HANOVER -- The Dartmouth men's hockey team opened its season with an exhibition game on Sunday, using an offensive barrage to record a 5-3, come-from-behind victory against the University of Ottawa.

The Big Green outshot Ottawa, 68-18, but had to rely on three unanswered goals in the third period to pull out the victory.

With the score tied at two entering the final stanza, Ottawa forward Jean-Martin Morin gave the visitors a 3-2 lead at 1:36. But Dartmouth senior forward Darren Wercinski responded five minutes later, scoring on a breakaway assisted by sophomore center Ryan Chaytors.

With the score tied again, junior forward Jon Sturgis took over, scoring the final two goals of the game to lead the Big Green to victory. The gamewinner came at 16:37, when Sturgis blasted a rebound past Ottawa goalie Rob Murdoch from just in front of the crease. Sturgis later sealed the game, scoring an empty-net goal in the final minute of play.

Dartmouth's first two goals were scored by seniors Brent Retter, who was assisted by senior Bill Kelleher and freshman Ryan Poulton, and Kelleher, who was set up by senior Alex Dumas and Sturgis. The game featured 28 penalties, 23 of which came in the first two periods.

The Big Green played all four of its goalies and senior Scott Baker led the unit with seven of the 15 saves. For Ottawa, Murdoch recorded 63 saves in the losing effort.

Dartmouth will open the regular season Friday night with a contest against Army. Faceoff is at 7:30 p.m. at Thompson Arena.