins (6-17-2) had reason to cheer: their three goals were the most they have scored against an ECACHL opponent since the late 80’s. Jason Weeks led the Canisius attack with two goals in the second period.

Now on a roll, Dartmouth faced off against a stronger Sacred Heart squad (13-7-4) the next night. Though the score was close, the men in green were in control nearly the whole evening. Nick Johnson ’08 kicked off the scoring with a power play goal midway through the first period, rebounding his own previous shot. David Jones ’08 and T.J. Galiardi ’10 kicked in two more goals early in the second period—just 13 seconds apart—putting Dartmouth in a commanding 3-0 lead. Sacred Heart, however, gained momentum off of a power play goal 12 minutes into the second period.

With five minutes left, Rob Pritchard ’09 lit the lamp for what would come to be the game-winning goal off of a Connor Shields ’09 assist. Merely five seconds later Sacred Heart answered with a goal of their own.

The final goal came with 43 seconds left in the game when Sacred Heart’s decision to pull their goalie paid off and they found the twine with the extra attacker on the ice. The Green hung on for the win: 4-3. Mike Devine finished the night with another 35 saves, bringing his total to 497 on the season.

Dartmouth hopes to ride the high tide from these three games as they go into their final conference games of the season. The next few weeks will be a trying time for the boys in green as it appears more and more certain that they’ll have to win the ECACHL tournament in order to receive a place in the NCAA postseason tournament.

Head coach Bob Gaudet is convinced fundamentals and being able to execute basic plays will be vital to their success in the coming weeks. “We just need to tighten up some of the systems we play--momentum on the power play, killing penalties and just having a good solid team concept both offensively and defensively,” Gaudet said. “We have some tough games coming up,” the coach stressed. Two road games are on the Green’s immediate horizon: games against Clarkson and St. Lawrence on Jan. 27 and 28 respectively. Dartmouth returns home to face off against Rensselear and Union the following weekend.

Hockey Turns Around with 3 in a Row

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