Union 6 - Dartmouth 3
Friday, November 8, 1996
Attendance: 2,343
By Ben Riefe
Sports Writer for the Dartmouth
The Big Green were manhandled in the third period by Union, losing 7-3 on Friday night and couldn't fight back from a 4-2 opening period deficit versus RPI, eventually falling 5-4 on Saturday.
Two periods separated Dartmouth from an opening weekend sweep. Yielding four goals in the final period to Union, and then allowing RPI to match that effort in the first period on Saturday night erased the Big Green's otherwise solid effort.
Combining the Big Green's defensive slip-ups with outstanding third period goal-tending by the opposition only made the losses more painful. Union's Trevor Koenig fought off a Big Green onslaught of 22 third period shots, while RPI's Scott Prekaski held off a hard-charging Dartmouth squad that just couldn't find the back of the net in the waning minutes of Saturday's contest.
Dartmouth was clearly not executing as well as the opposition, having only played one regular season game to Union's three and RPI's four. This was illustrated by the Big Green's disappointing success rate on the power play for the weekend as they converted on three of 18 opportunities.
Dartmouth will try to regroup this week as they prepare for their first road trip next weekend to Colgate and Cornell.
The Skating Dutchmen brought their 1-2 record into Thompson Arena with something to prove. Ranked 11th in the pre-season ECAC polls, this senior dominated team was determined to set the record straight.
Both sides came out as cold as the playing surface in the opening stanza, as each side traded big hits, but zero goals. Union certainly had its opportunities early, but Scott Baker '97 continued his stellar play from last weekend and single-handedly kept the Big Green in the game, as he stifled Union's offense from point-blank range, recording 12 saves.
The flood-gates opened in the second period, but ended once again knotted, this time at 3-3. Union struck first, scoring one of the luckiest goals in the history of its program after Dartmouth's Bill Kelleher's shot from the slot on a two-man advantage caromed back into neutral ice where Union's Jay Prentice just happened to be leaving the penalty box. Taking advantage of a new NCAA rule, he didn't have to tag up at the blue line, and fired a break away wrist shot to Scott Baker's glove side for the unassisted short-handed goal.
Dartmouth struck next on the power play, as Ryan Burkart '99 fed Kelleher at the top of the slot who fired a shot into the crease. Jon Sturgis '98 cleaned up down low as he powered the puck past Union's Trevor Koenig.
Keeping up the back-and-forth pace, Union was on the board again before one could say "Skating Dutchmen." Just 22 seconds after the Big Green lit the lamp, Union's leading scorer John Sicinski put out Dartmouth's fire with a goal high and stick-side of Baker.
Dartmouth didn't get frustrated though and tied the game once again when Curtis Wilgosh '99 stuffed the puck home at 16:20 off assists from blueliners David Risk '99 and Alex Dumas '97.
Once again, Union wasted no time as it took the lead less than a minute later when Ryan Campbell jammed the puck home off the rebound 17:15 into the period.
With 1:02 remaining, Dartmouth kept up the paddy-cake rhythm of the period, as Bill Kelleher zapped a slapper from the slot into a relatively open net as Koenig's concentration was focused on the left wing. Koenig bit on Curtis Wilgosh's move to the net, and apparently thought Wilgosh still had the puck when Kelleher's shot came tearing past him.
It appeared that this one would go down to the wire, but Dartmouth came out flat in the third period, giving up four unanswered goals as its defense broke down, and the offense couldn't convert on two five-on-three situations, or 12 total minutes of Union penalties.
"I think we were lucky to get out of the second period with a 3-3 tie," Coach Roger Demment said. "I thought we started off the third period all right, but then we got undisciplined. It was a combination of playing sloppy hockey, and not executing when we had the opportunities."
Union's Mark Szuks completed the hat trick with two third period goals, and Prentice and Sicinski added their second goals of the game to run away with it.
What was disappointing for the Big Green was the incredible number of shots they recorded, 33 total with 22 on line, without chalking up any goals. The Big Green seemed unable to get the puck up down low, as they kept trying to jam the puck through Koenig.
"They gave us enough chances to get back into the game," Demment said. "A number of times on those five-on-three's we had the puck down on the low slot, and we needed to get it upstairs, but we didn't."
Hopefully for the Big Green, they can correct the defensive lapses of this weekend, as they take their 1-2 record to upstate New York next weekend.
Statistics
Union
Dartmouth
Power Play Goals/Power Play Opportunities
|
| ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Prentice | unassisted | 11:44 (SHG) |
|
|
| Sturgis | Kelleher | 12:22 (PPG) |
|
|
| Sicinski | Satterlund | 12:49 |
|
|
| Wilgosh | Risk, Dumas | 16:20 (4/4) |
|
|
| Campbell | Donovan, Prentice | 17:15 (PPG) |
|
|
| Kelleher | Wilgosh | 18:52 |
|
| ||||
|
|
| Szucs | Campbell, Ozarowski | 3:34 |
|
|
| Prentice | Monteith, Szucs | 5:04 |
|
|
| Szucs | M. Will, Ozarowski | 10:19 |
|
|
| Sicinski | Will, Moody | 19:50 |
|
| ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Baker (Dartmouth) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Koenig (Union) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Peet | hooking | 7:36 |
|
|
| Ozarowski | interference | 12:12 |
|
|
| Risk | holding | 18:55 |
|
|
| Giedt | tripping | 5:50 |
|
|
| Prentice | hitting from behind | 9:37 |
|
|
| Satterlund | holding | 10:38 |
|
|
| Dumas | cross-checking | 13:54 |
|
|
| Donovan | slashing | 13:54 |
|
|
| Kelleher | high sticking | 16:08 |
|
|
| Moody | high sticking | 16:08 |
|
|
| Burkart | boarding | 16:48 |
|
|
| bench | 19:32 | |
|
| ||||
|
|
| Wercinski | interference | 4:37 |
|
|
| A. Will | holding | 5:37 |
|
|
| Reckin | tripping | 6:26 |
|
|
| Moody | interference | 8:17 |
|
|
| Hughes | slashing | 9:57 |
|
|
| Moody | interference | 11:53 |
|
|
| M. Will | interference | 12:47 |
|
|
| Risk | interference | 15:02 |
|
|
| B. Retter | 5 - slashing | 16:49 |
|
|
| Moxham | interference | 18:26 |