Dartmouth 2 - St. Lawrence 2 (OT)

By Dave Sherzer

CANTON, N.Y. - Celebrating the 50^th anniversary of their rink, St. Lawrence turned back the clock and tried to exact some revenge.

The Dartmouth men's hockey team wouldn't have it.

Exactly a half-century after Dartmouth won the first game ever played at Appleton Arena, the Big Green rode a two-goal night from right winger Mike Murray and a sterling goaltending effort from Nick Boucher to a 2-2 tie tonight against the defending ECAC champs.

The tie salvaged a point for Dartmouth on the difficult trip to the North Country. The Big Green (7-8-2, 4-4-2 ECAC) lost a 4-3 decision Friday night at Clarkson.

"This is a big point for us," said head coach Bob Gaudet. "St. Lawrence is a good team and they had a lot of emotion tonight with the 50th anniversary.

"I thought our guys played hard. We played a good, solid game. I especially thought our penalty killers did a great job."

Indeed, the Big Green limited the St. Lawrence (7-8-4, 4-2-3 ECAC) power play - the best in the league - to no goals on four attempts.

On the flip side, Dartmouth's power play had some success. Both of Murray's goals came with the extra man, as the Big Green finished the weekend 4-for-8 in that department.

The other big story was Boucher, who helped his team as it wore down late in the game by making several impressive saves. Boucher stopped 29 of 31 shots on the night.

"I thought Boucher played very well." Gaudet said. "He was very solid and very composed. When St. Lawrence beat him with those two goals, he stayed in there and made some big saves for us."

The Big Green skated out of an exciting, fast-paced first period with a tenuous 1-0 advantage, thanks to a power-play marker at the 10:32 mark.

As usual, Dartmouth's dangerous first line found its way onto the scoring sheet, as Murray poked a rebound between the pipes for his fourth goal of the season.

The opening 20 minutes were very even - each team had one power play, and the shots were 13-12 in favor of St. Lawrence - but a pair of good goaltending efforts limited the scoring to just one goal.

The netminders remained strong in the middle frame, but the teams combined for three hard-earned goals in just over three minutes early in the period.

At the 5:17 mark, the Saints tied it at one, as junior Ray DiLauro lined the puck from the blueline and had it carom off a Dartmouth defenseman for his first goal of the season. Forwards Erik Anderson and Russ Bartlett earned assists on the play.

Dartmouth reclaimed its one-goal lead minutes later, however, on Murray's second of the night. Once again on the power play, Murray displayed an impressive individual effort, charging in from the boards and flipping the puck past Sean Coakley (28 saves) for a 2-1 lead.

The Big Green advantage was fleeting. At the 8:29 mark, left winger Mike Gellard maneuvered from behind the net and beat Boucher with a wraparound shot to knot the game at two goals apiece. Anderson and Bartlett again earned assists.

The game opened up in a third period that featured few stoppages of play. The teams combined for only 12 shots - Dartmouth took seven to St. Lawrence's five - but several quality chances forced the goaltenders to make big saves under pressure.

Ditto for overtime. A tired Big Green squad kept the Saints on the perimeter, forcing the tie and putting a damper on St. Lawrence's anniversary celebration.

The Big Green is back in action next Friday night when Union visits Thompson Arena.

Big Green Notes: Sophomore Chris Hontvet missed this weekend's road trip due to an injury he suffered in practice during the week. ... This game was Dartmouth's fourth of eight straight against a team from New York State. The team is 2-1-1 so far in that stretch. ... Mike Murray recorded a two-goal game for the first time since Dartmouth's 5-4 loss to Yale on Nov. 17. ... Kent Gillings' assist on Murray's second goal gave him points in four consecutive games, and five of six in the month of January.