Dartmouth 3 - Union 3

By Dave Sherzer

SCHENECTADY, N.Y. - A career scoring mark. A prolonged fracas. And a shattered pane of glass.

A game filled with uncommon sights ended in a somewhat commonplace 3-3 tie.

Mike Maturo notched career points Nos. 100 and 101 as Dartmouth earned a point in the standings against Union in front of 1,721 at Achilles Rink Friday night.

The Big Green (8-8-3, 5-4-3 ECAC) grabbed a 2-1 lead after the first period but was forced to battle back from a 3-2 deficit after the second. Pete Summerfelt scored the tying goal in the third, putting Dartmouth en route to its third overtime game of the season. All three have ended in 3-3 ties.

"Overall, this is an important point," head coach Bob Gaudet said. "We got nothing out of this road trip last year. It's a good point for us against a good team that plays tough in their building."

Maturo didn't linger on 99 career points for very long.

He netted a couple of goals in the first period, including No. 100 at the 4:52 mark when he collected a wide Pete Summerfelt shot that took a lively carom off the back boards and poked it past Brandon Snee for his sixth career point against Union.

Career point No. 101 and No. 7 against Union came on a goal eight minutes and 18 seconds later and moved him past Ken Davidson '71 into a three-way tie for 26th on the career scoring list.

Maturo, who now has a team-leading 27 points (13g, 14a) on the season, became the first Big Green player since David Whitworth '98 and just the fifth since 1984 to pass the century mark.

"We all knew it was coming," blueliner Trevor Byrne said of Maturo's 100th. "It was just a matter of time. It was nice to see him get it with a goal rather than an assist. He's a great player. He's been unreal for this team over the past four years."

Maturo's 100th and 101st points spurred Dartmouth to a 2-1 edge after the first period.

Maturo's first came on a power play less than five minutes into the game, as he netted his 47th career goal for a 1-0 Dartmouth lead.

Six minutes later, Union's No. 16, Jeff Hutchins, took advantage of a scrum in front of the net to bat the puck between Darren Gastrock's legs and knot the game at one.

But Maturo responded soon after, chipping a beautiful Chris Baldwin crossing pass inside the right post to give the Big Green its final lead of the night.

The middle frame was even for a long stretch until the Skating Dutchmen beat Gastrock (30 saves) for two goals in a three-minute, 38-second span. Charles Simard potted the first at 13:48 before Jordan Webb tipped in a Randy Dagenais blast for a power-play marker to give Union (9-7-5, 4-5-2 ECAC) a 3-2 lead at 17:26.

The Skating Dutchmen did not keep their edge for long, as Summerfelt evened the score early in the third stanza with a shot from outside the right circle that found its way past Snee (18 saves) at the 3:25 mark.

"Union played hard and earned their goals, but they were odd goals," Gaudet said. "But I think our last one was from outside a bit, so that was an important one for us to get. Pete's a good player. He put it on the cage, which we were trying to do."

After Summerfelt's goal, the game assumed an exciting, energized pace, as each team had chances, but neither could solve the other's netminder.

At 9:34 of the third period, tensions boiled over after a whistle as a fracas ensued. Players were pinning each other along the boards, while others were engaging in one-on-one scuffles elsewhere on the ice. The highlight was a Chris Hontvet-Simard skirmish that ended with Hontvet on top of the considerably smaller Simard.

The fights did not result in a power play for either side, as Dartmouth's Hontvet and Jason Costa and Union's Simard and Kris Goodjohn all received double minors for roughing.

Union outshot Dartmouth, 3-1, in the extra session, as the only true highlight was a glass-shattering attempted hit by Trevor Byrne on Simard. With 1:01 left on the clock, the game was delayed for 13 minutes as the facilities crew replaced the pane of glass.

"I've never done that before," Byrne said. "But it wasn't really shattering it with a hit, to be honest with you. I went to hit the guy with a hip check and missed him completely. Luckily, the glass broke, because they would have had a 3-on-1."

The Big Green returns to action Saturday night at Rensselaer, which demolished Vermont, 6-0, Friday night.