BURLINGTON, Vt. - All season long, the Dartmouth men's hockey team had circled this road game against Vermont on its calendar. The Big Green knew that if ever they were to become a real contender in the ECAC, they would have to be able to beat the Catamounts in their own building.

You see, the last time the Green had beaten Vermont in the dreaded Gutterson Fieldhouse was 1980, when current Head Coach Bob Gaudet '81 was the Dartmouth starting goaltender. And 1980 was also the last time the Big Green finished a season above .500 or got further than the first round of the playoffs.

With all these ghosts hanging over them on Saturday night, the Big Green went out and showed why this 1997-98 season has all the makings of their best one in 17 years.

They didn't just beat Vermont - they humiliated them, 6-1, on the Catamounts' own ice and in front of their own fans, who were noticably silent during much of the game.

The Green led 2-0 after one period and 4-0 after two. They subjected the shellshocked Vermont goaltender Andrew Allen to a 40-shot barrage. And they sent a statement to the rest of the league - mostly thanks to Shaun Peet '98, who looked like he wanted to choke UVM's BJ Kilbourne to death 20 seconds into the game - that they are not afraid of any team, or to play in any building in the ECAC.

With the win, which is without a doubt the Green's biggest of the season to date, Dartmouth (8-8-3 overall, 4-7-1 ECAC, 8th place) leapfrogs into a three-way tie for 8th place in the ECAC, and the Green are within realistic striking distance of 4th or 5th place if their hot play continues. The Green have now won three out of their last four ECAC games.

The five-goal margin of victory was the Green's biggest over an ECAC foe since 1994, and their biggest margin of victory against a conference opponent on the road since 1992.

There are plenty of accolades to go around from the big win. Jon Sturgis '98 had two goals and Charlie Retter '98 added two goals and an assist for the Green. Jason Wong '00 was again sharp in net, stopping 16 of the 17 shots he faced.

Tom Ruzzo '97 opened the scoring at 9:28 of the first, taking a nice dish from Retter between the faceoff circles and rocketing one of his patented slapshots past Allen for a 1-0 Green lead.

Retter's first goal of the night came at 16:32 of the first stanza, as he took a nice feed from Bob Cancelli '98 and beat Allen high to the glove side, putting Dartmouth on top 2-0.

Urged on by a small but vocal contingent of Dartmouth fans who made the trek up to Burlington, the Green began to pour it on in the second period.

They made it 3-0 at 13:56 of the second stanza on a powerplay tally from Retter. Retter got the puck from Curtis Wilgosh '99 at the right faceoff circle and flipped the puck at the net high on the shortside. It appeared Allen was actually in position, but Retter's tricky shot deflected off the goaltender and into the net.

The prettiest goal of the night came with 38 seconds left in the period, and featured some highlight-reel passing by the Green. Wilgosh carried the puck up the left side two-on-one with Sturgis on his right. Peet joined the play at the last minute and took Wilgosh's feed to the middle. The defenseman nicely one-touched the puck to his right to Sturgis, who buried it past Allen to make it 4-0 Dartmouth.

Sturgis gave Peet the credit for the pretty goal: "We had a three-on-one and Peety gave me a nice pass, and all I had to do was one-time it into the net."

Wong had his shutout bid foiled at 4:50 of the third period when Kevin Karlander beat the sophomore goalie low to the stick side with a shot from the slot.

It appeared the UVM goal would get the crowd back into the game, but Sturgis silenced them just 2:12 later with his second goal of the night, off a nice give-and-go with Wilgosh. Sturgis got the puck to Wilgosh near the side of the net, and quickly broke in front. Wilgosh got the puck back to Sturgis, who redirected it past a perplexed Allen for a 5-1 Big Green lead.

Tri-captain Jeremiah Buckley '98 put the exclamation point on the win with a powerplay goal with 5:09 left in the third. Dave Risk '99 took a rip on net from the right point that was chopped at by Buckley in front of the net and deflected past Allen, making it 6-1 Dartmouth.

Sturgis said the Green were confident during the week that they were the better team and intended to go into Gutterson and make a statement. "It was good to believe that and then go out and do it," the senior forward said.

"It was a big victory because we jumped a couple of spots in the standings and it kept us on our roll," Sturgis added. "This coming weekend is huge and we're all feeling very good about it. We have a lot of confidence and that will help a lot."

The Green now head to New York's North Country to take on Clarkson and St. Lawrence. Dartmouth split those two games at Thompson Arena last month, dropping a 4-3 decision to Clarkson but beating St. Lawrence 4-1.