Dartmouth 1 - Cornell 1

By Dave Sherzer

ITHACA, N.Y. - When Nick Boucher is at his best, it's hard for the Dartmouth men's hockey team to lose.

Fortunately for the Big Green, the sophomore goaltender is playing some of the best hockey of his collegiate career right now.

Friday night at Lynah Rink, the homestanding Cornell Big Red thoroughly dominated stretches of its game against Dartmouth, including almost the entire second period. But Boucher was at his acrobatic best, stopping 27 of 28 in a 1-1 tie before a sellout crowd of 3,836.

"Nick is very focused. He's an unbelievably competitive kid," head coach Bob Gaudet said of Boucher, who allowed only one goal in a sweep of Harvard and Brown last weekend in Hanover.

"He loves to win. He really wants to be the best. He strives for that, and he works really hard at it."

With the tie, Dartmouth (11-10-3, 8-6-3 ECAC, 4-3-1 Ivy) remains undefeated (3-0-3) in overtime games this season, and stays in contention for the Ivy League title. With two Ivy games remaining, Dartmouth is three points behind league-leading Cornell (11-7-5, 9-4-3 ECAC, 5-3-2 Ivy) , which has no games left in the Ancient Eight.

"That's all we were saying between periods: 'Ivy bound, Ivy bound,' " said Peter Mahler, who scored Dartmouth's goal. "This was a big one. We've got a couple of huge games coming up in the Ivy League.

"If we can get those wins, hopefully we'll come away with the Ivy title."

Cornell outshot Dartmouth, 7-5, in the first period, but the Big Green skated into the intermission with a 1-0 advantage.

Six minutes into the game, junior Dan Casella slid the puck across the blueline to Mahler, who drew back his stick and beat goalie Matt Underhill (22 saves) with a 15-foot slapshot. The goal, Mahler's first since Nov. 10, gave the senior right winger four points in the last five games.

The Big Red dominated the second 20 minutes, pouring 12 shots on Boucher while forcing Dartmouth to ice the puck nearly a dozen times.

Cornell tied it at the 5:35 mark, and by that time, the home team was outshooting the visitors, 5-0.

Junior left winger David Kozier scored the equalizer for the Big Red, skating in along the left boards before touching the twine with his fifth of the season. Andrew McNiven and Krzysztof Wieckowski earned assists on the play.

The Big Red continued to dominate the period, but strong play from the Dartmouth defense - especially from Boucher - kept the score at 1-1.

"I thought we put a lot of pressure on in the second period," said Cornell head coach Mike Schafer. "We didn't come up with enough goals in the second period, and goal-scoring continues to plague us.

"At the same time, they're a pretty good hockey team, and I thought both goalies played well."

The Big Green picked up its play in the third period, as the teams each took eight shots. Both teams had a power play, but neither scored as regulation ended with the teams in a 1-1 deadlock.

In the extra session, the Big Green had a 2-1 shooting edge, but neither team had a significant scoring opportunity as the game ended in a dead heat.

With the tie, the Big Green is now unbeaten in six of its last seven games against Cornell.

Dartmouth will be back in action Saturday night with a visit to Colgate's Starr Rink.

"We're playing a team that's actually very hot," Gaudet said. "They're playing good hockey. It's a very difficult building to play in for a lot of reasons, and I can't put my finger on many of them.

"But we just have to go out and play hard, compete on every shift, and hopefully we'll come out on top."

Big Green Notes: After Peter Mahler's goal, P.J. Martin was briefly even in the plus-minus category. It's a nice accomplishment for the sophomore defenseman, who was -9 as recently as early December. Martin moved back to -1 when Cornell scored in the second. ... Mahler's first-period goal gave him a career-high seven points on the season. ... This was the third of five consecutive Ivy games for the Big Green. ... Sophomore Nick Boucher's outstanding play in last weekend's sweep of Harvard and Brown did not go unnoticed. Boucher was named ECAC Goalie of the Week and U.S. College Hockey Online Division I Defensive Player of the Week. ... Defenseman Trevor Byrne was named one of ten finalists for the 49th annual Walter Brown award, given to the best American-born college hockey player in New England. Along with Yale's Jeff Hamilton, Byrne was one of two ECAC players on the list. Past winners include Brian Leetch, Dave Sacco and Mike Grier.